Embroidered Silk Collages

By on 12-09-2010 in art quilts, Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

embroidered silk

Silk…..these collages were published in the McCall’s Needlework Fall/Winter 1973/74 magazine….. is the fabric of choice for many thread artists now. What a great way to practice your stitches using these two patterns. Although they are over 30 years old they still hold up today. The patterns could also be done on wool felt or painted cottons. Colours could be chosen to match your home’s interior decorations. Box frames would give them a completely new look.

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Here is one pattern. If you want both patterns you can download them here, in PDF format:
Embroidered Silk Collages, McCall’s Needlework Fall/Winter 1973/74 magazine

Christmas in December….the Christmas Story in Stamps

By on 12-06-2010 in art quilts, Christmas Patterns, Embroidery, Original Quilts, Vintage Patterns

Christmas story

These figures were published in the McCall’s Needlework Fall/Winter 1959/60 magazine. They were stamped on paper (the lower photo) as well as on wood for free standing decorations. With the new medium for carving stamps I can see these modernized and stamped onto a Christmas wall hanging or table runner. They could also be used for redwork embroidery and beading. I have posted Mary, Joseph and Jesus here.

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You can download the full set of Christmas family, shepherds, wisemen and animals here:Christmas Story Stamp Patterns

Digital Collage…..from rusty wheel rim

By on 11-27-2010 in art quilts, Digital Images + Collage, Original Pattern, Original photos

rusty wheel

This is my first digital collage. I started with the image below….a rusty wheel rim. The bright red and orange colours captured my imagination. There is a blade of grass in the center of the rim which gave some colour contrast. I manipulated pieces of the image, cropped them in Adobe Photoshop and moved them onto a new background. The colours for the background were taken from the rim as well. The lines were made with a Photoshop brush and applied before moving the image. This collage would look good on a card, in a scrapbook page or as a block in an autumn quilt.

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Ducks are now winging above us, heading south

By on 10-14-2010 in art quilts, Embroidery, Vintage Patterns

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I think this is the perfect time to post these two beautiful ducks. We have been seeing more ducks and geese in the air as the weeks go by. This pair of ducks were published in the McCall’s Needlework Magazine, Fall, 1977. How pretty they are. The black and white pattern shows the stitches as well as the borders of each section. Quilted on a black background using bright Mennonite colours these ducks would make a great gift for your favourite guy.

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Both ducks are in the 304kb pdf document: Embroidered Ducks, McCall’s Fall, 1977