03/07/2014
gathering
I nearly never made it today. I haven't done any sewing, any titivating. I've been in the attic, I've been to Scotland, I've been to the supermarket and now I'm waiting in for the police. A nice person crashed into my car and drove away......happy days. Nobody was in my car, it was parked up and yes...I got his number. This happened two days ago and the police are coming today to take a written statement. The urgent bit, on the day, was done over the telephone. He's going down!! I wish....anyway, nothing to show you. So I gathered some little bits for you to look at. I do hope that's OK. Normal service should be resumed tomorrow and if you are waiting for mail from me can you please bear with me? I won't keep you too long I promise.
03/05/2014
what's happening in 4....
Today, a glimpse of what I'm doing over in Simply stitch 4. Without giving too much away I can say that it's blue and white. It's transfers, it's print, it's silk, it's backgrounds, it's doodling, it's painting, it's ledger work, it's all about the history, the inspiration, the things that got me going way back when and which still get me going today.
There isn't a reason why I haven't shown this on here before. I don't know why I haven't. The body bag is from simply stitch, this was from simply stitch so I apologise for keeping this from you for so long. I think my head wash mashed from builders and muck and disarray.
03/04/2014
a surface
I've
made two more pieces of white cloth with a fine white cotton backing
and lots of snippets of other cloth. There is trim, there is silk,
there is embroidered cloth, there is plain cotton and pin tucked
cotton, altogether a fascinating and unique surface.
I'm later today than I wanted to be....I've been to get my dainty (not) little (not) feet done. I now have the healthiest feet in Lancashire. Notice I didn't say prettiest, I'm not going to tell a lie. I don't like feet and think that Podiatrists are saints. How can you mess with other peoples feet all day? I take my hat off to all the feet people out there.
03/03/2014
playing with an idea..
I've been palying with an idea, or sampling an idea that I have had for some time. It hasn't worked in the sense of it isn't how I had hoped it would be. Having said that I am now more familiar with this cloth, bought in New York, an even weave, heavy silk that isn't as soft and pliable as is needed for this particular process. Sampling, it's how we learn, it's how we make decisions, test things out and if needed move on. There's nothing lost, I still have a rather pretty silk sample which is embellished with Liberty print cloth and I learned something in the process.
(SS4...stand by your computers....blog post coming this afternoon)
03/02/2014
green gingham loops
I picked this up again last night to play with whilst I watched TV. There are three of these in total, the pink one and the one you saw yesterday. They will be a collection, they will. They may not look like it yet but they are part of a bigger plan.......I do love a plan.
Loops have been added, very long loops. I love them, I can't stop playing with them. This is finished now in terms of surface embellishment, less is more on this occasion.
As you can see there is a little paper reference to this piece too. This isn't finished. It was finished but I don't like it as it is. It needs stitch on the coloured dots....I will attend to that today, just a few white French knots on the surface should dampen those down nicely.
03/01/2014
dotty applique
Paranoia has descended. I can honestly say that over the past week I have seen and cleaned more dirt than I have ever experienced in my life. In the past I have had kitchens fitted, bathrooms, I have had pipes leak through ceilings but nothing compares to the filth that descended this time. My house is over 100 years old. Many, many years ago it would have had coal fires for heating. That means soot was produced, thick , black soot. ......all of which was released earlier this week. So where has the paranoia appeared from? Downstairs was mostly unscathed apart from the kitchen which is directly at the bottom of my stairs. This room I am in now, where I keep my cloth and to where I moved all my other pieces for safety remained pristine clean throughout the work but a nagging doubt remains. I am inspecting everything. Is it REALLY clean? Is the white as white as could be? Then there are my hands. Because of the cleaning I have done and despite being scrubbed almost to the extent of them hurting they remain grubby, ingrained dirt, finger nails that won't whiten. So really...how can the white be truly white? It looks white.....I'm paranoid.
Despite all this I am totally and utterly in love with my new space in the sky...completely.....so as long as the white is truly white it was definitely worth the soot, the dust, the black finger nails and the hands which look like they belong to a farmer.
Last night I was still sorting out at 6 pm. I yearned to stitch and play and doodle. Dotty applique on the dotty piece of cloth saved me. Applique with added embroidery on top and a little paper doodle to accompany this piece.
There is still a measure of sorting out to do but the muck is consigned to history. I am having a weekend off sorting out and am just going to chill with needles and cloth and thread and pencils and nice, clean things.
I miss my girls too. Simply Stitch four is more relaxed, less pressure, less video, longer time frame of six months but I feed off those girls, they inspire me, they drive me on. I have a need to interact over there....they will be on my mind this weekend too.
(simply stitch 4 is a very slow paced, relaxed experience with no deadlines. As it is running over a time frame of six months I am not de listing it yet. In my opinion it will still be possible to jump in and become immersed in the experience at any point over the next few weeks. If you want to read more then just go here.)
02/28/2014
background
There was quite a bit of interest in the background piece from yesterdays images so here it is in full view. I painted this piece way back when, around 2004 I think. It's pristine, I guard this stuff with my life. I have plans to print a few copies of it too....you never know when it will come in handy.
Yesterday evening all I could manage creatively was two more pages in tiny ledgers .....and they're not even finished yet. I am such a slacker. In all honesty I completely underestimated the amount of disruption that having the builders in would cause. I didn't realise the cleaning and sorting out and the putting things back where they belong would be quite as big a deal as it's turning out to be. Having said that I am welcoming the opportunity to get rid of stuff we no longer need and organise other things in a more efficient manner. I absolutely love my new loft room too. I am amazed at how big it is and how enticing it is as a place to hide, to disappear to. So if you can't find me just haul your way to the top of the house.
But......and I am sorry....but.....it means I may not appear online again until much later today and probably won't get round to answering mail until the weekend. I am SOOOOOO sorry, honest.
SS4....I will be over to flickr later. I promise. I haven't forgotten you.
02/27/2014
paperwork pages
Three new pages in three mini ledgers. I created these yesterday evening, I'm making progress, getting there. Thing is I think I am deliberately stretching this process out as I love it so much, playing with tiny pages, creating tiny samples. There is stitching on this paper, there are added snippets of cloth, a tiny amount of doodling with pencil and other surface embellishment. I have just retrieved some ready prepared papers, backgrounds, painted and embellished a long time ago from one of the many boxes that are scattered around here at the moment so there will be more pages and on it goes.
It shouldn't matter that these could be finished soon. I can start another and I will.
02/26/2014
bullion loop edge
An edge of bullion ''loops'' has been added to the white lace piece. I say loops as opposed to knots because as you can see they are quite long with the start and end of each stitch placed quite close together. I love this effect and will definitely use it again but not necessarily on this piece. This piece is almost finished I think. Later today I will square off the edges or at least neaten them. It may not be a prefect rectangle when it's finished but hopefully all the individual edges will be straight.
Disarray here is ongoing. I cannot begin to tell you the filth that permeated the upstairs of my house yesterday. Today is less dirty although I still spy muck everywhere I look. I know that some people have massive disruption and dirt for a long long time and I know it will be worth it in the end. What can I say? I never said I would love the building stage. I detest it but am quite calm because I know that this time next week everything will be back to normal......for now.
My white is safe, protected, out of harms way. Paper, cloth, ongoing work, wrapping cloths, all stored safely. Later today I am going on a ledger hunt through the piles of ''safe'' stuff in order to work on a couple more pages. If all goes to plan you should get to see those tomorrow.
02/25/2014
dotty loops....
Yes, dotty loops on white cloth as opposed to the white loops that are on the dotty cloth. I still haven't had the light bulb moment when I will know what this piece will eventually be but meantime I'm just enjoying the titivating.
The edges are a combination of French knots and web stitches....I rather like them......
It's laid on an old ledger, some painting from way back.
The builders are here. I am trying to stay sane, honest. There is black dust in several rooms but thankfully non downstairs except in the kitchen. I am told that the dirt part will just be today. They promise that tomorrow will be cleaner. They say you can't cut a hole in a ceiling without making dirt. Hmmmmmm....
02/24/2014
pages continue....
Two new pages for the tiny ledgers were put together last night. One has dark blue French knots which live happily with the blue of the iron on transfer and the little doodle in paint. The other has a tiny cutwork circle surrounded by white French knots and web stitches. That page was titivated with a little doodling in pencil and web stitches embroidered directly onto the page. By my reckoning, over the five books, I need to create around another ten pages. I haven't actually counted yet, that is an educated guess.
The A4 design sheet here was put together with some offcuts from samples and three HUGE ball buttons created with the body bag in mind. I hadn't forgotten about those as such, they just weren't in my consciousness at the moment but I know I will make more of those and they will almost certainly be used in some way as part of the fastening process for the body bag.
Yes, the body bag, the long neglected body bag. If you haven't a clue what I am talking about then you can become acquainted with the body bag here, here and here. I am determined to make headway with that one so brace yourselves....you may be seeing a lot of it.
(If you are signed up for Simply Stitch 4 our first video post went live earlier. You should have received an e mail from me. If you haven't received an e-mail then please let me know)
02/23/2014
new pages
Mini ledgers are bing filled, slowly but I'm getting there. A few pages were titivated last night, a little stitch, a little doodling, a little consideration of placement for cloth snippets and some paper offcuts. Tomorrow there will most likely be more of these, I'm on a roll. I am aiming to sell these although I haven't worked out the cost yet as I have to figure in the price of the books which I didn't make...I bought those.
So far the ones I consider finished have seven mini design sheets in each one. Seven pages which I think of as working design ideas, to take ideas and inspiration from in order to embroider. I'm also trying to include blank pieces of watercolour paper as the pages in the little books aren't suitable for wet media. They do love pencil and pen though and as you can see here they take stitch beautifully. I would go so far as to say this paper is made to be stitched.
So tonight I aim to finish at least one new page. I may also put together a coulpe of stand alone deisgn sheets similar to these....we'll see.
02/22/2014
French knots and tabs on vintage white and spotty red
The playing continues, with cloth. I have spent a lot of time recently playing with ledgers and that will continue this afternoon, I've also been playing with cloth. There are several samples on the go at the moment which will hopefully morph into more. I do have a loose plan but I'm waiting for the light bulb moment before I can be certain of where I am going.
This one, the cloth part of these images is the latest 'play' piece. Vintage cloth joined to red spotty cloth with French knots and tabs. Technically they're not spots are they, they are tiny squares. I'm not going to quibble though...other work here is ancient, as old as the hills! Again it's just to hide the table, a background but one which works well against this embroidery I think.
This morning I went shopping. I bought blue ink and a rather nice striped mug. Now I am itching to go play with the ink and have a brew in my new cup so please excuse me....
(Quibble.......argue or raise objections about a trivial matter.)
02/21/2014
pointy things.....
More applique circles and prairie points have been added to this along with some pointy things which evolved, blew into the mix as if by magic. I was just folding cloth, minding my own business and they appeared....they stayed. I may make more of those, I kind of like them.
The gingham, pointy piece is laid on an old piece of work, titivated white silk. That's only there to hide the table. It's nice to see it again though, it normally lives in a glass cabinet, neatly folded, well protected.
There is a piece of white with red spots going on too. It isn't in these pictures, it's on the couch as we speak ready for a little more titivation in order to make an entrance tomorrow. And then there is something else going on for Simply Stitch Four. That starts on Monday....last chance saloon to sign up if you're pondering. Also on Monday.....the builders are coming. They will make a mess. I already don't like them. I have precious things in plastic boxes, stacked high. Ruane towers is in complete disarray.
02/20/2014
bullion knots...
I have been working more on this. The silk piece I added is now almost completely edged with bullion knots. I have joined some vintage lace, the piece with daisy motifs, by using buttonhole lace around the openings. I think I will also add a run of bullion knots along that edge too. I am thinking a lot about the outer edges of this piece. It will need to be damp stretched and after that the edges will be neatened, hemmed and again bullion knots will probably be added to finish the whole piece.
Meanwhile, the Simply stitch 3 piece is progressing. These images show a further stage of that although it is now a lot different, almost finished in fact.
02/19/2014
a large applique circle....
Remember I said I had a plan for the pink? To dampen the brightness? This is part one, a large, over sized applique circle edged with bullion knots sitting on top of the point mountain. It certainly felt like a point mountain when I was attempting to stitch through it. Several bent needles later here we are. There will be more of these circles on this surface, and more prairie points......strategically placed of course.
I am a little early today. I have a motorway to travel this afternoon. I am going North.....to eat cake.
(If you have registered for Simply Stitch 4 you should have received an e mail from me yesterday. If you didn't can you mail me. I will get back to you later tonight)
02/18/2014
always have a stash of puffs....
Puffs, you never know when you'll need them. They came in handy this morning. Oops, I've been playing again....composition, design?....perhaps mood board is more appropriate. This is such a useful exercise, gathering, laying out, moving around, searching for things that live together. It inspires, at least it should, hopefully.
Technically I should now be able to use these as a starting point for wonderful pieces of cloth, embroidery, take them forward. I will print these, I will keep them.....evidence
*** I have just sent an e-mail to those of you who are signed up to Simply Stitch 4. If you have not received this then please e-mail me. Check your spam/junk. The mail is usually sent to the address associated with your paypal account unless you have given me an alternative.***
02/17/2014
pages....
Three ledgers, several pages, playtime! I can't tell you how good it is to leave stuff behind for a while every now and then and to just sit and play, put tiny compositions of cloth and paper together, extend pages with folded watercolour paper, tie little things into books. I am smiling even as I write it.....
The class which should be finished still isn't finished. Remember the spanners? I am beginning to wonder if I am prolonging it on purpose, deliberately taking my time? I can't let go, I will miss them.
To be fair a lot of them are coming with me for number 4, gluttons for punishment , yet some aspects of number 3 will be finished, certain pieces of work which were agonised over, which caused headache upon headache. I don't know about you but I always feel a tiny ''pang'' when I finish a piece of work that has dominated my thoughts for so long. And anyway....it isn't even finished yet!!!! It will be, by the weekend. It will. It will. It will......
(No. I don't have time to be playing with pages)
02/16/2014
gingham, prairie points and cross stitch
Do you remember the green one? It's here...I worked on it a little more last night. I laid green gingham behind the sheer fabric which forms the lower half of the piece. I then added another strip of gingham, secured with simple running stitches and some uniform rows of cross stitch.
The pink one is in its very early stages. The pink is a bit overpowering, a bit 'loud', a bit 'in your face' but never fear....I have a plan. You may not see these again for a few days however.....the list grows, the brain keeps ticking and throwing spanners in the works in the form of distractions. That along with a class that should be finished but isn't. The reason? Too many spanners.....
Idiom Definitions for 'Throw a spanner in the works'
If you throw a spanner in the works, you cause a problem that stops or slows progress on something that was going well.
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