November 2, 2014

In and Out of the comfort zone


I admit to being a traditionalist, a romantic, and lover of vintage, so it was a step out of the comfort zone to design a modern Christmas bag in non-traditional colours!  I was also on a time limit and I never do my best work when I'm under pressure. Most of the rest of my family thrive under the stress and rise to the occasion, but I'm the odd-man out - I need unflustered time!  

Anyway, the project was born and here is the "Bells are Ringing" Christmas bag in Handmade 32/12:


It's passable but not my best project! On the other hand, what I am working on this week is fast becoming my favourite. It was percolating during our overseas holiday and as soon as I arrived back, it was time to audition fabrics:


When I'm choosing colours, I look for one fabric that will tie everything together. That's the multi-coloured fabric in the centre. From there, it was easy to find tone-on-tone, stripes, checks, and small-scale prints that would match the blue, pink, burgundy, green and brown. I tend to stick to no more than four colours in a design, so the green was ousted. The brown will have a miniscule part in the project, but it was important that it be the right brown. 

I think it was this new design that did it - I now have my inspiration back! (... No sneak peaks of the project yet, but it's cute, gorgeous and adorable and I am loving it!)  It's taken a while to get back into the groove of crafting after a month away from it, but now I have designs swimming around in my head and I can't wait to work on them. 

I'm off to Creative Craft Retreat next weekend. It's always such a fantastic time and I am looking forward to teaching Hardanger and Silk Ribbon Embroidery. The project for the weekend is the Sweet Nothings pincushion and scissor keep:


I'm right back in my comfort zone:



I love the combination of the two genres. The colour of the silk ribbon embroidery gives so much life to the cream-on-cream of the Hardanger.


Now I had better go and put the finishing touches on the pattern!

Happy stitching, 
Val

4 comments:

gracie said...

Lovely new project....

Latane Barton said...

I love the pin cushion!! Wish I was in your class and could learn to do such beautiful work. Oh well.

KaHolly said...

Everything you do is wonderful, but the Hardanger and Silk Ribbon Embroidery is exquisite. I'd take your class in a heart beat! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful peeks at your work. I like the bag - I think a lot of people will make it because it won't take tons of time, but will be adorable and well received if given as a gift. Now I'm curious what those fabrics are making!