slow progress.....

I am making progress of the slow kind on toe wrap two. It's not a problem, it's quite relaxing. I am adding tiny webs and French knots to the patterned fabric in order to complete the final part of that section. Later today I am hoping to get the next piece pinned together. 

I am slightly overwhelmed with mail at the moment and sadly there is no way I can possibly respond to the 83!!!! comments over here. I am truly sorry and I like to think I am quite polite and well mannered but there aren't enough hours in the day...I will do my best to keep up a little better but yet again I am begging forgiveness.....with a humble expression on my face...honest...

Now for my news, take a look at this.....she means me!!! There will be more information up soon and I will send you back there then but you will at least know a little more if you hop on over there. 

Tomorrows news will include an update from Karen's Global Embroidery School, for now though I have apples to count.

last night....

I have two new obsessions at the moment.One I can't share until my button girls have been let in on it...next week for you maybe. The other...the bumpy bits that are finding their way more and more onto toe wrap two.

This piece is evolving beyond what I had imagined and I am turning to this now when I am not making buttons. It is so much bigger that toe wrap one and so very different with much more striking cloth and so much more contrast. I added more bumps last night whilst watching T.V. Now I want more.....so I guess that means I will have more, it is after all up to me.

I am going to clarify what a 'toe wrap' is before I go as I get asked about it a lot so if you already know you can turn off now.....

I made a lap quilt, a throw for myself. I said I was going to use it to keep my feet warm when I am curled up on the sofa. I got mail upon mail saying that it was too nice to cover my feet....so toe warp one was born. Hope that clears that up and may I say...what's wrong with my feet? I may have the most beautiful feet you have ever seen, more than worthy of a gorgeous cloth to cover them. Actually I don't...but perhaps they need pity...and beautiful cloth.

colour....

I have been doing a little work on toe wrap two. I had forgotten how much I adore the fine cotton lawn, the floral cloth in these pictures. It is quite hard to enhance with stitch though as it is such a 'busy' pattern so it tends to get a lot of attention with white.

The white piece in here, that was me kind of doodling with my needle. I had hoped it would improve my thought process and I think it worked. Now I feel as if I want to give it away, otherwise it will be staring at me saying get me finished, expand me, make me into something amazing. That would be far too distracting. It's good news for you though as you can expect to see this later in the week transformed into some kind of give away...now if I added a blue edge it would make a fine floor rag...hmmmmm.

Do you remember my sketchbook pages from last week? Well I have been asked to make a video about those. I am pondering again. Would that be OK with you? You know how much I love the sound of my own voice, maybe I need to wean myself off it? We shall see, addiction is addiction.......

Finally, my button girls are so amazing that I have to share with you,,,so much talent. Pop over here to our flickr group and have a look at what they've done....I fear I may soon be redundant....who needs me to teach them embroidery? Not these girls that's for sure.

a bit of this closely followed by a bit of that

First of all today I want to say thanks. Thanks for the response to my last post. Apparently I made a few of you cry, I really didn't mean for you to cry and I'm sorry. I must admit though that when I talk about those pieces in any detail I do get a bit choked myself. Following on from that I will give you an update on the status of my 'little people'', the ones I wanted to wrap, envelop and basically lock in their rooms forever. My daughter went off to University and NEVER lived at home again after that day. She came for visits of course but immediately after graduating she moved to London. ( we are 250 miles away) where she in now enormously successful in a high powered job and we are extraordinarily proud of her.....but......I would still like her to be here....

My son, he went off to university too but (phew) he came home again!!! Result!! Where he remains up to now. Maybe not for much longer but I enjoy having him here while it lasts. We are also extraordinarily proud of him too. Our son, the musician....

So there you have it. Cloths won't hold them, shackles were probably the better option.

Isn't it a good job that I am so busy and don't have time for wallowing in motherly loss......I am working on my white pieces for the class and I am working on toe wrap two. Sometimes I wonder which is next and I'm sure at some point I will get so muddled that my white on white piece will find itself covered in red spotty applique.

It is going to be difficult for me not to talk about the class on here. It is becoming such a huge part of my days that I am doing very little else. I don't think that's a problem though as long as the online resources for my group remain protected. I believe some of them are blogging about the work they have done so far and we have a dedicated flickr group which I would like to direct you to. The images that are up so far show real dedication and a definite understanding of where I am coming from in terms of my embroidery. They're also a very talented group in terms of embroidery, composition and surface design. As their ';teacher' I am very proud although I am sure most of them have been practising embroidery for longer than I have and I really cannot claim too much credit. So if you have a minute pop over here and have a look at the things that are taking shape.

I have missed coming here every day but in truth I am not producing enough at the moment to sustain daily posts on here. I am determined to get back into that habit though so must make some firm plans for work to extend and develop. Don't give up on me.....I may be back tomorrow if I can actually get myself in gear for making!

bumpy things......

The area of 'bumpy things' is finished and damp stretched now....I do like it a lot and it's great to run your hands over. So that section will be grubby first then...I have also embellished a patterned section with hand stitch, the area that has red dotty things on it. Lots of white stitches on there, knots and stuff. This piece is heavily textured. I didn't plan it that way but I know I will have enormous fun fiddling with this when it's finished. 

For the past week my dining room /computer room / work room has resembled a bomb site. This morning I shook myself down and faced my responsibilities. It is now gloriously neat, tidy, clean and I would even go so far as to say it's positively pristine! I put the ironing board away and everything!! Can you tell I'm proud?

This morning was the first day of class, no detentions yet but I can already pick out the ones who are going to be trouble!! Only kidding....SK.....you know who you are!! Honestly though, what a gorgeous bunch of girls we have gathered over there...reminder to self...don't let them down. 

I will be posting links on here to their blogs when they have posted work so you can see what we are up to. The work I create for that will also be shown on here. In truth I am creating exactly what I always create. Same motivation, same methods, same process but over there they are getting me too. The real me. A photograph, video, talking, (lots of me talking actually, babbling away inanely, very broad Northern English accent, making no sense at all I am sure)

So there you have it, a day in the life...with cleaning and housework....make the most of the latter, it won't last!

blue and white...

I have been uploading to etsy all morning...and I am only half way done so I thought I would pause and do this instead. I made another fragment, the blue and white, reserved I'm afraid but that doesn't mean I will never do another one. I wouldn't do another one the same, I strive to never exactly repeat anything I have done before as I think that maintains the ''special'' place I give my work. Working in blue and white has such memories for me. When I was putting together the final collection for my degree I made a Wrapping Cloth for my daughter and one for my son...in both I used blue and white. The blue is from vintage iron on embroidery transfers, they remind me of my nanna...

When I have posted this I am off back to the shop...more listing. I made more puffs, yes you guessed, blue and white and the pin pillows are now finished too, they will also be going in.

I started the first piece of my new work last night...I am so inspired by my blue and white memories that I am using it there too. I will show you next time no matter if it isn't finished. (which it won't be) you can monitor my progress and if you sense I am slacking you can harangue me to get on with it. BUT...I am very taken with those little things at the edge of the blue and white and I sense a desire to make some of them for toe wrap two...watch this space

right, I'm gone, I will be over at etsy if you need me...

three pieces....

A little more work has been happening with toe wrap two. I gathered it all together late last night and realised that I now have three sections all waiting to be joined. They are all individually lovely, (in my opinion, you may think differently but hey, we live in a democracy!!) My intention was to ''peruse'' seam options, loops? points? I think loops have won and as I do need to get my sewing machine out to finish the hook and eye pieces it won't be too much of a hassle.

There are new additions that you haven't seen before....puffs along the edge that has the cotton lawn. As the fabric is quite ''busy'' I felt that any embroidery may get lost in the pattern so I made some puffs in off white. It worked, they stand proud and don't sink into the background like stitch would have.

Today I feel quite energised! We have glorious sunshine and I feel the need to plant some pansies in my wall pots outside...for those of you who don't know I am not known for my gardening skills so this is quite exciting, now I just have to decide where to buy them....soil on hands for the rest of the day then, better keep away from white!!

points, loops and progress....

Broderie anglaise prairie points are now added to the seam of red stripe with cutwork. My thinking was that they would ''dampen'' it down a little and I think they look really effective along that edge. I embroidered two rows of buttonhole stitch and finished with a simple row of running stitches. I think that although they are very plain there is something really appealing about these points, I've even snapped the reverse further down...I think that's a first. Infact I just had an idea, yes just now, a revelation, why not have reverse praire points somewhere else??? watch this space...see, you inspire me!

This morning I have taken over the dining table with all the sections of toe wrap two. I am pleasantly suprised at how quickly this is growing. Later on today I want to consider which two pieces to join next and give some thought to the seam for that part, loops or points? Last night I also managed to add hooks and eyes to one reverse section of the hook and eye piece...there is no panic re those at the moment, I am quite calm, let's hope it stays that way. The deadline is looming, I've had an e-mail from them setting out things I should be considering. Am I considering them? Have I considered them? I think I have...but then again I probably live in a different universe to them...I think I live in a different universe to most people, the creative universe where I live with you...

overwhelmed....

We'll talk about embroidery in a minute but first I want to say that I am truly overwhelmed. I cannot believe how many of you want a piece of my tat. Fact is I have received more comments then I ever imagined so must apologise and simply say that I really don't think I will be able to respond to them all. It doesn't really sit well with me though, good manners and all that but I would like to ask those of you who commented for the first time please do so again at some point, when it's a bit quieter because I really would like to see all your blogs without the pressure of having around 100 to get through. The give aways will remain open until saturday and then EVERYONE will be in the hat.

Just a word too on keeping stuff in drawers. It is a very nice drawer, a special drawer. There are all kinds of precious things in there. It's not the cutlery drawer or the carrier bag drawer, it's my dresser drawer, in my boudoir. The best place for anything around here, trust me, it's safer!!

Now back to embroidery. I have added to the section of toe wrap two that has the lace on the cotton lawn, remember? There is pleated fabric behind cutwork circles and a border of cross stitch hearts. This afternoon I am hoping to make some prairie points with white broderie anglaise as an edge that will join another two sections. I also hope to get the backs cut out for my hook and eye pieces and make a start on adding the fastenings. There is a little reluctance to show you the hook and eye piece again, how many times can you look at metal fastenings without yawning?? So I am aiming to keep toe wrap two ticking over at the same time. We shall see how that goes. I promise I will show you the hook and eye pieces when they are finished though.