Time to cut

Been cutting out fabric today, having dyed it all yesterday - terrifying - align fabric on cutting mat, or was that with ruler? - measure four  times, reposition ruler, grasp rotary cutter, check cutting plan, check fabric type key, check graph of design, re-count squares on graph and multiply by two, add half an inch for seams, measure twice again just to be sure, check cutting list, hold plan upside down to gain perspective, measure again, retract safety shield on rotary cutter, hold breath - aaand CUT!!

I was very grateful for Christine's advice, encouragement and timely reminder that half of eight inches plus half an inch for the seam isn't four and three quarters!

;-)

oh boy!

Harry and Connie

Have I been having fun today. I've been to be tutored by Christine Chester at Studio 11 in Eastbourne. I had the privilege, due to the sickness of the other course attendee, to have a one to one all day with Christine. I brought along some cotton; torn up sheets, (one of which had a woven label from Harvey Nichols), used past wear, so renewing themselves to a different purpose here. They once belonged to Connie,  my grandmother's older sister and Harry, her lifelong lesbian companion - but that's another story.

Christine was a delightful tutor and, whilst enlightening me on the marvels of tied, resist, clamped, twisted and crumpled dyeing, we found ourselves chatting about; family, studying history, playing music, adopting cats, living by the seaside and other enjoyable things.

The studio itself is really lovely, with windows on two sides, an open airy atmosphere, plenty of big trestle tables to work on and a space for being messy by the sink - not to mention a rather delicious pink tin containing bicuits!

I thoroughly enjoyed tearing my sheets into smaller pieces of differing proportions, then wrapping up a variety of things; rectangular blocks of acetate, ice lolly sticks, kebab sticks, acetate circles and donuts - clamped over folded fabric, rubber bands holding pleats and pinches of fabric and, on one small piece of silk, brought for a particular reason, a combination of folding, tying, clamping and sticks!

I was shown how to mix up the dyes, add salt, immerse the fabrics and, later, add mordant to fix the dye. She also talked to me about design, balance, using colour and texture, proportion and repetition, contrast and the placing of lights mediums and darks to achieve an interesting harmony of shapes on the final piece. Then, whilst the fabric was taking up the colour, I sat down with squared paper to design, trying to bear in mind what bits of fabric I'd dyed with which technique and how much of each! I've come home with the plan and finished making out a cutting list. I've run my bits of fabric through a hot wash, and I've found myself with these.

My favourites are

Some moons

Flowers of the field

and this rather nice

Mandala

Tomorrow I have the fun of going back again to think about how to put bits of these together to match my design - or rather to work with design and these bits of fabric to create something, hopefully, beautiful. With any luck my fellow student will be feeling better so there'll be twice the fun.

I am genuinely stunned at the wonderful patterns and colours that have resulted from all of this. Not because I think I'm particularly clever, but because such simple techniques well taught, can produce such riches.

Can't wait

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

The edge edged

I've finally finished my little experiment that grew into something. The photograph doesn't quite work because I couldn't get the balance right for the colours, the centre being a bit light, but it gives you the idea. I'm really happy with the way the organza catches the light, it's colours shimmering and blending depending on how the light falls across it. Backing it with a light wadding has allowed a little bit of extra contour where I stitched over the organza to hold it down. Much to my relief the soluble fabric pulled away as the stitching gave perforations, rather like old fashioned stamps - you remember, the ones we used to lick! I've edged it with a combination of silk and velvet, the silk is fabric from a charity shop shirt and some remnant fabric bought along the way. The velvet was bought from the roll as it were and I used it in the previous hanging I made for Jen, mentioned here. It was a fiddle to work with against the silk as it slipped and slid about but I'm happy with the result. The little heart, at one o'clock, has a single sequin sewn in the centre to remind her that it's always there.

My daughter says she really loves it, which is, of course, the point!

the edge almost found

I've been a while working on this, it started as a tryout to see what was possible while machine embroidering in a hoop; how close could I get to the edge by turning the hoop different ways? Then I had fun trying out different threads above and below, working out where edges were beneath the needle and how close I could get to them. Then my darling daughter hit her finals at Uni. I knew she was struggling. She is both dyslexic and dyspraxic and has worked really hard to get to this point. I phoned regularly to see how she was getting on, hearing her struggle against her sense of defeat, realising that, the more stressed she got, the harder it all became. After the second exam I could hear that it was all getting too much, despite  support from the Uni, and suggested she went to talk to one of her tutors. They saw her very genuine anguish and have suggested a way through that means she didn't have to take the rest of her final exams. I think it's called an aggregate degree. She came home last week and is now very relieved to be home, but worried that she has "failed". In my eyes she will never have failed, no matter what her final result, because I know how hard she's worked, I know how fuddled and muddled her brain gets when it all becomes a bit too much and I know the yearning and bright spirit she took to University, so full of hope. 

It occurred to me that actually, the stitching I had been doing had mirrored her plight. It evoked (to me anyway) the helpless disorder of her mind as she struggled with that "Finals pressure", but also reflected the brights and darks of her time away, the pattern of life that is never just one thing, but always variety, good and bad, positive and negative and the way she has been finding her own edges. So this one is for her.

Here I'm working out how to frame the stitching to bring it to a sense of rightness. What sort of border will bring those swirling colours, lines, thoughts, feelings, together?

I played with bits of organza arranging them around the edges several times, trying for a whirling out, all disordered, from the centre  - this is one of the "not quite right" times

Once I was happy with the organza I used soluble fabric over the top to hold all those little bits in one place, preparatory to stitching. Here it is lightly pinned down prior to tacking and then sewing on the machine. I've use a light batting behind to give the whole thing a bit of substance and contour.

And now you'll just have to wait. Mum never allowed me to start one project until I'd finished another, "otherwise you'll have lots of unfinished projects stuffed away" ... she didn't realise how this is all part of creativity; that maybe that UFO will take on a whole new life when you've learned from something else; that sometimes the vision needs time and a few twists and turns before it comes to fruition.

So, in that spirit, here's a finished object! My little ice cream sundae has joined the other offerings, all to be stitched onto a piece of Jubilee Themed "wearable art" for the regional challenge day in July. I shall be going and will take pictures!

Hope you like it!

cherries, ripe cherries!

I've been experimenting again; wanted to see how the cherries on dissolvable fabric might work. I thought I might as well do several as there was room within the little hoop for more than one. I traced the design on with waterproof pen, then stitched the outlines and filled things in. I was so pleased with the result, and keen not to waste the rest of the fabric, so traced off a poppy from a book of Art Nouveau flower designs and had a go at that as well.I'm really pleased with them both; the camera has managed a reasonable job of picking out the different reds. I'm waiting for the Man to return from Cricket at Lords before putting it all in water to see if it all holds together; too much fun not to share.

Gosh! This is enjoyable ....

We've spent some good time in the garden this weekend, finalising the very fine compost bin, already being put to good use. We had been using one of those great big plastic mesh delivery sacks during the year, all the usual stuff chucked in and occasionally turned and tossed about. Now it is all ready to be transferred into the proper bin. A goodly portion of it had rotted down already and will help the rest to get going.

The blowsy pink rhododendron is really flowering its socks off this year. Last year a lot of the buds were frost damaged, this year it is awash with blooms,

so much so in fact, that we have a heart of flowers - can you see it?

It all works really well with the colour of the maple leaves

a beautiful tree, given to me at least 11 years ago by Mum, kept until I knew I was stopping. It really appreciates being in the ground now, having had a year of free root run, it is rewarding us now with these wonderful finely cut leaves.

The meconopsis has yet more delicious paper thin blue flowers. The colour and the fine hairs on the stems remind me of borage

and the tulips indoors, gifted  have reached the absolute end of their beauty, translucent, veins of purple and pink flowing across the surface like spider webs of colour

or dark and mysterious in the glimmering dusk, still holding a trace of memory of light in their petals