Pink

“It is better to light a candle,
than to curse the darkness”

I read this earlier in the day and it seems very apt for me right now.

Following on from my last post – I am still sad for my youngest son, who is now traveling lighter than ever – as the burglars also took his suitcase!

But in “blog land” today I came across this on Monica’s blog. (girl gone thread wild)

Monica is going to make a doll and a quilt from 2 inch squares sent to her by fellow bloggers. The square can be in your chosen medium, with a cloth base, so Monica can sew the square to the doll – please see her blog for inspiration.

The doll will be sent to Art Doll Quarterly, and then auctioned. The proceeds will go to help fight breast cancer.

The square must be with Monica by the 1st March 2008 – so there is plenty of time if you want to contribute. Do check out Monica’s blog for all the information. HERE

I started my squares to-day.

2 inch squares – work in progress.

Listen to Your Muse

This is the canvas that I made for the 8 x 8 inch canvas swap on art-e-zine. Generously hosted by Christine (her blog is here)

It is the first swap I have taken part in – partly because I had the time available to do it. And because of the format – I love the 8 x 8 format – large enough to do some interesting work, and small enough to post to America. Also it was “a favourite technique” Obviously I used free machine embroidery, with hand stitching, done on layers of organza. So now I wait patiently for a canvas to be sent to me from America.

I am doing things in the studio – if somewhat slowly – without moving my head – or bending down – but it is not stuff that I can post about just yet.

Gentle Day

A gentle day in the studio to-day making a batch of these petal shapes with free machine embroidery on organza.

Tomorrow I will burn around the edges

I can not tell you what they are for – because it is top secret!
(With Christmas happening in 31 days)

Quiet Sunday

Quiet Sunday today – pottering in the studio – but not accomplishing much.

The vertigo is still with me – so I am pretty fed up about that.

The image here is a sketchbook page – probably for my “Travelling Sketchbook” which I share with Linda.

It is only a rough sketch – using painted bondaweb, and free machine embroidery. I was reflecting on the things we say like “keeping your feet on the ground” or “Being grounded” and how just now – the ground does not feel like a very safe place – in fact is seems rather squashy!! The colours probably reflect my dreary state of mind.

Thanks to
Judy,
Lynn and
Marion
For joining in the PIF exchange. I am really looking forward to making something for you all – don’t forget to e-mail me with your addresses if you have not all ready done so.

Denice will also be getting something from me – although she does not have a blog – I am sure she will join in the PIF ethos.

Thanks to all of you who left a comment on my “Friendship post” I am the one at the back left of the last photo! And I had a great time at our class reunion

Jeans Finished Work

Jean popped in to see me to-day – to see how I was doing with the vertigo – and to show me her finished piece of work.

This is a close up – I particularly like what she has done at the bottom with the machine wrapped cord couched down to form the sea. Also overlaying the organza to trap the pearls and shells. It is lovely to see finished pieces of work and I was pleased she came to show me.

I managed a couple of hours in the studio to-day and I am quietly happy with the progress I made on my canvas for the canvas swap – but I probably wont post any pictures of it until it has been received by who ever gets it! – Well maybe tomorrow I will post a little corner for you to peep at!

Last Class Photos

This is Denice’s finished work – well almost finished – She was going to do some hand stitching at home – to blend the heavily textured area more into the background fabric.

The picture below is a close up – lovely texture – Denice was pleased with the finished result.

I spent some time in the studio to-day – with not much luck. I have the idea of a piece in my head – but trying to work out the “How To Do It” was frustrating me to-day. Sometimes I wish I could just to the same old thing over and over again – as I feel like I am trying to re-invent the wheel with every piece I do.

I know it is just the frustration talking – and probably not helped by the fact that I am still a bit wobbly on my pins – and my head is probably not as clear as it could be.

Never mind – it will all come together …. or something at some point next week.

More views

This is another view of Pats sampler – again apologies for the quality of the photography.

Pat is going to do a small amount of hand stitching onto the little square to catch down any loose fibers that have come adrift since she cut the squares from a bigger piece.

This is a close up of one of the squares showing the lovely textures Pat created.

Last Class

Here is Jean with her (nearly) finished piece of embroidery. She will be so cross with me that the photo is of her holding her work up! She didn’t want to be in it. I did take a close up of the work – but it was very out of focus – I blame the vertigo.

Jean had to leave early – so she was disappointed that her piece was not complete by the time she left. However she knew where it was going. She had also used all the machine embroidery techniques we covered in the three weeks and was so delighted that she knew more about her machine than she did a month ago.

Here is Pat, with her piece. She probably had the most unsuitable machine for all the techniques we covered. (I need to find out more about this particular machine.) Pat made some lovely textures, which she cut up and her finished work was a “sampler”.

I will post a detail tomorrow – still not really able to spend much time in the vertical position.

Thanks to ALL of you who have left such lovely comments over the past 10 days or so. I really enjoy hearing from you all – and I am sorry I haven’t replied to you personally.

Machine Embroidery Class

Click on images for larger picture.

Today was the first session of Machine Embroidery for Beginners, and we were a very select group of 6;- plus me!

This was ideal as it meant we all had enough time.

For some reason – blogger wont let me post all my pictures tonight – so here are some of the samples done in class today. More tomorrow.

This are samples from the first exercise – simply using straight stitching over layers of threads and fabrics.

I enjoyed to-day. The group was humorous and hard working – a lovely combination!

Where did the week go?

Machine embroidered beads

As you can see from the above image I have posted an old picture of machine embroidered beads. The reason is – that beads and machine embroidery are the two things that I have been working on this week.

In October – I am teaching class – “Machine Embroidery for Beginners” here in the village. It is good to teach class – because it has made me think about the free machine embroidery that I do – and I have had to go back to basics – and re-visit techniques that I have not done in a while – and look at them with fresh eyes in order to teach them to others.

I am hoping to do 4 sessions, once a week, in October. Although I have been very lax about publicising it anywhere – so I expect we shall be a very select little group!

I have also been making beads for a gallery show in November – so beads and machine embroidery have been filling my head this week – which – I have to say has flown by so quickly!

My thanks go out to Judy,
Who after visiting my blog – and being very inspired by the beads she saw – has credited me, and linked back to my blog – much appreciated.

Be sure to check out her beads and her lovely silk dying.