Playing with Metal

This afternoon I'm teaching my weekly machine embroidery class in Letchworth. This term we are looking at stitching with things other than fabrics and today we are stitching on metals. Although I have lots of samples and techniques to try I thought it would be fun if they had a little project to work on and so I've been playing and have come up with this cuff.

Very simple and rather made up as I went along...

but I was happy enough with the results that I might even wear it! Squares of copper shim stitched onto a background of velvet bonded onto pelmet vilene and finished off with some beads stitched on by hand... just in case you were wondering!

And if you like the idea of stitching into metal can I recommend this book. Not only because it is full of fabulous ideas and gorgeous pictures but also beacause it was written by a friend. I did my City and Guilds with Ann and she is a very talented embroiderer, winning a City and Guilds medal for excellence twice... and she's a lovely lady as well!

Random Stuff!

This post is full of random stuff, with no link between any of it... sometimes it happens that way! I've just got back from Granchester where I've been speaking to The Cambridge Quilters. No matter how often I talk to groups I always find it nerve wracking and convince myself everyone is going to be bored silly! But they were a lovely group of ladies, who laughed in the right places and said nice things about my work so it has been an enjoyable morning. If you are looking in ... thank you Cambridge Quilters, it was lovely to meet you!

Thank you all for the wonderful supportive messages you left on my last post. I don't know why such a lack of confidence seems to accompany working creatively but it does and your encouraging words meant a lot. As promised some more photos of the shirt, which is far from complete. Hand sewing text is laboriously slow!


But I'm enjoying seeing the work grow and eventually hope to cover the whole things with these messages.

All of them have been things that I have actually said over the past few weeks so I think it will be interesting to read them in years to come.

My Dad said it reminded him of when I was a teenager and didn't want to come home at a reasonable time etc... that was different though, wasn't it?

It is now all packed up and ready to take to London tomorrow. I should also thank my tutor James Hunting for his support and help during this module. He's been brilliant!

I've had a super parcel in the post this week from Andrea of Indigo Blue who send these fabulous wiggly bags made by her year 10 students. You can read how she went about it on her blog. They are fabulous Andrea, thank you so much and please thank your students too. It's not too late if anyone still wants to make wiggly bags (these are bags used by children receiving treatment for cancer. It keeps their IV lines tidy and out of the way) - just drop me an e mail.

What else.. Julia at Marmalade Kiss is having a giveaway so do go and pay her a visit! And I have to tell you about the latest book I am reading - The Time Traveller's Wife - it is fantastic and very clever. It tells the beautiful love story of Henry and Clare who meet when Clare is 6 and Henry is 36 yet marry when Clare is 22 and Henry is 30... you just have to read it! I'm having trouble putting it down at the moment!

Finally, I would like to leave you with something I saw in the Times this week that amused me... something for those of you who keep chickens and are also partial to a little knitting... a project for the weekend!

They are rescued battery hens whose feathers are not as thick as they should be so they have little sweaters to keep them warm. Was it wrong to laugh?

Another module finished.

It has been a long time since I posted anything about my degree but that doesn't mean I haven't been working during all the Christmas prep, Young Embroiderers, exploding ovens etc etc. The last time I posted I was looking at materials and in particular the idea of protection. The idea of making a jacket with the "teeth" around the cuff has been put on hold (I took note of your comment Jodie!) but I'll come back to it I'm sure. Meanwhile I moved onto the next assignment which was about language. I looked at banners from the suffrage movement and from there went on to look at artists who use text in their work, in particular the work of Arthur Bispo do Rosario and Tilleke Schwarz. Before long I found myself back looking at the idea of protection and in particular how we protect our children. I involved the boys and we got to talking about all the things mothers say when children leave the protection of home to go out - things that in their eyes are seen as nagging but really are just hidden ways of saying "I care, I want you to be safe... I love you."

From this came the idea of a protective garment so I chose a school shirt - something they all might have worn to leave the house and I have embroidered messages all over the surface, much in the same way their friends scribble messages of friendship over their shirts in marker pen when they leave school. This isn't finished due to to me slicing the end of my thumb while chopping carrots which is making hand sewing a bit tricky, and I doubt it will be completely finished before assessment day.. on Saturday... but I'll show more at the end of the week.

The final assignment has been a personal project concerned with aspects of domesticity. Again I was drawn back to family life, my role within the family and once more the idea of protection. It was also apparent that text and lists were featuring heavily in all my work and so I decided to make an apron as a symbol of both domesticity and as a protective item covered with lists of words. This then evolved into three aprons to represent the multiplicity of my roles within the home - as a wife, a mother and a housekeeper.

This one was "Mother"

All three aprons are worked on a fine muslin with machined drawn fabric work edging and free machined lettering. Fun and games working on muslin let me tell you!


This one was "Housekeeper" - I didn't want to use the word "Housewife" and I don't like the American term "Homemaker" I wanted to incorporate a piece of traditional looking needlework on the housekeeper apron. Stewart objected to me putting ironing on the list as he does most of the ironing!

And the last apron was "Wife"

It's funny but Stewart didn't object to me writing "nag" on the list of words on the bottom of this apron!

The idea behind the three aprons and that they are made from muslin (apart from the fact muslin is often used as a cleaning cloth) is that they can be layered so that the different roles can be worn "on top" but without completely covering the other roles.

I quite like this as a concept but I'm not sure how well it works. I've called it "Who am I?"

It wasn't easy to photograph and looks better in "real life"

So now it all has to be packed up and taken to London for assessment on Saturday and we get a few weeks off before the next module starts!

Didn't they do well

Just as I thought, the Young Embroiderers had no problem with canvas work. It was a short meeting today as we only had the room for this morning, plus it was a small group but they did really well in the time. Not everyone finished but as you can see the work in progress looks lovely.


The green one above was Danijela's and Aleksija was working on the blue and purple one below. We found some plastic canvas in our cupboard which made them a little easier to work - certainly a lot easier to join together.

Molly was also working in blues and purples with an extra red tassel thrown in for good measure!

Quentin had almost finished his... another ten minutes and he would have been done!

And there were two finished bookmarks, this beautiful pastel one by Sophie.

And this lovely one by Nikki which reminds me of the colours of Spring flowers.

Canvas Work

At the last Young Embroiderer's meeting I noticed we had several rolls of tapestry canvas in our resource cupboard and decided at our next meeting we could try some canvas work. All very well in theory but my only experience of canvas work is a cushion made from a kit about thirty years ago. So I rummaged through old copies of "Stitch" magazine and adapted an idea for a bookmark (although made it into charm for my scissors). It looked simple enough! And stitching the actual design wasn't too difficult. But stitching the two pieces of canvas together, trying to keep them aligned and the stitching neat, never mind going round the corners, was near impossible.


I almost gave up, but not one to admit defeat I had another go using a slightly thicker thread. This time it was a little neater but it wasn't any easier... my fingers are very sore!

Although it does make a very smart bookmark.

I could start again and come up with another idea but we are meeting tomorrow morning. No doubt the children will find it a doddle!

Another Resolution

Whilst browsing blogs earlier I noticed Charlie had a very sensible New Year Resolution - to try a new recipe every week, the result of which will be 52 new recipes by the end of the year! That is my kind of thinking! Today I made this Apricot and Pistachio Crumble, courtesy of Nigel Slater and Sainsburys Magazine. I can honestly say this is just about the best crumble topping I've ever made and so simple ... so let me share it with you. He claims to have tried it with dried, fresh and tinned apricots but tinned give the best results.

3 x 420g tins of apricots in syrup (I used apricots in juice with good results), drained with 4 tblspn of the syrup reserved.

Butter for greasing dish

100g shelled pistachio nuts (unsalted!)

125g cold butter

250g plain flour

150g demerara sugar

a 1.2 litre baking dish

Preheat the oven to 190 deg C.
Grind the pistachios in a food processor until they resemble fine gravel.
Make the crust by rubbing the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, either in the food processor or by hand.
Stir in the sugar and the pistachios
Grease the baking dish and pile in the fruit mixed with the reserved syrup. Spoon the topping over the surface and bake for 30 - 35 minutes in the preheated oven. Watch that the crust doesn't burn and cover with foil if necessary.

Serve with Green and Blacks Vanilla Ice Cream (I added that bit!)

The family approved of this New Resolution but it won't help with the losing of a few pounds!

5th Jan Resolutions

I always think 1st January isn't a good time for resolutions. The house is still decorated, there are still remnants of unhealthy food and booze left in the house and if we're lucky the odd drinks party still to go to... all those good intentions to lose weight, drink less, get more exercise etc are bound to fail! So now it is the 5th Jan, the house is cleaned up, the fridge full of fruit and veg... and I'm still not making resolutions! Last year I adopted a word for 2008 rather than a resolution and I chose "balance", but that failed too! So this year I decided no resolutions, no words or mantras... until that is I read this...

The book tells the story of Lev, an Eastern European who has come to Britain to find work. It is a beautifully written story, dealing with loss and separation. It is sensitively written, rich and passionate and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. But it was this paragraph that struck a chord...

"... this was what, in the end, drew you on over the years, in spite of tragedy and loss, the idea that you could make some kind of mark, that through the slowly accumulating weeks and months you would somehow become the person you might stop to admire. Only the Best."

So no resolutions, just the thought that each day I should try to do the best possible to become someone I might admire... that and lose a few pounds, drink less, spend more time with friends and family.. and of course read a lot more too.