Tapestry picture

This project was done with a kit available from http://www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk/  I am a Quaker and know about the Quaker Tapestry as it was started at my Meeting in Taunton.  I wanted to make something special for an art exhibition in Taunton Library which was a collection of works by local Quakers.  This kit depicts a Quaker wedding ceremony.  As my husband and I had a Quaker wedding I chose this very famous image to stitch. The stitch used is called Quaker Stitch.

Knitted Flower

Cast on 99 stitches, thicker yarn and larger needles will create a larger flower,
kn1t 1 and cast off nine stitches, repeat until the end.

With the remaining stitches thread a darning needle and pull the wool through.  The result is a small knitted flower that can be used to decorate knitted hats or baby cardigans or felted bags. Here it is used on a card with a cropped piece of silk painting.

Keepsake book

This is a very feminine project but quite easy.

You will need

• 1 piece of felt
• old lace or embroidery anglaise
• ribbon
• Acrylic paints
• beads

Method

Cut a piece of felt the size of the book you require.  Lay the lace on top and then go over this with the machine using the embroidery foot to catch down the lace.

When you have done this paint the lace side with acrylic paint.

to make the book stitch leaves of paper inside.

To finish make a double length of ribbon to go around your book and overlap a loop.  Stitch this down

Finally decorate the acrylic painted cover with beads and small ornaments such as sequins. You will find that it is still easily stitchable but the result makes a very pleasing and pretty book cover.

Hot Ribbon Art

This is a cheat way of applique.  First of all I got the pattern for this design from a paper bag.  Often you will see lovely designs on paper that is intended to be thrown away.  I got a black and white fabric and reversed the fabric for the applique and used black and gold applique ribbon.  I made the resulting piece into a book cover.

Heart shaped gift bag and card

This is a simple project that makes a nice small gift and matching card. It requires some forethought to colour coordinate.You will need:

Sheer fabric

ribbon

base fabric

felt

sequins and beads

• Photocopy the base fabric onto white card I have used an old skirt that I liked
• Using a toning fabric make a small bag which is a long piece of fabric edged and then folded into three.
• Attach ribbons to close
• Using a felt heart( To make a heart shape fold a piece of paper in half and draw half a heart ensuring accuracy) Use the heart template to cut out the felt.
• Decorate the felt piece with sequins and beads and attach to the front piece of the bag.
• To make the matching card ( It is possible to make more than one card from the photocopy)  Cut the card to the required size and then I have kept up the theme of three and folded the outside edges of the card to the centre making a three fold card.
• Using sticky pads attach a piece of ribbon to the outside of the card and attach the ribbon underneath and then attach a small piece of decorative piece on top.
• This allows the ribbons to close the card.

Chinese book with greetings

Hello Fellow Crafters,

This is a relatively simple craft project and one that is an unusual card for someone special.

• Firstly print a greeting and insert photos onto a piece of A4 paper on landscape mode, the fold this into a concertina shape
• measure your first page of the concertina and make two mount board pieces slightly larger
• cover these with a pretty paper I used handmade paper
• make two little slits into the centre of one of them and thread through enough ribbon to go around the book twice
• thread this through leaving the ends on the outer side.
• now stick the first and last page of the concertina onto the mount board.
• Finally close the book and wrap the ribbon around twice.

• It sould fit nto a foolscap envelope for postage.