WALKING AND STITCHING

 

Good afternoon everyone

We are slowly settling into our new life with Jackson and him with us. He is allowed to walk for 30 minutes a day at the moment so over the last few weeks I have been able to introduce him to some of my favourite pathways. The beautiful blossom of the hawthorn and crab apple in the hedgerows is stunning at the moment and at ground level the bright yellow cowslips are a carpet of sunshine. My favourite place to visit this week has been the local wood where the ground is a dazzling sea of bluebells; the most breath taking colours in the dappled morning light.

I thought quite hard about making my work room more accessible but decided it was still too early to introduce Jackson to the delights of fabric, threads and cables! So, I have gathered together my entire collection of hand embroidery paraphernalia and simply brought it all downstairs, piled high on a dresser out of temptation's way for Jackson.

When I have a piece of work in progress using the sewing machine, working towards the completed item I always think of the final stitch as the full stop at the end of the story; the final destination point.

I feel completely different about free hand stitching, I am not working in a methodical fashion, it is much more of an organic process and I never have the end stitch in sight. As with this current piece I will keep mark making with needle and thread until I think I have achieved a fluent and cohesive piece and that I have enough stitching to achieve that final full stop.

 

Slowly building up the layers of colour and texture, I'll let you know when it is completed!

 NEW ARRIVAL

Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t been around for a few weeks. I have been rather busy looking after the latest arrival to our family – this adorable and very handsome puppy has taken over! Jackson is a Hungarian Vizsla and at just 16 weeks old is an absolute bundle of energy and excitement and is completely unaware of the laughter and joy that he has brought. He has been introduced to family and friends all of whom have been instantly besotted! Jackson is going to be a wonderful walking companion and I can’t wait to introduce him to some of my favourite pathways.

I don’t envisage being able to spend as much time as before in my workroom but when I can escape  to stitch and create I am sure that I will be more focused and planned. In the meantime I thought I would share with you some book making from last year. 

I used ordinary cartridge paper and after tearing the edges I dyed the individual sheets with various strengths of coffee. Different salts were used as a resist to create some interesting textured effects. One of my favourite sets of papers was made by simply adding cling film across the paper as it dried; trapping the coffee liquid by scrunching, bubbling and wrapping. Whilst stacking the papers to dry in the sunshine I had the notion to imprint various leaves from the garden into the paper. The results were quite subtle but pleasing. I also dyed a range of threads in the coffee mix and chose one to stitch the pages and attach the covers. Leftover papers and threads were kept for future work but that’s another story!