What do you do with all your bits and pieces of embroidery?

[Angela]

I've seen so much lovely embroidery to inspire me since I have joined SF. My problem is I am a very practical person. Over the years I have given away almost everything I have made. I like to make things that are useful or that decorate useful things. I see so many lovely small embroidery pieces and samplers, especially on the TAST challenge, and I wonder what kinds of things do you do with your work so that it doesn't end up hidden away with the UFOs?

[Margaret]

Like you Angela I struggle with what to do and where to pur things I make.Have run out of wall space and now have more cushions than I know what to do with, the ones on my bed just get thrown on the floor at bedtime! I also make silly little things, mini bags etc which I put in a big bowl which sits in th dinning room table.Humbug shaped cushions overflow on top of dispay cabinets along with biscornu cushions.Because I love stitching and live on my own with very litle contact with the outside world! I spend more time stitching and reading stitch books than doing anything else and recently decided to make a few quilted pouches which I can store all sorts of things in, unfortunately now spend time searching for bits and pieces as cannot remember which pouch they are in!! UFO`s are not a problem apart from the pieces of embellishing fabric I have made, still do not know how to complete them. 

[Salmah Salim]

I make the TAST stitches on small embroidery pieces that I can use as gifts for friends and family members. Regards, Salmah.

[Elaine Wilding]

Some of them I frame and hang on the wall others I making into small gift bags. And some I make into pin cushions. I thought it would be fun to make a basket of them for the coffee table for a conversation piece something interesting to look at. Happy Easter and of course Happy Stitching to you all

[Connie Kusevskis]

I give some away as gifts and I also sell quite a few, it pays for my expensive addiction to Hardanger.

[Linda Stokes]

I'm a machine embroiderer rather than a hand stitcher, but I have a box that I put all my experimental bits in and I use them in other work or for bags, book covers etc. which I sell. Also great for cards, gift tags etc.

[Grace Lister]

Margaret.  Join the club.  I have been embroidering for so many years that like you the house is overflowing with pieces.  I have sold quite a few for charity but those have to be displayed for buyers and unless you are willing to take stalls at shows it is difficult to find an outlet.  For some years I sold mainly embroidered cards at a local fair but this became such a chore (I was embroidering day and night for six months prior to the fair) and also as I became older I found the task of being behind the stall all day too much.  Like you, the storage is a problem too.  I had a lovely new workroom fitted with shelves and boxes a couple of years back, but unless you carefully file the things in the right boxes you still can't find them and my room is overflowing again.  I do give away some things but seem to make more and more especially as I give local workshops and have to make samples for those.  It is a never ending problem.  Any ideas anyone?

[Elaine Wilding]

I also sell some of my stuff on etsy.com it is alot of fun. It gives me an outlet for my creativity. hugs Elaine

[kris kopsell]

I have a crazy quilt I am working on so anything can be added in. I even use bitts and pieces of FSL That had problems to add as accents or I have added them to towels. If they are small glue them on a card. You can always make them into a potholder for the next wedding shower or bithday present.

[Elaine Wilding]

Great ideas Kris.

[ANNA KOUSI]

I usually do practical things, too. Table runners, cushions etc. It is a tradition here in Greece  when one of your children gets married to give him or her a lot of pieces of embroderie!!!! Well that's an old tradition but I do have embroderie and crocheted pieces from my mother, grandmother, even some from favorite aunts! So I intent to give the most of them to my children and my nephews!!!

I also give as presents some of them!  Everyone seems to appreciate handmade work and consider that nowadays it is very random for greek women to do any embroderie at all!!!

For the Tast, I am making small pieces but every 13 stitches they make a table cloth! Not big but perfect for my kitchen table! The first one is allready stitched but I have to do the finishing.

Finally, the boxes and the space is a major problem for me!!!! I try to keep everything well arranged -into drowers for the finished projects and  into boxes under my bed for fabric and thread- and keep my list of ufo's low (this is very very hard!!!).

Oh, consider that I knit too!

[Mummsie]

I try to implement mine into my crazy quilting. Someties it winds up being my "spring board" for a theme. I also use any threads ends or "frogging" (work you rip  rip out) and anything goes!!

[Sally Hutson]

Hello I have just joined SF and this a perfect question for me to jump into. I did my City and Guilds Stitched Textiles years ago now and had files of samples of zillions of embroidery ( hand , machine, quilting, gold work, black work - you name it and I had it ) techniques- what to do with them. I have since become a Textiles teacher so have used some in my teaching but there were  still piles of them. 

Last year I had a major exhibition of my work ( about 30 pieces that I made for the Cloth Collection exhibition- which was so exciting to see all my work on display) and decided to do something with all my samples. But of course over 4 years of doing the City and Guilds , they were all different colours and types of fabrics, a right mish mash of stuff and would have looked awful put together. 

So I got really arty - joined them all together in a crazy patchwork kind of way and then - here comes the scary bit- applied the joined large piece to a huge canvas and PAINTED over the lot!!!!!

All of the hours of work in doing the samples ( some of which were really beautiful and some really ugly) were now one cohesive piece. Layers of acrylic paint later (applied with a roller)  and the whole piece had become a new art work , ready to hang in my exhibition. Although you couldn't see the original stitched fabrics  you could see the textures and shapes.There is lots of depth and interest in the work.  I had lots of comments on the piece although it didn't sell and now hangs in my hallway.  

A fun but scary thing to do - give it a try on a small framed canvas, you will be surprised at your artistic talents. 

I have put some pics up on my photos page.