A kantha stitched landscape, and a hare too

Back at the start of August my SIL and I headed off to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC - I’ve so many photos still to edit, and posts will follow but in short so many beautiful quilts! We’d booked on a workshop, and again there were so many to choose from, so in the end I left it up to my SIL to choose which one.

And she chose well, the kantha textured mini landscape workshop by Angela Daymond. I knew little about what we’d create, but I had been to one of Angela’s workshops before at the Stitch Festival in London back in 2023. And if you go back and read that post, I’m still curious as to how the notebook will turn out as I’ve not yet ‘cooked it’ - though, I do now at least have a saucepan which I could use for this, so maybe I’ll get around to that and show the results here - but don’t hold your breath!

I was looking forward to Angela’s workshop though and was hopeful that I’d stand more chance of completing the outputs from this one, given my increased opportunities and interest in hand stitching. And I was right, but first let me show you how I got on.

A kantha stitched landscape

Unusually I didn’t take any pictures while we were in the workshop, not even of Angela’s finished piece which was a bit daft. But then again it gave me free licence to do what I wanted, and interpret the written guidance shared on the day.

This was as far as I got in the workshop.

We’d started by tracing the design using a fabric marker pen and during the workshop Angela guided the group through the different stitching methods including tips for stitching circles, and sewing with the different thickness threads, as well as how to complete the weaved effect of the whipped running stitch on the stems.

I was keen to carry on and get this finished, so the week or so after the show this became my project.

I loved how it turned out, and I’m sure that each one from the workshop will look the same but different. I decided I needed to add some glitter to mine, on the sun and in the first few circles of the sky - and then well, in for a penny, in for a pound, onto some of the red berries too.

Angela had said that to remove the blue pen you just had to go for it, if you tried to spot remove the markings then it would likely show up elsewhere in the design. So there was nothing else for it, but to plunge this into water and under the running tap.

Miraculously it disappeared. Phew!

I left it to dry on a towel, and as it was drying I began to think what I’d do with it. I decided to frame it, and as luck would have it when we were in the framing shop getting the Vogue pictures framed, I spotted some small frames made from offcuts in the sale. By now I also knew that I wanted to do another one, so I picked up two frames - and added my landscape into the pale green frame.

Designing my own version, with a hare

I’d enjoyed the kantha landscape so much I decided I would do another picture to fill the second frame I’d bought. I knew I had some ‘hare’ stamps and thought one of those might work with a similar horizon as before. In the end I flipped the background and half-traced half-drew the hare in the bottom right corner.

Then I got sewing. I used the same yellow and blue threads from the workshop - there was (and still is) plenty left. But I decided on something different for the ‘land’ and for the hare itself. I had some crochet threads from mum and thought the neutral-green-pink reel would work for the land, but also added a thin darker grey thread to this, sewing with two threads, to give it some extra texture and to keep a consistent colour throughout both ‘land’ sections.

For the hare I used another variegated thread, this time ranging from brown through to bright pink. What do you mean, you’ve never seen a bright pink hare?! Me neither, but hey, I think there may be hares out there wishing they were pink!

Once again the fabric marker pen washed out easily, and revealed the end design.

That too has been framed, this one got the gold frame - but both are now in our spare bedrooms on two of the four fabulous bedside tables, and they look great. I’ve plans for something slightly different on the two bedside tables which remain empty, but that idea yet to be started, so it may yet turn up on a ‘future stitching project’ list at some point. But in the meantime I’m going to enjoy these, and I hope our guests will too.

Getting hooked on weaving with waste

Earlier in the year I tried to book on a workshop with Sarah Cooke, but unfortunately I’d discovered it too late and it didn’t go ahead as there weren’t the numbers for it to be viable, which was a shame. I hoped there might be another date at some point, but didn’t really think any more of it until one morning on our recent holiday when I saw it advertised in my sewing group’s facebook group. I couldn’t believe my luck and manically emailed the organiser to secure my place. What’s more, this newer date was much closer than the previous one, so it was a real bonus for me.

And so I turned up not quite sure what to expect, and not really sure I was going either - but that happens a lot as I’m continually discovering new places by attending workshops or exercise classes!

Sarah started the day by showing some of her makes, which you’d never guess what they’re made of. Clue - it’s all waste products, and for these two that I’m sharing here, they’re most likely food products we have in our freezers and in our store cupboards.

A striped weaving by Sarah Cooke made from Sensations crisp packets

A green and yellow striped bag by Sarah Cooke made from bags of frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn

So the two examples above use (clean) crisp packets and frozen vegetable bags, and you wouldn’t think to use them would you? But Sarah did and they are amazing, they’re also both really soft which I didn’t expect either. If you look at the pictures closely now you know what they’re made from you can see some of the text remains and almost gives it away.

Now you can see why I was so captivated, and inspired can’t you?

Sarah brought plenty of ‘waste’ for the group to use throughout the day, and there were things you’d expect like wool, ribbons, trimmings and material scraps, as well as things you’d probably not expect. For me the revelation were those plastic string bags that lemons, oranges and other fruit come in - they’re amazing to use, as well as old hi-vis jackets, plastic metallic streamers, oh and so much more.

We started by adding our warp to the frame - I opted for a cerise and a boucle red, and you’ll see these intermittently in my weaving. I should say that this is my first time weaving and while I’d love for my outputs to be as good as Sarah’s, I know I’ve a way to go and for me the day was about trying things out.

But it didn’t surprise me that when confronted by the tables of stuff I headed to my default colour scheme of pink, red, orange and yellow with a few variations.

From the bottom I’ve used: wool, plastic metallic streamer, more wool, a strip of orange hi-vis clothing, more wool, more plastic metallic streamers, more wool, a bobble trim with the bobbles poking out to the front, wool, plastic rope, wool, plastic twine (this isn’t as closely woven), wool, a material scrap, red mesh bags, wool, yellow mesh bags, wool, more hi-vis material, wool, orange mesh bags, wool, bobble trimming, orange mesh bag, wool, black and white plastic rope, a split row of the bobble trimming and a flat metallic plastic strip, black and white plastic rope and wool.

Mine grew pretty quickly on the day, and while wall hangings are nice they aren’t me. So my plan is heading more towards a placemat for our garden table. That said though I do like the effect of it on the frame against our white walls and MOH is going to put some hooks up in my craft room so I can enjoy it as transient art while it’s ‘in progress’.

It has grown a little since the workshop too, but there’s a little further for it to go yet.

Since the workshop I’ve added: wool, a velvet trim I’d kept from a t-shirt, wool, a velour strip, a red mesh bag and a ribbon from chocolates.

In the weft rows I’ve added since the workshop the velvet trimming and chocolate ribbon have come from my own stash - and I’ve plenty more that I could use. In fact I came home from the workshop so inspired I was immediately off to look out that velvet trimming which I’d kept for I didn’t know what until then. I’ve also found some plastic present wrapping ribbon which I’ve never used but fell in love with years ago at Ikea - these will feature in a future attempt.

I also have plenty of ribbons, and scraps of materials and edgings which I’ve known ‘will be useful one day’ and the great thing is their day is coming, well when I find the time. I didn’t really know I needed a new craft, but I’m happy I’ve found it!

I’m also commissioning MOH to make me a smaller sized frame, so that I can make smaller pieces and potentially use some of the crochet threads I’ve acquired over the years, but first on my list is to finish this one and to make complementary (and not necessarily matching) table mats to use.

Watch this space.

Starting my own floral fancy

As I said in my This January post I impulsively booked onto a workshop, and then wondered if I had the enough of the right skills and the right sewing stuff to do the ‘floral fancy’ panel justice (spoiler: I did) The workshop was run by Region 10 of the Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles (QGBI), and was taking place in a village about 15 minutes away from me - even better, I knew where the village was!

I needn’t have worried though as while there was quite a long list of stuff needed - some of which I didn’t have and so Amazon was my friend - I was told not to worry about the long list of stuff, but of course I did. The workshop itself was a fabulously creative, inspiring and friendly day, and I was so glad I went. I couldn’t decide between the two panels offered at the workshop, and opted to buy a kit for the material, so that was one less thing to worry about, though to be fair, I probably I could have sourced that from my craft room relatively easily. In the end there was only a kit left for the floral wreath, so the choice was made for me.

I did laugh though as when my Amazon parcel arrived MOH couldn’t help but wonder how I had a whole room of stuff and how I needed more, but as I said to him it wasn’t the right kind of stuff. Well, mostly anyway.

A stitch and flip background

The morning session consisted of assembling the background of the panel using a stitch and flip method, but before any sewing could be done I needed to cut and layout the background in a radial design, with the darker fabrics in the centre. This challenged me more than it should trying to get the different length fabrics (there’s three different lengths) from the fabric I had. Thankfully there were also some spares so I dipped into those, as I think did everyone else.

Despite trying to keep to the same layout, it seems that as I stitched and flipped at one point I must have flipped, stitched and flipped so one of my rows turned around. Of course I only noticed when I was way past sewing that strip, and so it stays. And to be honest this is the background so it’s not the focal point of my piece. So if anyone asks, you didn’t notice it.

After lunch the real creativity started

Having completed my background piece before lunch I had the whole afternoon for the most interesting part of the workshop, and that was the floral fancy. My floral fancy was the wreath version, though others were also making a vase of tulips (which was also gorgeous).

As we know all good wreaths start with greenery, and so did mine. I had several greens in my kit of material and so chose a selection of those and headed over to the Sizzix machines, which I’d not heard of before. Though I soon realised they were a die cutting machine for fabric, and worked very similar to my paper cutting die machine.

I choose two leaf dies and cut the designs randomly from my selection of greens, working on the theory that leaves aren’t all the same shape or colour, and the contrast of both would enhance my wreath.

And then I arranged them on a pencil circle line I’d drawn on my background, and rearranged, and faffed about with them some more until I was happy. Without my own fabric die cutting machine it was important to me to get all the cutting out done on the day, and that became my mission.

I cut five simple five petalled flowers from the fabrics that most appealed to me, and then realised they’d look better layered with the same shape offset in a complementing/contrasting fabric.

So back to my kit and I finally settled on the combination above - remembering to take a snap so I didn’t forget my choices!

After I’d added the flowers I realised they needed a middle, so I was back cutting various circles I could use from the offcuts, and then working out where they worked best.

It was good, but I thought it needed more flowers - and probably fatter flowers. So back I went to the die cutting machines again, though this time just taking three fabrics with me, reusing the bright pink material of the flower that’s at about 10pm in the photo above and below.

The fatter flowers also needed middles - and all of the middles for these were also cut from offcuts. Needless to say I spent a fair amount of time using those die cutting machines - and got everything I wanted cut out on the day. Though since the workshop I’ve decided I definitely need a Sizzix in my craft room - so I’ve been sussing them out online, and I’m planning to order one from Hobbycraft this week taking advantage of an online offer, and vouchers I seem to have accrued.

Finishing it off

With my design finalised and home safely (phew), this has definitely gone on my craft to do list to get finished. It won’t be a small job though as first I’ll need to dismantle it - I’ve already printed out a picture - and peel the bondaweb backing off each piece before ironing and stitching it into place. And that probably needs to be done in layers so the stitching builds up as you’d expect.

But I can’t wait (sort of). I’m keen to get going, but also keen not to mess it up! Though given that I wasn’t sure if I had the skills to get this far, I’m pretty certain I’ll be fine I just need to get on with it.

It was a great workshop and I left feeling really pleased I’d gone along as well as feeling like I’d really achieved something. It was also a really friendly and welcoming space so that helped too.

I also brought all the offcuts home as my plan is to make this into something bigger - I know running before I can walk again, but I’m aiming high, though I’m not sure just how high yet. I don’t want this panel to be a cushion cover, or a bag and I want it to live outside my craft room, so I’m thinking it would work as the central panel in a quilt for our spare room with more panels that complement it, but aren’t the same - that’s the bit that’s mulling over in my mind, and I think will continue to percolate for a while yet.

And anyway, I’ve plenty of other projects in mind before that - but keep an eye out on the progress I make with this one. This isn’t a project that’s going to sit in the cupboard I’m pretty sure of that.