Hand stitch itch.

I can answer my own question now, no, it wasn't finished. Posting a photo on-line helped me to see how ‘flat’ it looked and that combined with an itch to hand stitch meant that I have added areas of hand stitch and worked them into the background by using the embellisher and free machining.

Now I have to decide whether to work further on the light areas which I will probably do.

At the Knit and Stitch Show I particularly enjoyed the work of the Material Space Group in their exhibition 'In Touch'. Take a look at their website and the work of the individual artists. I liked the delicate bark scrolls by Jane Neals and on looking at her piece 'lost language' I am amazed that we had similar ideas, even to the use of red looped thread for  lettering. Nothing is ever truly unique, all we can hope is that we each add a personal touch here and there. I think the sculptural work using old teabags is definitely the definitive use of them. I wonder who first had the ‘aha’ moment when looking at the discarded bags. 
 I was lucky enough to just walk round a corner and come across the work of Fiona Rainford whose felt work I have long admired on Flickr and even better got to chat to her.
 In the 62 Group marquee Louise Baldwin said ‘hello’ and told me that she has shown lots of students what she considers my way of making felt and I told her how I often tell  people of how she persisted ‘like  a  Rottweiler’  to get me to experiment with the Embellisher.

One good buy.

The first embroidery/textile book which I was given in 1988 as a present was ‘The Art of the Needle'    by Jan Beaney.I wouldn't ever want to part with it, even though I am currently trying to declutter – having cleared two houses in a year it makes one aware of all the accumulated stuff that one day someone will have to dispose of. I know I should really ‘get rid’ of some of my City and Guilds pieces which are taking up a lot of space and honestly will hardly ever be looked at again, but it is difficult as I remember all the hours of stitching and' if and butting’ involved at the time. I have actually thrown away a whole basket of samples and acknowledged the fact that I had fun but have now moved on and in fact am accumulating more up-to-date clutter!

The point of this being that I used to pour over  Jan Beaneys' books and they have given me much pleasure; I have also grown to respect Jean Littlejohn as a tutor. When I saw a review of their new DVD I decided I would buy it at the Knit and Stitch Show. I did not expect it to contain any particularly new ideas but I wanted the pleasure of watching them stitch. It was a good buy and it has made me want to start playing with stitches again. I would thoroughly recommend it if you want a whole four hours of pleasure but beware it will make your fingers itch to get out all those piles of thread.

Is it finished?

This is a piece related to the rabbit skeleton that I keep working on and may well be finished now. 

It is really tactile as are most of these embellished pieces. I may well add some more shiny thread to get the idea of light shining on the bones. I know they look like trees too.

 Here is a linkto the post about the drawings and original sketchbook print which I did.

I enjoyed my trip to the Knit and Stitch Show despite a very long journey, due to problems with signalling on the railway and having to stand on the way back. Don’t you sometimes regret the loss of the old fashioned manners; standing in First Class with all the business men sitting I know I did!

I’ll tell you more about my purchases and what I particularly enjoyed next time.

Colour

I thought it might be nice on this overcast misty October day in the UK to have a bit of bright colour here to make a change.

These are some images from a small sample I made to practise when I first bought the Embellisher earlier this year.

I thank you all for your comments and hope I managed to get back to everyone.

Click to see larger images.