06/18/2014
gathering....
I'm trapped, I can't do anything of substance. I can't make videos or get my sewing machine out. I can't clean the house. I can't really leave the house. So I have just been gathering bits together and looking. The only new piece here is the zip piece, created in Alchemy earlier this week. The other pieces aren't new but they do inform in new ways when laid out like this. Three very different online classes yet put them all together and they fit, like pieces of the puzzle that is my brain.
If I print these images and look some more every so often then a new body of work would form. So rather than this being a futile exercise it has been an informative exercise.
For the rest of the day I will work some more on this....hand embroidery....I can't do anything else.
06/17/2014
it's not the same as yesterday
I'm late, I'm sorry. I had to escape for an hour. The mess here would test the patience of a saint and I'm no saint. Anyhow.....two hoops, two pieces each with something added since you last saw them. Honestly, they have. The piece from yesterday has new additions, three of them, along the line of running stitch. I didn't plan to add running stitch but I had to. If I told you why it would mean I had to confess to a certain level of incompetence so I'm keeping quiet. If you do the class it's for I may mention it but then again I may not.
The pouch with the Liberty cloth has a new area of applique, chain stitch and some bullion knots. Neither of these pieces is damp stretched.....yikes. Having them in a hoop does add a certain amount of tension though so I guess they are acceptable.
06/16/2014
happier....
Focus Karen, focus. That's what I said yesterday and I did it. I ignored the madness, I ploughed on and before I knew it I had achieved loads. it was invigorating, I can recommend it. First of all I did wonderful things with that zip. You will get to see it on Wednesday when school is over on Tuesday....I cut board, I mounted work and then there's this. Puffs were made, just three of those but then this embroidery. This tiny piece of embroidery which took me four hours. I think I'm in love. It's the beginnings of another sample for the new class. It needs a lot more work, a lot more hand embroidery and I'm itching to get on with it.
06/15/2014
two
Two piles of stuff from this mornings gathering. I have a plan for each of them, a different plan. I gave myself a good talking to, pull your socks up Karen, ignore the chaos. I am ignoring it mostly but the fact that it lingers in my head, even in the smallest way is blocking me a little creatively.
But...I can't stop. I'm not one to twiddle my thumbs. So the plan....work with these today, make progress for Alchemy and ''4'' before I disappear for a couple of weeks.
twiddle your thumbs
06/14/2014
fiddling....
I wasn't in the mood last night, couldn't seem to get my head together to do anything much that was embroidery related. It's most likely because I feel dirty, unwashed and consequently the house feels dirty and unwashed and not the best environment in which to embroider so I just fiddled with this little piece. A few chain stitches, a bit of edging with buttonhole lace, not much at all.
To be honest things are much improved on the bathroom front. The walls are boarded as is the floor which has removed the dust aspect. Today I'm travelling to have a shower, later. When I get back I will have my ''clean'' head on and will stitch. I will. I promise.
06/13/2014
a single button
This piece has been added to. There is a single button, can you spot it? It's only visible in two of the pictures and I'm sorry but there's no prize for finding it. There is more piping, a double row with bullion knots wrapping it, several bumpy bits and some applique with little beaky bits. Oh yes...there are more prairie points too, can't forget the prairie points.
So that's it.....the madness of renovation continues around me as I stitch, eyes closed to the dirt and disruption. Up to now I have survived without the need for a bucket. I am told that Tuesday is the day I will need a bucket. I can't wait. Meanwhile it's off to mothers again tomorrow evening for a shower (150 mile round trip but I would hate to be smelly when you come visit)
Just another reminder of the new class....here...
06/12/2014
sampling a swaddling band...
Swaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants in blankets or similar cloth so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted.Swaddling bands were often used to further restrict the infant. Swaddling fell out of favor in the seventeenth century.
This piece is taking shape over in Simply stitch 4, sampling, creating cloth from scraps of lace, using historical reference to inform my process, keeping past research at the front of my mind before making any decision regarding my swaddling band. I first investigated the practice of swaddling years ago, at Uni. I haven't forgotten any of it, it was actually quite barbaric. It doesn't compare in any way to the gentle wrapping of infants which is practiced now although the origins of current methods are firmly embedded in past practice.
Sampling and ledger work is ongoing, the actual band is taking shape, (5th image). I am creating the foundation cloth myself from scraps of lace and silk. I am adding text and stitch. It's growing.....
We will be creating similar cloth to this in my new class, Lace, paper, cloth and stitch....similar cloth to this and more....
06/11/2014
life from my phone
Last week from my phone. I do take pictures of other things with my phone, relatives, cakes, flowers and such, non embroidery related. I have actually been taking pictures of the wreck that is my bathroom, the dirt, the piles of rubble but you don't come here for that and trust me you are better not knowing.
Anyway, because I have no bathroom to speak of I have escaped to mothers.....just for the day but let me tell you....a full day with unhindered lavatory access is a day to be treasured.
06/10/2014
composition
A little glimpse for you of where I am with Alchemy stuff. Design sheets, thread wrapped card, fabric swatches, stitched papers.....and let me tell you, I am way behind everyone else. I ordered a ledger for these yesterday, just a plain scribble pad actually. It will be used as a mount, somewhere safe to keep these sheets in order that they don't crease, creasing and paper is not a good combination.
06/09/2014
Adding embellishment
Really good progress was made with this piece last night. I added piping, points, and bumpy bits. I like how this is evolving, a little blue thread for French knots and plain cloth for the bumpy bits as a contrast to the pattern in the Broderie Anglaise and the Liberty cloth.
Today, while I'm ''on a roll'' I will add more, pin some more points on perhaps, maybe some more piping....
06/08/2014
three pieces of white
Three pieces of white, lace, cloth, samples, scraps, whatever, three pieces of playtime. Top image, the middle piece, that has pleated silk net applied to the surface. I wish you could see that ''in the flesh'', it is so light it reminds me of breath.
The flatter piece, the vintage cloth piece looks a little out of place perhaps, like it doesn't belong here. I included it because I like the contrast. Obviously I didn't create that piece of cloth, I merely titivated it a little. The other two pieces I created myself, from scratch, from offcuts, adding thread and stitch.
06/07/2014
prairie points and rouleau loops....
I'm in that place again. That place where you know you have been working, stitching, creating yet you have very little to show for it. There are a lot of things in progress around here, some I can't show yet, some you are most likely sick of seeing, some not quite ready to be placed in front of this audience.
This piece is passable I think. It isn't damp stretched, naughty Karen....it's the beginnings of a pouch. Don't hold your breath waiting for the ending though, it might be some time. Other ''in progress'' pieces have priority.
06/06/2014
yesterdays sampling
Yesterday was a very productive day. The lace, silk and white cloth I gathered was sampled and then sampled some more. I now have gorgeous frothy lace everywhere waiting for hand embellishment, waiting for more inspiration to strike in order to extend these pieces, to inform new pieces. One of these is for ''4'', for my swaddling band. The other two are part of the sampling I am using to prepare for my new class, Lace, paper, cloth and stitch.
This weekend there will be more sampling, more lace, a little paper and a little pattern.
(I am ignoring the fact that I need to sort some ''house'' stuff out. I will be without a bathroom all next week. There will be mess, there will be dirt, there will be noise. I will be cocooned in here with lace.)
06/05/2014
prepare
A glimpse today of what I was doing this morning. Strips were cut to make loops, a new pouch had prairie points and tabs added and lace has been used as the upper layer in a sandwich of cloth which very soon, in about five minutes actually, will be stitched on the sewing machine.
It's a horrible day here. Wet, grey, cold, dark, miserable......there's nothing else to do except stitch. Result.... and just for Linda....a dogs dinner
[Slang];[UK]it comes from the cooking domain where the phrase described a dish that was not tasty enough and therefore thrown away to dogs
06/04/2014
bits and bobs
It's been a funny couple of days....firstly there is something amiss with my blog feed. According to my stats I am talking to myself. I know I'm not because of your very welcome comments, it's a little disconcerting though, feedburner has gone AWOL, feedburner which is supposed to do what it says on the tin...feed. Anyone else encountered this?
And then I finished the pocket pillow. It's not like I don't have anything else to do but having a project like the pocket pillow is reassuring somehow.....or maybe that's just me. So I might start another one, maybe a pouch, no pillow just a pouch we shall see.
Today's pieces? Lace for ''4''. Mounted samples for ''4'' and a piece of snippet cloth attached to a sample which was made for Lace, paper, cloth and stitch. Why were they joined? Why not? Call it doodling with a needle and thread, respite in a busy house, (last night). There is something very soothing about bullion knots.
and please don't judge me. I am going to mount those samples again.
I made a proper pigs ear of that one.
make a pig's ear of something/doing something (British informal)
to do something very badly
06/03/2014
seams
Work continues on the body bag, it's a true pleasure to have this to pick up as and when. It probably looks the same to you, like there hasn't been a single new stitch added but it's all about the seams, the joins. Each seam is double stitched. By that I mean they are secured with either running stitch or stab stitches and then they are adorned with another stitch, a decorative stitch as opposed to a securing stitch, bullion knots, French knots, cross stitch, buttonhole lace....and on and on.......sigh.
Simply Stitch 4......you have videos coming later.....
06/02/2014
pocket pillow.....
It's finished, the Liberty pocket pillow, titivated to within an inch of its life. Prairie points, piped cord, bumpy bits, beaky things, funky puffs, covered buttons, bullion knots, applique petals....phew. I added the final touches last night, edged all round the sides by hand, secured the puffs. It's now in the shop.
I probably won't make another one of these for a while. The body bag calls. I have been working on that a little in Simply Stitch 4, there will be a progress update for you tomorrow. This evening will be pleated muslin and seams and silk panels, most likely some bullion knots and maybe a little buttonhole lace too.
06/01/2014
sampling
First of all don't anyone mention Africa. Got it? In the five minutes since I took these photos I have developed a dislike for one piece which looks a lot like a map of that place we can't mention. If anyone else says it I will have a breakdown. Once I'm finished here it will be cut up, changed into something that resembles nowhere on earth.
These are the interrupted samples, the ones I didn't attend to because of unexpected visitors. They're not finished, oh no. First of all I need to figure a way to stop creating maps and then I want to add more, mix them up, swap layers, titivate, all in the name of my new class, Lace, paper, cloth and stitch.
It's been a busy weekend on the home front. My son went to London to watch the boxing at Wembley Stadium. Happiness at an empty house you might think but don't be fooled. Said son is also flying to New York on Wednesday and left his holiday laundry....so it's been washing, ironing, folding. Then ironing again, cloth this time.....for me.....a little sampling, some backing of a pillow, making rouleau loops, the stuffing of a pillow...lots of wonderful cloth related stuff amongst other, less exciting domestic stuff.
Later today I'm going in the Attic. I haven't been up there for ages. I may not come down again.
05/31/2014
this week...
The surroundings never change...it's only the function of the table that is different depending first on the day and then the time of day. I like to recap, look at what I've done over the past week. It's surprising sometimes, for example I thought the big ''old'' piece was out ages ago but no, it was only last Monday. Then, bottom image...prairie points were added last night to a seam of the piece from yesterday. They were just pinned in this image ...now the whole thing is almost finished. My fingers were dizzy last night titivating that seam with bullion knots. The white and lace and pleating is from ''4'', from our session this week and there is a tiny fragment somewhere amongst these that is sampling for lace, paper, cloth and stitch.
I didn't get any sampling done yesterday afternoon, unexpected visitors, so that's my plan for later today along with the biggest pile of ironing you have ever seen. How come the ironing is never interrupted by visitors? It's a conspiracy.
05/30/2014
piping, buttons, titivation
I made buttons for this, for one edge. I'm getting carried away because I'm going to extend it later today, add more of the Liberty cloth. You can't have too much of a good thing right? Applique circles have been added too with bullion fences part way round, circling the outside. I say fences because that's what they remind me of, little white picket fences.
So the ironing board is going up, a Liberty strip to add here along with cloth, lace and paper to piece which means more sampling can happen for this...I'm excited....
No comments:
Post a Comment