Working Away

Working away and travelling for work is not always as exciting and glamorous as it might sound but I quite enjoy going off to different places to teach, especially when I get a chance to explore and learn more about my surroundings. It would have been easy to have written off my recent trip around the M25, knowing I was staying in a Premier Inn located literally yards away from the M20 near Maidstone.

But after depositing my bags on Thusday evening, I went out for a wander in the opposite direction to the motorway and strolled along the River Medway. It was a beautiful evening and surprisingly peaceful with just boats, walkers and wildlife.

I made an unexpected discovery and spied this castle on the opposite bank

Back at the hotel I was spotted by one of the ladies on my course who just happened to recognise me (the trappings of fame you know!) who asked if I wanted to join her and her sister for dinner and so I spent a very enjoyable evening in their company.

Up early the next day we headed a few miles up the road to Aylesford Priory, a beautiful and fascinating venue, still a working Carmelite priory and shrine, where our two day workshop was being held. The room was well lit and cosy, the lunches were good, there was time for a wander around the grounds and a visit to the pottery. The twelve ladies on my course worked hard on their textured landscapes producing these wonderful pieces of work. They are all yet to be finished off but they will have some lovely results when they are done.

And as usual when I teach a workshop, I worked on my own picture alongside those in class so I could demonstrate each technique as we progressed and I finished up with a rather unseasonal autumn landscape.

 

So although I've been away working it was in many ways not like work at all and the break from the routine at home was welcome. A change is as good as a rest as they say. Although it was still good to be back home with a glass of wine by the fire on Saturday evening!

Stitches and Doodles

It was a busy Bank holiday weekend. It started on Friday evening with a talk to the Harrow branch of the Embroiderers' Guild. I thought we were going to have a bit of a technical disaster with my presentation but thanks to the expertise of Michael Dennis all went very smoothly and seemed to be well received. Thank you Michael! The journey home wasn't quite so smooth when I discovered the A1 was closed and the detour round Barnet took longer than expected due to an HGV driver deciding to ignore the signs and instead he followed the "Non-HGV" diversion. It took about 20 minutes and a fifty five point turn, almost demolishing both the traffic lights and a rubbish bin, to get his truck to make the left hand turn into Barnet High Street and I was sat right behind him going nowhere!

 

So having  got home at nearly 11.30 pm I was a bit bleary eyed when I arrived at Art and Stitch on Saturday morning. I was teaching a "Stitches and Doodles" workshop... a repeat of the one I did at Art Van Go a few weeks ago. You can read about that one here.

 

 

As ever I was totally bowled over by what the students achieved and by the variety of work produced.

 

They started mostly with black and white doodles.... although this lovely green/russet variagated thread that Jacqui used works well too.

 

They learned to add text...

 

And Lynda even managed to turn hers into Zentangles...

 

and then advanced to a really complex design... I don't think I could even begin to draw this never mind stitch it!

 

As the class progressed we added applique to the basic stitching and the range of designs produced was fabulous. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

 

It was a really fun and enthusiastic class and I'm looking forward to doing follow up workshops at both Art Van Go on 9th September and Art and Stitch on 27th September.

 

The rest of the weekend was taken up with a rather lovely wedding reception, Sunday breakfast with friends and rather a lot of pottering about in the garden. So I really should be knuckling down to some work now.... but it appears to be lunchtime! Ah well... there's always this afternoon.

No Time to Stop and Stare

Typical really, when life is full to the brim and there are dozens of things I think I'll share here, there's not a spare moment to stop and write a blog post. This week has seen back to back teaching including a weekend at Missenden Abbey, a University visit with youngest son and not much time for anything else in between and as a result the March edition of Workshop on the Web came out a whole week ago and I forgot to mention it includes an article from me!

 

 

You've seen the samples before but this is a chance to learn with step by step instructions how to make your own book cover decorated with "Graffiti Doodles"

 

Or even a cushion should you fancy it...

 

I'll also be teaching this technique as a day class at Art Van Go in Knebworth on Thursday April 3rd and at Art and Stitch in Peterborough on Saturday 3rd May.

 

And speaking of Art Van Go, I will be joining other members of Spectrum tomorrow to set up our exhibition:

An exhibition by

SPECTRUM

a group of ten contemporary textile artists mentored by Gina Ferrari

present new work inspired by the theme

"TRANSITIONS"

11th March - 5th April 2014

Art Van Go

1 Stevenage Road, Knebworth, Herts SG3 6AN

 

There will be lots of lovely new work to see including some fabulous "Round Robin" pieces where each member started a piece of work in the textile medium of their choice - some stitched, others printed or painted, patchworked or felted. These were then passed on to another member who could add or alter the original work in any way they liked. This was repeated twice more but the fourth member had to finish the work. It raised many interesting issues about ownership, letting go and working into someone elses work. Yet despite these sometimes uncomfortable feelings everyone agreed it had been a worthwhile experience resulting in some fabulous work. The Balloons and Sunflower cushion are just two of the pieces of work from our "Summer" Round Robin.

 

 

And these two wall hangings were the result of our "Black and White" round robin

 

 

Would love to see you at the exhibition and if you happen to be free on Saturday 15th March do join us for tea and cake at our Private View from 12 noon.

 

p.s. I forgot to mention that Terry was the winner of the Country Living tickets. Enjoy the day out with your daughter Terry... the tickets are in the post!

Since I was last here...

• I have spent a couple of days with my Mum who is recovering from vascular surgery. She is doing really well. Luckily her surgeon was one of the more successful ones in the recent public reporting about the performance of surgeons.
  

 

• I've taught another afternoon of Creative Sketchbooks and we played with masks and resists. Lots of fun.
   

• Spectrum had an outing to the Henry Moore foundation. It was wonderful. The weather was fine and there was much to see, made all the better for being there with friends. I liked the sheep.

• We celebrated a wedding anniversary. Nine years... where did they go so quickly?

 

• I've started a tapestry. It was a rash decision against my better judgement. But I've done it. And I've told you so now I'll have to finish it. (But secretly I rather like it)

• I've taught a class on making braids at Art and Stitch and each of the ladies completed some beautiful work. I think they had a good time too.

• Last night Gill and I completed another Starlight Walk. We agreed it was good fun and we will do it again. But this morning I'm struggling to remember a time when the simple act of putting one foot in front of another didn't make so many bits of me ache.

 

Funnily enough there hasn't been much time for cleaning bathrooms, ironing or even blogging but I will be back again soon (perhaps after I've cleaned the bathroom). And if you follow this blog with Google Reader please find another way of following me after tomorrow... because I would hate for you to go away.



Workshop on the Web

Fancy finding out how I acheived the background fabric for this work...?

or this...

or even this...

And discover how to applique a design like this on to the surface...

Then check out the June edition of Workshop on the Web. You need to subscribe to view the workshops but it is very good value with four editions a year packed full of tutorials, articles and reviews.

Shimmering Sheers

One week ago I was teaching machine embroidery to someone as young as 10 years old....

and yesterday I was teaching machine embroidery to someone as young as 87 years old... which is fantastic because it just goes to show, age is no barrier when it comes to machine embroidery!

I spent Saturday in Suffolk with sixteen lovely ladies from the Stitch Skills Swap Shop, teaching a class called Shimmering Sheers.

Lots of sheer fabrics combined with plenty of sequins, beads, foils and sparkle and the ladies all went home with a little sparkly bag and several twinkling flowers.

You can see Jacky's results here and I'm sure there will be lots of pictures on the 4S blog very soon. And if you fancy a "Shimmering Sheers" day I will be teaching the same workshop at Art and Stitch on May 21st.

Although if you belong to a Guild or a stitching group I could bring Shimmering Sheers directly to you... whether you are 10 or 87! Just get in touch.