Silk Ribbon Embroidery Workshop

I'm excited to announce I'll be teaching an on-going silk ribbon
embroidery workshop at Judy's Sewing Center, in Scotts
Valley, California. It begins Wednesday, July 15th, 2009, and
will continue every third Wednesday of the month. The time
is 10am to 1pm, and cost is $15.



You can make this needlecase, or bring something of your own to embroider on. Any questions...email Roxanne at:
roxribbons@comcast.net.

The lady on the swing is a fabric photo transfer with 7mm loop flowers on the top, surrounded by lazy daisy petals and cascading wisteria. To give dimension, I used silk buttonhole twist for the stamen and leaves.

Close up of the inner flap of the needlecase~7mm wide silk
ribbon rose with silk buttonhole twist leaves and stamen.

Crazy Quilt Series~Kathy

Our next featured artist in the Crazy Quilt Series is lovely Kathy from our Rags Group. Shown are her Pieced Fan Sewing Book and her Crazy Quilted Purse, which has a purse frame. I love the muted vintage colors she uses, and the old jewelry pieces, laces and trims she has found to enhance her pieces with. She often stitches the fabrics together by hand. Sometimes she uses an antique featherweight Singer sewing machine she acquired last year. Cudos, Kathy...your work is amazing.

Workshop in Sutter Creek, California~Gold Country

Beautiful Sutter Creek...with its historic buildings and kind people. The American Exchange Hotel was renovated two and a half years ago with modern antique replications to give you a feeling you are visiting during the actual "Gold Rush".

In the middle of June I traveled there to give a workshop on making a crazy quilted "Thread Minder" (you know, those little fabric bags that sit near you on the table to catch your thread scraps as you sew). The "bag" is first crazy quilted on a muslin foundation, backed with interfacing. Then it's embellished with silk ribbon embroidery and bits of lace and trims. The binding is French wire edged ribbon we pleated. The heart pincushion is also crazy quilted and embellished, then filled with sand and is used to weight the Thread Minder on the table.

In this wonderful store, Tomorrow's Heirlooms, I made some great purchases, and enjoyed talking to the ladies who were there. I found this rhinestone & pearl bracelet~it makes my heart sing when I wear it and this vintage wallpapered hat box I carry my needlework supplies in.

I was fascinated by the antique look of the town~the stained glass windows, brightly painted doors and other amazing architecture.

The workshop I taught for Mother Lode Quilters was held in this enchanting church, with incredable stained glass windows.

Great job, ladies! What a fun group you are...thank you so much for a wonderful day.

Rags Meeting~June 3, 2009

Finishing up our embroidered motifs was the order of the day at our monthly meeting...

And of course putting the finishing touches on May's Ribbon Retreat projects, like Dot's Teacozy.

Carol has a floral theme going on...

and Cam displays her silk ribbons ready to embroider with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JULY 1st PROJECT: Cam will demonstrate basic embroidery stitches, and Roxanne will bring handouts of combination stitches we can try our hands at.
BRING: embroidery floss or silk buttonhole twist, darner needles, scissors, pins, a crazy quilt piece, or other fabric to embroider on (should be backed with Stacy Shape Flex interfacing, or bring an embroidery hoop to give stability to your fabric)

Crazy Quilt Series~"Vintage Ribbonwork"

This is the first in a series of crazy quilt creations our RAGS group has lovingly produced over the past 12 years we've been sharing our creativity...I'll be asking their permission to air their "pretties"on my blog, but in the meantime, I'll begin the series with my own crazy quilt, "Vintage Ribbonwork".

Its name comes from the antique pieces from my collection used to embellish it. Many of the photos that center each block are tobacco silks from a bygone era. Eight of the nine blocks began as a twelve inch demonstration block made during my workshops over a seven year period.

The center Victorian Lady is handpainted (I used fabric markers...). She's surrounded by a delicately embroidered and beribboned apron from the 1920's. My own ribbonwork is carried onto the lady's gown.
When I decided to sew the blocks together as a quilt, I added other fabrics and ribbons to enlarge them...all stitched to a large foundation of interfacing backed muslin. It was very heavy and needed to be secured to the backing with free-motion quilting...quite a chore for such an embellished quilt.




I had such a glorious time adding vintage collars, a ribbon bed cap, odd bits of jewelry and antique trims.













Many different flowers from ribbons were added. Each block is a treasure to be explored...

French Pincushions

Here is my latest passion...making French pincushions. The base of the oval pincushion is dyed silk and the top is lush silk velvet. Then I pleated French ribbon for the ruffle using an Amanda Jane pleating machine. For the stem, gimp (silken cord) was couched along the pleated ribbon. I made small pansies out of Hannah silk ribbon, with tiny stamen. As I was stitching those pansies I glanced at the pincushion and thought...it needs a lovely porcelean half-doll (she is hand-painted all the way from Australia)~and of course my signature vintage jewelry. Don't you love when you get inspired?

Mother's Day~what a gift...

On Mother's Day two of my lovely children accompanied me to our local Antique Fair, in Santa Cruz, CA. I found these beautiful treasures in an old tin, jumbled up with a bunch of "junk" pieces~I got them for a "song". I can use them on the French, pleated ribbon velvet pincushions I'm making. What a great day...spending time with my children and finding hidden heirlooms!