01/25/2014
Gingham
I made it.....later than I wanted but I'm here. Saturday is football day in this house. Husband, son, male friends of the above. Normally they say hi and take themselves off to the pub outside the football ground. Today they wanted to discuss teams and tactics in my living room despite my best efforts to get rid of them. I endeavoured to turn the subject round to gingham but it didn't work. They wanted to stay, under my feet, talking about formation, 4-4-2 is the preferred line up today I gather. They've gone now.....and the door is firmly locked so they can't get back in.
Before this male invasion I had a lovely morning pressing gingham. I need this gathered around me so that I can ponder and consider. I have a hankering to work with gingham at the moment, I have for a while and it won't pass. It is taking a back seat though, it has to, simply stitch things to attend to that I hanker after equally as much. If it's laid out however, neatly pressed, it will catch my eye every now and then and perhaps feed an idea, a direction.
01/24/2014
behind the scenes
Sampling, then a little more sampling and just in case I get bored, nothing to do....a little more sampling. The white sample is for a new piece which is imminent. The gingham and silk piece is for something else I have in mind, a plan that is nowhere near thought through properly yet but which is taking shape in my head. I can't tell you any more about that one. If I told you I would have to kill you.
Then there are books. I have plans for books and before you deluge me with mail....you know who you are......not me writing a book. I'm talking more about me titivating a book, or books. Can you tell I get through a lot of post it notes writing down the zillion ideas I get?
Yesterday was cake day and very nice cake too. There are images on my instagram. I went to the beach, boy was it cold....it certainly blew the cobwebs off though.
01/23/2014
more for the body bag ledger
I'm still consumed with ledger work. These pieces are for the body bag section of my ledger, the past couple of days have been concerned with the same ledger but a different piece of work that doesn't yet have a name.. The actual cloth part of the body bag, the embroidered piece is a little neglected. I do have remorse. I do intend to play with it a little more very soon. I miss it. The printed fabric in today's pieces is Liberty......be still my beating heart. Just a few snippets from the scraps I gathered whilst I was in London before Christmas and now I wish I had got more. Isn't that always the case.
The paper piece, the lower piece in the second image was created first. You have seen that before. The cloth piece was embroidered in response to the paper piece. It was seamless, one led to the other. Cohesive, evidence......appropriate words I think how about you?
I'm early today. That's because I am now off ''up North'' for cake.....see you tomorrow.
01/22/2014
strips
Is the second image a little ''random''? Does it look as if it doesn't belong with the others? I took that picture at the same time as these because that was happening on my ironing board at the same time....(justification). I considered leaving it out but then I would most likely have forgotten about it and you would never have got to see it...(explanation). I'm going to stop there because I am beginning to feel like an English language teacher.
These pieces are all about strips. Strips of silk, lace, paper...strips and more strips. The only other thing to say is that the cloth piece will be titivated, by hand.
and wow??? Who knew my little book would be so popular? Certainly not me. I didn't make the book, (the titivations are all mine) I bought it here. Kaija is a fabulous book binder, we met once, in London. We had lunch, we shopped, we browsed, we chatted.....it was the least I could do considering she came all the way from Finland for a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
I ordered five more of these books from her last week. I have plans....
01/21/2014
a little book and stitched paper
I have had this little book for a while. Some of the pages have been worked into, some of them have had small pieces of stitch mounted onto them. Yesterday I was inspired to stitch a page in here after working on a pile of stitched paper and cloth for simply stitch 3. Ideas, ideas, ideas.....and lots of them. The stitched paper you see here has now informed, shifted my focus to stitched cloth. You can see that later this week I hope.
Stitched cloth, inspired by paper, moving to cloth, stitching in books....
01/20/2014
a collection....
More pieces for my body bag ledger....I am moving away from the colour scheme slightly to enable use of this patterning in another piece. I am aiming for similar tones and surface marks but want the new piece to be more subtle than the actual body bag.
Before I get lost, overpowered by all this information I need to place it in some kind of order whilst making notes, annotating, perhaps also doing a few pencil doodles.
I wanted to share this with you today. I think it's the most amazing video I have seen for quite some time. It is just under 4 minutes long and if you have a love of cloth, of stitch, of the process then you will love this too.
01/19/2014
the lemon pouch
Several vintage handkerchiefs.
A little muslin.
A panel of Broderie Anglaise. (for the lining)
Snippets of vintage trim.
Lace, old and new.
Two hand bound buttonholes.
Two hand made buttons.
Five tiny funky puffs, (hand made).
Coton a Broder.
Too many French knots to count.
Too many bullion knots to count.
Lots of tiny cross stitches.
A sprinkling of buttonhole lace.
A few detached chain stitches.
One or two applique circles.
Several bumpy bits.
Mix with a passion for titivation and cook for several weeks!!
01/18/2014
ledger progression......
You did see some of these pieces yesterday, today however a new piece is in play, top image, top piece. I find this a great way to feed my ideas, to generate new ideas, to push my thinking forward. There are more pieces being created for this collection and there are new pieces to show another day, when the Simply Stitch Three group have seen them, seen how I do it, listened to my thought process.
Today has flown. I had lots of plans this morning, I am behind. I don't know why. I haven't been idle....the clock just ticked too fast. Maybe it's me who needs to speed up....less coffee? Perhaps, it does use up vital seconds walking to the kettle.....
01/17/2014
Ledger.....Liberty Print and a little piece of lace cloth
Liberty prints.......for the ledger, with hooks and eyes, watercolour paint and cut away paper areas. My ledger is getting a lot of attention at the moment. The lace cloth here is also for my ledger, there are plans for more of that and more Liberty prints and more hooks and eyes....more drawing, more painting, more playing. It's time spent in a valuable way. It informs, it feeds, it generates ideas....I could go on forever with these, so many ideas and yes, I am writing them down.
and to answer a question I have been asked a few times, yes, ledger work will feature in Simply Stitch 4.
01/16/2014
the white pouch
It's finished, backed, edged, lined, titivated to death, complete. It even has a tiny button, (3rd and 5th image). Now I have to finish the lemon one, the handkerchief one. It's exciting, for me anyway.....two finished pieces, a sense of achievement.
Meanwhile, the sewing machine is being worked to death. Ledger work for Simply Stitch 3 is happening, pages and pages of ideas. Tomorrow I can show you what I did with a tiny scrap of the Liberty cloth.
01/15/2014
it's mine....
Yes, this one's for me, a pouch of my own. To be honest I could keep all of them couldn't I. Nobody forces me to pass them on but how many pouches does one girl need? I didn't even want another one until I found homes for the last two. I must have been feeling neglected.
This has had a little more work. The buttonhole has been attached, there is a seam of bullion knots and a small applique circle edged with chain stitch. I have also added a tiny tab, the finished edge snipped straight off the handkerchief this cloth is from. I then decided to lay it against other pieces just to look....who knows, it may spark something else in the future if I ever browse these particular images again.
01/14/2014
yesterdays hexagons, a video
I felt I should post this today by way of explanation for one of the hexagon pieces on yesterdays post. After reading some of the comments and a couple of e-mails I wanted to clarify that I did make the lace hexagon piece.....but I made it a long time ago. So today you win a video of that ledger, which I am almost certain you've seen before but perhaps you forgot or perhaps you are a new visitor....
01/13/2014
hexagons, a single buttonhole and newly pieced cloth
There are a few things going on in the background that I can't show on here yet. There are also a few things that can't be worked on whilst you are sitting on the sofa, feet up, watching TV of an evening. It's impossible for me to sit at home without having something to work on so I pieced a new cloth yesterday evening, something to keep my hands busy whilst I become addicted to ''Breaking Bad''....yes, I know it's been over for ages but my son convinced me to watch it on Netflix. I got through four episodes last night and am desperate to watch more....not now though, not until it goes dark and I've exhausted the sunshine we have today. Yes, you heard right, sunshine. I know, I had forgotten what it was too.
Anyway, I digress...so, the new cloth. It will be a pouch, for me. I make pouches and then they leave, off in a puff of a smoke. I do have a large one that I keep my muslin in but I need another one. Oh well, OK, I don't NEED another one, I WANT another one. Don't hold your breath waiting for me to finish this one. There isn't a deadline. It's an easy pick up and put down piece for when I am between things. So far I have added hexagons to one seam and created a single hand bound buttonhole, on a patch, to be added somewhere to the surface.
Now I'm off to create for a ledger whilst the sun is shining. Making hay....of the ledger kind.
Make hay while the sun shines.
01/12/2014
this week....
It's that word again, my new favourite word......evidence. This is evidence that I haven't been slacking this week. I have had a brilliant week creatively and by that I mean I have had fun, loved everything I have done and am excited about what I have still to do.
Pouches have been titivated to near completion, there is a new page in doodle doo and the body bag ledger has been added to with plans for a lot more development in terms of sampling and design....
Oh......and Simply stitch 4 is filling up nicely. Thank you!!
01/11/2014
damp stretched
The white silk pouch is finished in terms of surface embroidery. It was damp stretched overnight and is now waiting to be backed, folded and to have the edges finished with buttonhole lace.
The lemon, handkerchief pouch isn't too far behind either. That will almost certainly be finished before the end of next week. Don't you love it when a plan comes together!
The craving for fondling Liberty scraps was also fed a little last night. I have used them in what I think is an unexpected way. I will share that with you when the simply stitch 3 group have seen it....
01/10/2014
handkerchief....
This is the final handkerchief for the handkerchief pouch. There is another section, on cotton cloth, which forms the main body of the pouch that requires a little embellishment and then it will be all systems go putting it together. This time next week both pouches, this one and the white one, should be completely finished.
There are a couple of other things outstanding here that will get more attention soon........... the body bag and a paper and cloth art piece which is being planned with the simply stitch 3 group. However!!!! I foresee a problem, quite a big problem. It's of my own making but I just can't help myself, call it a compulsion.....I am desperate to do something, even a little, tiny thing with my new Liberty scraps. What's a girl to do????
01/09/2014
developing....
Another day another ledger, this one is for the body bag design work. I am developing this slowly, at least it feels as if I am developing it slowly, the actual physical side of having finished pieces to put in here appears to be happening at a less than speedy pace. It doesn't matter really, I don't have a deadline but my mind is about three steps ahead of the ledger.
Later today I am starting another piece to go in here. You might think that I could continue to work on the actual body bag, to construct, to embroider without any of this ledger work and you would be right. Why do it then? The main reason...evidence. That word again from yesterday. Evidence I was here. Evidence of what is going on in my head whilst I embroider the cloth and join panels. Evidence of ideas for future work. Making feeds ideas, for me at least. If I am working on one thing you can bet your life something else is being planned in my head aside from the supermarket shopping and the housework. I will have that here, in this ledger. Inspiration for future work, a prompt,a spark for when those blocks appear. And another very important reason for gathering ideas in this way.....it's the best kind of ''play''.
01/08/2014
looking
There are open ledgers everywhere today. They inspire me. They prompt, they suggest, they also bring back memories. I can remember how I felt when both these spreads were worked. I can remember where I was geographically and where I was in my head (the two were never the same).
I know of people who threw their work away when they finished studying. I can't understand that any more now than I could then. I would be totally lost without this work. It's not only inspirational, it's evidence. It's evidence of a plan, a possible piece of work and importantly this work is evidence that I was there, doodling, thinking and working towards a goal.
So if you're stuck, creatively stumped, get your old work out and take some time to browse. If nothing else it's a brilliant way to spend an hour or so.
01/07/2014
embellishing
No. I'm not showing you the same pictures as yesterday. This is a newly embellished frill and a newly embellished seam. The same pouch but new embroidery. There is cross stitch and there are French knots. There is one more flounce to add to this and then it will need to be lined. I ordered some cloth for lining this morning. It's here. I'm actually not sure it will be suitable, it may be too open. I was hooked in to buy it because it's so gorgeous. A lesson in how not to buy, don't buy based on how gorgeous something appears....buy on how suitable something is for purpose. OOps....nothing lost, I will still use it. When it arrives I will let you know if I can line with it, I will make that decision when I see it 'in the flesh'. Then again, if it's not suitable for lining I will be delayed.....(buries head in sand and hopes said potential problem doesn't occur).
I'm a bit later than I intended today. I have been to get my feet done. I had a traumatic experience with a parking meter and charmed the socks off a traffic warden. Consequently I was delayed....but without a ticket.....result. I think there was mention of giving him my firstborn but it's OK because he doesn't know where I live. (I did buy a ticket....don't want you thinking I am a lawless scoundrel....just not from the right machine...long story....air head Ruane)
Anyway....it's almost dark and I've still got a video to make. I made two this morning but titivating is expected over in SS3 tomorrow and they're a bunch of slave drivers so I need to get on with it. And whilst I'm on the subject....SS4 is now listed here....different format, longer, less expensive...
01/06/2014
pouches....
You probably know that I am making pouches, two of them to be precise. One of them has a base of white silk and is mostly embellished with white embroidery along with a scattering of pale pink and green. The second one has vintage handkerchiefs forming most of the background, again it has mostly been embellished with white thread however this time lemon stitches have been scattered across it to echo lemon stitches which are present in one of the handkerchiefs.
You will be seeing these pieces a lot over the coming days. They are both almost finished, both spoken for. I have one or two seams to titivate and they will both need to be backed/lined. I will then concentrate on the body bag along with an art piece I have been working towards with the simply stitch 3 group. So pretty perfect plans I think........if only it would stop raining!
To those of you in the U.S. stay inside. keep warm. Keep safe......that's an order.
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