Appliqué

Finally finished my decorative appliqué homework, which always feels as though its not what I'm supposed to have done, but I've really enjoyed this.

I love having a muslin backing cloth, as it lets threads bury themselves, and gives you a place to work a couple of small stitches before starting to stitch - no knots, I hate knots!

Stitching it all down

The leafy light green block is reverse applique, the green fabric mounted on the back, with tacking stitches outlining the negative space that needs to be cut through from the front. I cut the red silt form the front, then blanket stitched it down. I chose the motif carefully to make sure I could align warp and weft of both fabrics and still have the stem at a sensible angle to extend downwards.

I used very sparse, stretched fly stitch to attach the orange "sunflower" stem; breaking this at the centre with a little sliver of blue organza to echo the sky above. I chose a stitch that echos the running stitch used in the sky, as well as the triad of the fly stitch.

For the grass at the bottom I wanted to make sure the stitches helped in holding down this very loosely woven fabric. I used a toning soft green silk, to blend into the sheen of the fibre, rather than fighting with it. Then I couched on some of the loose threads from the sunflower fabric to the left, using the same green as is in the sky, shiny and vivid.

So here we are! I think it needs to be backed by something dark, but for now, it's just a sampler.

Anny, you're right, it is rather Autumnal isn't it!

Now to the functional applique ....

London, the Downs and Autumn

This weekend we went up to London to take my dear one's grandson to the station to go home. Said grandson had been very useful chopping wood, not drawing water, but painting the other shed a deeper brown so that it blends more into the background of the garden. All very much appreciated, and we enjoyed having him to stay, but it was time for him to go back to the frozen north in Yorkshire, so he could spend the late afternoon kayaking at which, I understand, he is rather good.

Since we were there we took the time to look round.  The King's Cross refurbishment is stunning, a great filigree arc of steel and light which ties it all together and brings the outside inside in a breathtaking fashion.

After we'd seen grandson off, we wandered down to Tate Modern, now surrounded by all sorts of shiny new buildings cheek by jowl with the old.

We went to see the Munch Exhibition, which was extremely enjoyable,. but raised a lot of questions in my mind about the why's and wherefore's of what makes an artist's work notable, or worth seeing. I enjoy Munch's work, but the paintings on show seemed to me to be sketchy and unfinished, lacking the emotional resonance of some of his earlier works. There were also quite a few rather tiny, blurry photographs which, we whispered to ourselves sotto voce, might have been less notable had they been taken by someone else! Still, it was a good show and worth seeing. It's always a deep pleasure to be able to get up close to works of art, looks the brush strokes, the mark making, the blend and flow of the paint, feel the energy of the artist and then stand back and take in the whole.

When we left the Tate, we went around to the river side of the building to cross over the bridge to get the Tube. I absolutely love this planting of slender birch trees at the front, it always reminds me of Klimt's Birch Forests

 We crossed the Millennium Bridge

 Were amazed by the Shard

Then found ourselves a train to bring us away from the busy dirtiness of London and home through my beloved Downs

Once home I set to with putting the various bits of Autumn together - tacking on the left, very much in the style of Jude - whose videos are well worth watching if you want to see how her patient stitching build into wonderful things. Sadly her blog no longer has a list of links to individual videos, though they are still all there within the structure of her blog. On the right it all looks a little bit squonk but will, I hope, find more structure once the stitching happens. What stitching? Hmmm, not sure yet, I'm waiting for it to tell me, thought I do have an idea to begin with, and you can't go beyond until you begin.

Autumn beginning to happen

I mentioned this little piece quite a long time ago now here. It has been sitting in the study waiting patiently  for me while I was busy with other things. I took it up again last week and played about with it, pinning and repinning, photographing each redesign so I could have a think about how it was to go together. Eventually I printed little versions of each photograph in Black and White - OK sort of sepia really, but monochrome, so I could see the design and the balance of tones without the distractions of colour.

I thought I'd decided on the version below as a format, but once I'd started pinning and then tacking the bits onto the ground cloth, I realised that I preferred to leave the right hand edge of blue in one line, rather than staggered as it is here. It feels more secure, better enclosed, protective; protection seems to be a feeling developing with this piece....
Gosh, hark at me, talking as though I were some kind of expert - I promise, I'm not!

So, I've got the most part of it tacked down now, ready for the "proper" stitching - no that's not the work in progress above, I'll take another picture when it's a bit further along, but I have managed to get that odd little swing from left to right in the background sorted out now. I have a vague idea abut how I want to do this, but only very vague, I'm quite happy to let it become as the stitching takes it. I watch Jude's magic blog and see how she allows her cloths to tell her their story as she stitches them. I also try to keep up with a wonderful variety of others, who also follow her path. I know I can't manage the same, but will see where this one takes me. The gentle pink of the background was once a bridesmaid's dress, a vibrant magenta velvet with swansdown at the neck, sleeves and hem. I tried a little bit of the waste fabric (found in a box, having been hoarded by Mum over the years) in one of my earlier dyeing experiments. A lot of the colour leached out in the pot, but I rather like its soft, muted hue now. I have to say, I did adore the dress. Mum made it for me, and I really felt like a princess for the day

Next!

My next effort in the C&G. This one in fly stitch, straight stitch and detached chain. Each of these little pieces is intended to teach about the use of different stitches, but also has a colour element. This was based around analogous colours; that is the range of colours that move from a primary colour to a secondary in one or other direction around the colour wheel. The previous one was about complimentary colours, green and red, but with a push towards orange that I justified by keeping the greens primarily in the blue/green range - red/green:blue/orange. Probably cheating, but I'll find out next Saturday at our next workshop.

In this case I chose red through to purple. I think I've pushed the boundaries a bit again though, by adding in that delicate pinky white. I'm hoping I can get away with it, it simply demanded inclusion; having started with overlapping fly stitch in the centre I knew dandelion clock was the way to go. It continues the Autumn theme, hopefully with a little sense of the soft seeds, blowing in the breeze that swirls around it.

more autumn

This little piece of stitchery has reached a satisfactory state now,

 an autumn sun shining over the land, 

the colours I'm seeing as I go about this autumnal  bit of the globe

Just a little sampler, about three inches high, it is stitched on a piece of cloth that once was a skirt of Mum's I liked the neutral sage'y background and it has a pleasant even weave to stitch, but feels, and is, a synthetic fibre, which just doesn't feel quite right under the needle.

C&G update

One of the things that has been adding to my stress has been the City and Guilds work. Not work actually, because it is all so interesting, but I do have to turn all this

into something coherent and presentable. I am woefully behind in comparison to my more experienced fellow stitchers. But I have been having fun. One of the bits I've been working on stems from one of the colour exercises.

I wanted to see if I could stitch in a way that echoed the marks on paper.

I'm really rather pleased with the way it's come out, though not strictly to the given remit, it does exploit fly stitch, detached chain, cross, straight and french knots. It's only 3 inches square, references the old fashioned nine patch and is worked using the smallest of my between needles and a single strand of embroidery floss.  A certain amount of squinting went on. Now, do I work a boundary between the squares or leave them to blend into each other the way the pen drawing does?

And here are my efforts to date, all put together waiting to go in my folder of works. I now have to learn about bullion, raised chain band, whipped stem, guilloche, seeding and something else I've forgotten. Then I have to learn about blackwork, canvas work and cross stitch.

All watched over by my trusty needle case; a Primary school project I made for Mum more years ago than I can remember, though I do remember being worried that the satin stitch was too long and that it would pull crooked when used. It seems to have been treated gently by time. The snail shell gave me some trouble as well and the R for Rosemary doesn't quite pull off that casual lean into the bottom corner!

Meanwhile the garden is dipping towards winter. The silver silhouette of the walnut is starting to shine up from the bottom of the garden, a few yellow leaves still clinging to its branches.

the maple I planted in the spring is showing great promise

the honeysuckle and jasmine twining round their framework of leafless conifer branches is also giving a sketchy hint of how it may look once fully clothed with a dressing of leaf and stem.

and certain inhabitants are sure that it's now nicer inside than out

A closer look will reveal another cat in the basket .......

Autumn

something quiet is forming, just a start of something - will see where it goes.