WHERE DO THE DAYS GO?

It feels like it has been absolutely ages since my last post and looking at the calendar it really has been too long, where do the days go? The Christmas and the New Year celebrations with family and friends have become memories to cherish and now it is time to look forward to the joys yet to come. What better way to start than to be watching the slow unfolding of the hellebores in my garden. From previous posts you will be aware of just how high on my list of favourites these beautiful plants are. Some of the new varieties I planted last year are standing tall, full of buds and the excitement is mounting by the day!

This is the only one in flower at the moment but very much deserves to be enjoyed through the lens of a camera.

As ever, I am always happy to share my work in progress with you, so be prepared there seems to be quite a lot of it! 

I thought I would start with my recent efforts using the embellisher to make a soft base fabric. This was constructed using a fine silk with the addition of Merino wool, scrim and  threads. 

This was stitched into quite densely before a little magic happened and I had a lovely raised surface and textured fabric on which to embellish with more stitching.

The next job was to make some fine threads with bobbles (not a very technical word but it is a fair description!) and nets (on the right) using free machine embroidery on water soluble fabric. I am beginning to attach these to the felt along with a few beads and hand stitching. Next I will make some thread covered wires and larger 'bobbles'. 

Am I the only one that finds French Knots so very relaxing to stitch? Hopefully when I next post this will be a finished project initially inspired by a piece of tree bark.

I have also spent a lot of time with my most favourite and vital piece of equipment namely the Gelli plate. In my workroom with my music on (fairly loudly!) I have been discovering and experimenting with colours and techniques. Sometimes I am so caught up with the process it seems as though no time has gone at all but all of a sudden I have a wonderful stack of printed papers to play with.

The next pieces are made using a selection of the papers are designed to sit as a group of four when completed. I thought it would be interesting to record the progression of the layers as I add to each piece. The first and second pictures show the very first two layers with some stitch. The third has four layers and is virtually finished whilst the fourth is finished, I think! It is always so very tempting to add a little more but the trick is knowing when to stop and I am definitely getting better at knowing when saturation point is close.

I hope that each will sit comfortably as a standalone piece or that together they will sit in harmonious happiness. The colours are all from the same palette and fairly limited and although I have tried I am not sure that the computer screen is fully representative of their true colours. As soon as they are finished I will be able to share work completed. After the layering and stitching I am always quite amazed that it holds together as it all begins with a such thin sheet of tissue paper.

When I was outside in the garden a gust of wind blew a hydrangea head across my path so not wanting to miss an opportunity my last image to share is of a skeletonised floret after the winter has taken its toil.