Some of the Breckland Artists' followers may have wondered what happened to my Garden Gate Quilt! I have finally tacked down the gate itself, (see photos below), decided what to do about the finials and now have to decide whether to hand stitch the gate down or machine it.
I use a great deal of thread, mainly cotton in my work and must have several hundred reels. I am fortunate enough to have 2 vintage shop fitment cabinets and 2 vintage open cotton reel holders to store (some of) them. The rest are mainly in biscuit tins!
People often ask what sort of thread I use. I prefer pure cotton and greatly regret the demise of Sylko which I consider the best quality thread ever. However it lasts for many years and I do have many reels of it. I generally prefer matt thread to shiny, which tends to be synthetic, but I do use it from time to time. I rarely use gold or silver thread although I did use gold on a clergy stole I made.
The other pictures show a small piece of work in progress on the sewing machine
and the back of the same piece. It will be either framed or backed so no one
will ever see it!
The other photo shows fabrics I have dyed or painted being compared with some
colour sketches to see if they have come out the shades I intended.
Tack stitching in Garden Gate quilt.
Vintage thread storage
Section from Garden Gate quilt.
Embroidery work on sewing machine
Back of floral stitching.
comparing fabrics to hand painted designs.