Amanda J Sheridan - Parasol Arts

Moving ....

2011-07-17T12:49:00.007+01:00

During this enforced hiatus, I've been creating my own website at:-

www.ParasolArts.co.uk

It's still a work in progress but all new posts will appear there in future. Please come and visit me there soon!

Hiatus

2011-02-20T10:14:00.002Z

Hiatus (noun) - a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc

After the year began so well, it was followed by the news that I am being made redundant from the day job on 18th March 2011 after eight and a half years. So, a hiatus in blogging while I figure out what happens next.

Back soon - hopefully.....

The Big Day

2011-01-18T18:27:00.001Z

Hard on the heels of the hen weekend was, of course, the big day itself. Being an events organiser by profession, Kelly, the bride, left absolutely nothing to chance and everything went like clockwork - it was a lovely day and both bride and groom looked really happy.

I splashed out and bought a new outfit in black and shocking pink which, of course, needed a matching bag.

And everyone was completely captivated by flower fairy, Grace - none more so than her doting Nana!

Finally time to draw breath

2011-01-17T17:55:00.006Z

Phew! It's been non-stop for what seems like weeks here but I think I may finally have the time to stop and draw breath and show you what the 'hens' produced weekend before last. I'd prepared three different samples of fabric flowers for them to choose from. There were lots of doubtful faces at the beginning of the session but I think they were all delighted with the results which were worn with best frocks on Saturday evening when we enjoyed canapes and champagne served by a butler in the buff!!!

Briefly back ....

2010-12-28T14:54:00.004Z

Just a quick post to show you the main reason why I've been so quiet here lately. You may remember this previous post about Mum's hexagon quilt. Well, three kilometres (!) of thread and much swearing later I finally finished it on Christmas Eve. She was so pleased, it immediately went on the bed.

Off to Northumberland again for New Year - hope the weather isn't as bad as last year and we have another awful journey like this one. As soon as we get back, I have a crafting session to run for about 17 'hens' at my niece's hen weekend. Hopefully, I can then get back to some stitching for myself.

Happy New Year!

So little time ...

2010-11-28T09:04:00.001Z

I'm afraid there won't be much blogging this side of Christmas - lots of sewing projects that are gifts to finish and already I feel like I'm running out of time! Normal service will be resumed in 2011.....

Alchemy indeed ....

2010-11-10T16:55:00.006Z

I bought this book earlier in the year, fully intending to experiment in the summer when nature is at its most abundant, but, as always, life got in the way. I was talking about the book to my friend Helen last week ,who just happened (as you do!) to have a container of frozen elderberries in her freezer that she kindly donated to me. So today, rather than get on with the household chores, and having been reading India and Arlee's blogs, I decided to play.

The elderberries, contained in the foot of a popsock and still frozen, were immersed in water in my copper dyeing pot and, very slowly, heated on the stove until barely simmering. While this was going on, I pre-mordanted various different types of cotton fabric in diluted soy milk. In an ideal world, the fabric should have been pre-mordanted, drip dried and left to 'cure' before being dyed but the berries were already on the go before I read that page!

When the dye bath had a good bit of colour to it, I decanted some into an empty coffee jar, scrunched in a bit of the soy mordanted cotton and that is destined to sit on the kitchen windowsill to see what will happen to it in the next few weeks. (all the colours in the photos on this post are much brighter in real life - had to use the flash as it's so grey and gloomy today)

The rest of the cotton (bar one piece that wouldn't fit in but more of than later) was immersed in the dye pot:-

then heated back to almost simmering and left for an hour.

This is what I ended up with:-

The pieces seem to have taken the dye differently - the muslin is much darker than the recycled cotton sheet - and I think a bit of polycotton has inadvertently slipped in as one piece of fabric is very pale. Anyway, I'll leave it all in the dye pot for as long as possible to steep. It'll then be drip dried and left for a few days before rinsing and we'll see what I end up with.

So, that last bit of mordanted cotton - what to do with it? Common sense said to let it dry and cure so I'd have something all ready for dyeing in the future but I was on a roll and wanted colour on that cloth today! Outside I went and gathered some of the fallen leaves from the garden, spread them on the cloth and then rolled it up tightly and secured it with elastic bands. A bit of unmordanted, dampened cotton got the same treatment, as did a piece of habotai silk (but with more carefully placed leaves from the Acer palmatum atropurpureum in the garden). Break out the so-far-unused-but-now-dedicated-to-dyeing electric steamer!

After an hour's steaming, this is what I had:-

Just look at the colour and patterns from the Acer leaves on that silk!

Now I have to be patient and leave the bundles alone, still tightly wrapped, until I can't stand the suspense any longer!

Alchemy indeed......

Inspirational 'fodder'

2010-11-09T12:02:00.001Z

Another thing Mum gave me was this - the book of the BBC TV series and it’s full of great photos. Visitors to this blog may have noticed my attraction to this type of photography (see links at the bottom of the page). I’ve used aerial pictures before to inspire a textile piece and this book has lots more ‘fodder’ for me to use at some point.

Appliglue

2010-11-07T11:48:00.001Z

Another discovery amongst Mum’s ‘stash’ was this box of Appliglue. I remember Mum and I went to a Hobbycrafts exhibition at the NEC at least 20 years ago where she bought it so it’s really old but, having opened several of the bottles, it still seems quite usuable. No doubt I'll find an opportunity for testing it out at some point.

Make do and mend

2010-11-05T12:19:00.001Z

In today's 'disposable' world, the idea of mending has long since disappeared from most people's minds but it's not so long ago that worn clothes would be patched, darned or otherwise mended rather than be thrown away. Unpacking the many boxes and bags that came home with me from Mum's, I found these cards of thread which were used for "reinforcing and mending".

And these which would have been used for mending stockings - can you imagine mending your tights today?

And this unopened pack of needles

Flora MacDonald was a trademark of Abel Morall Ltd (later to become Aero Needles) first registered in 1905. The picture is based on on portrait painted by Allan Ramsay.

Do you know what this is?

2010-11-03T13:02:00.002Z

Do you know what this is?

It's a peg loom - one of the five that Mum found in my stepdad's workshop (which he made) that she's passed on to me. I already have a very large one (a metre wide) that he made for me a few years ago upon which I made an incredibly soft hearth rug. The one in the photo is about 12 inches wide - there's two this size, plus three more that are about 3 inches longer. If you know of anyone who'd like one and who could collect from me in Norwich, leave a comment on this post.

More books

2010-11-01T12:57:00.003Z

As you may have seen in my last post I've been making covers for some sketchbooks that had been donated to our Embroiderers' Guild branch.

I've done quite a few more since but, stupidly, forgot to take photos of some before delivering them to the Guild. Here are three that I did remember to photograph.

This is the front of one:-

And the back:-

And two more:-

Stitching for the Guild

2010-10-30T16:37:00.003+01:00

Another four sketch/note books done for the Embroiderers' Guild stall at the Textile and Bead Fair tomorrow. Held twice a year at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, there's lots to see (and buy!) so why not come along? Doors open at 10am.

Downsizing

2010-10-30T15:23:00.001+01:00

Mum decided to apply for a place in a sheltered housing complex now she's on her own. Places don't come up very often and are allocated on a 'points' system so we weren't expecting her to be offered anything anytime soon. How wrong can you be! After only a couple of weeks on the waiting list, she was offered, and accepted, a lovely little flat in a complex right in the centre of town.

Next step was to put her bungalow up for sale. Lo and behold, it was snapped up by a cash buyer before the ink was dry on the sale particulars! So, it was then all systems go on sorting out what she wanted to keep and what had to go. I spent a few days helping her to sort out the contents of her loft and came home with a car full of her craft supplies and it's taken me about three weeks to marry her stash with mine.

One of the things she's passed on to me is this (sorry about the poor photo):-

Together with all these:-

And this book:-

With the passing comment, "It would be nice if you could finish this in my lifetime". She's 75 (bless her) so no pressure there then!

Ally Pally Day 2

2010-10-28T12:53:00.000+01:00

The second day at the Knitting & Stitching show was spent doing workshops with Jan Beaney in the morning, when we made a small handstitched sample based on a photograph of a garden. Here’s mine:-

In the afternoon, Jean Littlejohn ran a workshop with a difference. We each had to pick a number from 1 to 6, then, based on the number we chose, we were allocated a stitch (mine was Roumanian Couching). Using different types and weights of thread/wool etc, we made a grid using our allocated stitch and then filled in the spaces of the grid, again ONLY using our allocated stitch. It really made us stretch our skills, take a closer look at how stitches can be used and we ended up with a useful stitch sample to refer to in future - at least, that was the idea but I’ve turned my workroom upside down and I can’t find my sample!

Stunning views

2010-10-26T12:11:00.001+01:00

Rather than travel home and back again between the two days I spent at the Knitting and Stitching Show, I begged a bed for the night from my niece and her fiance. I’d never visited their lovely little flat in London’s Docklands and was completely unprepared for the stunning views. The photos were taken at night (obviously!) and the balcony at the front looks out over St Katherine’s Dock towards Tower Bridge:-

While the view from the kitchen window is of the tall buildings at Canary Wharf.

Better late than never

2010-10-24T15:10:00.006+01:00

My first day at the Knitting & Stitching Show was spent in admiring the exhibits, chatting to friends and, of course, shopping.

I didn't have enough hands to take photos but I particularly enjoyed the Julia Caprara retrospective amongst the wealth of stunning work on display. Ally Pally is definitely the best show of the whole year for me.

So, what did I buy? Mainly books this year - the new one from Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn called 'Stitchscapes' (and the accompanying CD too), 'Drawn to Stitch' by Gwen Hedley and 'Art Cloth' by Jane Dunnewold. Some lovely wool from the Colinette stand came home with me too, along with numerous threads and other bits and pieces that I just couldn't resist. And I finally bought a screen from Thermofax:-

I intend putting this to good use as I continue with the Waterscapes themed work started in Jean's workshop that I took earlier this year at Broadland Arts Centre.

September catch up

2010-09-20T17:14:00.010+01:00

Last time I posted, I was getting ready for my holiday in St Cirq Lapopie, which is a beautiful village in the Lot Valley in France. I did manage to make myself a new bag before we went and it came in very useful.

It already seems ages ago that we were soaking up the sun and relaxing in the lovely garden of our rented house. While we were there, I had intended to work on Gina's Sketchbook Project but I got a bit sidetracked into doing some close examination of the leaves in the garden - drawing, painting, printing and stencilling:-

I got a bit obsessed with the fern image and it may well form the basis of a stitched piece in future.

The day after we returned from holiday, we attended some friends' wedding and I made a pair of cushions as a wedding gift. (mental note to self - avoid velvet and taffetta when possible in future!)

Here's one side:-

and here's the other:-

And lastly, our EG branch had half a dozen sketchbooks donated to be used as raffle prizes and I've volunteered to make removable covers for them. Here's the first one finished:-

Sharpies, alcohol and the next generation

2010-08-18T19:24:00.006+01:00

Today I've been messing about with Sharpie permanent marker pens. I had a boring white t-shirt that needed a bit of livening up ready for my holiday next week so, after stretching it over a frame to stop any ink seeping through the front onto the back, I just doodled.

Then the serendipity bit - applying isopropyl alcohol, drop by drop, with a pipette. This is what I ended up with:-

On a completely different subject, my 7 year old nephew, Finley (on the right):-

was obviously inspired by his stitched portrait as my sister sent me this photo today:-

I understand it's going to be an England flag and he's going to do a little bit every day. Although he loves to draw and paint, I think this is the first time he's ever tried his hand at embroidery. I'm so chuffed he wants to emulate his Aunty.

A lovely day

2010-08-16T17:06:00.005+01:00

Today is my youngest sister's birthday but we had an early celebration yesterday with lunch for most of the family at her house. Grace came too and had a lovely time playing in the garden.

Cutting the grass

On the swing

Stroking Bert the chicken

Bouncing on the big trampoline

And learning to do 'head over heels'

I know, as a doting Nana, I'm biased, but isn't she gorgeous.

And in case you're wondering where the sewing is in this post, here's my sister with the portrait of her two boys that I stitched for her birthday gift.

We had a lovely day!

Deja vu ...

2010-08-13T18:49:00.003+01:00

Last Christmas I made a bag for each of the eleven females on my present list. They were based on a pattern I found here which I adapted to make a bigger version. They were a huge hit with the recipients and were easy to make but by after churning out eleven on the trot, I never wanted to make another one again.

For some reason, I didn't get round to taking any decent photos of any of them so didn't write about them here then - but I'm about to put that right!

My niece, Kelly, has a friend who's been admiring her bag. It's the friend's birthday very soon which prompted a plea to Aunty, "Would you make another one please?"

So, here's one side:-

And here's the other:-

One day I might even get round to making one for myself.....

In Print!

2010-08-10T17:54:00.006+01:00

I was so excited when the postman brought me this yesterday!

It's my advance copy of Marion Barnett's latest book, "Exquisite Evolon" and on this page:-

and this page

is some of my work!

I was thrilled to be asked by Marion to be one of the artists featured in the Gallery section. She gave us all some Evolon to play with and it's really interesting to see the diversity of the results.

If you've not come across Evolon before, you can find out what it is at the Spunart website (there's more of Marion's work there too). This little gem of a book gives you all the 'how to' (and the how not to!) information you'll need for dyeing, colouring, printing, heat distorting and stitching this lovely soft synthetic fabric.

"Exquisite Evolon" will be launched at The Festival of Quilts show at the NEC, Birmingham later this month - you can get a copy for yourself at the Colourcraft stand (No G3 ) if you're planning to visit - or from Marion after the show.

Not the Tank Engine Thomas

2010-07-24T15:10:00.000+01:00

We're off to Dundee for a couple of days soon as John is to be godfather to our nephew Thomas. He's a lovely baby as you can see:-

I wanted to make something a little different as a gift, so, using the photograph as reference, I hand-stitched this portrait.

Once it's framed, I think his parents will be quite pleased. And yes, I know it's green. Black looked too harsh so, after auditioning umpteen different coloured threads, I decided that I liked green the best. Or maybe I'm just odd .......

Water, water, everywhere ...

2010-07-23T16:52:00.006+01:00

Back in this post, I mentioned I was going on a two day course with Jean Littlejohn at Broadland Arts Centre. I finally got round to taking some photos of the work I did there, and some other bits around the same "Waterscapes" theme that I've done subsequently.

First, a couple of (bad) watercolour pencil sketches of reflections/patterns in a river:-

And a painting of swimming pool reflections that I did with Koh-i-Noor dye-based watercolours, left to dry and then drawn on with a cocktail stick dipped in bleach.

Here are some of the small pieces I've stitched:-

So definitely water everywhere but none that can be drunk!

Vision East

2010-07-15T15:29:00.002+01:00

It's been a bit quiet on this blog of late but I have been busy stitching as you will see.

Last Saturday was the Embroiderers' Guild Eastern Regional Day at Letchworth and you could have knocked me down with a feather when I was given this!

It took a big nudge from Dilys, our Branch Chair, before I realised they'd called out my name and to get me out of my seat to receive my certificate from Anthea Godfrey, judge and national EG Chair, and have my photo taken.

The full title of the competition was "Vision East - from Aldeburgh to the Orient - any dream will do" so I put my thinking cap on and came up with my entry entitled "East London Vision" which you can see below.

It's a double layered wall hanging 80cms by 40 cms - the upper, free floating,'dreamy' layer is made of hand dyed, appliqued and embroidered silk chiffon and is based on a map of the Olympic park in East London - the vision of the British team who were successful in getting the Olympic bid awarded to London for 2012. The under layer is the part of the Lee Valley where the Olympic park is situated and is hand embroidered on 'fabric' constructed from free machine embroidered layers of torn, hand dyed scrim, fibres and threads on sticky water soluble film. The 'medals' represent the hopes held by all the athletes of winning a medal there.

Here are a couple of close ups:-

Not only did I get a certificate, but all these as well:-

I still haven't got over the shock .......

Striking a cord

2010-06-06T18:24:00.003+01:00

Courtesy of our Embroiderers' Guild lending library, I'm currently reading (and thoroughly enjoying) a book published in 1977 called Textures in Embroidery by the late Valerie Campbell-Harding. One of the many techniques described in the book is an easy method for making wrapped cords. I've broken several needles in the past trying to do this in FME mode and never really been happy with the results so I had a go with Valerie's method today.

This is done with feed dogs up and presser foot on and Valerie suggests using 1" strips of old tights or stockings. I'd actually got three brand new pairs of tights in various shades of blue - no, I had no intention of ever wearing them but they were reduced to 50p a pair and I never can resist a bargain! So, scissors in hand, I sliced a strip from each pair. Holding one end of the strip behind the presser foot, you need to stretch the 'front' end and pull it up at about a 45 degree angle between the 'toes' of the presser foot. With the machine set to the widest zig zag and short stitch length, off you go, keeping up the tension between your hands so the tights remain stretched.

When you get to the end of the strip, if you want more of the tights covered with thread, just feed the strip under the foot again (you won't need to stretch the strip this time - just keep gentle tension front and back so it remains in the centre of the presser foot).

Having made several lengths with tights, I tried the same method - except without stretching - with various wools and ribbon yarns. Not a broken needle in sight!

Four days and five nights in Italy

2010-05-25T21:28:00.004+01:00

Arrived home safely last night after four days in Puglia with Maggie Grey but minus my iPhone which I'd managed to leave on the train. Luckily, it was found by a very charming young man who kept it safe for me and we met up today at Cambridge railway station so I could collect it. Almost 24 hours spent phoneless sharply brought it home to me just how much I rely on it!

Anyway, here are a few photos of the trip:-

Interesting shadow of one of the gates at the Masseria

The pool and the two trulli at the bottom of the garden

Visiting the village of Alberobello to see the trulli

A marvellous lichen speckled wall

And this is John eating a large Italian ice cream. It's become a tradition when we go away that I take a photo of John eating his favourite food (?)

No pictures yet of the work I created because I didn't manage to finish much of what I started - simply ran out of time - four days and five nights away wasn't nearly long enough....

I can't believe that .....

2010-05-16T07:43:00.004+01:00

... it's been almost a month since I last blogged. Where has the time gone? In my defence, I have been rather busy in the run up to the general election - telephone canvassing mostly and then getting out the vote on the big day. And now here we are, with a coalition government. Not ideal (and certainly not what I worked for) but we shall see.

I have also been busy on the stitching front making various birthday gifts but, stupidly, forgot to take pictures until they were wrapped up and given so you'll just have to use your imagination here!

First was a pair of honeycomb pleated silk cushions in duck egg blue and pale coffee for my niece Kelly (actually she only got one on her birthday - the second is still on my work table half finished so you may see a picture of that if I remember to take one when is is done and before I send it off to her).

Second was a whole cloth, appliqued sofa quilt for my other niece Toni, in cream and red to match her lounge. I call it a sofa quilt as it's meant for snuggling up in on the sofa on chilly evenings. It's bigger than a lap quilt but smaller than a single bed quilt so just the right size - and not too unwieldy to quilt on an ordinary home sewing machine.

I've got a place on a workshop with Jean Littlejohn at Broadland Arts Centre next month (yippee!) which I'm really pleased about as places are as rare as hens' teeth. They had a cancellation apparently and I couldn't help wondering why on earth someone would cancel after actually getting a place. Who knows. Anyway, the theme is "Waterscapes". I was playing around with transfer dye designs in advance of the course and this - a photo which I did remember to take, albeit badly - turned into a lap quilt for my friend Sally's birthday.

We should be off to Puglia, Italy again on Wednesday for the course with Maggie Grey. I say should as it looks like the Icelandic volcano and the wind direction could be conspiring to prevent us getting there. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Multifarious Muslin

2010-04-18T17:12:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop entitled "Multifarious Muslin", organised by Norwich branch of the Embroiderers' Guild, with Pauline Verrinder. She doesn't have her own website or blog but is tutor/mentor of Fibrefusion and Fen Edge Textiles. She is also the organiser of the very popular Textiles in Focus, a three day textile artists exhibition and trade show held at Cottenham Village College in Cambridgeshire every February. Pauline also teaches workshops at Art Van Go in Knebworth, Hertfordshire.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me so only have photos of the three sample pieces that I made but it was amazing how, even though we were all using the same type of fabric and the same techniques, everyone's pieces were so completely different.

First, we wrapped a square metal frame with strips of coloured muslin (NOTE - this is the fine, loosely woven cotton fabric which I believe is called cheesecloth in the USA) and coloured threads and yarns. This was then free motion embroidered on the machine with a close overlapping vermicelli stitch to connect all the muslin strips and yarn together and then cut off the frame. As you can see, I didn't have time to complete the stitching before it was time to move onto the next technique but was pleased with what I'd done.

Next we wrapped the frame very tightly with shirring elastic, followed by more muslin/yarn strips (but less densely wrapped than the first technique). More free motion machining before cutting the piece off the frame whereupon it promptly scrunched up to form a lovely texture.

Lastly, we took the tiny snippets of muslin left when we'd cut the previous pieces off the frame, added more chopped up muslin, threads and yarn and sandwiched them between two pieces of water soluble film. Free motion stitching was added - making sure all the pieces were joined together! - before dissolving the film. The remaining lacy fabric was stitched to black felt and gold fabric paint drybrushed on to highlight the texture.

We'd almost run out of time but Pauline quickly demonstrated how to make lacy trim from muslin and lace ribbon using stitch and water soluble film.

A good day out was had by all.

Just like buses

2010-04-10T06:55:00.008+01:00

Nothing for ages then loads all at once - that's how this blog is going. Oh I don't mean it to be like this but sometimes that's just how life is.

Anyway, this is what I've been up to.

An ending, a beginning and stuff in between

2010-03-12T17:40:00.012Z

Sadly, my stepfather has passed away after a year long battle with cancer. He would have been 80 if he'd lived another couple of days so a good long life. The funeral is on Monday and I've made a flower brooch to wear from a tutorial I found here. It took no time at all and I think it looks quite impressive (apologies for the poor photograph - trying to take a decent picture of black in poor light is nigh on impossible).

On a happier note, my niece, Kelly, has got engaged. Nick popped the question on Valentine's Day and they'll be starting married life together after the wedding in January next year. A 'hen weekend' away is already being planned and I've been asked to run a crafting session for the hen and 22 little chicks! I think organza flower brooches will be just the ticket and they'll have ready made buttonholes to match their outfits for the big day.

I've been making more postcards for the charity I mentioned here, although I think the blue ones need a little something else - maybe some beads? I'll ponder on that....

I dyed a couple of silk scarves. I try to have a few things in the cupboard ready to give as gifts, although I like these two so much I just might keep them for myself.

And I've been experimenting again with transfer dyes. As these were trials of various techniques - crumpling the paper before painting it, printing an image from the computer before painting and after painting, wax resist marks and rubbings before/after, stamping etc - I made them postcard size so I can keep both the fabric and papers, with notes on the techniques used, in a 'flip' type photo album.

Just as well they're only samples. I wasn't particularly pleased with any of them as I'd forgotten (again! ) how different the resulting transfer looks to the painted paper. Most of the colours are far too bright/garish for my taste except, that is, for the last few where I was just messing around using up the colours left on my palette and I quite like these.

Aurora Borealis

2010-02-28T17:23:00.006Z

I needed to take a break this weekend from working on the piece I'm entering into a juried exhibition next month. At our Embroiders Guild meeting last Saturday, members were asked to produce one or two fabric postcards which are to be sold at an event in Sheringham, North Norfolk later this year to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Unit at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge which is due to open in December.

I've not had my embellisher out for a while so I used a couple of skeins of multi-coloured wool felt yarn from my stash and embellished some onto three different colours of acrylic felt. I really wasn't happy with the results until I turned the pieces over and saw the back. I've never been lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis but that's exactly what the pieces brought to mind. Some trimming to size, hand stitching with metallic thread and satin stitching the edges on the sewing machine and I'd got six postcards to donate to this worthwhile cause.

It's quite hard to see the hand stitching but hopefully, if you click the images to enlarge, you should be able to see at least some of it.

'Revelation' update, Creative Cue and a Lovely Surprise!

2010-02-14T16:35:00.010Z

I've had a few tries with Dan Nelson's method of drawing with varying degrees of success. I'm wondering whether it's just not possible to teach this old dog new tricks but I will persevere. This is the best of the bunch so far:-

Last Sunday's Creative Cue word was Tie which reminded me of a UFO from last summer. I cut strips from lots of old silk ties with a view to making a garment of some sort - maybe a waistcoat - but I didn't get very far and they'd got bundled together in a bag in the UFO box. I'd completely forgotten about them until I started thinking about the Cue so I unearthed them and did some more stitching. I'd also forgotten how fiddly and mind-numbingly boring it was! Anyway, here's the results:-

And they've now gone back in the UFO box for a rainy day.

Finally, Myfanwy has nominated me for an award - what a lovely surprise!

To accept the award, I need to include the logo on my own blog (done that - see above), pass the award onto five other bloggers and link to them within the post (see below) and let the nominees know they have been nominated for the award by commenting on their blogs (and I'll be off to do that as soon as I've posted this!)

First up is Pat who always has something interesting to say, writes great poetry, takes lovely pictures of life in the Yorkshire Dales and who sews as well. Next is Mai in Japan who makes the most delightful tiny, little things which are all hand sewn. Mai recently got married and is expecting her first baby who is currently known as 'Tomato'! Karen also does exquisite hand embroidery - I don't know how she has the patience - nor how she manages to keep her (mainly white) work so clean. Gwen in the USA writes a blog called "Textile Arts Resource Guide" which aims to "identify and provide access to a wide range of online resources that are informational, inspirational and/or thought provoking" and she certainly succeeds. Lastly Susan, also in the USA and mentioned before on this blog here and whose work I really admire.

Please pop over and say hello to my nominees (it was really difficult picking just five!). I'm sure you'll enjoy their blogs as much as I do.

A Revelation!

2010-02-06T17:15:00.002Z

I've been trying, ever since I first held a pencil, to draw. Although I usually end up with something recognisable, I'm not really what you'd call an 'artist' and I'm never particularly satisfied with what I draw.

Today, I felt lazy, so decided to spend the afternoon catching up on blog reading and then just idly surfing the net. It could be the most productive hour or so that I've ever spent in improving my drawing skills! Why you may ask? I came across a short video clip here of an American artist called Dan Nelson and I'm off to try out his suggestion. I'll let you know if it works.

Odd

2010-02-03T13:25:00.005Z

This week's Creative Cue word is 'odd'. I don't know what it about my washing machine but it definitely doesn't like pairs of socks. Every week I'm left with one lonely little sock that's lost its partner.

Here's a quick watercolour pencil sketch of my washing line with the latest crop of victims. I'm sure I'm not alone in experiencing this phenomena .....

On the mend

2010-01-29T16:19:00.004Z

At long last, I'm finally starting to feel a little more like my normal self. But in case you thought I'd been completely idle, I thought I'd show you a work in progress that I made a little more headway with in the past couple of weeks.

It started with this photograph of rust taken a couple of years ago whilst enjoying a textiles holiday here.

I played around with it a bit in Picasa to bring out all the wonderful colours that you could see with the naked eye but that the camera just couldn't seem to capture and have started a small hand embroidered panel. I wanted something that I could pick up and put down as the mood takes me (or to do whilst keeping my DH company while he watches stuff on the TV that doesn't really interest me) so it came in very useful lately when I haven't felt like doing anything much at all!

I have also started on the first of what I think will be my first 'series' of works but you'll have to wait to see it I'm afraid as I'm planning to enter it into a juried exhibition - yikes!

Normal service will be resumed shortly

2010-01-27T18:30:00.002Z

That epic journey home at New Year has played havoc with my health. First, the horrendous cold/flu bug bit, then hard on its heels has been a chest and throat infection. At long last, I'm feeling slightly better and hope to get back to something crafty tomorrow.

Thread sketching

2010-01-15T16:29:00.003Z

Urged on by a number of your comments after my previous post, I thought I'd have a go at interpreting this photograph with some thread sketching.

I've had the book, "Freestyle Machine Embroidery" by Carol Shinn for a while now but had hesitated to try it out given the fantastic realism Carol achieves in her work.

I heat transferred the photo onto a piece of smooth, white cotton, and then bonded the cotton onto some heavyweight canvas in the hope of avoiding the distortion that comes with heavy machine stitching.

When stitching, I simplified some of the detail as I soon realised I'd picked something far too complex for a first attempt!

Anyway, here's the result which I've mounted onto black painted canvas. Although I didn't quite manage to avoid distortion, I'm really quite pleased with it.

Creative Cue

2010-01-06T12:35:00.006Z

As a bit of fun, and to help generate ideas (although I'm not usually short on those - just the time to realise them), I thought I'd join in with the Creative Cue challenge at Three Creative Studios.

My response to the first cue are these photographs - what the east wind from Siberia brought to the little Northumberland village of Ovington on New Year's Day. We were staying with John's brother and his wife to meet our new nephew, Thomas, aged 7 weeks.

Coming home on the 3rd, we were booked on the 10.30am train from Newcastle (normally a 15 minute drive from their house at most) however, because of the snow, and the fact that the village is in a valley so every way out is uphill, the car just couldn't make it. Revert to Plan B - a three mile walk through deep snow to the railway station in the next town but we missed our train out of Newcastle. Nearly ten hours, four trains and a bus later, with soaking wet feet and clothes, we made it home to Norwich. Since then we've both succumbed to the most horrendous colds/flu. Hope it doesn't last too much longer .....

A bit of a washout ...

2009-12-30T18:55:00.005Z

... is how I'd describe the results of my snow dyeing efforts once I'd rinsed, dried and ironed them. The watercolour effect is very pretty in some areas if you can ignore the big dark blotches where I guess there wasn't enough snow on the fabric.

I wasn't expecting the colours to be so faint but with all that icy water to dilute the dyes, then perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised. Think I need to reflect on where to take these next.

Blowing away the cobwebs

2009-12-29T18:31:00.005Z

On Monday, as it was such a lovely bright, sunny (but cold!) day, we decided to take a trip to Great Yarmouth and have a walk along the beach to blow the Christmas cobwebs away.

We took the camera and took photos of a concrete sofa sculpture,

lichen at the harbour,

and rust on the remains of Wellington Pier.

The old stanchions made some interesting shapes,

as did the offshore windfarm,

the patterns in the sand left by the receding tide

and the benches along the seafront.

It was good to get out in the fresh air, but even nicer to get back home in the warm again!

Snow Dyeing

2009-12-20T16:02:00.011Z

Sitting in my dressing gown this morning enjoying my first coffee of the day, I was catching up on all the blogs that I follow when I came across a mention of "snow dyeing'. I'd never heard of this before but a quick Google search came up with lots of references and, in particular, a link to Michele's blog where she describes exactly how it's done.

Seeing as we had another 4-5 inches of snow last night, I thought I'd give it a go - once suitably dressed of course!

Here are the pictures so far:-

As I have nowhere indoors to keep piles of brightly coloured snow covered fabric, I'm just going to have to leave it all outside in the garden until the snow melts. I'm intrigued to see the results but I guess I'll just have to be patient and hope the thaw sets in soon!

P.S. If you missed the Twitter update, I didn't win the Chairman's Challenge.

Chairman's challenge

2009-12-11T08:53:00.004Z

Last month, I joined the local branch of the Embroiderers' Guild. Our next meeting is on Saturday and we have a 'Chairman's Challenge' - design and make a Christmas card - any size, any technique. I'd had an idea kicking around in my head for a while so after a couple of false starts, here is the result.

To make the snowball, I bonded two layers of shiny, sparkly, white polyester sheer fabric together with bondaweb, cut out lots of circles with a soldering iron and then stitched them together, adding a bead at each joining point. The card base is two layers of thick craft vilene with the same sheer attached with the embellisher machine. I cut a circle out of the card front and inserted my snowball.

And a close up

I'd also watched the Talking Threads episode on www.countrychannel.tv recently that featured Fay Maxwell and her slashing technique and had been intrigued to try it out. Using lots of different shades of green fabric, I constructed this Christmas tree to which I added beads and mounted it on shiny card.

And a close up

This will be the very first time I'll have entered my work in any sort of competition but, to coin a phrase, 'you can't win it if you ain't in it!' Wish me luck.......

Christmas is coming

2009-11-29T16:42:00.003Z

I've been busy making Christmas presents for the females in the family for the past three weeks - seven done, three more to go - hence it's been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Can't post any pics yet in case one of the recipients spots them.

I can, however, show you a photo of the gift I've made for Secret Santa at work. In the past, I've always picked one of the girls' names out of the hat but this year got one of the men so his iPhone will be sporting a smart new case very soon. I know he doesn't read my blog so I think I'm fairly safe giving you a sneak peek!

Hubble bubble, Double Trouble

2009-11-11T17:16:00.005Z

The week in Puglia with Jan and Jean was simply amazing. And we were quite an international crowd - 3 from Israel, one from the USA and one from Switzerland as well as 6 Brits (and two non participating husbands).

For me, the most memorable thing was simply (!) learning how to truly "look" at something. From looking, we progressed to sketching, painting, printing and collaging and then to developing these into stitch using hand and machine embroidery and the embellisher.

Now I usually do little hand embroidery having endured a particularly finicky needlework teacher at school who used to measure our stitches with a ruler - any deviation from her required stitch length meant unpicking it all and starting again - enough to put anyone off for life! Jan and Jean have an entirely different philosophy about hand stitching and I found myself really enjoying it; so much so that I hardly touched a sewing machine all week.

The villa itself is lovely; light, airy and spacious, simply but beautifully decorated and furnished. The swimming pool looked very inviting but it was too cold for me to take a dip although two of the hardier souls in our party did venture in a couple of times.

So, here are some photos:-

Stone wall - hand embroidered on solusheet and lightly embellished.

Lichen 1 - hand stitched

Grasses - printed then hand stitched

Lichen 2 - fibres applied with bondaweb, covered with chiffon, hand stitched

Lichen 3 - foil and fibres applied with bondaweb, covered with chiffon and embellished front and back

Olive grove sketch

Olive grove - embellished sheers, hand stitched then further embellishing

And in case you were wondering about the title of this post, the last night we were all together was Halloween.

More Markal and some stitching

2009-10-21T07:53:00.005+01:00

The other Markal paintstiks I ordered arrived so I did some more playing.

I taped some textured wallpaper to the worktable with a piece of black cotton on top and made some rubbings with various colours. Somehow it reminds me of the maps you used to see where the countries were in different colours.

This was another rubbing with different wallpaper and some Cosmic Shimmer sprays misted on top.

And this is an abstraction taken from a photograph of an old rowing boat on the river.

I bought Maggie Grey's newest book, 'Stitches, Straps and Layers' a while ago and made a strap by embellishing some wool roving and fancy yarn onto acrylic felt with added built in stitching patterns from the sewing machine. I may make this into a belt, or maybe cut it up; haven't decided yet.

And a close up.

The thread was from the Pommie Bag won from Dale at the Knitting and Stitching Show.

The online classes to accompany Maggie's book and the Lynda Monk/Carol McFee book 'Stitching the Textured Surface' started on Monday and I've already been having a go at the extra techniques. Sorry I can't show you what I've been doing - you have to buy the books to find out for yourself but lots of messy fun!

Off to Italy on Monday. I'm excited but also more than a little nervous at studying with these two behemoths of the textile world. We shall see........

Playing with Paintstiks (and no, that's not a typo!)

2009-10-16T17:23:00.006+01:00

One of the books I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show was Ruth Issett's new offering, "Paintstiks". (Amazon are currently out of stock but you should be able to get it from www.artvango.co.uk)

I'd had a couple of these in my stash for a while and had never got round to doing anything with them. So, after watching Ruth demonstrate and reading the book, here's my first attempts at using them on fabric.

It's quite amazing what you can produce with a few bits of calico, masking tape, a torn piece of paper and an old toothbrush. I'm well and truly hooked on these versatile rods of colour - more colours should be winging their way to me - postal strikes permitting - so I'm looking forward to some more experimenting when they arrive.

Click on the pictures to get a better view of the subtle tonal qualities you can achieve.

More painting

2009-10-11T18:54:00.007+01:00

Here are some more of the acrylic paintings I've been working on in the past week.

Misty morning

The pier

Sunrise

The Storm

Enclosed spaces

A great day out

2009-10-10T14:12:00.005+01:00

Had a great day out at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace yesterday. Lots of shopping and lots of admiration for all the work that was on display. It's on today and tomorrow too so if you haven't been yet, I'd strongly urge you to go.

I'd been trying to get hold of some Sheer Heaven but couldn't find a UK stockist and was loth to pay the shipping charges from the US. I noticed that Dale at The Thread Studio in Western Australia had some on her website so dropped her an email to find out if it was something she was planning to bring along to the Show. Unfortunately, her supplies had already been sent on ahead but she actually put some in her suitcase for me. How's that for service! She'd also posted a question on her blog before leaving Perth for visitors to the show. If they visited her stand, answered the question, they could win one of her 'Pommie Bags' and I won one! Lots of lovely little goodies including various threads, some hand dyed chiffon and a mysterious other piece of fabric that I've yet to identify.

I timed my visit to Maggie Grey's D4Daisy Books stand in time to see Carol McFee and Lynda Monk demonstrate some of the techniques in their new book, 'Stitching the Textured Surface'. Had a nice chat with them about the new books and the online course I did with Carol/Lynda a while ago and they were kind enough to gift me one of their gessoed lutradur pieces. How fantastic is that!

I also touched base with Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn to introduce myself before we meet on their course at Masseria Della Zingara in Puglia, Italy at the end of this month. We talked about the materials list for the course and the kind of work that they've planned. It all sounds very exciting and I can't wait.

Shopping wise, lots of threads found their way into my bag, along with more sari ribbons, screen printing textile ink, four new textile books and some fine yarn made from hemp that will be coming to Italy with me - not for knitting, but for hand stitching. I couldn't resist getting a lucet having been entranced by the flashing fingers of friendly and engaging Ziggy Rytka. Check out his website here for more info. Not that I need yet another new art/crafting activity of course!

After the show, I met up with John at the V & A in South Kensington (they open late on Fridays). On the first 3 Fridays of the month, they hold a free, hour long recital by a musician from the Royal College of Music in the Norfolk Room. And very nice it was too.

We grabbed an excellent pizza at a little Italian cafe next door to South Ken Tube station and then made a mad dash to catch the 9.30pm train home from Liverpool Street. That's when the lovely day turned into a bit of a nightmare. To cut a long story short, due to signalling problems, we finally walked into the house at 2.15am!

Something just for me ...

2009-10-07T18:03:00.004+01:00

I'm off to Ally Pally next Friday so I decided I'd make myself a new bag to carry home all the 'stuff' I'm planning to buy to add to my ever increasing SABLE (Stash Accumulated Beyond Lifetime Expectancy).

At the Festival of Quilts in August, I found a bundle of gorgeously coloured sari ribbons which, being ridiculously cheap for real silk, came home with me. So, I took a piece of calico and, using the embellisher, attached the ribbons. Then some stitching and quilting. Then much headscratching and pondering.

I wanted to line the bag but couldn't for the life of me work out how and where to stitch it together but still be able to turn the outer through the gap I planned to leave in the lining.

I pinned it together and went to consult my dear husband. He was adamant that what I'd done wouldn't work. I disagreed. So off I went and quickly stitched a sample using my planned method and guess what - it worked!

Here's the result. And if you see this bag bulging at the seams accompanying me and several plastic carrier bags at K&SS, you'll know that I didn't make it big enough!

Which one is "art"?

2009-10-06T18:00:00.001+01:00

I've been reading some acrylic technique art books lately and had a play at producing a couple of pieces of "art".

As usual, my dear husband, when asked his view of my efforts, thought the one that I didn't like was better than the one that I did!

Which one (if either!) do you like?

'Arcs':-

or 'Autumn rapids reflected'?

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - I've discovered it's really difficult to take pictures in these gloomy, dark autumn days we've been having.

Transfers transformed

2009-10-05T17:31:00.006+01:00

I've been playing around with some photos I took over the summer and transferring them to some bits of cheap, plain old calico using inkjet transparencies and acrylic medium.

The first one was a photo of ripples on the river near where we stayed in France:-

Can you see the scary faces?

The next one was a tree trunk covered with lichen. I took the original, mirrored, copied and pasted it, then took both images, mirrored and copied and pasted those.

This last one was a blue garden chair and the shadows it threw on the shirt of the person sitting in it. Again, I did the mirror/copy/paste thing and I'm quite pleased with the abstract design that came out as a result.

La Belle France

2009-09-21T18:45:00.029+01:00

Make yourself a drink and put your feet up because this is going to be a long post!

We've just got back from another beautiful week spent in St Cirq Lapopie in the Lot valley in France. This village is the perfect place to just get away from it all and relax; eat and drink the some of the best food in the world.

This is the fifth year we've been back to stay at La Maison du Bourg in the heart of the village.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/accommodation/property/3842?u_id=95727

This ancient stone house is on four floors with a delightful little garden where we spent most of our time sitting soaking up the sun (it was warm and sunny every day - 28-29 degrees even in September). Here are a few pictures of the house and the garden to give you a feel for the place.

This is the house looking up from the garden.

The back door taken from the garden - and yes, that IS a bunch of grapes right outside the door.

This is the study - the enormous fireplace or 'cantou' is almost big enough to stand up in (but isn't functional unfortunately - not that we needed to light a fire)

The bedroom is tucked up under the eaves and this is the view from one of the two little windows:-

The village is built high up the sides and on top of a cliff that looks down over the River Lot.

The cliff on the right drops right down to the river.

Walking around the village, the cobbled lanes wind up and down the hill. There are new vistas to enjoy at every turn.

From the garden. you can watch the morning sun rising. It soon burns off the mist hanging over the valley.

And, in case you were wondering if there was ever going to be any artistic endeavour in this blog post, here it comes.

My watercolour interpretation of this view from the garden:-

A photograph of the view of the church from the garden . . .

and my attempt in pencil . . .

And a more abstract version in acrylics.

Quiet - woman at work ...

The little pond in the garden attracts birds, great big dragonflies and two local cats who came for a drink every morning.

The bench, pond, garden chairs and the tall cypress tree in an abstract representation in acrylics

Before we went away, I bought myself a little present to bring along - 'The New Creative Artist' by Nita Leland. Here are a few ideas from the book that I played around with.

'Enclosed' doodles

Magazine collages:-

Paper weaving

But what about all those silk ties that you patiently cut into strips before you left I hear you ask? Well, just a few got hand sewn together before I decided that I'd wait until back at home and use my machine!

I've not been sitting around doing nothing ...

2009-09-04T17:05:00.002+01:00

I've been planning a few projects that I can take away with me on holiday to France next week. I've been busily deconstructing a pile of men's silk ties which I plan to be handstitching while sitting in the glorious sunshine, (today's temperature there is 29 degrees C) sipping wine and generally chilling out.

I've been preparing pages in my sketchbook ready to try out a few ideas.

And I've been trying to decide if I can make do without clothes as it looks like all my luggage allowance will be used on art/stitching supplies!

Progress report to follow upon my return.

Things I'd forgotten

2009-08-09T18:00:00.004+01:00

Did a little bit of tidying/sorting in my workroom today and came across these pieces which I realise I have completely forgotten to blog about.

A while ago, I read a tutorial on the method Susan Lenz uses to create her "In-Box". Susan has created a whole series of wonderful work using this method, some of which can also be seen here as well as on her usual blog. I didn't have much synthetic velvet so just used snippets of stuff from my stash.

Here's a close up where you can really see how the kunin felt melts away to leave the lovely crunchy foiled lacy divisions between the 'boxes'.

This is a shop bought wooden box (99p) which I covered in kitchen foil and painted with alcohol inks. I also did one with the painted foil method as a birthday gift for a friend but forgot to take a photo (sorry). This one will go into my gift stash ready for the next suitable recipient.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a couple of shiny metal planters in John Lewis' sale for £3.00 each. I figured they were just a thicker sort of metal foil so they also got the painted look.

And these were two nasty shiny silvered ceramic vases that I bought in B & Q for just 10p each! The 'silver' finish hadn't taken properly in spots so I guess that's the reason they were so cheap. But hey - I saw metal so couldn't resist and they've been painted now too.

And lastly, this is a little pouch bag I made to keep my A5 sketchbook and pencils in. I can definitely see a coppery theme going on in this post. . . .

Crisis at the Embroiderers' Guild

2009-08-01T14:44:00.002+01:00

Although not a member myself, I was horrified to read about the situation facing the Embroiderers' Guild over at Threads across the web.

I would urge anyone who feels the same to write to your MP urgently. If you don't know who they are, or how to contact them, you can find out from the Parliament website.

I've already emailed mine. Feel free to copy the text I used below. I'm sure Carol-Anne won't mind the plagiarism under the circumstances:-

The Embroiderers' Guild was founded in 1906 by sixteen former students of the Royal School of Art Needlework to represent the interests of embroidery. The aims and objectives of the Guild

"To promote and encourage the art of embroidery and related crafts and encourage the creation of fine articles incorporating the use of or associated with embroidery.
To educate the public in the history and art of embroidery and to undertake or support research in that subject and to publish the useful results of that research.
To collect, document, preserve, exhibit and interpret, examples of fine embroidery which are of historical or educational merit and to make available to the public such articles."

In 1924 HM Queen Mary became the Guild's first Royal Patron. Most recently HRH the Duchess of Gloucester graciously became the Guild's Royal Patron in 2005, following the death of HRH the Princess Alice in October 2004. On 8th May 1964 the Guild became a Registered Charity and in 1986 Registered Museum Status was achieved in recognition of the standard of management applied to its collection embroideries. The collection is of national significance as a resource for artists and students. It consists of over 11,000 world embroideries dating from the Coptic period to the present day, and includes a major collection of British embroidery.

The Guild also has a collection of over 2,500 titles including 600 reference books available to both Embroiderers' Guild Members and the public within the library and 2,000 loan books (temporarily suspended) which provide a rich source of research material for students and members.

In 2006, a century after its founding, the Guild had over 25,000 Members and subscribers throughout the world, 236 Branches and 85 Young Embroiderers Groups for young Members aged between 5 - 18 years.

Today the Embroiderers' Guild is in crisis.

For the past 25 years the Embroiderers' Guild has been located in apartments at Hampton Court Palace, Surrey. In recent years great effort and resource was dedicated to establishing a National Embroidery and Textile Centre but following an exhaustive review of the proposed NET Centre, the Trustees established that the project posed an unacceptable risk to the long-term future of the Guild and decided to withdraw project. Vast sums of money gathered by years of fund raising were lost. The Embroiderers' Guild licence at Hampton Court is due to expire imminently. The Embroiderers' Guild, its collection and its library face the very real prospect of becoming homeless by the end of this year.

What can be done to save this priceless resource? Please would you bring this issue to the attention of the Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State at DCMS at your earliest convenience and I look forward to receiving your reply.

Amazing Grace!

2009-07-31T19:07:00.006+01:00

I've been busy sewing for Grace who's growing like the proverbial weed. I haven't managed to get to see her for a fortnight and I swear she's grown two inches and even more gorgeous than ever. I know I'm the doting Nana but scroll down and you'll see what I mean.

First up are a couple of little summer dresses although if the weather we've been having lately keeps up she'll be too big for them when the sun does make a reappearance.

And a little pinafore dress based on the same pattern. The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed an absence of buttons on these. That ISN'T because I can't do buttonholes but because her Mum has a "thing" about them. So velcro and hooks and eyes to the rescue. Can you guess what fabric I used for this?

I had some fabric left over from making her cot quilt and bumper so ran her up this little elasticated waist skirt.

And this one is my favourite - the fabric was in the sale for only 99p a metre and the broderie anglais trim at 50p. I can't resist a bargain so bought five metres of each. I may make her Mum a (more grown up style) matching skirt and maybe one for me too.

I looked after Grace for a couple of hours last night while her Mum popped out. And wasn't I surprised to discover that in two weeks she's mastered cutlery!

Here's proof it goes where it should (most of the time at least)

All done Nanamanda - wipe my face please!

Isn't she just adorable .....

And for those of you still guessing what the checked pinafore dress is made of - two teacloths that cost the princely sum of 36p each!

A bit of this and a bit of that

2009-07-12T12:25:00.008+01:00

Now the pressure is off I've just been enjoying myself doing a variety of things.

First up is this machine embroidered panel, the inspiration for which came from one of the wonderful photographs taken by the amazing Yann Arthus Bertrand. The original photograph is of a flooded valley after the construction of a dam with the dead tree stumps sticking up out of the water.

And a close up

I've also played around with a canvas covered with crumpled tissue paper and painted with acrylics which I've called 'Fire in the woods' for want of a more inspired title.

I treated myself to some Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks and made some cards.

And I've embarked on a new piece since getting Maggie Grey's new book, 'Stitches, Straps and Layers'. This is very much a 'work in progress' - here are the beginnings of the first two layers - more anon.

It's finally finished

2009-07-01T07:31:00.004+01:00

(Click image for close up view)

My final piece for my NCFE Level 3 Creative Textiles course is now finished and submitted. I have to admit, the last few weeks I've done little else and I've actually grown to really dislike the end product. And if I don't stitch another bead in the next six months I won't be unhappy.

All that, together with all the paperwork that has to go alongside the piece, has meant I've decided not to take my tutor's advice and embark on the two year C & G Level 4 course come September. I may reconsider in a year's time but for now I'm fed up to the back teeth with form filling, client briefs, 'evidence', aims and outcomes and want to work in my usual spontaneous, fairly unplanned way for a while!

I was lucky enough to get a place on the Jan Beaney/Jean Littlejohn five day course in October at www.masseriadellazingara.com which I'm looking forward to immensely and have already got my name down for a course at the same place (doesn't it look divine) with Maggie Grey in May 2010. Those, some online courses, Festival of Quilts in August and Ally Pally in October will suit me fine for a while.

So - now I'm free to do as I please! Watch this space .....

A bit rusty

2009-05-17T18:30:00.006+01:00

Tried out a new technique today - rust dyeing. This could become seriously addictive I fear ....

This is what I achieved in just half an hour and I ran out of table drying space. I tried out heavy weight tyvek, 300gsm watercolour paper and fabric (no pics of the fabric yet as it looks a fairly uninteresting dark brown until it dries and can be rinsed).

These are the tyvek pieces - some A4 and some A3 size pieces.

Close ups of some of my favourite areas

And I think this piece of watercolour paper is just stunning

And because it's so quick to do, I even did some more of my coursework piece!

Back from 'lurgy' land

2009-05-14T18:23:00.009+01:00

I've been laid up in bed most of this week with a vicious viral thing so haven't felt much like doing anything let alone blogging!

Anyway, I'm back with a vengeance and thought I'd share my first attempts at using transfer papers to make A4 size mini quilts with a view to submitting them to
http://littlegemquilts.wordpress.com.

The first two I'm not very pleased with:-

"Sunrays"

and "Shiny Spirals"

Both of them are a bit 'obvious' - don't really say much about anything.

These three I like much more. The first one, "Scarlet Rain" was transferred to light weight Lutradur which was layered over some commercially printed fabric, free motion machine quilted and then areas of the Lutradur were cut back to reveal the fabric beneath. I've since mounted this on a blue painted box canvas and plan to give it as a birthday gift to a friend this weekend so this is one that won't end up in the Little Gems tombola.

This one I've called "Optical Illusion" as it made me cross eyed when stitching it! I painted two transfer sheets - one graduated yellow and one blue - then cut and wove the two sheets together before printing onto an 80% polyester/20% cotton blend and quilted.

This one, inspired by the sun shining on the big stand of bamboo in the garden, is my favourite.

Enough blogging for now. Got to get back to beading before class tomorrow!

Productive weekend

2009-05-04T20:47:00.009+01:00

Well, Artmixter has certainly started something now! I've made 19 ATC/ACEO this weekend - some I'm pleased with, others not so pleased. If you click on any of the images you'll get an enlarged view.

This is the first batch:

And these . . .

And I think I like these ones the best.

After all that cutting, painting and sticking, I decided to just sew today. I seem to have acquired quite a lot of copper coloured fabrics so I chopped some bits up and stitched them to a piece of craft vilene. I then added some free motion embroidery, bound the edges and this was the result:-

What a shame it's back to work tomorrow.

Couldn't resist it

2009-05-01T19:36:00.003+01:00

I know I should be stitching beads but Artmixter asked me to be her guinea pig for a new pamphlet she's produced on making ATCs. Having never made one before, I just couldn't resist making a start on my first four. Will post some photos when they're finished.

I did spend nearly three hours this morning with the beading although progress is painfully slow. My own fault for trying to be too ambitious I suppose.

Fed up with this

2009-04-27T17:24:00.006+01:00

Been a bit quiet on the blogging front as I've been frantically trying to finish my NCFE Creative Textiles coursework - a 1m x 1.2m wall hanging of the Great Barrier Reef. I only have nine weeks to get it finished. If I never sew on another bead, it'll be too soon. The pics below speak for themselves (apols for the poor photo quality - taken on my mobile as I still haven't mastered the new camera).

This is a photo of one of the pieces of coral that I'm trying to recreate:-

And this is what my attempt currently looks like - half finished:-

and in detail:-

And this is my recreation of a giant clam:-

And detail:-

Only about another 4000 beads to go ......

Tragic weekend

2009-04-20T12:29:00.004+01:00

My laptop died. Ceased to be. Defunct. It is no more - that is unless John can somehow revive it from the blue screen of death. So yesterday was spent dashing around to buy a new desktop PC and configuring it so I could actually work this morning.

The rest of the weekend was spent putting together all the stuff I'm taking to the Mid Norfolk Guild meeting tonight so no time for blogging. Hopefully once I've got this talk/demonstration out of the way, I'll be able to get back to creating.

Easter holiday comes to an end

2009-04-13T18:34:00.018+01:00

But what a busy weekend it has been. Grace and Sam (her mum) came to lunch today and I cooked roast beef and all the trimmings. The Easter Bunny brought Grace, amongst other things, (but no chocolate) her first paints. She ended up with red hands, red face and red teeth - had to keep checking if it tasted nice or not - but seemed to enjoy it. A girl after her Nana's heart.

I really should have been getting on with my NCFE Creative Textiles coursework but the bits of lutradur that Marion sent just wouldn't stay in my SABLE (new acronym that I came across recently - Stash Accumulated Beyond Lifetime Expectancy) so out came the transfer dyes and several papers completed and left to dry.

While the workroom was in "wet" mode, I couldn't resist having another go at painting on kitchen foil and completed a 12" x 15" box canvas. Always with one eye on the cheaper alternative, I used pva to stick the foil to the canvas. This proved to be a big mistake as it didn't stick properly all over which resulted in lots of air bubbles and some unsightly ridges/folds that just wouldn't stay down. I painted it anyway but I'm not nearly as happy with this as with the canvas book cover (see blog 9th April).

Yesterday was spent trying out the transfer dye papers on the lutradur. I'd made the dyes quite concentrated as I wasn't certain how well they'd transfer. I needn't have worried as the colours came out really strongly. In fact, next time I'll definitely dilute them more to try and get something a little more subtle. I'll live with the lutradur samples pinned to my wallboard for a week or so before I decide how I'll use them.

I've also been working on some needle felted samples (including the A5 felted notebook cover - see blog 9th April) to take along to the Mid Norfolk Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers meeting on 20th as they've asked me to give a demonstration. I want to show them felting isn't just twee embellished felt flowers and the like so I've worked up a triptych design, using the embellisher, based on the changing colours of Uluru throughout the day, hence the title, "Uluru Dawn, Day, Dusk"‏.

And here's some detail - Dawn,

Day

and Dusk.

Apart from the box canvas mounts, the triptych was made entirely from old/worn/discarded items from the Sheridans' wardrobes. John's close scrutiny while taking the photographs resulted in a plaintive, "But I liked that old jumper" .............

Wipeout day art-wise

2009-04-10T16:45:00.005+01:00

Really had to go supermarket shopping this morning as no food left in the house and with an ever "peckish" husband around all weekend that would never do. Of course, everyone and his mother were there buying enough food to last till the next ice age. Why do people do that every bank holiday? It's a mystery to me.

Decided that I really must do something about the front garden when I got home and take advantage of the glorious spring weather - especially as rain is forecast for the rest of the Easter weekend. I don't know whether it's because our house is at the foot of a small hill, or because it's at a junction but it seems like everybody else's litter ends up in our garden - which isn't always a bad thing as it hides the weeds (as you may have guessed, I'm not much of a gardener). Anyway, filled one bin bag with crisp packets, sweet wrappers, a pizza box, miscellanous bits of paper, dead leaves and even two empty beer cans and two bin bags with weeds. It looks slightly better but it could do with another half day out there to get it respectable. For once, I'm hoping the weather forecasters are right and it does rain so I'll have an excuse not to finish the gardening and do some creating instead!

Anyway, John's just made me a coffee and I'm sitting on the sofa with my feet up, laptop in place and I'm about to take my first look at my new "Lovely Lutradur" book on a CD that Marion Barnett (co-author and aka artmixter) very kindly hand delivered to my door this morning while I was at the supermarket. Mind you, I don't know what she thought of John going to the door still in his dressing gown at nearly lunchtime! In his defence, he does usually get up at 4.30am for work and it is a holiday after all.

Last few days

2009-04-09T19:25:00.007+01:00

Just time to post a couple of photos of stuff I've been working on this week before putting the dinner on. The picture quality isn't great as they were taken with my iphone camera - will get John to take some better ones over the weekend with his all singing, all dancing digital camera.

The first one is a bought artist's sketchpad with a canvas covered board front and back. I first covered it with ordinary kitchen foil stuck down with heavy gloss gel medium. I then painted it with various colours of Golden Fluid Acylics mixed with Golden GAC 200 medium (assists adhesion to non-porous surfaces and promotes surface hardness). I'm quite pleased with it - the colours really glow.

This is a cheap and cheerful A5 notebook bought at the local supermarket for less than £2.00. I used my Pfaff embellisher on some cheap black stretchy velvet over craft vilene. I then embellished some multi coloured yarn and copper coloured crochet cotton from my stash over the top. It was a bit too much "in your face" so I embellished a tan coloured chiffon scarf over the top to knock back the bling. Finally added some machine stitching. The photo really doesn't do it justice.

Recent work

2009-04-08T11:20:00.003+01:00

Thought I'd quickly upload something I did recently. This was handstitching on muslin which was stuck to a small canvas and painted - part of the work I did during an online course. More to follow when I've had time to take some pics.

Grace and John

2009-04-07T12:16:00.004+01:00

Having referred to them both in my profile, thought I should include a picture taken last weekend of Grandad John and Grace reviewing the results of the latest photoshoot of his favourite model.

In the beginning ....

2009-04-07T10:56:00.002+01:00

After being converted to "tweeting" by my dear husband, thought I might also have a go at blogging. Not certain how much or how often I'll have time to fit it in - and it will certainly take at least third place in my list of priorities (numbers 1 and 2 being creating, and thinking about creating) but we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!