It’s been quite a productive day …

despite not waking up early, and not being in the mood.

I finished a sample of free motion lace, which I started yesterday and didn’t like – somehow this morning it didn’t look quite so bad. Can't show you that as it is drying after I washed out the water-soluble stabiliser.

I also made a few machine wrapped cords. I have a confession to make, if you promise not to tell teacher. [Warning for non-embroiderers – technical bit coming up.]

When I make cords, I do it with the feed dogs up and the normal foot on, not free motion, although these are supposed to be free motion samples. I find the cord feeds through  better than if I’m trying to free machine it, because the foot holds it firm and it doesn’t wiggle all over the place. Of course you end up with a very regular stitch – although you can vary the stitch length as you sew.

Now I've got to decide what I’m going to do with all these cords. I was going to make a lattice but I don’t think it will work …

And then I made a couple of books. [Can you tell it was Wensleydale’s day to slave over a hot stove?]

One is a map fold book containing the results of my mark making yesterday.

 

 

I’m not sure how we were meant to store/present this exercise – so I may be in trouble …

 

 

 

 

The other is a little sketchbook – since we had a package from Amazon earlier this week.  The packaging, some spray paint and paper, a bit of duck tape and thread, and Keith Smith’s ‘1,2, & 3 Section Bindings’ for inspiration.

So maybe I was in the mood after all …

I was so busy whingeing yesterday …

that I forgot to show you these - proof that JP was right when she said spring is on its way.

Of course the forecast is ‘Chance of snow’. :>(

Thanks to JP and Sandy for their encouraging remarks yesterday. Not sufficiently encouraging to get me darning a 1” diameter hole, though, even if it is ‘hand embroidery’, Sandy.

 

I also forgot about this, which I finished before the free machining disaster day. It looks a bit like a storm cone – or an escapee from a Saatchi art competition.

Cobi made an interesting suggestion about what to put in the middle:

http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com/2009/04/patty-says-that-this-has-been-such-fun.html

http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com/2009/03/altered-cutlery-guest-designer.html

but I don’t have any spare cutlery <g> – and I was afraid it would be too heavy for the structure to support. The central diamond [can’t remember the proper geometric name for that shape!] is made of gessoed craft Vilene, which I just happened to have in my stash – as you do. I added machine embroidery in a diamond pattern, cut out equilateral triangles, and used jump rings to hold all the bits together.

Today I took my courage in both hands and returned to FME – but this time I used my Bernina, not the Elna I take to college. And some more interesting fabric than calico. Not perfect – but much, much, much better.  The flower and leaf shapes were in the hand-dye, so I just outlined them in a variety of stitches – and thoroughly enjoyed myself – until I cut off the corner by mistake. Which is why there is that couched cord top right …

A boring post …

because I haven’t got much to report. Yesterday was college day. We started with an interesting lecture on gender and politics in art – except it was much more about gender politics. Interesting how many feminists came out of the closet …

Then we had a session on machine embroidery, about which the less said the better. So I’ll say something.

It was one of those sessions when I didn’t have the right thread, the right fabric, the right machine, the right inspiration, the right amount of sleep the night before, there was an ‘R’ in the month, the wind was in the wrong direction, and the gods of free machine embroidery were not on my side. You get the picture.

So today – after I had put back all the wrong stuff I had taken the day before, and got out the stuff I would have taken if I had known what it was we were going to do – I began to think about starting again.

You will have noticed I didn’t say I started again? That’s for tomorrow, gods of free machining  willing.

Just to improve my mood, I realised this morning that I had a very large hole in the heel of one of my favourite hand knit socks. The left one of these.

Quite beyond darning, even supposing I did such esoteric things.

Another Tuesday trip!

The excitement may be more than I can bear.

I’d heard about the opening of the new premises of the National Needlework Archive, which used to be in Southampton but is now in Newbury, so we thought we’d take a look. [So great is my antipathy to driving in Southampton that I would far rather go to Newbury.]

So we pottered up there  – and arrived in the middle of a power cut. However there was enough light to see by, so we had a good look round. The exhibition space is not enormous – the building was previously the chapel for Greenham Airforce base – but there were some interesting textiles, old and new, and a couple of sewing machines as well.

There is a wonderful irony in an exhibition of ‘women’s work’ in a  place that was once famous for its efforts to keep women out. And, like their suffragette predecessors, those women used textiles  to publicise their cause.

On the way home we popped into Whitchurch Silk Mill again. If you Gift Aid your entrance fee, you get free entry for a year, which is quite a bargain. Wensleydale always enjoys the technology, and their little exhibitions are usually interesting – at the moment there is one about scagliola, and another about wooden printing blocks. [I’m sure you know that silk is used in making scagliola. And of course you know what scagliola is, like I do – now.]

I’ve been procrastinating …

ever since Wednesday, about the work for Drawing Studies which we missed because of the snow. Partly through fear, partly because it involved working with big pieces of paper – A1 and A2. Working with paper that size means working in the conservatory - and the conservatory is unheated.

However I had told myself very firmly that I would do it on yesterday – and the fates looked kindly upon me because the sun shone, and the temperature in there rose to 22  degrees C, which is warmer than the house.

So I did this - writing on A1 with all my fingers dipped into ink.

 

 

 

 

I wore a disposable glove.

Despite which …

And that is after washing it.

 

 

Then we had to select an area, and reproduce it five times on newspaper. I wasn’t sure whether we were meant to make 5 versions of the same area, or five different areas, but I chose the former, using different methods of mark making.

 

 

 

I’m afraid I cheated a bit on the black paint – the ones on the left are gesso and a candle, over-painted with black. I really like the candle one – you get glimpses of the colour in the newspaper where it resisted the paint.

And I put a coat of emulsion on this gentleman. Mmm – I think I may have the beginnings of a nativity scene …

 

 

 

 

I have only done about half of what I need to do for Drawing Studies and, of course, today has been vey cold. Sun is forecast for tomorrow, though, so keep your fingers crossed …

Now what?

With this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which used to look like this. [I’ve realised what they remind me of – the rather nice choccy biccies they give you with an Americano in Costa coffee in Haskins  - and possibly other Costas as well.]

I know I said I was going to add beads, but when I tried, they didn’t look right. I then struggled to get a thread through the tubes by dangling a needle down and hoping it would drop through. [It didn’t.]

Then I remembered my rouleaux turner – which worked perfectly. Doh.

So I assembled the tubes, and made a tassel and hanging loop, and held it up – and realised it looked a bit empty. The obvious thing is another pearl tassel – but I’ve run out of pearls.

Current ideas are:

1. a different, bigger tassel – perhaps in wool, for a contrast of texture.
2. another smaller diamond shape in a contrasting material , yet to be decided [i.e. I don’t have a clue what.]
3. something like these – or is that a cliché?

Anybody got any better ones?

And that was all I managed, despite having almost a full day to play – or so I thought. By the time I'd been shopping and done some cooking, there wasn’t much time left.

Thanks for the comments …

there is someone out there after all! Obviously the onion had stumped everyone.

For once, it didn’t snow on Tuesday/Wednesday night – well, not here in the coastal plain, anyway. Mr and Mrs Cheddar had some, and so did some of my more far-flung fellow students. We just had rain, rain, a touch of sleet – oh, and some rain …

Despite the weather [and some fairly horrendous traffic on the M3] we enjoyed our trip to the Art Gallery. Got to like a teacher whose first act when we got to the gallery was to send us into the [very good] cafe for coffee. [I can recommend the chocolate flapjack. and the feta, tomato and mint sandwich I had for lunch.]

The we had a scene-setting tour of other areas of the gallery, before going into the Hodgkin print exhibition. Mel, the teacher, took us round in reverse – and I realised why, when we got to the ‘first’ room. She was saving the best till last.

The exhibition is called ‘As Time Goes by’ – the titles of two huge [20’ by 8’] prints. And they are mind-blowing, even after the big beautiful prints we’d already seen. One is mostly in reds, the other predominantly blue. Well worth a visit – and the other pieces in the rest of the gallery at the moment are interesting too, including a very covetable Monet.

Today has been for hibernating – although I did finish the doggy bag. That is a sketchpad inside it – although I didn’t manage to get crayons to put in the crayon pocket. Babybel’s daddy is coming down tomorrow, unfortunately without Babybel, so he can take it back with him.

 

 

After that I went a bit further with the rolls of paper from the Contemporary Textiles workshop. Well – a bit over the top really. What started off an an experiment with weaving - I’ve got weaving on the brain at the moment - ended up like this. 

I had been thinking about figures – but he [definitely a he, despite appearances] wasn’t quite what I thought I was making - definitely one from the subconscious. I find him totem-like.

The droopy bits of thread were because the fabric was torn and I liked the dangly ends – and that led to some bigger dangly ends.

The fabric wasn’t a reasoned choice – it was the first thing which came to hand – so I think he may meet some paint tomorrow.