Coleus

Here is some lovely colour in a Coleus leaf. Apparently each one has a slightly different pattern and colouring. The garden is lovely at the moment, although suffering from the current heat wave and drought. The first cucumbers and courgettes are ready. The gooseberry crumbles are in full swing; lovely buttery biscuit topping on a slightly sour fruit, which I'm not sure anybody really likes but it is so traditional.

Swap

My first swap all the way from Winnetka arrived this week from http://missellz.typepad.com/missellz . A lot of thought went into it, including researching liquorice allsorts - she contacted me after I had commented that some of her small felt pieces looked like sweets - so she made me some felt ones. I have already used two of the unique cards; all in all it was a great pleasure to receive.
I hope you are impressed that I have managed to put a picture in the blog title. This took many hours and assistance from the help files, as I really don't know anything about computer code. It made my head hurt, just like my maths homework used to do. The satisfaction when I got it in place was enormous.

A Gemini

I have been on leave for a few days for my birthday. Most days have been sunny; on a very hot day I decided to make another felt bag to prove to myself that I could complete it without the tutor standing over me. It was hard work but I made the bag without the fastening in a morning,

I visited the Windsor embroidery show and particularly enjoyed the Diploma textile work; once again it made me aware that I really need to be more disciplined ,to draw more and to start with an idea rather than a technique, but being a Gemini I have a good excuse for getting so easily distracted.

We briefly visited the National Gallery on Friday on the way to lunch with my very busy son. It was amazing to stand so close to Van Gogh's Sunflowers and to really see the texture in the layers of paint.

Tissue Paper Poppy 3

I have finished the final poppy embroidery now. This involved making a small print block and twin needle stitching over some strips of Mawata Cap silk dyed with silk paint.











I used Bokhara Couching stitch again and machine embroidery with some satin stitch blobs. Now all three are mounted and I hope at least one will be in a local summer exhibition, which has given me the incentive to work them through. Its nice when inspiration comes and the work just seems to come together.

Felt Making

This weekend I have been on a 3D felt making course, both the course and the venue were excellent. The tutor was Mary Chandler, highly recommended. We all worked very hard on a really hot day and as you can see made some lovely bags.

The setting was the Gridshell building at the Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex. This is the home of a number of historic houses and agricultural buildings. The Gridshell itself is an awarding winning construction of green oak laths. I don't understand much about the building principles but it is a lovely space to be in; I think the photo below will give you some idea.

Workshop on the Web

The June workshop arrived and this weekend, just for fun, I have tried two of the projects. Two pieces are the first part of a book and the next issue will have the rest of the instructions to make a keepsake book. The background paper is done
following the technique http://tryittuesdays.wordpress.com. I can't share the techniques from the workshop, but do have a look at my link if you don't already know about the web workshop. Has anyone else been trying the workshop ideas?

This is an idea you may know for using thicker threads - I use a topstitch needle. I only managed to get it to work recently, perhaps I found the right size jam jar!

Paradise Lost

'The World was all before them, where to choose

Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide:

They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,

Through Eden took thir solitarie way.'


John Milton

Finished ?

This piece is finished now, except for putting it on a backing. Its hard to know when to stop the 'seeding'. A good stitch to do when you want to get thoroughly engrossed and ignore the world around you. I didn't want to skimp on the stitching, but finally it told me it was finished and I agreed.

May walk.

I have just received my first copies of 'Cloth, Paper & Scissors' and 'Quilting Arts', thanks to reading about them on other peoples blogs. I have been diverted by making layered paint backgrounds and thinking how to transfer these to fabric.
I will certainly be subscribing. I recently started getting 'Embroidery' magazine again after a break of a few years. I used to regularly refer to it and looked forward to receiving the next copy, but I don't find it so interesting now, perhaps this is because the articles are often not by practising textile artists.

I have had a few days off work; here are a few photos from a recent walk. It has been very rainy but warm. I found a rusty farm trailer which yielded some photos with potential.

Poppy Silks

For the second version of the Tissue Paper Poppy I am using the silk carrier rods which I used in the pieces which I showed in my first postings. This time I have dyed the silk with acrylics and fabric paints, just touching the silk with iridescent tinting medium in places to add some sparkle.

I fixed the silk strips in place with a machine pattern after stripping the layers apart and ironing flat. This will then form the basis for hand stitching. I have used these silk strips quite a lot now as they are so tactile.
I wonder in what ways other people are using them.

Beads

This is the bead sample which I could not resist on Saturday. It only cost £6. It is a funny mixture really, heavy metal discs together with pink plastic pieces. I have pinned up on the wall at the moment and may decide to frame it at some time. It sort of looks ethnic but isn't.

The way forward ?

I am quite pleased with how this first piece has come together and am saying to myself that this is a good plan, to work on one image which motivates me over a few pieces - but, of course, this always happens, I think I have found the way only to get diverted again.
Yesterday I was up at 6am on my way to a nearby town to set up a stall at their Saturday market. There were over 200 stalls mostly selling collectables, coins, pottery etc. I was in the wrong place really. I could have spent a lot had I not had to man the stall - I did buy a beadwork sample, with metal discs, quite heavy. It was still on its sample card complete with rusty staples. I sold only three items and didn't break even, but I had lots of lovely discussions about techniques; all in all a good day as the people who bought things seem to really appreciate them.

Silk bowl

It is May Day bank holiday here which means the luxury of having Monday off work. This has given me some time to get side tracked from the poppy project and I tried my hand at making a silk bowl using Mawata Caps. I dyed the silk with dye-n-flow. Whilst machining I added a few whisps of dyed fleece which I had for felt making.
This is a method described by Katleen Danswan in 'Embroidery' magazine. The result has potential but I have a long way to go to achieve anything like her results.

Bokhara Couching

This is a close up which shows the couching stitch well.
It can be interesting to remember how threads are acquired. Many of mine are bought at shows, when you live in a small town without a proper craft shop you have to take any opportunity; sometimes I am lucky in Charity Shops. I always look in any tins just in case they hide a hoard of threads. The dark blue thread used here was found in a roll of stranded cottons, all graded in colour, which had been wrapped up in a tray cloth and fastened into a roll with safety pins. It must have been someones pride and joy at one time.
The lemony yellow wool was a similar find. I have 'found' quite a few tapestry wools, no doubt the end of someones project or a project never completed. It all helps to provide a range of textures and colours.

Tissue Paper Poppy 3

It is satisfying to sort out the threads for a project. Here I have couched down threads and strips of material with free machining. In places I have used very fine pieces of silk to knock back and give texture to the surface. There are small areas of dark purple velvet which peep out from under the gossamer silk surface.

For some reason I had the urge to use BOKHARA COUCHING, which is a solid filling stitch. You can see it in Mary Thomas' Dictionary of Stitches p98. The idea came because I have been tidying all my photos and found an interesting picture of this stitch used in a sample. I wanted to use quite heavy stitching with bold colours. I haven't used it before but it comes together nicely and works to blend in the colours.

Tissue Paper Poppy 2

These are the threads and materials sorted for the 'Tissue Paper Poppy' project. My plan is to work on three small pieces, a mini series on this theme.

For any of you who may not know, ' the handweavers studio ' at 29 Haroldstone Road, London (020 8521 2281) have a wonderful range of colours in their threads which are relatively cheap. I have never managed to get to the shop but have sent colour swatches and had a good postal service - or they are often at stitching shows. The rayon threads are also good for cord and tassel making. The fine silks are lovely but slightly more expensive.

Easter 2006

'Tissue Paper Poppy'

I really liked the colours in a magazine photo of 'Meconopsis Quintuplinervia', the harebell poppy to those of us who are not gardening enthusiasts. So far I have painted some calico . The flowers are described as having deep blue tissue paper petals; an image which seems to really asked to be stitched.

Happy Easter to everyone. If we do ever get any sun I will post a picture of the wonderful array of daffodils, tulips and hyacinths in our garden. I have been a bit distracted by all the weekend cooking; including hot cross buns this morning. Thank goodness we get to eat the easter eggs tomorrow.

Adding "Pizzazz"

Last October I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexander Palace. I have been many times now and always find something interesting; especially the work of the young graduates or the knitted sculpture. On this occasion Sherril Kahn gave a generous demonstration of her work and afterwards I bought a set of her stamps. Here they are combined with hand stitching on a fabric painted background. 'Creating with Paint' by her is an interesting read; she believes in lots of complementary colours and strong colours to add "pizzazz".

Thermo-screen

Recently I have printed and dyed some calico using procion and fabric paints. I have a skeleton leaf thermo-screen which I bought from Committed to Cloth ; you can read about them on their web site. I first saw them used at the NEC Quilt Championships last year. They are small and easy to use if you have limited space.
I also used cotton reels, a stencil and pieces of plastic to print with. The gold is Pearl Ex powders.
As you can see I also finished the bag from the one day course at the VA last weekend.