I am definately back.....

OK so I have had an horrendous time trying to switch my blog to my googlemail account and that was one of the main reasons why I stopped posting (that and working my socks off on my art course). Well finally Blogger have put the solution on their help pages and tonight I have managed to switch - so now when I log on to my iGoogle then I also have access to my blog without having to go around the houses.

Anyway, my course has now finished (all bar the exhibition) and I will be posting details soon.

It's great to be back.

Wow!

I'm so busy I feel I do not had time to catch up with myself. I know I promised to keep everyone up to date of my new course but I have been so busy trying to cram so much into my day that when I go home and have cooked tea etc. all I want to do is go to bed early. Since leaving work on the 31st July I have lost one stone in weight and I am not even on a diet! When I was at work I sat in front of the computer and ate when I was stressed, however now I'm so busy there is no need for comfort eating.

However, my carpal tunnel is flaring up again so I am trying not to type or sew. I have now installed ViaVoice on my computer so that I can dictate instead of type, and I have bought a new digital dictation machine for the art history lectures and any notes that I need to do. Anyway, the good news is that the doctor will be able to give me injections to keep me going before hopefully having 2 small operations after the course has finished.

Once I have mastered ViaVoice hopefully I will be able to update my blog more often.

It is very late now however, I will try to do an update of my progress to date, with piccies over this weekend.

Finished Still Life

Well here it is - the finished pastel picture. I really enjoyed working on it as the more I did the more it seemed to come to life. I have already framed it (however not shown here because of the flash) as I have decided not to have too many partially finished work lying around, anyway, I can always re-use the frame if my work progresses. The frame is 60cm x 80cm (23.6 x 31.5ins) which should give you an idea of size and yes I have loads of walls to cover....(saves decorating!)

Still extremely busy, today and tomorrow I am on a Career Transition workshop which is provided by my previous employer - all very useful stuff and should be very useful going forward.

Anyway, it is very late and I have homework still to do, but then again I much prefer to plan my next pastel.

I'm back and raring to go!

Yes! Finally finished work on Tuesday and have not had a chance to catch-up with myself. Anyway went on a Pastels course yesterday with a local Artist (Cath Inglis) to kick start my new life as an Artist. We did a still life and I was quite surprised how using really good pastels (Unison) makes a difference. I have not sat down and drawn since January and was really pleased with my attempt so far. I hope to finish it off next week as Cath took a photo for me to take home (cannot believe I forgot my camera!).


Cath is an excellent artist and I picked up quite a few tips on Pastels. There were 4 attendees and we had the course at her lovely home and studio here in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Brilliant day was had by all and Cath's hospitality was excellent, especially her Dorset Apple cake!

I have not forgotten my promise to blog our holiday to Sri Lanka, and hope to start sorting the photos next week. Had not realised how busy I would be after giving up work!

Yo!

Yes I am still here - it has been very slow but my hands are on the mend, I just have some residue pain in my fingers so I am still being very careful. Unfortunately I have had to abandon my stitching and have not been able to keep up with Sharon B's TAST .

I have however been very busy at work training for the handover of my job which is partly being offshored to Sri Lanka. I have included a picture here of Julian who flew home to Sri Lanka on Friday. It has been a pleasure to be able to meet people from a country which is so far away and whose culture is different. We have made many friends and myself, Neil and John have even decided to go on holiday in June to see more of Sri Lanka that we have heard so much about.

Doctors Orders

Some of you may have noticed that I have not participated in TAST for a couple of weeks that is because my CTS (Carpel Tunnel Syndrome) has come back, possibly made worse by a recent virus that I had.

Anyway, I had an injection today in my left wrist (goodness it hurts) and am being forced to rest. My right is not as bad but must rest that as well - typing this one handed is not easy...

The good news is that if the injection does not work then there is a simple op to cure it, which means my pending career change to a full-time artist is still on schedule. I should be back up and running soon, but in the meantime will keep an eye on Sharon's Blog and everyones progress on Flickr.

Crocus flower print

We have a had a beautiful spring like day here and I took the opportunity at lunch time to take my new camera to the Museum Gardens here in York. I have published a few photos on Flickr, but then decided to play with a picture of some crocus's.


I love just using a cut effect and one colour, the colour was taken from the crocus and I think is lovely. Perhaps I could try to print these on fabric but they would probably lose the intensity of the colour. Oh well that is for another day.
Anyway it is getting very late and I have a full day tomorrow as it is our monthly Embroiderers Guild meeting.

Snippings

Kay Susan posted her TAST Fly sample last week and I was quite pleased to see that it isn't only me who keeps snippings, Kay has used some to great effect in her sample and Patchworkgandalf admits to keeping all the bits as well!

Here is my current pile which are in a small tray next to my chair. I think they make quite a nice photo, anyway they will get used eventually, maybe in a TAST challenge soon.

I think we creative types tend to be like Wombles (little furry creatures that collect and utilise items that humans discard). Luckily for me I live in quite a large house for the moment, but in a few years time we will have to downsize. Goodness knows what I will do then?

Breaking in!

I am sure that it is not only me, but I just love new things that are just too good to break into.

Here are some pastels that I bought last week and as soon as I took the wrapper off I just thought "no way can I start using them!"

It is also the same with a new pad of paper - what do I do, I procrastinate for so long that I end up loosing my nerve and do something else.


Here are some scrummy threads that I recently got off e-bay, its the same I just have to hang onto them and drool.

Oh well it is one of those nights when nothing gets done.

Embroidery: TAST Fly Stitch #2

Further to my previous blog on TAST Fly Stitch, I have now completed my idea of dandelion seed heads to fabric.

I used a single strand of white stranded embroidery thread and 3 strands for the stem stitch.

I am extremely pleased with the result and will definitely use this again in future creations.


Anyone reading this who does not know what TAST is then you can read about it here on Sharon B's In a Minute Ago blog or see the links on the right hand side to Flickr and to the Webring. Join in and enjoy!

Bargain

Bought some cleaning cloths (16 in pack) in Poundland that look like fine synthetic felt. So I thought I would give them a try.

I have used one as a backing to an embroidery and this appears to have been a success. As you can see I have also painted on one with fabric dye and I am quite please with the result. Obviously I do not think that they will retain their shape with washing but could be useful for those embroideries that are for decoration and not for everyday use.

Embroidery: TAST Fly Stitch

I cannot remember ever doing Fly stitch before, but I am finding this simple stitch facinating.

I have found that the more I doodle on paper the more patterns I keep finding. I have
posted a couple of pages (at the bottom of this blog) and am quite excited with the Kalidescope approach, but it does involve counting stitches and I do prefer freestyle.

I would like to bring all the designs to life with the introduction of fabric, thread, colour and arrangement, however, as per usual I do not currently have the time. So by having transferred my ideas to paper and some to my sampler I will be able to refer to them at a future date.

My first doodle was that this stitch reminded me of a floating seed head from a dandelion or similar plant (OK yes you may have realised by now that I love flowers and plants!) - so I started there and added the dandelions (design not shown), if I have time this will be my design submission to TAST

However, I am now racking my brain to find another non plant application!

I think I am coming to the conclusion that patterns or plants/foliage are the best interpretaion of this stitch. Early days! who knows something may come to me when I least expect it.

Anyone reading this who does not know what TAST is then you can read about it here on Sharon B's In a Minute Ago blog or see the links on the right hand side to Flickr and to the Webring. Join in and enjoy!

Embroidery: TAST Feather Stitch

Here we are week 7 and this weeks challenge from Sharon is Feather Stitch.

I started by drawing a selection of flowing patterns and decided on this design, I then dyed some fabric by painting it, using Koh-I-Noor Brilliant Waterbased Dyes (as described in Week 2 Buttonhole)

I used 3 threads, one was an Anchor stranded thread (1216) which is shaded - pale to a dark green, another thread was a cotton perle thread by House of Embroidery (8B Bush) which is green, brown and beige. This is quite a fine perle for me as I usually use a 5 but this is an 8. The third thread was a bulk standard stranded dark green that I had in stock. With the stranded thread I only used 3 strands. The lighter shades I used to represent new growth at the top and the browns on the outside and below.

The finished sample is 13 by 9.5 inches (33 by 23 cms).

I think this could do with some flecks of colour - maybe reds, purple or pinks so I will put it to one side and perhaps add some as flowers for a later challenge.

Anyone reading this who does not know what TAST is then you can read about it here on Sharon B's In a Minute Ago blog or see the links on the right hand side to Flickr and to the Webring. Join in and enjoy!

'Woolly Bully' in the Wolds

It has been a beautiful winter day here in sunny East Yorkshire and we took this opportunity to travel through the Wolds. We stopped at a beautiful part called Millington Pastures where there were Scottish Red Highlander cattle all sunning themselves. They looked wonderful with their coats of lovely rusty hues.


Here I applied an effect using colours taken first from the grass then the second from the coat:



This picture shows how lovely and tranquil this area is.

And this is a picture taken of a gate with the same effect I used for the cows, again taking the main colour from the surrounding greenery.

Brand New Camera

For my birthday last week I got a Digital SLR camera - Canon EOS 400D - wow! Well it is one of my treats for giving up work this year, and I will need it for my new chosen career. Anyway it is the business!
Last Sunday we went out to the coast at Scarborough, well we were off to Robin Hoods Bay but the road was closed, so we ended up in Scarborough. The day was very cold but quite sunny, as you will see the sun is quite low. I took loads of pickies and this week have been manipulating a few using Adobe photoshop.

The first is of Scarborough harbour looking inland - I just love the seagull.

This one is fishermen fishing off the pier - goodness it was cold...One caught a small flat fish whilst we were watching.

The rest are studies of Lobster Pots







I will be publishing a few more on my Flickr site soon.

Embroidery: TAST Eyelet

Week 6 of the TAST challenge I decided to do a freestyle (as per usual) Eyelet stitch.

I started by painting the fabric with light diagonal strokes in yellow, using Koh-I-Noor Brilliant Waterbased Dyes (as described in Week 2 Buttonhole)

The main threads are Anchor Perle, and I did not plan this but went with the flow.

Below you will see that I did some digital drawing in Excel for Algerian Eye stitch which could be a useful tool for times when you do not have any canvas or want to plan ahead.

I started with a row of full stitch, then gradually went down the page reducing stitches. Now I have a basic sample I could rearrange them into a design.
(Click on picture to see better view)

Anyone reading this who does not know what TAST is then you can read about it here on Sharon B's In a Minute Ago blog or see the links on the right hand side to Flickr and to the Webring. Join in and enjoy!

Surprise

Yesterday we had our guild meeting and it was manic for me as I had so much to see and people to meet – I am going to have to start going earlier.

Anyway, the big surprise was for Elizabet whom I met via Sharon B’s blog ‘In a minute ago’ and to those of you who do not know, Sharon is based in Canberra, Australia and myself and Elizabet are based in York, UK. As a surprise for Elizabet I bought 2 of Sharon B’s excellent mugs that are available on Sharon’s CafePress retail site.

Elizabet was certainly surprised. Thank you Sharon for your excellent Blog that brings like minded people together from across the globe.

Embroidery: TAST Chevron

It's a beautiful sunny day here and it's my Birthday! and if you want to calculate my age I was born "The day the music died!". But I am very much alive and raring to go - York Embroiderers Guild meeting this afternoon and I am really looking forward to it. There is to be a surprize and I will blog about that later.

Chevron - not sure if I like this stitch much as I found I kept catching the thread when coming back through to the mid point on the final part.



I used some linen fabric, which I doubled over. The design is based on a sunray, from my favourite period of design - Art Deco. On reflection I think I should have filled in the yellow rays with another stitch - who knows I may use the design again for another TAST challenge. The sun is detatched chain edged with buttonhole and I just couched some thread to frame the edge. The main threads are from Oliver Twist One-Offs no. 013 that I got off E-bay, where I get most of my threads cos we are short of good suppliers here. I also used some yellow and orange DMC Perle for the sun and yellow rays - again from E-bay.

Anyone reading this who does not know what TAST is then you can read about it here on Sharon B's In a Minute Ago blog or see the links on the right hand side to Flickr and to the Webring. Join in and enjoy!

My Journey

I have decided to put my other blog (Mary's Journey) on hold until I either leave work, which hopefully will be in June or start my Art and Design Foundation Course in September.

As explained in the blog I am taking redundancy this year as much of our work is being outsourced to Sri Lanka. I am not quite 50 yet but I feel it is time to take a new direction in my life whilst I am still young enough and able to do so.

Luckily I have a wonderful, supportive husband who as explained in my profile, "lets me witter on", but also does take a certain amount of interest and is encouraging me to take this journey into "finding myself!". I know that sounds like a cliche but that is what the Art and Design foundation will enable me to do, by exploring many mediums, techniques and studying other artists. So hopefully at the end of the year I should be in a better position to see in which direction my Art/Textiles will take me.

I really cannot wait.......but meanwhile I am very busy doing my full time job which does not leave a lot of time for the creative me, so my journey blog is on hold and all postings will now be directed here and/or to my my Flickr account.

Embroidery: TAST Cretan Stitch Background

Laura Lea asked me if I marked my leaves first on my Cretan leaves picture posted on Flickr

Well I started by doing the 2 large leaves freehand, but I was not happy with the outcome. So I sketched (in pencil) a stem on the back then added leaves as per the sketch here.

I then found that I could not see through the fabric, so I then went around the outline in black biro and on holding it up to the light I could then see the outline. The use of pencil or biro is not ideal as some of this could come through to the front with the stitches. If you look closely on the final version you will see that at the top I started to do a cretan stitch for the stem and after I unpicked it, as well as pin holes marks were left!

As yet I have not investigated fabric markers but if anyone out there has experience of these and could recommend one or two that would be appreciated.

Below is the back so that you can see where I stitched.
(click on either images to see detail)

Embroidery: TAST Cretan Stitch

Well here is my first attempt at Cretan stitch for TAST week 4 and I have found that I really like this stitch, but I do need to some more linear samples. I have taken this photo at night with a flash so I will look at it again tomorrow to see if a more natural will show the colours better and repost the picture if necessary.



The fabric was the other half to the piece I used for Week 2: Buttonhole, so if you want to know how I dyed the fabric please see blog below.

Some of you may wonder why I have managed to do so much in the last couple of days, well I have been off work with a streaming cold and unfortunately it has gone to my chest, and as I am an asthmatic that is not good news. Oh well hopefully I should be out and about very soon, in the meantime it is extremely late and I am shattered, so Good Night all.

Embroidery: TAST Detatched Chain

TAST Week 3 - Detached Chain

I decided to plan this design, and during one lunchtime (when it was very cold and snowy so I did not go out) I sketched a brief outline - quite easy really as I am always doodling flowers.

I used a natural linen fabric and DMC Perle No5 thread and every single stitch is Detached Chain







I really enjoyed doing this and will be a good edition to my book of stitches.

So onward with Week 4 which is Cretan Stitch
which is a stitch that I have never used so will be exciting challenge!

Embroidery: TAST Buttonhole

Only just onto week2 of Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) - well here it is a very freestyle buttonhole.

First I lightly dyed my fabric, bargain curtain lining from Dumelm (or Dullelm as my 15 year old son calls it!). I have a palette of Koh-I-Noor Brilliant Waterbased Dyes that I got from Art Van Go at the last Harrogate knitting and stitching show and I just use them like watercolours. I lined the fabric with some medium vilene, and put the fabric into a frame.

All the stitches are a variation of buttonhole, and are all what I would call freestyle, that is just going with the flow.



I have an idea for TAST week3 detatched chain stitchso I had better get a shimmy on!

Embroidery: TAST Herringbone

Well here is my Herringbone sampler for week1 of SharonB's Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.

I have had great fun. Top row is a double herringbone stitch (DMC 5 perle) interlaced with some Twilley's silver crochet thread. The middle was a fishy free font that I found on dafont.com then infilled using a freeform herringbone stitch, and the last row was just a closer stitch over a hand dyed silk ribbon.



I still have loads of ideas to further explore this stitch but I am also eager to get going on week 2 - buttonhole stitch.

I am sure Sharon is delighted by the amount of people who are joining in with this challenge and I would recommend any readers to take a look at all the exciting variations being created either on Sharons blog In A Minute Ago or on the Flickr Take a Stitch Tuesday Group

Embroidery: Beaded Mini Tote

Sorry I have been out of circulation for a while. The winter season does take me a lot of effort to keep up with the festivities, work etc.

Anyway, here I am making my first post of 2007, although it is a small token of some work I finished last year.

Onward and upward I am now working on some art work for my Journey about my major career change in 2007.

However, tonight we commence a new term at the sewing club so hopefully with this kick start I will be able to finish some UFO's or maybe have a new project to get our teeth into.

Beadwork#2

Just a quicky blog - here are an evening version of the Christmas tree earrings

Beadwork

Yesterday I went to a workshop held by my good friend Ann Pearson. There were about 13 attendees and we set to to create Christmas beadwork ornaments including: stars, Father Christmas's, trees and earrings. Many of the attendees were new to beadwork and found it fiddly to begin with. Even though Ann was run ragged trying to keep up with the demands at the beginning, great fun was had by all and the outcome was fantastic, everyone went home happy with the treasures they had created - me included. Here are the earrings I created using fine wire taken from an old electric flex.


Whilst I had my beadwork box I also mended a necklace I made over a year ago - the trouble was I kept fiddling with the lovely dangly beads and eventually one broke. I must not fiddle...I must not fiddle...I must not fiddle...



I also finished a victorian style drop lace necklace that I had bought at a show last year. The reason I did not finish it was that I did not like the clasp that came with the kit, preferring instead magnetic clasps.



So all in all yesterday was a good day for learning new tricks and finishing UFO's

Digital Fun

It is half term and I am having a rare day off from work, and after a morally acceptable amount of house work - well minimum - I have set to and had some fun with one of my digital photos that I took on holiday.


This one looks like viewing the fern through a drop of water. I kept most of the border as I thought it looked better with the green to frame the image.


The second one I had fun with converting the colours to negative, applying a mystic effect then polarising the finished picture. I especially love the inky blue colours.


The final one after doing a few effects then I created a mirror image, which looks like one of those pictures that are made using blobs of colour on a piece of paper then folding it over - what do you see?

Photos on Flickr

I have now started to update my Flickr account with some of my digital photos, which include Flora and Fauna, Land and Seascapes
Many of these photos I have taken with future projects in mind.
Here are a couple that I took today:

Postcard: Goonhilly, Cornwall, UK

Well here I am down in sunny Cornwall, where we are visiting Goonhilly which is UKs premier satellite station.
There are loads of interactive technical gizmo's to keep my son entertained as well as free internet access with super fast connection.
My husband has been going via satellite to view the Grand Prix - so all in all we are having a brilliant time.

There is lots to do in Cornwall and there are loads of galleries with excellent art, together with the fantastic scenery I feel very inspired... Have loads of photos which should keep me going for some time.

Mary

Holidays!

We are going on our summer holiday tomorrow - down to Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, so I will not be able to moderate comments until my return.
I will be taking my CQ so I will endeavour to finish the block which has been progressing slowly.
No doubt I will have loads of photos - so see you all at the beginning of September.

Embroidery: Ribbon

Here is a card that I made at a ribbon embroidery class that my good friend Ann Pearson gave for the local WI. I did make another one of a cluster of wine and pink coloured flowers which I liked better, but I gave it away before taking a photo - never mind.
I really enjoyed using the silk ribbon and found that it was quite easy on this type of open weave fabric. However, I did try some on my crazy quilt but unpicked it as I did find it more difficult on cotton.
Soon after I took some pictures of sunflowers down at the allotments, so next time I will have some pictures to refer to. I just love this bee!

(Category: embroidery)

Embroidery: Old Design New Technique

After a visit in 2005 to Coats Crafts UK Archive by a couple of our committee members a challenge was made to re-work an old design by using new techniques.

This was indeed a challenge to me as I was a new member to the Guild and had yet to explore not only traditional techniques but also the vast array of new materials and techniques that are now available.

I started by scanning the original design into my computer, then I created a basic pattern for my design.

After a lot thought and deliberation I came up with an outline as shown. The foundation of the design is layers of organza over net embellished with traditional freehand stitches, as however you look at it these traditional techniques can never be replaced.

I then did a lot of research and by accident came up with ‘Tyvek’ stitched with ‘Fab Film’, then heated to create the ideal scrunched effect for my centre pieces. The metallic clusters of multi coloured beads provide an ideal base to these to allow the centre pieces to stand away from the fabric to add another dimension. Liking the idea of rag rugging; but being allergic to hessian, I found that the rubber underlay that is now sold to protect tables as well as being a new material this was an ideal substitute. These small pieces using strips of the base organza fabric for the rugging are used to lift the centres like fluffy covered seeds from a seedpod. Finally the work was quilted to produce a raised effect.

At times I almost gave up but with the encouragement of fellow members I persevered and produced the final piece in time for the City of York Branch ‘Visible Threads’ Exhibition in June 2006. The piece was also exhibited in the recent Pocklington Art Exhibition.

So here I am, even though I feel the piece is naive I have now gained invaluable experience and feel more confident going onwards and hopefully upwards in my work.


(Category: embroidery)

Weather, sunset and owls!

Well we have had a better start to August and temperatures have been in the early 20's which is normal here for this time of the year. July was far too hot and as records were broken we melted which made day to day activities in the home unbearable.

I took this photo tonight of the sunset from our balcony, which shows that we now have more interesting skies than we had in July.

Within half an hour of me taking this photo we had an owl alight on the water (bottom right of the picture) that we leave out for the birds. Its the first one that we have seen (so close to the house) - but alas it was too dark to take a photo, and anyway I would not want to upset it as it may not come back!

Embroidery: Crazy Quilt Block update

Well I have managed to get started despite being so busy!

Using DMC Perle 5 I started by attaching some lace (cheap from the Market) using buttonhole stitch then basic herringbone embellished with silver lined beads. I have also applied some feather stitch which I have layered.
In the centres of the flowers I have done some french knots in both DMC Perle 5 and Anchor 3 stranded embroidery threads.
Along one seam there are some half buttonhole wheels and have started some grape embellishments using french knots
Today I am back at the exhibition so I maybe able to get some more done there.

The 100 details for a 100 days stitch-a-long was created by SharonB and for anyone who has not seen this blog it is well worth a visit.

(Category: embroidery)

Embroidery: Exhibition

The York Embroiderers' Guild had an exhibition in June at Askham Bryan on the outskirts of York. This is a triannual event and my first - it blew me away.
Anyway, I entered a competition and I will blog that at a later date but here is a taster from my piece.

After the exhibition some of the items were kept to one side and are now showing at Woldgate College, Pocklington, which is literally down the hill (Wold) from where I live. So for the next 2 weekends I have volunteered in the afternoons to go along and look after the exhibits and be on hand for queries etc.
Busy, busy, busy I also have to do the books and produce invoices for our local afternoon school club - no time for housework this weekend!
(category: embroidery)

Format problems!

I now know what the problem is regarding the different views of my blog - at work my monitor is set to 800x600 resolution because I have difficulty seeing the screen set back on my desk and at home I have a resolution of 1024x768 which 80% of people use.

This means 800x600 see the blog on a full screen, and 1024x768 see the blog down the middle and if I set my pictures with word wrap and put in spaces to move some of the words down to align them to the pictures it looks brilliant on 1024.. but atrocious on 800..

As yet I have not found a way to make both happy except to posting pictures in the middle with words above or below (as per DigitalGran).

Embroidery: Crazy Quilt Block

Well here it is - my first attempt at a complete block. Upto now all I have done are a few ATC's, which I was very happy with but because I was in a rush for a meeting forgot to take a photo before I swapped them.
Anyway, tonight I have created a nude block with a digital print on percale of some osteospermum (Cape Daisy) flowers at the centre (of course from my Mums lovely garden).
So now I can join in with Sharon B's 100 details for a 100 days of which I have been an avid follower, but because of other commitments have not been able to join in.
(category: embroidery)

Format problems!

What is going on! posts look fine on my PC at home but when I look at work they are a mess. Will have to investigate further. Maybe I will have to take off the word wrap and post words and pictures underneath each other.
Oh and what is with the date stamp! I have it set to British Summer Time but the stamp sometimes says otherwise.
Any ideas welcome.

Embroidery: Free Machine

Well here we go, I have pressed and tweaked the project and this is what I have - not too sure still!



Anyway, here is what I created on the beginners course part 1 which was run by Eileen Gibson, as I mentioned in my previous blog.



Layers of base fabric, iron-on pelmet vilene, bondaweb, base fabric, bondaweb, snippings and finished with free machine stitches.



We created a piece 20" x 8" and I decided to create a bag, which has a gusset but you cannot see this on the picture.



The toggle was created by using a triangular piece and rolled. The cord was some furnishing cord with zig-zag stitches applied over the top.
















(category: embroidery)

Flowers: Allotment

Neil has taken up a new hobby and has an allotment, although up to now has not shown any interest in gardening! Must be a male thing!.


Anyway, I sometimes accompany him and yesterday I got a few photos of poppies, flowering teasles, which are rampant on the plot - the poppy shot I particularly like and could be an inspiration for a future project.

The last flower is an onion.




We cannot grow veg in our garden as our house is on the first Wold on the edge of the Vale of York, and the soil is heavy with clay.




I must admire some of the plots as they are pristine (see our local website) - but Neil has a long way to go!

(category: photos)















.

Embroidery: Free Machine

Went on a day school yesterday (my last one before the summer break), Machine Embroidery with Eileen Gibson. This is the second class of 3 - I will blog the first one later as I was very pleased with the bag I made.

Anyway, this class was to explore the use of free machine embroidery using water soluble fabrics and an embroidery hoop.

OK not wanting to make excuses for myself but I was feeling a little under the weather as the previous day I was diagnosed with acute vertigo due to an ear infection. But nothing was going to keep me away from this class. As I had to travel about 20 miles, Neil my husband very kindly gave me a lift as I was not up to driving.

The day went very well and Eileen is an excellent teacher.

We started with a 9 inch square piece of material (I chose a piece of hand dyed silk from a scarf that I purchased at our local charity shop) then machined pin tucks across the bias, finishing by joining to sides together to make a conical shape.

The conical was then pinned to the water soluble sheet (I used Romeo) once the sheet had been stretched over the frame, the shape was stitched down then we were set free to machine to our hearts content, making sure that all stitched interlinked.

At this stage Judy said that they all looked like 'Sorting Hats'! and some of the doll makers were very pleased with the idea to make them into hats. However, the finished items are meant to be the other way up (small bags) - maybe to hang on a wall - but at the end of the day they are what ever you want them to be.

Once we were happy then the fabric was dissolved in warm soapy water - but as you see mine needs a lot more soaking as it is still quite stiff. It is not a disaster yet! but I thought I would show it to you all anyway as a before picture.

By this time I was pooped! and felt that I could not go on to do a handle.

Hopefully during the week I may have time to restart and finish the little wall hanging with handle and embellishments.

Great fun - many thanks to Eileen and the York Embroiderers' Guild

(category: embroidery)

Embroidery: Canvas work UFO

I was just searching in my sewing room for a small piece of aida, when I came across this piece of canvas work that I completed last October when I was on holiday. It is a canvas work sampler consisting of Norwich stitch (that's the woven diamond shaped squares), cross-cornered cushion stitch and a form of Half Rhodes - perhaps I could convert it into a panel for a bag? but suggestions welcome.
As I have previously said 'I am new to embroidery' and what I have learnt from people who have been doing this for many years is: 'not to have too many UFO's (Unfinished Objects)' - so perhaps by blogging this it will galvanise me to get going....So watch this space (in a year or so!!!)

(category: embroidery)

Embroidery: Darning

So you thought darning was for socks and knitwear! - well here is a picture that I created using left over threads and beads. For the water I used strips of a plastic sandwich bag that I twisted to create a lovely thread with a sheen. However, I am not too happy with the sky but then again even painting skies are difficult - I will have to investigate other techniques.

(category: embroidery)

Web site plans....

I am hopefully going to re-build my web site and then house various galleries and projects so that my web log will be able to link to archive categories easily. The trouble is time to do all this, but it should be worth it in the long run.

Firstly I am going to have to have a plan, then some graphics (this is where my 15 year old son may be able to help his old mum out!)

Anyway it is late and I do witter on.....

Summer Flowers

Just a few photos that I took whilst visiting my mums garden, I expecially like the rose as it appears so perfect and such a lovely colour. My mum lives near Morecambe in Lancashire - she loves her garden and always has such a wonderful array of colours.









(category: photos)

Canvaswork and Free Embroidery

Here is a canvas work picture that I finished for the guild meeting at the beginning of July.

A picture of Loch Ness inspired “Lakeside” even though the final piece took on a Lakeland scene. The magnificent colours were what drew me to the picture.

As I was creating a piece of canvas work I started by “pixelating” the picture on my computer, as a basis for the background (as seen below). This was printed onto a piece of canvas to which I applied a cross corner stitch to represent the pixels.

Once this was complete, I felt that the picture was very regimented so I decided to break up the foreground by applying free embroidery stitches.
Here is some detail:



(category: embroidery)

Acrylic Canvas and Embroidery

"Embroidery"
I went on a day school with the embroiderers' guild 'Textured Landscapes' where we explored painting canvases and embellishing them with anything to hand. Here I painted a landscape and applied dried wheat then embellished it with embroidery.

The seed head and the centre of the poppy are pieces of stump work. Although you may not be able to see threads were also painted into the canvas to create texture.

I was in my element and created 2 during the day.

(category: embroidery)

Well here I am!

Hiya

This is my first post but as it is late on a Friday night and it has been a very long week I do not have any energy left to witter today.

Tomorrow is another day! and hopefully I will have got the hang of this.