Rag quilt

I repaired a shirt for my grandfather and fitted some pants for my grandmother and as thanks, the sewing machine was welcome in their living room just a few days after Christmas Eve. (Normally, it's banished until the Christmas decorations come down in early January.).

So naturally, I grabbed the chance to do some sewing. I started on a skirt, but ran out of white thread in the middle of a storm. So I started another project - until I ran out of black thread and the stores weren't open. And a few projects later I sat there with a half-finished skirt, some corset-belt thingies and pieces for three vests, unable to continue on anything. Aughhh.

Luckily I remembered seeing this rag quilt. Since it's a rag quilt, it doesn't really matter what fabric or thread I use, and I found use for scrap fabric and some of the fabric I've held onto for far too long without having any tangible plans on what to do with it. (While I made a pillow from most of it, I had a few scraps from the Hobbit-inspired morning gown I started last year.)

My teachers (both professional seamstresses) would probably have had something to say about these raw edges. Hopefully it'll look better after washing and fraying.

For once, the wrong side looks pretty.

It's half-finished now and I'm hoping to finish it next time I'm home. I've sworn to myself that this will not turn into one of those projects I start when I'm at home and then forget/throw away/take apart/redesign/give away next time I'm back. (So if you could keep an eye on me during Easter so that I can't be sneaky and do any of those things, that would be very much appreciated.)

Viking embroidery: wolf contortionist

The wolf contortionists have been finished for a while. As this project was small enough to fit in my bag, I've taken it with me to school and embroidered in breaks or when taking the metro into town. (When I was going home one day, there was an elderly lady who sat down beside me to talk about embroidery.)

As usual, I've used woolen thread. The wheat-coloured thread comes from Skaar Tekstil, the rest is vintage, a gift from my grandmother. She had a lot of remnant thread lying around from when she embroidered national costumes in the 90's.

The motif is upside down in this pic. Oops.

The hardest part of an embroidery project is choosing colours. The vikings were colourful people, and personally I'm not. I think I should have chosen a stronger colour for the contouring?

I like keeping things tidy and this is acceptable. Later, I'm going to try another type of stitch,
that in theory will make the motif look the same on both sides.

Finished.