« October 2018 | Main | December 2018 »
I love a seam. I love creating a seam, not to secure anything or finish anything but purely as another area for embellishment, to add more stitch and titivations. I've been working on these two separately, you have seen them before. Yesterday it dawned on me...they could be joined, a seam, happy days.
The plan for these was some kind of book or 'roll' where they would all be combined, (there are more). No worries, either option is still possible.
Our 12 month artist book marathon which grew to be a 15 month artist book marathon is coming to an end. I'm at a loss as to how to say goodbye. There are unfinished projects and too many ideas. How do I finish? What do I do to wind this all up? In four weeks time it will be over and I have to say the past year and a bit has flown by. I guess it will just stop, things will be hanging in the air unfinished and unsaid. I do take some comfort however from knowing how accomplished this group is, how they will all manage perfectly fine without me.
(will I manage without them though.....?)
This piece needed 'something' on the wide, plain sections. I dithered for a while and came up with holes, cutwork holes which remain open (as opposed to having cloth or lace laid behind them) and which were then embellished with little sequins. This is a fun piece, a happy piece, bright and fresh. I think the pink sequins add to that, enhance that theme.
Initially I bagan this piece and other similar pieces for use as overlays. Now I think I may combine them all into some kind of artist book, a reference of surface design ideas which I can look at in the future for inspiration.
Ribbons, I love a bit of ribbon. There's been a little added titivation to this white piece. The channel which the wide pink ribbon runs through is vintage, taken from a nightgown. The cloth which now forms an overlay and where the multi coloured ribbon falls from is also vintage. I only have tiny scraps of that cloth so I use it sparingly. I couldn't even begin to tell you how much I love that fabric.......
12 months of artist books which have become 14, nearly 15 months of artist books and this is the result.
I was making a short 'recap', appraisal video for class this morning and gathered all the bits together we had been working on during this class. There's more than this actually but this image gives a good overview of the pieces we have created over the past year or so.
The class was listed to run for a year and should have ended in September gone.....I wanted to continue so continue we did. We are now due to finish at the end of the year but in truth I could go on forever. These pieces have inspired new ideas, further explorations.......like I said, I could go on forever.
A little baby dress which was hung up yesterday so I could pin things to it, play with placement, see what goes where and what else I need. This piece is our first project in embroidery school, stitch along. Hopefully when we've finished this dress will be festooned with all things pocket related, pockets for holding memory and emotion. Each of us will have our own memories, our own sentiments held safely within these pockets meaning each piece will be uniquely our own.
Today I've been playing with ribbon a little and layering cloth scraps over the white piece from this post. Hopefully I will add some embroidery to it this evening and share that with you next time.
These images are of current work from embroidery schoool. We've been making tiny white dangly things. They're addictive. You might also spot a couple of tiny pockets here too. They're personalised but it's a secret unless you're in class. They really are small, the smallest, the one with the blue silk ribbon spilling out is only around one inch wide. The ribbon is significant as is the lace spilling out of the other one, again that is to do with the personalisation of these little secret places.
Each of these pieces is related to pockets in some way. I remain pocket obsessed. One of them is already a pocket, the white piece will be used to create a pocket and the other piece has pockets in the seam.
In other news...I'm slowly getting more organised but am astounded at how much stuff we have despite the amount of stuff we threw away before we moved. I think it must breed when the lights go out.
When I went on holiday I took two surfaces with me to embroider and titivate whilst I was away. You saw the first one here. This is the second piece which didn't get touched whilst I was away but I have remedied that this week, snatching a few hours every evening for embroidery. I'm amassing quite a collection of these delicate embroidered surfaces. Overlays, overlays, overlays, they will be overlays for the many artist books I have planned. (planned with fingers crossed and one eye on the clock lol)
Things are still a little upside down here. We have been here exactly two weeks now and although there are only 4 boxes left to unpack most things which have been unpacked are in the wrong place for various reasons. I'm hoping to put that right over the next couple of days. I'm also aimimg to post more regularly from now on. Probably not every day but definitely more frequently.
Both my groups of girls came back to class this week. (OK, they never went away it was me) this is a little glimpse of what we did on my first day back.
In artist books we worked on a page for a book which will be rather large compared to my usual artist books. As you can see it also won't have regular edges, there are bits sticking out all over. Creating overlays for this one will be interesting but I do like a challenge. More of that when it actually happens.
In stitch along, (the 12 month sewing class which has just begun) we were on pom poms, prairie points and pockets.....all the p's.
As you can see it's been a busy return. There are still boxes and a lot of waiting around for workmen but every day I find more of my essential treasure so managing my embroidery is getting easier all the time.
Both of these classes are open for registration here and here.
I'm here...I'm happier than I can say to be back. It's been an amazing four weeks, wonderful and stressful too. Where have I been? We went to Portugal for two weeks, a long planned family holiday with our kids and their partners. The weather was mostly glorious, the family time priceless.
We came back and moved into a new house, a new home for Paul and I. That's where the stress came in but it really doesn't matter anymore because I am so, so completely happy to be in this new place, be experiencing this new start for us both. I'm told I have made amazing progress with the unpacking but I would say there's a long way to go. It does look and feel like 'our' home but there is a little renovation to do, some decorating....then it will all come together properly.
I still haven't unpacked a lot of my cloth, paper, thread etc. etc. Those things are safer in boxes for now. There's also a lot of stuff at my mum's for safe keeping. She doesn't know it yet but that will be there for a little longer.....shhhh....don't tell her.
This work? I worked on this piece in the Portuguese sunshine. (it took me a long time to find this earlier today!)
So that's my news. I'm hoping to be posting and stitching regularly from now. If I see a cardboard box that needs to be unpacked I promise I'll shut my eyes and ignore it.
Registration is open again for both my current classes. Sorry it took me so long.
You can register here for ''stitch along''
and here for ''artist books''.
See you soon and thanks for still being here. xxxx