First Completed Project of 2016

This is the first piece of work I have completed this year; it was started before Christmas with a tutor and group I do workshops with in Weymouth, Dorset. It is called a study of lichen. 

This little piece was created by making silk paper and 'scrunching' it into waves and folds whilst it was still wet to form the peaks and troughs often found in lichen and moss.  I added pieces of painted tyvek and dyed muslin for a more textural, distressed effect and then mounted it on top of three pieces of organza.  Then the fun part, hand stitching into it.

Once the stitching was finished, I cut and frayed the organza edges but I felt it looked incomplete, so I made a background.  The background was made using my embellishing machine and wool tops; I formed a piece of 'pre-felt' and using the embellishing machine again, I 'felted' it into folds to give it depth and movement. Finally, I stitched the piece on top, manipulating it as I felt it was needed.

The whole thing is then stitched to an artist canvas!

At Christmas I gave myself a present!! A puppy ... she is called Indie, a blue merle border collie. We are having lots of fun together and she loves her big brother, Moosh.

seven weeks old

nine weeks old

eleven weeks old

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

West Country Workshop

Monday past was a Sherborne branch meeting for West Country Embroiderers with Kate Paterson as tutor. Subject was making book covers but in a novel way - using brown parcel paper.

Wax crayons are used to cover the whole surface of the paper, it is crumpled and then rubbed with an ink pad. Once dry it can be sprayed with diluted brusho, silk paints or inks like 'moonshadow mists'

When the paper is dry, metallic wax or oil bars are rubbed over the raised surface of the crumpled paper. 

The plan was to adhere this paper to felt with bondaweb and to cut a frontal panel piece to be adorned as desired and then applied to the front of the book cover.  The metal shim is coloured with alcohol inks.  So my panel is complete and ready go onto my book cover.

HAPPINESS IS AN INSIDE JOB ........ WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD

Darn It!

Yesterday was an extra meeting for our branch of the Embroiderers' Guild - the original had to be cancelled in January due to the snow! As that is often the case, we usually have members leading the workshops. This time we had three workshops for members to choose from; Darn It, Scrunch, Paint and Stitch and finally, Altered Textiles.  I chose to do Darn It and we were presented with hessian potato sacks (by one of our farmer's wife members) and we used a variety of threads, wools, ribbons and strips of fabrics to create our own patterns - very relaxing. I plan to make it into another book cover (my current obsession).

The tutor's sample - a cushion.

Paint, Scrunch and Stitch was painting acrylic paint onto brown paper, when dry, applying it with bondaweb to felt or a suitable fabric, crumpling it up and applying gold wax or markel stick. covering with another layer of bondaweb and covering the whole thing with a chiffon scarf to change the colours. A background ready for stitch.

Altered Textiles was taking the most awful pieces of upholstery fabric (which is always donated to textile lovers by well-meaning people) and once again, painting with acrylic to alter, change, disguise the background ready for stitch.  Further photos can be seen on 
www.blackmorevaleembroiderersguild.blogspot.co.uk