Birthday Present

I really enjoyed making the brown paper embroidery boxes recently so, when I needed a birthday present for my sister, I decided to do the same thing, but this time using a craft wood box as the base and with a leaf shape:

I also added a hand-painted scarf and some chocolates to the box. Unfortunately, this isn't a great photo but, as the scarf is now in Brisbane, I couldn't try to get a better photo:

Black & White

Earlier this year, I made two black evening bags. The first one, with the shaped flap and button detail, was for myself:

  

I didn't have a specific reason for making the second one, which is decorated with machine stitching with a variegated thread (black/grey/white), but it soon found a home:

 

More recently, we attended a White Party, where all the guests were asked to dress in white. So, back to my sewing machine and I made the Japanese knot bag for myself:

And a different bag for my daughter-in-law:

I also made a gift for the White Party host - I wonder if he'll ever work out that the decoration is actually a birthday message:

 

Brown Paper, String & Sealing Wax

These interesting looking boxes are decorated with stitching on brown paper, based on an article by Jane Wild in Stitch wit the Embroiderers' Guild (No. 33). First, I crumpled the paper and then ironed it onto fusible interfacing. After doing some simple embroidery with perle thread, I glued the embroidery to the top of the painted papier mache box. I then used patinating wax, guilding cream and highlight waxes to complete them.