You first saw this here when I spoke about how I wasn't really happy with the cross stitch button card. The general consensus was that I should stick with it, add to it and I would grow to love it. I haven't had much spare time to spend on this piece but I have managed to add a few web stitches, sequins and embroidered Suffolk puffs ............ I'm still not sure. I will stick with it, I will continue to add to it. It will live in my cloth book as a sample when it's finished. I won't throw it away........... that's the purpose of samples isn't it, to assess what works for us and what doesn't.
Hankies, ribbon, edges, cross stitch, web stitch, French knots.....and sequins. I've tried to create a contrast between the vibrancy of those bright pink sequins with a little subtlety from the opaque ones. It works. There's a new row of cross stitch too, tiny pink and lemon cross stitches.
This is work in progress, stitching my fingers to the bone progress in order to finish embroidery for hankie class. We were supposed to finish last week....we didn't. Teacher is holding things up again. Once the cloth shown here is completely embroidered I will be able to finish my bag, my hankie bag. I am determined to do that before the end of this week. It won't be a rushed finish because in truth there isn't much hand work left to do. When it is finished.....it's for me. It will be a fabric storage bag with layers of lace, embroidered hankie panels and a long strap to hang it from a hook.
2,30 pm....translucent sequins not opaque...jeez Karen.
Tomorrow is paper day. I am having tummy flips about pages and torn edges over on the Artist Book subscription blog. I need some of that tummy flipping on here too I think. I need to keep it close, it's so inspiring. Torn edges and sequin edges.................there's a theme there somewhere.
Gingham, pink, cross stitch, silk, sequins and bullion knots......sampling for a drawstring bag, a pillow, some toggles and perhaps a few buttons too. This is work which has been completed in the first week of ''studies in stitch''. I am trying very hard to restrain myself and not begin my drawstring bag before I finish sampling....it's hard, I am excited at the prospect of a gingham and silk drawstring bag more than you could imagine, especially one which has such pretty sequins.
By the end of this week two weeks of class will have passed. We are then having a two week break so I can go on holiday before continuing for another ten weeks when I get back. If you want to join us then just take a look here. I will be closing my shop on Tuesday of next week whilst I am away.
Tomorrow I will show you my finished ''artist book''. There will be a very short video and lots of images.
Patterning from the piece I showed you yesterdayhas been altered, rearranged and a new piece has been created to live alongside the first piece. As I said in yesterday's post, this work will inform the embroidered surfaces which I will use to create all manner of things in my next class.
Up to now I have a hankering for a drawstring type pouch with an accompanying pin pillow and some hand embroidered buttons. (you wouldn't believe how much the pouch idea excites me...really) The embroidered cloth in these images won't be used, I have plans for further developments of these surfaces. These pieces will be mounted in their own swatch book (scroll down, there's lots of images on that link)....the swatch book which is another recent obsession. You can see a videohere, some of you will have seen it already but others may not have.
Along with excitement for my new class......I got very giddy yesterday putting my book together for my ''artist book'' class. I can't wait for the girls in class to see those videos and once they have I will share images of progress on my book with you and talking of artist books.....once my ironing is done this afternoon I will be stitching pages for the next one.
I had been looking at this one for a few days, wondering what was missing...there was definitely something missing. Hankie corners, reverse prairie pints, lace edges, overlays, layers.....and cross stitch hearts. I'm happy now.
The video explains everything.
We are just about to begin our 4 th week of the 8 week class ''artist books'' online learning. Normally I like a week or so break in between classes however this year I am going on holiday on June 21 for two weeks, meaning I have a one week break and two weeks holiday before my window for a new class. The only problem with that is.....I won't be here to sell the class in the 2 weeks preceding any start date.
For that reason I have decided the best thing to do is begin my next class in the final week of ''artist books'' which is the week beginning June 5 th. That is only 3 weeks away but it does mean I can motivate, inspire and galvanise the group for two weeks before I trot off on my holiday whilst the group either has a break or continues with embroidery related things for class.
The class information is not yet fully written. I will have that ready later this week.
Yesterday I said I would show you embroidery on this lace piecetoday.....sorry, I got too excited about my third swatch which is now finished and wanted to share that with you instead.
There is now a row of cross stitch alongside the vintage strip and a folded hankie which has a tiny pom pom decorating one fold with sequins along one edge. I now have three finished swatches, number four is being planned I just need to find a piece of plain cloth which excites me as a surface for all things titivate. At some point over the next couple of days I will be gathering my three finished swatches, laying them side by side, thinking, using them to spark ideas for number four and five, to inspire.
Watercolour doodles, doodles within hexagons. The hexagons had a light wash of colour before the floral doodles were added and painted. They were then finished off with a few tiny stitches. The cloth swatches are Liberty....sigh......got to love a bit of Liberty. There's another row of cross stitch too and unseen here, worked after I took these images, a narrow panel of watercolour paint waiting to be titivated with stitch.
Last night I worked some more on my happy cloth. I think we will be alternating between that and these paper pieces for the foreseeable future. Focus is needed here for a few weeks. Pay attention Karen and keep checking your list.
Scraps of cloth, waste canvas, four cross stitches, French knots, a little paper pricked texture, three randomly sized pages, five stencilled letters in blue.....three mini compositions, the beginnings of a new artist book. What can I say...they're popular.
If you haven't taken my ledger/sketchbook class I am re running it soon. It will be old video to begin with but hosted on a new blog, with a new Flickr group and with extra videos, new videos added in the final week. There will be more on that on Monday. Meanwhile you can read about it here.
Pages and compositions are taking up a large part of my days at the moment but I will spare you more paper tomorrow. Tomorrow I am hoping to have made progress of sorts on my spottypiece. I'm also getting very excited at the way my happy cloth from class is developing....I will share that with you soon.
This has to be my favourite pattern for cross stitch lettering. I adore the tiny roses which overlay each letter and the ornate nature of the letters themselves. I have this piece of white cotton cloth, it's small (around 10 x 10 inches) which has scattered letters and hexagons embroidered on the surface and I now want to do something else with it. Would a lace edge work I wonder? Would this cotton piece live amongst lace pieces of a similar size?
There's only one way to find out.....so later today I will make lace and embroider its surface with tiny cross stitch roses.
I'm making good progress with this work, with these 7 inch embroidered squares for a new cloth book of embroidery. The paper piece featured in my last post and I...
