finding the edge

I am experimenting with the machine - it occurred to me that any piece done within a frame would of necessity be restricted, initially, to the dimensions of the frame. So here I have wandered about with differing threads looking at where the edge is within the space delineated by the circular frame. It is mad and uncoordinated because I am just learning. I'm also looking at different threads, experimenting. There is gold, sewed from the back, to see how it worked in the bobbin rather than the needle. 
I bought some metallic thread needles to try out, and have some outrageous holographic thread I couldn't;t resist somewhere recently. Things might get horrifyingly psychdelic! It reminds me of my endless hours with the Spirograph as a child - there were never enough pieces of paper, nor any of sufficient quality, and the pens were horrendous, but there was a mesmeric rhythmical quality to the activity and you had to be jolly careful. I think I prefer thread!


I'm finding the edges of threads as well as fabric and machine.


A heart appeared as I was stitching - can you see it?


We'll see where it goes!

more machine embroidery

This time with the lovely Linda Miller. We had a fabulous day, learnt lots and I actually managed to finish my little piece once I got home and refreshed my memory on how to do that really clever edging. You can see how she does it here. I'm rather pleased with my first finished bit of machine embroidery and can see how addictive it could become, after only two workshops I'm feeling a definite sense of achievement! Thank you Linda for a great day's teaching.
Now how can I find time for this as well as ........

A little stitched celebration

One of the Embroiderers Guild members has a significant birthday approaching and we have all been asked to contribute a flower. They will be gathered together to make a little book of floral celebration - a delightful idea, but I had been scratching my head wondering what to do. Watching Jude, Joe and others, creating cloth stories from scraps and whimsies is a huge inspiration, so I rummaged through my scrap bag to see what I could find. With hellebores in mind, I found this, a scrap from a very long ago dress that Mum made for me to go to a cousin's wedding when I was I my teens. With a little thought and a few more bits and bobs scavenged from Mum's multiple button boxes and more scraps from my stash, I came up with this, which will, I hope, give pleasure.

I may add a little more stitching just to bring the front and background cloth together, but I think it's pretty well what I want.
Behind the fabric, you can see a piece of knitting that has been on the needles for rather too long, but will be a lace snood when its finished. I'm really enjoying making it; challenging, but it always makes sense if you pay attention. As I knit, I often ponder on the hows and whens of the craft - someone a very long time ago worked out that you could make a fabric from looping thread together with needles, but from that to the sort of complex patterns that make up, for example, Shetland lace, is a very long step and a wonderful example of our very human ability to take the very simple and introduce artistry and complexity into the mix, creating beauty of all sorts.

Magic!

Tomorrow we are off the the Norfolk/Suffolk borders for a proper holiday. Best I go start packing I rather think! I'll be quite without access to the Internet while I'm away, and will, weather permitting, get wonderful views of the stars as we're in a cottage that is part of a farm complex in the middle of rural Suffolk. Bliss.

March Pleasures

Well, I seem to have done quite a lot since my last post, all of it pleasurable - lucky me!

Firstly, I have finished the canvaswork piece, better late than never, for my City and Guilds. I am pleased with the result, and hope it doesn't look too much like a mish mash of stitches for the sake of it, but has some sense of coherence.

You can see the original little cross stitch, sitting on its side above the finished needlepoint, reminding me of which colours to use. In the bigger piece I tried to expand those colours a bit, while using different threads to see how they worked on the canvas. I really enjoyed the way the space dyed threads created their own dynamic within the patterns of the stitching, in particular, the wash of pale blue stripes, overlaid with a grid of duck egg blue, in the central block. When you look at the real thing, it sets up an interesting optical effect, as first the grid and then the diagonals take precedence in the eye.

Then, on a warm Saturday, I spent the day with textile artist Claire Buckly being introduced to machine embroidery, something I have been wanting to try for ages, but hadn't the nerve to attempt. I had a lovely time and, with just one other student there, we really benefited from Claire's attention and advice. She also showed us what is possible by sharing the work she did for her MA, beautiful detailed embroideries done with great skill and delicacy.

Last week I was on leave, so on Monday my dear soul and I took the train to London to the very excellent exhibition at the British Library, Royal Manuscripts, the Genius of Illumination. It was enchanting and utterly absorbing; books of all sizes carefully displayed in cases, glittering with gold leaf, resplendent with colour and deep in meanings of all sorts. There were psalters to aid with prayer; rules, regulations and advice about the best way for a monarch to live; early medical books; maps; bibles; genealogies; books of hours and tales of King Arthur and Guinevere. The detail and inventiveness of these early scribes just took my breath away, reminding me of a comment about the Book of Kells: that it was the work of angels. Photography was obviously not allowed, but you can see some images here and look in even more detail in the British Library's excellent Turning the Pages section, which is a real feast of delights. I could have spent hours and hours there, but my body doesn't allow for such indulgences, so restricted myself to an hour and a half of absorbed gazing in an atmosphere that was, despite the large numbers of people there, one of hushed reverence.

Then, on Wednesday, I drove all the long way to York to collect my daughter home for her Easter break.

I always stay at the same hostelry, a lovely B&B called the Warrens, close to the City centre and also to Jen's various places of residence over the last four years. It feels like a home from home, and Richard and Jenny who run it are the nicest of folk. I went, of course, to the Quilt Museum where, each time I've stayed, there has been a new exhibition to inspire. This time was no exception with Decline and Revival the theme, and a lovely selection of quilts on display showing the changing fortunes of quilting and patchwork. Exhibits ranged from its early days of decorative functionality, through the fall from grace as people had less time to stitch and ready made bed covers to buy, up to the current day, with some lovely art quilts from modern textile artists. There was also a great little exhibition in the side gallery from the New Horizons Textile Group, which included workbooks and trial pieces that you could handle, to get a feel for how the final pieces were made.

Having spent a very enjoyable hour there, peering at stitches and fabrics, I went out to St Anthony's Garden, as is my habit when there, to absorb it's lovely tranquil atmosphere.

To my delight, having learnt all about hellebores recently, the garden was simply awash with them, waves of colour, spilling across the soil and giving much pleasure to a visiting peacock butterfly and whole families of ladybirds.

I sat for some time, coatless in the warm March sunshine, letting my inner space meld with the outer peace.

On the following day Jen and I popped in to have a brief look at St Clement's Church, just a short step away from Warrens. It is a rather lovely little Victorian church with a couple of stained glass windows, one of which includes this delightful dragon sending his fiery breath rather too close to the skirts of Margaret of Antioch!

A busy time indeed, and I still have Monday to play with, before it's back to work on Tuesday!

Yesterday evening was so beautiful, I tried to  capture the subtle, misty colours and the flight of the birds across the landscape with my Christmas camera. The longer lense creates more potential for blur in low light, but I like the effect. As I watch them, crows, seagulls, the very occasional sparrowhawk, I wonder about their perception of the space they occupy. To me, because I have human perception and understanding, they appear to be winging their way across a great bowl of green, with a ribbon of road running through it. I wonder what they see and feel as the wind ruffles their feathers. Sometimes great shoals of them flow across the landscape, crows or starlings, raucous in flight.

The  longer zoom also allows me to bring closer to view, those things which draw my eyes as I look out of the upstairs windows. These pylons, about 2 1/2 miles away with, below them, the wonderful delta shapes of the unclad trees, seem ripe for expression in some form of cloth and stitch, if only I could work out how!

Meanwhile, I am still stitching for my City and Guilds, though I have been judged to have passed with merit, which brings great pleasure.

My final two bits of stitch have been part of the counted threadwork bit of the syllabus. The blackwork design was part of this too. When I presented my work, I included the planning for these two bits, one cross stitch, one needlepoint as well. They are both inspired by this lovely quilt I saw in York when I last visited Jen. When viewed for real, the repetition of stripes and strips, with quite restrained colours, creates a sense of almost shimmering movement.

I did some sketches on the spot,

worked up the design by focusing on a select part of the quilt, and drawing out a rough design on graph paper.

The first bit of stitching, which is cross stitch, evolved into this teeny piece. paring all down to simple colour and concept.

Then, on the same piece of canvas, I have broadened out again, allowing myself space to try out a variety of needlepoint stitches. So far I've done this much

and am loving the opportunity to try out differing scales, patterns, textures and types of thread, whilst remaining true to the original quilt in terms of colour and movement.

Now to bring in the red!

dancing along

She's a happy creature, with her attendant birds, the flame of inspiration burning above her head

 perhaps her heart is gladdened by the robin outside the window

 and her soul dancing with the catkins down in the dell

January light

The little Goddess is evolving, as is the space her servant works in. My study has been transformed by the addition of curtains and by dropping the nets (horrible things) down to half the window height. Result?




The sunlight now streams through, warming the atmosphere and illuminating where it lands.

there is a view through. I need some privacy screen at the bottom of the window, as we are quite visible from the road, but hadn't realised how confining the nets felt until I moved them - they previously covered the top half as well. I don't like the ones that are there now, they're synthetic and unappealing, but they shield me from view. I'd like to create something like this, I admire Jude's work hugely, but know I have the neither the skill nor verve.

The glimpse of the sky above, netted in the branches of the tree outside, can be seen opening out as one walks through the hallway from the rear of the house.

It is also thrown through the prisms of the glass in the door,




bounces down the hallway



and is netted briefly in the walnut at the bottom of the garden

 before winging it's way through the gulls feathers and into the landscape beyond.