Swathed in Stitch 9 - making lace with net

In my 'making lace with cotton scrim' post I told you that the looseness of the scrim meant that I had to add a lot of machine embroidering to give a surface that could be worked upon, using net is completely different. Even though the net is very fine (it's the thickness of a net you'd use for a wedding veil, as opposed to a thicker net that you'd use for a net underskirt), the net itself, is already a workable surface I could get away with using one layer of circular motion machine embroidery, giving the surface a lighter, delicate feel.

I'm using cotton perle 12 to do the embroidery on this piece, a thinker thread would add too much bulk. I'm starting with adding buttonhole lace around the holes. I'll then be adding french and bullion knots, before adding some tiny beads. This piece of lace will be mounted on silk and probably converted into a pillow top. As I am using fine thread, it'll probably take some time before this piece is finished, especially with the other things I'm working on too! But I'm not on a deadline so there's no hurry to complete it.

TTFN
Louise

Hanky cloth - hankies one and two finished

I've finished the embroidery on hankies one and two. They've also been damp-stretched (they were on the damp-stretching board when I photographed them, hence all the pins). As the hankies will be mounted onto the top of a backing fabric I didn't want any holes from damp-stretching on the actual hankies so a basted pieces of cotton around the edges to put the pins in.

TTFN
Louise

My birthday 2014

It was my birthday on Sunday (26th October). I received a large amount of cards from my Instagram and #Quiltypenpal friends to add to my family cards.

These last two also came with little presents.

I also received presents from my Mum and Dad and my sister and her husband.

The ones above came from my Mum and Dad.

These were from my sister and her husband.

I was a very lucky girl, wasn't I?

TTFN
Louise.