This and That!

Not very much happening craft wise here but lots of this and that... bit of gardening between the showers, clearing my backlog of paperwork, some (but not much) tidying up and housework. I've also been cutting up lots and lots cotton fabric into triangles because on Saturday I'm running this children's workshop in the John Lewis store in Cambridge.

If you live within easy reach of Cambridge and have a child or two... please come and join us!

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I've recently added some new links on my favourite blogs - some I've been reading for quite a while but there is a new blogger that I can recommend - Emma, who runs the Art and Craft Fairs in Reach has recently started a blog, Silver Pebble and already has some lovely thoughts and images. Emma makes beautiful silver jewellery and I was a lucky recipient of this very pretty necklace and earrings. Stewart bought it for me from Emma at the Christmas Fair and safely hid it away. Christmas came and went and then about mid January he suddenly remembered he'd bought this as a Christmas pressie for me but couldn't remember where he had hidden it! We'd given it up for lost when several weeks later he remembered his "safe"place (a pencil case!) and I had this lovely late surprise.

Last but not least of my "this and that" is this ATC from Annica. Annica recently put up several cards for a swap and I was lucky enough to receive this - which is lovely! It is made from hand dyed and printed fabric with hand and machine stitch. Thank you Annica.

News of the "plastic bag dress" soon... and there might be something happening for my 150th post which is rapidly approaching... have to think about that one!

Sock sales!

The Art and Craft Fair in Reach on Saturday went really well... a steady stream of visitors willing to part with their cash! As a result I sold 11 of my sock creatures, which I could scarcely believe. These were the last two that I finished off on Friday evening... Humphrey and Abe. Abe was sold and was last seen flying through the air outside the Reach Village Hall, having been launched by his new young owner... no wonder his eyes look like that! Despite lots of interest Humphrey is still with me.

One of the first visitors to the fair was Angela, who has been to some of my classes in the past and frequently comments on my blog and she handed me this lovely parcel...



Inside which were all these fabulous goodies... feathers, buttons, beads and a gorgeous ATC.



The ATC is beautiful and has a message, partly in mirror writing, that says "Stitch Therapy" to remind me when I have stressful weeks like the last one that stitching is a therapy... so true. Thank you Angela it is lovely... and I'm especially honoured as this is the first ATC Angela has ever made.



Almost forgot, but the parcel also contained this special Tea bag which reads :

"I cannot sit and chat with you

The way I'd like to do

So brew yourself a cup of tea,

I'll think of you - you think of me"

I can't put that in a cup of hot water... far too special. Thank you again Angela.

At the fair I bought some lovely cards and other bits and pieces from another stallholder, Celia Hart (forgot to take a photograph of my purchases) whose work you can see on her blog "Purple Podded Peas". Do take a look... she makes beautiful prints.

I've been spending yesterday and today catching up with the degree which has included parcelling up work to send to my tutor. I finally put the stitched portraits that I made ages ago into a book. At the time I blogged about them and said I intended to make a book but did nothing about it... nothing like a deadline to spur me into action! And this is the result.



I can see this as a theme I will return to, perhaps on a larger scale... but for now I'm back to a project called "Metamorphosis".



Day out in London tomorrow so back on Thursday with a full report!

Bits and Bobs

As promised, a closer view of the ATC I received in the swap on Wednesday which is the turquoise/blue card on the left made by Sandy. The photo doesn't do justice to the colour which is gorgeous. The card on the right I got from Lesley. Lesley has done some lovely sketchbook work on churches and this is based on a church shape with beautiful piece of rust dyed fabic in the middle.

I had a fabulous day in London on Thursday. First stop was Charing Cross to see this statue of Oscar Wilde by Maggi Hambling. I think it's brilliant - all those lovely curving lines - although I know it's not a view shared by all and I think there was quite a bit of controversy when it was erected. I then went to see more of her work at the National Portrait Gallery. I think her pictures are so vibrant and full of movement. After that I went on to the Tate Modern where I had a lovely lunch followed by a couple of hours viewing in the galleries. I had gone particularly to see a collection of drawings from the UBS collection and I wasn't disappointed - there was a fabulous selection of work to see.

Then back home where I spent a relaxed evening knitting and I finished my socks at last... they are very comfortable and I'm already planning my next pair...

... From this fabulous multi coloured wool bought at the knitting and stitching show. I couldn't resist it.

Talking of which, here are some of my other purchases. I was quite restrained this year but even so I have no doubt these bits and bobs will stay in their bags for months. Some fabrics and tape...

Some matching buttons and grosgrain ribbon... I'm thinking jewellery here.

And some more linen fabric, thread and haberdashery from the Selvage stand. I'd like to say watch this space to see what I make from them but I think you might have a long wait : )

Yesterday I was up in Wolverhampton speaking to some lovely ladies from the Wolverhampton branch of the Embroiderer's Guild. They had the best "shop" I've ever seen at a Guild meeting and I came away with more purchases - some velvet and some silk scrim. Hello Wolverhampton!!!

And today I've spent all day catching up with various bits of work for my degree module and have ended up with several "stitched" portraits. I sketched people on the train and in the restaurant on my day in London and turned them into these little stitched drawings. I think I might display them all in a hand made book... if I get time!

Talking of time... it's time to cook dinner... and attempt to make some impact on the mountain of ironing sitting in my kitchen. There are cothes in the ironing basket that I'd forgetten I owned! My next post will be my 50th so I feel some "give away" might be in order. Not sure what yet... but keep watching.

Zig Zag!

We had a lovely group meeting yesterday and we've finally decided on a name. After several suggestions - some more appropriate than others - we finally arrived at a name we were all happy with. "Gina's Babes" was rejected outright (after much laughter) as it was felt none of us really qualified as "babes" and it sounded too much like a dance troupe or girl band! "Free Motion" and "Stitched Up" were also rejected because of connotations implied! We ended up with a short list of four - "In Stitches", "Nimble Fingers", "Zig Zag" and "Stitchwise" - all strong contenders but after a vote the winner was "Zig Zag"



The beautiful collection of ATCs above were the result of our challenge last month and they all went into a group swap. I came home with the lovely blue one in the middle made by Sandy. I'll post a close up when I've got a bit more time. Below is a small selection of work produced since the last meeting. Our theme was foils and gilding plus working with metallic threads. Some fabulous work as always. I find it it truely inspirational being able to work with such a talented group. Looking forward to Zig Zag next month!

Today I'm off to London for an exciting day visiting the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Modern as part of my ongoing Opus studies. Should be fun!

Big Knit

My lazy Sunday finished with an evening in front of the fire with some knitting. Innocent Drinks are running a campaign called "Big Knit" where people are invited to knit hats for Innocent Smoothies. For every Smoothie sold wearing a hat, during November, Innocent and Sainsburys will donate 50p to Age Concern. You can read all about the campaign here, where there are even knitting patterns. It appeals to my sense of the ridiculous... little bottles wearing hats to keep warm in the fridge... so these were my first couple of attempts...

And then I got ambitious and produced these... definitely going for the "hat of the week" award!



Here they all are ready to send off to Innocent by the end of this month. My family think I'm the Big Nit around here!

A slightly more productive day today preparing samples and a lesson plan for the second meeting of our embroidery group on Wednesday (we might have a name this week). We also had a challenge for October to choose our favourite colour, then take the colour opposite that on the colour wheel and make an ATC in the second colour. I couldn't really choose my favourite colour but decided that yellow is the colour I use least... so here is my yellow ATC. Lots of cable stitch on tyvek, zapped and stitched to a yellow background. They are all going into a group swap so on Wednesday I should come home with a different one!

Hello Mr Sock!

The knitting and Stitching show was excellent as always with some fabulous exhibitions... hard to single out what I liked best but some of the new graduates' work was amazing (daunting too for a new undergraduate), the standard of work in the Pfaff exhibition was superb and I really loved the quirky charm of Julie Arkells dolls/creatures etc. No photos as I'm never sure about copyright with other peoples work... and I forgot my camera! Met with a special friend for lunch... also known as a close friend of Mr Sock! Mr Sock left a comment about the show on yesterday's post... I have to agree that although the exhibitions are always fantastic, one or two of the traders leave a lot to be desired! No Mr Sock... we will not be naming them!

No photos from yesterday but lots from today. The following are a selection of the work from the fifteen ladies who came to the Machined Textures class at Hertfordshire Embroiderer's guild today. They are all work in progress but even though they are not finished I think there are some wonderful samples. I've had a fabulous day... a very relaxed and friendly class so thank you ladies. I know I've missed out a couple so really sorry about that... I seem to have deleted some too but I'll try to retrieve them tomorrow! Sorry too that they are not all entirely in focus! One day I really will learn how to use this camera.

One of the ladies, Jane, had brought with her a delightful tyvek brooch, lovingly hand crafted. I promised to post a photo with a link to her Etsy shop. Unfortunately the photo was so out of focus I didn't want to post it but you can view her lovely things in her shop here... lovealittle.

And when I got home, look what was waiting for me in the post... this beautiful ATC from Sue which is made from silk paper. Thank you Sue!

I think you can all guess what I would like to do now... feet up etc... but we're out to an Auction of Promises for our local scout group this evening. At least I'll get the glass (or two) of wine!

Cold feet

The glass of wine and the early night went according to plan last night, however the knitting did not! Those of you who've been following my blog for a while may remember me embarking on a pair of pink socks - all other pairs of knitted socks having been commandeered by my family. I've completed one and last night started to turn the heel of the second sock only to find I had far too many stitches on the needles and the heel was somewhat lopsided! Not sure how that happened but instead of knitting I did some unravelling and started again! So one cold foot until I finish...

I've been so busy this week that I forgot to mention this beautiful little ATC that arrived for me on Monday from Nadia. I don't think she has a blog, but if you are reading Nadia, Thank you... it's lovely!

The early night did its trick and I'm not feeling quite so weary today - I also got a lie in with a cup of tea and a good book until 7 am which did wonders. As a result I finished of a few ATCs of my own this morning. A few weeks ago I promised there would be more ATCs which I would trade, made from the embellished fabric... and here are the first three:

Number one...

Number two...

And number three... So if anyone reading would like to trade cards with me, leave me a comment with which one you would like, then I will email to swap addresses and next week when our postal strike is over I will send them out. I shall now finish my packing for Missenden and I'll be back next week.

More ATCs

I finished another ATC last night - while I watched TV! I can never just sit and watch TV programmes and always need something to do with my hands - so usually I knit but last night I tried some hand stitching. Only sorbello stitch with a blanket stitch edging. ATCs seem a good size for trying out hand stitching as I'm not very fast. I worked it on the background of embellished yarn that I made on Sunday.

Then after I finished lots of lesson plans and notes on the computer today, I had time for a bit of machine stitching and I made this one - using the same background fabric.


I was interested to see how all three turned out so different, when they all started out with the same felted background. The embellished felt makes a lovely surface on which to stitch as it is soft but quite firm.

I would like to work on my Lutradur and lace sample now but the family want their dinner... how unreasonable!

More time to play!

What a great weekend - all the family were busy with their own thing on Sunday too, leaving me with even more time to play. There is a new Yahoo group for subscribers to Fibre and Stitch and we've been issued with a challenge - to create a piece inspired by Carol McFee's article called "Lutrador and Lace". I couldn't resist! I think there is a danger sometimes of constantly trying new ideas, new techniques and new products and never really finishing anything or consolidating ideas. So in an attempt to at least stay within a theme I'm sticking to rust colours. The first layers of paint were all metallic acrylics - bronze, copper and gold. The back was painted with a metallic burnt umber.

Onto this I mixed a bronze acrylic with an irridescent medium to add some hidden sparkle.

Then I added layers of Dragon's breath ink followed by Iron Gall ink. The photographs make it look very purple which it is not! It actually looks quite a lot like distressed and aged metal. In fact, now I look at them the photos don't show a lot of difference from one stage to the next but they were quite different!

And finally it has been rubbed over with some treasure wax to highlight the raised areas. All it needs now is some stitching and I can post it on the challenge page for the group - If I ever work out how to do it!

I also played some more with my embellisher. When I was at Missenden Abbey summer schoool I was working in the room next to Myfanwy Hart (of Winifred Cottage) who was teaching a course called "A Week with the Embellisher" Her students made some beautiful things over the week and I can thoroughly recommend taking a course with her if you get a chance. We also struck up quite a friendship and spent some fun times in the evenings which was lovely. At the end of the week I came away with some fabulous goodies - like this Collinette yarn and promised I would have a play with them. And this is the result. Lengths of the yarn embellished down onto a background of felt. I intended it would be a bag but I had a lot of trouble keeping the whole thing flat so think I might have a change of plan. It needs some stitch and some more work on it yet.



I made a few smaller pieces too with a view to making some postcards and ATCs and this is the first ATC I finished. Favourite colours for me (note the distinct lack of rust!)



But this week it's back to work. Lots of planning, notes and sample making for September classes as we're going away next week and I need to have everthing sorted out before I go.