One of the advantages

of waking up at 4.30 is that, after lying awake pondering on what to do, you can get up and get several pages made before breakfast.

One of the disadvantages is that you run out of enthusiasm and energy by the afternoon.

My plan was to get the basic folios assembled by lunchtime and spend the afternoon sitting in the garden adding a bit of hand embroidery, buttons, beads etc. Then I could assemble the book tomorrow, leaving Tuesday morning for slippage.

I decided that I really didn't need 7 signatures of 2 folios each – I ‘only’ needed 5 – with 3 folios each. In fact I ended up making 16 folios because I lost count – and it took me to mid afternoon to finish them.

Then it was too hot to sit outside, and just like yesterday I had no ideas about what to do. Hopefully some will materialise in front of the telly, but I think we are already into slippage.

This is what they look like at the moment:

the folios – a rather eclectic collection of samples -

 

and the signatures. No cover on this book, I’m pinching – er – exploring tutor Sue's idea for binding a series of pamphlets together. I have already experimented with tutor Terrie’s idea for using double sided sticky tape with foil – those shiny stripes on the turquoise signature. A non-iron method which is very good for someone who always gets the iron too hot …

Today's letter is [wonky] ‘O’ for an or nue-ish orange. [I know nue should have an accent, I just don’t know how to add it!] I am one of those weird people who enjoys or nue, although I probably wouldn’t if I tried to do it properly – i.e. with lovely evenly spaced stitches and proper threads.

 

And that’s your lot as far as alphabet embroideries are concerned until I can find the time to do ‘P’ –or even work out what ‘P’ is going to be …

Sometimes I can’t think of a snappy title …

perhaps because after a bad night and a Contemporary Textile Workshop my get up and go has got up and gone.

It was a good day – especially because my friend A had some very good news – well, two lots of good news really. Congratulations, A!

The morning session was an introduction to simple book making – which I have done once or twice before - but the afternoon was more challenging. If I'd known what we were going to do I’d have taken different stuff, so I shall be starting again, although I have to get my book of samples made by Tuesday afternoon, which is when we put up the end of year exhibition. I’ll show you the result when I have sorted my ideas out …

The exhibition, by the way, is at the Cranbury Centre, Eastleigh College, starting in the evening of Thursday 2nd June, and continuing on  Friday till 4 and Saturday till 1pm. Not just Contemporary Textiles, but also P&Q and Embroidery C&G.

On a completely different topic – here is ‘N’ for a needle-woven nest – great fun to do.

And now it’s getting round to time to slob in front of the TV with a drink …

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

We had a very good day yesterday with Babybel – although, as expected, all we could do after she took her daddy home was collapse on the sofa in front of the telly.

We took her to Bird World near Farnham, as she loves birds, we had a two for one voucher, and it was on the way home after we picked her up.

It was a lovely day  and Bird World was very quiet, so we could get a very good view of the birds – or ‘ducks’ as she calls all of them.

 

Then we came home and after tea she played football with her daddy. I knew all those footballs would come in useful!

 

 

 

 

Today has been spent recovering! It has been another lovely day so, although I had intended to do some machine embroidery, I sat in the garden and finished this.  ‘M’ for a metal mouse.

I hadn’t sewn metal before, and found Ann Parr’s ‘The Art of Stitching on Metal’ very helpful. This is copper, heated in a gas flame and then pickled in balsamic vinegar for a couple of days. If, like me, you use balsamic vinegar so rarely yours is past its sell by date – use it to colour metal!

Tomorrow is the last Contemporary Textile Workshop of the year – it’s hard to believe that there have been six of them, and that it is a year since I finished C&G. We will be making books to display our efforts over the year – so I expect to enjoy myself.

A very quick post

before we go out to collect our little visitor. I’m sure that after she’s left I shan’t have enough energy to post! I don’t know how older women who have babies cope – one day with Babybel and I’m wrecked!

So here is the letter ‘L’ - a [machine] lace leaf. Even after two attempts I’m not over-excited by it, although it looks slightly better in the flesh than in the photo.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the comments on the loom – I seem to have unleashed a wave of nostalgia/envy! I must get around to doing something with it!

One thing led to another.

I’m not sure what I meant to do today, apart from recover from our hectic long weekend – and brace myself for tomorrow, when we are expecting a small visitor. I think I envisaged sitting in the conservatory finishing off the letter ‘M’.

But I decided first to tidy my workroom a bit. Only a bit – nothing too strenuous.

After the first sinking feeling of ‘Where the hell do I start?’ I decided to stick some of my accumulating heap of postcards, brochures, etc. in the journal, a.k.a. ‘compost heap’. But the white pages were boring so that meant getting out the paint. And some crayons for a wax resist first  because plain watercolour can be a bit boring too.

So while the pages were drying [cling film in between then so I could work on more than one spread and to add texture] – as I'd got the paints out – I sploshed some paint on paper as well.

Then I decided to stick some previous painting efforts in an altered book I’ve done – I have this belief that if I splosh paint around often enough I might one day miraculously know how to paint …

As I’d got the crayons out I added some wax rubbings to highlight the texture on the book pages. And then I looked for the soluble pastels because I didn’t have the right colour of crayon.

Then I had to put all that lot away, while edging round the new paintings drying on the floor.

I decided I had to tackle the tottering heap of tear sheets, printouts, painted paper etc. - which led to spending the rest of the morning cutting and sticking.

Then I decided to replace the pages in this, which had been a sort of diary, but of course it fizzled out after a few weeks. Two years ago.

 

 

 

While I’d got the paper out I decided to put some pages in this, which once held the service record for a long dead Volvo.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it holds these. And lots of other bits of scrappy, odd shaped paper.

I sometimes use ring binders to hold embroidery samples so it might get some added, but at the moment both of them are ‘books whose purpose is waiting to be revealed’.

This one, however, has found its purpose – a drawing book for our small visitor.

 

 

 

Here we have ‘K’ for a knotty key. ‘Knots’ were the only thing I could think of for ‘k’ apart from ‘knitting’ which doesn’t really work either.

Another busy day

visiting the National Quilt Championships at Sandown. I don’t make big quilts any more and the show is a shadow of its former self – but we still potter up there most years. Over the last few years I have felt that sometimes the judges valued technique more than design – but not so much this year!

For example – this. The image doesn’t give you an idea of scale – it is bed quilt sized – but the detail shows you the quality of the quilting. Brilliant technique and design – a well deserved winner. I’ve seen and admired Ferret’s work before [more examples here] but I think ‘Winter Star’ is the best yet.

I liked some of the other winner’s but unfortunately I can't remember any names - and there were no programmes available this year.

There was a small exhibition of work by Corinne Gradis and Elodie Watanabe. I find their web site a bit tricky to navigate but if you click on ‘English’, then ‘Collections’ and then hover the cursor over the images until you find ‘blue basket’ – you will find the works that were in the exhibition.

Talking to the pleasant woman on the stall – who I think was Corinne – they hadn’t had much interest. I was only the second person to buy a book. Possibly their work is of more interest to embroiderers than quilters, especially of you are a traditional quilter – but I thought the pieces were beautiful.

I have no images I can show you from the exhibition, so here is the next letter of the alphabet  - 'I' for Italian quilted Ivy. It was stamped wit a real leaf on sheer polyester before cording the outlines – so it’s shadow work Italian quilting, I suppose – although shadow work may reappear when I get to ‘S’ …

If you are squeamish …

you might not want to read the next few paragraphs.

Look away now

This afternoon I did something I have never done before. I sewed through my finger. I did have a foot on the machine but I still managed to get the finger under the needle.  Fortunately I missed the nail - I just have two puncture marks, about half a centimetre apart, on either side of the fleshy part of my left index finger.

Equally fortunately, although the needle broke, I seem to have located all the bits. The machine, of course, is fine. And I'm right handed – the only problems I have encountered are inserting the bobbin into the machine, which I do left handed, and typing.

So far, it isn’t even very painful – like the time I dropped my rotary cutter on my foot and only realised I’d cut myself when I looked down and thought ‘I don’t remember spilling red paint on the carpet’.

Resume reading here

When the unfortunate incident  occurred I was free-motioning these. [You are allowed to say ‘What the heck?’]

This is the next stage of Carole and Linda’s class – couching down fibres to add texture. [This is not on the pieces I made yesterday.]

As we are going to add colour  later, it didn’t matter what colour fibres I used. A good opportunity to use up some of my left over knobbly knitting wool.

Of course Carole and Linda recommend not worrying about a design source, but when did I ever do as I was told? I also omitted the suggested Vilene as I have a Vilene shortage at the moment and I couldn’t wait. That’s why they are a bit curly.

These are going to have hand stitch and Xpandaprint added, and possibly some beads.

It’s a great course, by the way – lots and lots of ideas, enough to keep me quiet for weeks. Can’t wait for their book.

Today’s photo is G for gold work grapes. I did this before C&G so would possibly do it more elaborately now.

Mmm – better make a start on L-Z soon!

Busy – but not much to show for it.

I've started this on-line course with Carol McFee and Linda Monk – which is looking good. I've spent the day putting emulsion paint. moulding paste and wallpaper on fabric – and I've tried taking photos but all I've ended up with are images of white blobs. They’ll be better when I’ve added a bit of colour!

This is the only one that looks like anything. Being me, I got experimental [with a used Colour Catcher], so the paint and moulding paste show up.

 

So straight on to the daily photo – and back to the alphabet.

F for a Florentine  fan. If you think it’s Bargello – I think the two are the same – unless you know better!

 

 

After a brief flurry of excitement

before we got up, it has been a very boring day.

The excitement occurred when QC decided to try to get into our bedroom through a small fanlight window. [Bad people had closed the big window – we ought to know she likes to come in that way, then straight out of the door and downstairs to see if breakfast has appeared. She has a cat flap, which is much closer to the feeding bowl, but that would be too easy.]

She has looked longingly at the fanlight before, stretching up and mewing piteously, but has never tried to get through it. This morning she made a leap for it and discovered:

1. that it was too small for her to get through and
2. it opens upwards so she couldn't stand on the window frame. [I have mentioned before that she isn’t very bright.]

She ended up hanging by her front paws from the frame, back paws scrabbling at the window below. Then one paw. Then no paws. It looked like she was auditioning for Tom and Jerry. Unfortunately I don’t keep my camera in the bedroom, - although I might start because she is quite stupid enough to try it again.

It was actually scary at the time. Fortunately she landed safely on the window sill, and could only have fallen as far as the conservatory roof underneath – which is how she gets to the bedroom window.

So on to letter ‘E’ – an egg in English patchwork – by which I mean that it was done over papers. Yes, even the egg – which is probably the only bit that was easier done that way than machining it. Ah, the lengths I go to to fulfil my mission.

More bits and bobs

I spent the day doing bits of finishing off – like this

 

 

 

 

 

and this – with its inspiration.

 

 

 

 

I got the idea for the sewing from the booklet by Betsey Palmer Eldridge shown bottom left. Thanks to the Green Chair Press blog for the link to the Guild of Book Workers site where you can print off your own copy. Then you can probably do it better than I did!

I’ve also done a bit more arashi – yesterday I discharged the pieces I dyed earlier. And in one case I wish I  hadn’t bothered …  Can you guess which? The piece dyed with a mixture of Procion dyes gives much more subtle results than the one dyed with Dylon, – and the discharged blobs are too big. I prefer subtle.

Perhaps it needs overdyeing …

Today we reach the letter ‘D’, a drawn thread work dragonfly. Bit difficult to make a curved letter with a linear embroidery style, so please forgive the cheating!

What I found in my scrap box

Number One

I realise that I never showed you this while It was a work in progress – not sure why! 

Under all those stitches are a couple of experiments. I stamped paper with masking fluid [yuck] and then painted the paper with transfer paints. When it was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid and transferred the colour to needlepoint canvas – as suggested by Jill Carter in her book ‘New Canvas Work’. It shouldn't work because the canvas is cotton – but it does, perhaps because of the dressing on the canvas.

I made a second transfer onto some mauve-with-silver-bits sizoflor. And then I forgot about it, until my last tidy-up, when I decided to sort–of-Bargello it, with the sizoflor layered on top of the canvas. I’m rather pleased with it, especially as it also used up several skeins of embroidery floss, which I rarely use. [So why have I got so much?].

And it’s purple.

Guess what? It’s going to be a book cover.

Number Two

And so is this. This was made for a challenge on a new group I joined, ‘Dye-Art-Group’. The topic was ‘New Beginnings’.

After I took the photo of the daisies I showed you a few days ago I began to think about the way they keep coming back no matter how often we mow the bit of chalk downland we call a lawn – which seemed appropriate for the challenge. The background is a piece I made years ago, experimenting with layered fabric, Xpandaprint and acrylic paint, which ended up in the scrap box because it was so bright.

I stamped it with my little flower-shaped eraser and  added some French knots, using some hand */999 –[additional input from Quality Control walking over the keyboard] as I was saying, using some hand-dyed thread that was supposed to be variegated but ended up lemon yellow with very occasional spots of orange.

It is now  waiting to have some pages added.

I feel very economical.

Today's alphabet photo is C for canvas work – and assistant typists.

Canvas work was my first love in embroidery but I rarely do it any more – somehow it feels too easy, which is a stupid way to think. Especially as I inherited the stashes of two other needle pointers and bought what looks like most of  a bolt of canvas in a charity shop for £5. Got to love charity shops.

I live such an exciting life

that nothing worth telling you about happened today. Well – I have finished the quilt for ‘Art Quilts Around the World’ but I can’t reveal that till the end of the month.

And I didn’t take any exciting photos – or indeed any photos at all.

So here is the second letter of the embroidered alphabet. 

A blackwork B(ee). One of my favourites.

Let’s hope things get a bit more interesting tomorrow.

Still no dyeing

But I have got out the dye, the fabric and the pipes for the arashi. Wensleydale is out governing tomorrow [despite having ‘retired’ from it before Christmas] so I intend to spend the day dyeing. I have done some sewing today but it is not in a fit state to show yet.

I have pondered on what to do for the daily photo this month. I have noticed that Wil and Kelly have been showing alphabets, so I decided to join in, although I am not part of the group which is doing this.

I started this alphabet at least 5 years ago – before C&G and a looong time before Babybel – and never finished it. I came across it the other day and decided it would be nice to finish it and make a hanging for Babybel.

The idea was that the letter would illustrate a needlework process beginning with that letter – and have an appropriate illustration. So here we have A for appliqué – and apples.

I think one of the reasons I stopped was I began to realise that some letters were going to be difficult …