The first thing was that Lisa is a lovely girl, and I really enjoyed talking with her, sharing our similar loves of needlework, and expressing our horror of the same [...]]]> Yesterday Lisa, visiting from Canada, and I visited the Love Lace exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum here in Sydney. I had SUCH a wonderful time.

The first thing was that Lisa is a lovely girl, and I really enjoyed talking with her, sharing our similar loves of needlework, and expressing our horror of the same sorts of needlework disasters. I think we could both probably be described as needlework snobs! It was great to get to know Lisa better.

And the exhibition itself was really interesting. Parts of it were fascinating and inspiring, and parts of it were just plain weird! If you’re expecting the exhibition to just be pieces of lace, then you’ll be disappointed. (Though you can find that at the Powerhouse Museum in their excellent Lace Study Room.)

The first piece I saw from the exhibition was the Lacie Lorrie, an old rusty truck, with cutouts all over its chassis, creating a lacy effect. It was amazing, and really gave a taste for how unusual parts of the exhibition were going to be! The one that repulsed us the most was some bodily organs knitted out of human hair…

Amongst the weirdness though, there were some absolutely exquisite creations. Ones that come to mind were a set of lacy porcelain bowls, some felted dresses, a gorgeous white dress with hand-embroidered appliques from India, some beautiful Christening gowns from Canada, and some amazing jewellery. I LOVED the cyclone wire fencing panels with wire bobbin lace motifs worked into them. They were the last exhibit in the show, and they were simply amazing!

It is NOT a traditional lace exhibition, but it IS incredibly inspiring. DO go and see it if you have the chance. (You should have come with us!)

Thanks, Lisa, for suggesting we get together when you visited Sydney, and thanks for a lovely day!

Added later: links to images of each of the mentioned exhibits.

Because I have only just gotten my drivers licence, for the whole of last term, I was taking Rainbow Girl to gymnastics on the train each gym day, and then coming home to Elder Daughter, [...]]]> I told you that I probably wouldn’t post this week, however, for Christmas I received a particularly special gift.

Because I have only just gotten my drivers licence, for the whole of last term, I was taking Rainbow Girl to gymnastics on the train each gym day, and then coming home to Elder Daughter, who spent the intervening time with friends or relatives.

It turns out that she and my mother had embarked upon a project for me for Christmas. All of it was Elder Daughter’s making (except the final construction, as they ran out of time, so my mother constructed it).
So on Christmas morning I was presented with a very pretty hand-embroidered cushion. The design was my daughter’s, and I think it is gorgeous. The colour scheme was my daughter’s, chosen to go with our lounge, and it works beautifully. The embroidery was my daughter’s, and it is very well done.

I was quite overwhelmed with the amount of thought, time, care and love that went into the cushion. I am very proud of my daughter and her creativity! And thanks also to my mum!

The [...]]]> I had been planning on entering my Portuguese Whitework tablecloth in the Arts and Crafts section of next year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show. It is the embroidery that I have been most proud of in a very long time, and therefore wanted to show it off and see how it went in open competition.

The schedule for the competition was released last week, and on reading it, I had a very terrible realisation: the show is on at exactly the same time that I will be at Beating Around the Bush in Adelaide. The plan is that I will have the book for sale there, and will have a big display of projects from the book at the Village Fair market day. My tablecloth can’t be in two places at once!

I guess that if I could take some REALLY REALLY REALLY good pictures of the tablecloth I could have them enlarged and on display at BATB, and the tablecloth at the Royal Easter Show. But the tablecloth is so absolutely stunning that I’d really love for people to be able to see it in person…

The first thing would be to work on getting some good photos, and then decide.

Some weeks ago Rainbow Girl started at a new gymnastics program. Its a bit further from home than our previous gym, and means we have more car time.

We were driving to pick her up one evening a few weeks ago, and chatting as we drove along. Going [...]]]> Let me tell you a little story.

Some weeks ago Rainbow Girl started at a new gymnastics program. Its a bit further from home than our previous gym, and means we have more car time.

We were driving to pick her up one evening a few weeks ago, and chatting as we drove along. Going through a little valley, one of the houses on our right had its front curtains closed. The side ones were open though, and through the side window I spied…

…a deer.

A full sized, taxidermied deer.

We were a bit shocked (no, quite shocked and very surprised), and on our way back, my husband stopped at the kerb so that he could get a better look, and confirm that I was not seeing things.

Earlier this week, on the same trip, I realised that above the front curtains (there’s a gap above – sounds strange, but makes sense when you see it) I could see another antler. Another very slow journey past revealed that there is not one, but two taxidermied deer in their living room. And we have seen the family sitting quietly there in the evening, amongst the wildlife. Obviously it is completely normal for them.

Imagine my pleasure, therefore, on finding a wonderful blog a few days ago Anatomically Incorrect Creatures, featuring cute handsewn “taxidermied” creatures. Bree, aka The Creature Specialist mounts hers onto wooden backboards, as taxidermied heads often are. I wonder if she’ll ever do a range of full-sized stand alone living room animals?

For even more fun, you can also find Anatomically Incorrect Creatures on Facebook and on Etsy.

While the range [...]]]> Following on from yesterday’s discussion of my favourite threads, I’d like to have a bit of a whinge. For me, the holy grail of thread is a good red. Whenever I see a new (new to me) range of threads, I look to see their reds. Quite often, they are very lacking.

While the range of pinks, blues and greens is often excellent, very often the reds leave a lot to be desired. When I found Cosmo Seasons threads earlier this year, I was not surprised to find that their selection of reds is rather lacking. Their greens, blues, pinks and even browns are great, but red… where is it?

Now, I understand why this probably is: red is hard to make colourfast.

But I want good reds! Red is probably my favourite colour, and I like to use it in my stitching (except in whitework – obviously!). I’m not a fan of fire-engine or orangey reds. I’m more your blood red, a bit dark, a bit brownish red type girl. Reds that are heading towards maroon, or cherry reds, with a bit of pink in them.

(Mind you, I hate pink – partly legacy of wearing a pink school uniform, but then I never liked pink before that either!)

In the DMC range, my favourite red is probably found in the 814, 815, 816 area. Yum! Years ago I designed some little ornaments which used DMC 75, which was a really nice red/maroon variegated thread. But almost as soon as I had liked this thread, they discontinued it! And so instead I had to swap to DMC 115, which isn’t *quite* as nice!

Are you stuck on red like me? What is your favourite red thread? (And is it colourfast?!)

For me, perle thread is probably my all time favourite thread. That’s because it has a nice [...]]]> I was thinking this morning about what my favourite thread is. Much of the time I think this depends a lot on the purpose for which you want it. Different types of threads are suitable for different projects.

For me, perle thread is probably my all time favourite thread. That’s because it has a nice shine, is a non-divisible thread, and is available in a range of weights and colours. Of course I like using it for Hardanger, but also Portuguese whitework, and freestyle embroidery. If you give me a choice between perle thread and stranded floss in the same colour scheme, I’ll choose the perle version over the stranded floss version any day.

Gorgeous Stitches and Spice silk wound onto cardboard tubes

I also do like DMC’s Color Variations threads. They have a great range of colours. And Cosmo Seasons have lovely colours, at a great price.

I recently received a set of Dinky Dyes silks. They are gorgeous, but I have yet to explore them properly. I just haven’t had time (what a surprise!) but I am looking forward to doing this in the future.

They’re some of the threads I like to use. What threads do you love, and why?

I wanted to ask whether the 8 inch is the one you find best to use. I looked up White threads again, and saw that you said you can order in other sizes. I have inflammatory arthritis in a number [...]]]> Yesterday I had an enquiry about the wonderful embroidery hoops with stands that I sell:

I wanted to ask whether the 8 inch is the one you find best to use. I looked up White threads again, and saw that you said you can order in other sizes. I have inflammatory arthritis in a number of my finger joints (and problems with other vertebrae) and presently use a 4 inch hoop (no stand). I must say I like the idea of the wider hoop, I thought you said once you also have back problems, so hopefully the hoop makes life easier. Have you used the hoop plus stand successfully when sitting on a low lounge chair as well as on a firm upright chair? I know you said the height was adjustable, so hopefully this allows both. Are these made in Australia?

My answer:
I use hoops that are either 7inch or 8inch (I have both). I have an 11inch (I think!) that I use occasionally. I too prefer smaller rather than larger hoops. Having a stand will mean you don’t have to reach around the side of your hoop to hold it (as you are probably currently doing with your 4 inch hoop). This will probably help your arthritis immensely – having the stand to hold your hoop instead of your hands. Even without arthritis, I find that holding a hoop really stiffens up my hand and makes it sore.

With both hands free, you can keep them both moving more, and also access the entire hoop much more easily. So it doesn’t need to be quite so small as you’re obviously used to.

Yes, I use the stand successfully on our lounge, my office chair, dining room chairs, train seats, swimming pool spectator benches… you name it! It works on them all, and yes, as you say you can move the height up and down.

They are not made in Australia. I think they are German. They are lovely smooth wood – very good quality.

I hope that might answer some of *your* questions too, about these lovely embroidery hoops with stands. I use mine as often as I can, as it is such a pleasure to use. I will have these hoops and stands with me at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour from June 22-26, so you can see them for yourself, and even see me using one. If I happen to run out of stock because they’re so popular, I’ll happily take an order for you and post it to you after the show.

If you ever have any questions about the products we sell here at Vetty Creations, please contact me with your questions. I’ll be only too happy to answer!

We were talking about the Portuguese embroidery and the linen that [...]]]> I had a lovely trip to The Crewel Gobelin yesterday. I took my Portuguese embroidery to show them (they oohed and aahed appropriately!), and my current embroidery to find the perfect thread for it. I found a lovely Gloriana silk which will work beautifully.

We were talking about the Portuguese embroidery and the linen that Margaret will need to stock for it. She likes to be very organised, seeing the book’s not going be out for some time yet! She suggested we have a look through what she had in stock to see if any of it would be suitable.

Now, at The Crewel Gobelin, all of the back wall is covered with bolts of linen and similar such fabrics. But that’s not where Margaret took me… she took me over to some drawers, opened them up and showed me a veritable treasure trove! I had NO IDEA that she had those drawers full of “special” linens! I asked why I had never known that they were there. She said, “you never asked.” I replied, “I didn’t know they were there to ask about!”

In these drawers she had bisso linen (a gossamer linen that has to be seen to be believed), linen cambric (I didn’t know such things still existed!), ecclesiastical linen, lots of legacy linen in different weights, and other rapturous stuff! Oh, it was pure delight! Many of the fabrics I recognised as ones that Mary Corbet has talked about in her wonderful descriptions of the linens she loves to use.

I still can’t believe that she’d never shown me these gorgeous linens before. I am the sort of person who would rather pay $$ for beautiful stuff like that than stoop to using boring linen like Zweigart… I just find Zweigart linens very ho hum.

I told Margaret that I was going to blog about it, because others need to know about these gorgeous linens as well. So, if you’re ever visiting Sydney’s northern suburbs, do drop in and see my good friends Margaret, Gill, Julie and Lyn at The Crewel Gobelin and ASK them about their drawers of gorgeous “secret” linen!