I have managed a break between entertaining the g'kids and thought I'd better add some of the insects I've started. I have the yellow butterfly in stages here. I found it is easier to fill the wing before buttonholing the edge as it looks better. When I buttonholed first, it left the edge raised. I made a boo boo with the largest wing and covered the wire with yellow, so I went over it with black. It's a bit thicker than the underwing, but unless I hate it when I sew it onto the material, I will leave it as is. There are two flower wasp wings and a set of dragonfly wings also.

The second half has a rose spray at the top by Maxine and the other embellishments below this are mine.

Victorian Round Robin Block

I will have to post two pics of this block for Margaret as it's too large for the scanner. The first half is by Rosemary and Maxine.

Today I made two ladybirds and added them to the two spiders, bees, a lime green stink beetle, click beetle and a flower chafer beetle. The pattern gives no size for the beetles and I have made the chafer beetle a little small. It's easy to make another and I will also make it a more contrasting colour. Can you find it on the lower left leaf?

I made the butterfly, but I'm not happy with it and will make another - but not in black. It is hard to work black on black and being an aged old lady,I found this to be too difficult for my eyes. I feel one wing is longer than the other too.

I have pinned down the wire for the Butterfly and will oversew it before filling in the wings with long/short stitch. My least favourite method of infilling. I hope it is a clear picture. In this posting section it just looks black.

Today I worked the straight stitch wheat ears and then rinsed the material to get rid of all the blue markings. They were driving me nuts. I will be able to do the rest of the stems now.
I scanned this picture on an angle to get in most of the wheat.
While this is drying I will prepare the Common Eggfly Butterfly.

This is a pic of 'nony mouse' but it isn't me

This is a Bride Bag that I made last year as part of a Group Entry for the CWA. I elected to make it in 'crazy' and it had to be cream/white on white. I cheated a bit with tiny bullions of peach.

Here is the second picture of the insect project

Yesterday I started on a project I've been promising myself to make for over a year. The first picture is the one in the Embroidery & Cross stitch mag. The next is the cloth that I have painted and started to sew the stems on. It looks darker than it really is and there is more unpainted area that wouldn't fit into the scanner. Some blue marker lines are showing. I couldn't manage the very large frame it was supposed to be attached to, so I have sectioned it with tacking and hope I can keep it flat. The stumpwork insects are what will take time to do and as I get them made, will blog them.

Bonnet Poem

AN HEIRLOOM

A tiny square of linen
And a dainty edge of lace,
Designed into a bonnet,
To frame your baby’s face.

After baby’s worn it
Fold and tuck away...
And it becomes a hanky
For your daughter’s Wedding Day.

Or if the baby is a boy,
On the day he marries
This can be the “something old”
His joyful bride will carry.

Well I have made it this far and hope to be able to post Sarah's Hanky Bonnet as well. Sarah made this bonnet to enter our CWA competition for juniors and received 1st prize. She is as thrilled to have won, as she was to have lost a front tooth and have her eyebrow regrow after a fall. This has been a big week for her.
The bonnet pattern was from America and as far as I can tell, never seen in Victoria. I could be wrong. Maureen