hand embroidery – Daily Fiber

Fun Friday Finished Blocks

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Laura Kate

The Oregon Baby quilt block creation phase is ju……..st about done. Today I want to share two blocks that I finished and two images of blocks that my daughter finished.

Let’s start with sketches: My first attempt at rendering a painted turtle didn’t work out very well in the applique process. It was too complicated.

While I loved the drawing, I decided to start over. Here is my revised sketch with some colored pencil enhancements.

and here is my block complete with applique, machine stitches and painted details.

(there is a little smudge of paint that rubbed off my hand. I’ll have to find a way to cover it up before sewing this block into the quilt.)

Next I sketched a fish common to the northwest: coastal cut-throat trout.

This was easy to applique, and required very little paint to render the fishy details.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to receive two photographs of blocks completed by Amanda. During the preliminary phase of the quilt design, I had shared two sketches with her.

She took these designs and interpreted them in her own style. In addition to applique and paint, she added some expert hand embroidery touches to these blocks. Her results really bring these cute animals to life.

In the meanwhile, I have sewn up all of the strip pieced blocks. There are only two more feature blocks to finish before the quilt top can be assembled.

I’m pretty happy right now, and feel confident the quilt will be ready to send when my goddaughter’s baby arrives in August.

embellishing, hand embroidery

Bygone Days of a Future Fiber Artist

Posted on February 26, 2025February 26, 2025 by Laura Kate

Today I am joining As Kat Knits for * Unraveled Wednesday, making something from materials on hand.

I have a souvenir T-shirt that I love, but the neckline has stretched out and sagged something terrible. I no longer enjoy wearing it.

So I got the scissors and cut off the neck binding. After pressing the edge under and fusing it down, I considered how I might embellish the now-scooped neckline. Blanket stitch seemed the obvious choice.

While stitching away, memories flooded back to me of the moment when I learned to sew this stitch. I had just joined the Girl Scouts. Our very first activity was to make a sit-upon out of oilcloth stuffed with newspapers. This object was to be used outdoors when we needed a dry place to rest. To sew the edges of our sit-upons closed, we used blanket stitch.

Sorry, friends, I do not have a photograph of the original item. For obvious reasons, that product didn’t last very long. But the happy memory of the scout meeting when I made it lives on in my brain. I was with my friends, starting on a new adventure – who knew where we would go during scouting. Our future was bright and we were eager.

These days, I still have a soft spot for good old blanket stitch. Today, I held together dark blue and pale green 12 weight threads to give a my shirt some pop.

And here is my revived T-shirt, all tricked out with a sexy neckline.

I’m ready for my next adventure.

oops, my bad, I didn’t realize that Unraveled Wednesday was for knitting projects. I promise to follow the rules in my next post.

hand embroidery, painting, quilting

Friday Finish: Here Be Dragons

Posted on January 24, 2025January 25, 2025 by Laura Kate

After eighteen months in process, my multi-panel quilt that explores the dragonfly is finally finished. The painting and the assembly of the quilt took place in 2023. Then it languished while I fiddled around with hand embroidery. Finally, I made the commitment in December 2024 to get this WIP done. It took an opportunity to display it at an exhibition to set me in motion.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the role Bill’s photographs had in inspiring me. Here is a gallery of some of his dragonfly images.

I also did research into the creature, to better understand what I was seeing. I was always puzzled about the legs. In flight, they are not visible. When the insect is perched, one can see either one, two or all three pair of legs. Why is that? I learned that the legs are swiveled back and held flat against the body, just like an airplane’s landing gear. The dragonfly catches its prey in flight, grabbing hold with its legs. When resting, the legs have no function. Dragonflies cannot use their legs to walk. That’s why they seem so motionless when perched.

Anyway, the quilt is finished, except for the label and the hanging wire. It will go on display February 6, along with my Badlands quilt, at Prairie Moon Exhibition, The Center, Bartlesville, OK.

hand embroidery

WIP Wednesday – The Final Panel

Posted on January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by Laura Kate

Today I stitched the last stitch in the final panel of “Here Be Dragons” art quilt. In looking back through my photography files, I discovered that I had painted the panel way back in June of 2023. Here is how it looked at that point.

Reference photography for the two dragonflies came from Bill. They were part of the 100 day project, along with all the other dragonflies that made their way to this quilt. The background was painted with Dye-Na-Flo fabric paint first, with masking used to reserve white where the insect’s bodies would be.

I then used the thicker Jacquard Textile acrylici paint to render the dragonflies, finishing up the fine details with Micron pens.

Here is the panel today.

A combination of stem stitch and rice stitch outlined the subjects and enhanced the shapes in the background.

Close-up of the two dragonflies.

I believe that I will meet my deadline for getting this work ready to show in February. Some straight line sashiko sewing in the sashing, then mounting the quilt to stretchers is all that is left to do.

embellishing, hand embroidery

Friday Finish: Dragonfly panel stitching

Posted on January 3, 2025January 1, 2025 by Laura Kate

For this week, I made a promise to myself that I would complete the hand embroidery on one of the Here Be Dragons art quilt panels. By New Year’s Day, I had finished.

The goal was to emphasize the painted lines while quilting the fabric layers together. I used DMC stranded floss in colors compatible with the fabric paint.

Here is the panel before stitching the background. The dragonfly is already stitched.

Using primarily stem stitch I outlined the botanical shapes of leaf and flower. With rice stitch, I worked the blank areas of the panel to secure the batting and backing.

Here is the panel completed.

I feel pretty good about my work. To me, the piece has variety but also cohesion, achieved by using repetition and a limited color palette.

I now have only one panel of this quilt left to stitch. My goal is to have the work finished and framed in time for an exhibition sponsored by my local art association. It will open in early February.

There’s nothing like a deadline to keep an artist motivated.