I had a viral illness all over the Christmas period, or perhaps, a severe bout of ‘man flu’! I really only began to feel better mid January. Mostly, sneezing, runny nose and, tired all the time with little energy for anything, and that included any productive thinking about my blanket and this post.
I eventually managed to heave myself out of the doldrums, and I began to think about what I needed to complete the stitching design on the blanket top. There are quite a few small areas that are a little threadbare, and some areas that have provided comfort for the odd moth or two as well. So, a plan was needed to cover as many of the holes as I could, while adding to the overall decorative effect at the same time.
I found an old woollen tea cosy on one of my charity shop trips, and this had some areas that were embroidered with a pretty floral design. Some areas had a little moth damage, and the wool embroidery area was really pretty, but was very grubby. I washed the tea cosy by hand in very cool water with a little liquid soap and some washing soda, with very gentle movement in the bowl. Following a little soak it was much brighter – same colour as my blanket! I was unsure how fast the dye of the embroidery wool would be, but it was ok, and only a very little dye run was visible.
I cut out the embroidered areas of the tea cosy, two large, and three smaller, and positioned them in place on the blanket, and moved them about until I was happy with the overall look. They were stitched down with a blanket stitch, and most of the threadbare areas of my blanket were covered.
Then I embroidered some random groupings of flowers in other areas on the blanket using different colours of floss. These were done in a lazy daisy stitch. I added french knots, or a satin stitch to the centre of the flowers. The floss I used is quite old, and it did not always agree with french knot making! Then I added some green stems using fly stitch.
I think the whole effect is quite pretty, and the overall effect of the felt and stitched corners works very well with the embroidery. I think I can call it done now, but I still need to put a backing on it to cover the workings on the reverse.
My photos are awfully large still, I have tried to make them smaller, so apologies.