My First Ever Curve Stitching - 1991

It would appear that I started curve stitching at the age of nine…

I really don’t remember doing it and I was very impressed that my work is obviously constructed accurately with a pair of compasses. I found this piece of work, which is dated on the back, in Nan’s collection of keepsakes. She hadn’t kept a huge amount but the bits and bobs she had kept were cherished.

Here are two cards that I had made for her at various times:

    

Ruth made the next one and also painted the beautiful Barn Owl (sorry about the flash) for us to give her one Christmas…

Retirement Card

A very special gentleman is retiring from Woodford Maths Department this year. Yavuz is partial to a spot of geometrical doodling, particularly during Department meetings, so it seemed appropriate to mark his retirement with this intricate curve stitching card…

He’s an absolute legend and I can’t quite believe it’s almost time to wish him well as he moves on to the next exciting chapter of his life. Staff and students are going to miss him so much :-(

Crochet 2, Suzanne 0

Two days I’ve spent trying to learn how to crochet but I just can’t get my head around it. This is an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. I’m going to persevere for the rest of this evening (apart from completing a set of marking for Year 12). After that, if I am still (as I suspect) unsuccessful and mastering any more than the initial chain of stitches I will wait to be taught by my dear sister-in-law who mastered the skill some time ago.

Between my frustrating attempts to master this new craft I have done a couple of things this weekend. On Saturday, I made a (horribly sweet) strawberry and apple tiramisu that we took round to Alex and Laurence’s place last night, which David is polishing off as I type. I then mounted some old pieces of curved stitching to go up in my classroom tomorrow (snow allowing).

Today I have finally got around to making an engagement card for Rhiannon and Simon who got engaged in Paris a few weeks ago. I designed the stitched card, which was inspired by the photograph of her ring that she put on facebook. After stitching the design I painted the sapphires and diamonds and mounted the pieces…

During the nail-biting but thoroughly enjoyable Wales-Ireland rugby match I went back to the trusty latch-hook rug. I’ve completed 13 rows from the 104 now! Each row takes me about half an hour to complete so I have a long way to go.

 

Ok, off I go to watch some tutorials on YouTube. crochet hook at the ready, one way or another I will crack this…

Stitching Art for the classroom

After a morning thinking about the next round of UCAS applications, personal statements and references I needed a break. It was time to complete those curve stitching projects that I’d promised before we broke up for the summer. I pretty much decided which designs I was going to attempt last night when I went through one of my favourite books Curve Stitching by Jon Millington published by Tarquin. It’s a book that I spent a few years trying to get hold of and eventually found a copy at a seminar I went to last year. It was a useless conference but this book and another on Geometrical Quilting made the day more than worthwhile. Anyway, I didn’t follow the patterns exactly but used them as inspiration. I have made four designs based on concentric circles, one using a square and it’s diagonals and a final one based on a hexagon made into a two-dimensional representation of a cube. These give you just a tiny glimpse into what is possible with curve stitching…

	This picture illustrates how I made my pricking pattern. Here I started with a circle of radius 6cm divided into eighths. Each radius was then partitioned into twelve equal 12 parts. I then placed this pattern on top of my blue card and pricked through onto my felt mat.
The first four parabolas were stitched using a bright yellow thread but it doesn’t show up very well on the photo. I then chose to do the other four in a slightly more orange thread.
	This is the completed eight-point star design. Ever so simple but a really nice effect I think. Below are four of the other completed designs and a larger photo to show all six framed and ready to go up in Maths classrooms next week. I think the octagon with a beautiful flower inside is my personal favourite…

I eventually finished these at about 8 o’clock and realised that I’d forgotten to eat! It’s amazing what crafting can do to me!!!

Heart-strings

Last week I stumbled across another website for stitched card patterns. It’s run by the same person that does Stitching Cards but he’s using it to sell the Form-a-Lines patterns that he bought copyright for. At least, that’s what I gather. It’s called Pinbroidery and I downloaded one of the free ones to have a go at…

This design is stitched in two different layers and could be completed in two different colours if you liked. It’s very similar to the String Art design that my Year 10s eventually managed to complete last week. It’s not a particularly easy pattern if you’re a beginner because the pattern is not uniform around the whole circle but I do love the effect once complete.

You stitch the second layer over the top of the first and end up with this beautiful effect of a heart within a circle. The pattern has a diameter of about 10.5cm I think but it would take being reduced if you wanted a smaller one. Please remember that most of the stitched designs that I use are copyright and should be purchased from Stitching Cards if you want to try them out for yourself. They are only £1 each so certainly don’t break the bank!

Once I’ve completed the stitched part of a card I like to add my own stamp, which is almost always layering onto different coloured papers before mounting onto a card. I decided to mount this one at an angle…

Curve Stitching Card

Curve stitching is a really simple but effective geometrical design. This one is as simple as it gets…

A few things I’ve been doing

It doesn’t feel like I’ve had much time for crafting recently but the UCAS references are finally all done and the application process is over for another year so I’m back! Here are a few things I’ve done recently…
I made something like 100 of these simple place settings for a colleague last year who used them for her parents diamond wedding anniversary party. 
This framed A4 piece speaks for itself.
This was an alternative to a normal birth sampler for my god-daughter. She’s nearly two and I still haven’t got around to having it framed yet. Oops.
  This is a stitched isometric cube for one of my Maths department colleagues. It took hours but I absolutely love it, hope she does too!