Better late than never.....Typepad had a bit of a meltdown earlier. Today it's September and October.....it's like a Ledger convention! Pages....pages....pages. It's also the end of Clara and the start of my ''happy cloth'' which by the way is now damp stretching! Yes, the front is finished, embroidered, titivated.....all I need to do now is finish the reverse and we're good to go. It's momentous.
I'm not a big celebrator of ''New Year'', it's just another day to me and besides.....I want you to always be happy not just in 2017 so I will share something I posted on Instagram earlier this week which was written by someone else....
A selection of hand embroidered adornments that I will use to titivate my happy cloth when it is backed. There are a few new pieces here, the puffs, the wrapped buttons and the toggle you have seen before.
Later this afternoon I am going away for a few days.....I shall miss my happy cloth. I shall miss playing with these fiddly little things. Maybe when I am away I will find new and exciting things to play with when I get back.
This place will be quiet until next Wednesday. The shop will open again next Tuesday.
Buttons and puffs, spotty ones. These will be used to titivate this cloth when it's finished. Most of the lace surface is embroidered now, each circle of spotty cloth is edged with chain stitch and each ''hole'' edged with buttonhole lace. I now need to finish edging the lace section with French knots before moving on to the remainder of the silk. I do have an idea of how I might embellish the rest of this but I won't say yet if that's ok.
I also need? want? to make more puffs. These four took quite some time as they are embroidered with cutwork but I am sure I can find time to create another three at least.
The next artist book in progress. I began this one with the intention of making a book which would be smaller thanthis oneand this one.....less complicated, less crammed...ha.....failed. It may be smaller in terms of page sizes but so far it is equally as crammed. What can I say, I just can't help myself.
If you have ever put something like this together you will know how unexpectedly long it takes. You wouldn't be surprised at the hours which go in to each one. Choose a page, choose a sample, said chosen sample inspires another sample which you then need to create. Samples on pages create ideas for tags, make tags, pages inspire ideas for extra touches...a thread wrap, a gimp wrap, a tiny collage and before you know it you are building an encyclopaedia. (or so you would think). I could honestly lose myself in this artist book production line. It's like dreaming the happiest of dreams about scraps, about snippets of paper, about buttons and beads and stitch. If I were stranded on a desert island I would hope to have all my worldly goods with me and I would stay there happily creating little books for the rest of my days!
There is a short, dull (blame the cloud which rolled in at the wrong moment) video about this little thing here.
In addition to having lace clothcoming out of my ears I also have a titivation production line going on. Suffolk puffs, fabric beads (padded puffs) and other such things for adorning edges and surfaces are being created in abundance. I'm thinking little bags of mixed things, a combination, flat and padded.......like little bags of sweeties or candy.
There was a point in time last week when I thought I was going to lose it, to become so stressed that I couldn't go on. That has passed, calmness has descended again and although my ''to do'' list remains long it's not unachievable. My days from now until next Sunday...flight time 9.30 am.....will be filled with finishing touches, labelling, packaging, packing boxes to pack into suitcases. I will not be making any more ''large'' pieces such as pockets or wraps or pillows, there's no time left, it's the little things which I need to attend to now.
Yesterday was a ''day off'' of sorts. Thanks so much for all James happy birthday love. I think he had a good day??? We went to Manchester to eat and I left him there with his dad so they could go and see a band and do other manly things....I drove home through snow, yes snow. I wasn't expecting that.
The video below is a brief overview of my new class ''stitching a story'', first posted on here a couple of weeks ago. I will be closing the shop before I go away and will re open it on April 25.
Goody bags, bags of cloth, bags of snippets, bags of titivations. I plan to put a few goody bags together for France. So far I have ten pieces of doodles printed on silk, ten pieces of doodles printed on cotton, a couple of pieces of lace cloth, lots of Suffolk puffs with various patterning's and several embroidered offcuts not shown here. More lace cloth will need to be created and more off cuts ''cut up''. It's actually surprising how many off cuts you can find if you look hard enough. I have more than I knew and I still have boxes to look through. I tend to keep off cuts to use in my little books and now they will come in useful for goody bags....keeping those proving to be one of my better ideas.
The Wrapping cloth from yesterday is now backed. I am in the process of adding little titivations to the edges....so watch this space.
Finally, just in case you missed it......my new class.
Stitching a Story
A story..... a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader...
or....in this case....to record with stitch.
Stitching a story, a children's book, a little doodling, play, stitch on pages, stitch on cloth.
Beginning Monday May 2 for 16 weeks.
There will be a two week break after week 7 (from June 19 to July 4) Actual running length of class will therefore be 18 weeks.
Two posts a week on a private password protected blog. A minimum of two hours video per week.
Access to all resources is permanent.
**you do not need to have participated in any of my previous online learning programmes in order to participate in ''patched pockets.''***
No prerequisites. Suitable for the beginner and the more experienced stitcher.
In addition to a private blog you will be given access to a private Flickr group where you will be able to interact with other members of the group, upload images of your work, receive feedback, give feedback, share technique, hints, tips.....
Previous online learning programmes I have hosted have resulted in the formation of a tightly knit group of like minded people who share the creative process in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. It's almost as if groups ''hold hands'' throughout. For me, this is one of the most appealing and rewarding aspects of these classes.
(I am also aware that some people prefer to work quietly with minimal interaction. That is OK too.)
There are no deadlines, no set tasks. You are under no obligation to create what I am creating. Many people in previous classes have merely taken notes in order to apply ideas to their own work. Please take as much or as little as you wish from this programme, tailor my demonstrations to suit your own creative needs.
During the course of this 16 week online class, using a children's book for inspiration and as a ledger (sketchbook) for design ideas I hope to develop stitched pieces on cloth which will be inspired by images from my children's book. Using processes such as stitching, doodling, collage, layering, cutting, pleating etc on the pages of my children's book, I will develop ideas upon and within those pages by allowing paper and page to become a vehicle for sampling and developing embroidery before beginning embroidery on cloth.
Stitch
Collage
Doodle
Layer
Fold
etc etc
The use of a children's book or any other type of book is not compulsory. It is quite acceptable to participate in this class at a level of your own choosing. For example, you may have no desire to work in a book of any kind, preferring instead to take information from video and execute your ideas directly onto cloth. That is 100% OK. I want you to take from this experience whatever suits you, whatever works for you.
I can understand if your first thought coming here today is ''on no, not this again'', but bear with me....it's finished!! You have seen it at various stages ''in progress''....now you get to see the bigger picture, the finished article, the completed pocket. Edges have been adorned with Suffolk puffs, there is a button, there is a hint of stitch on the lining, the back has a garden of flowers....done, finished, complete, stitched to death, titivated to the nth degree.
Yesterday afternoon....creating lace cloth on the sewing machine, measuring, pressing and marking silk and patterned cloth for buttons and Suffolk puffs. The buttons and Suffolk puffs were embroidered last night. I now have ingredients for goody bags.....not many goody bags as yet but it's a start.
Other cloth pieces here are from my stash, my stash of things I have made, I have stitched or doodled and then had printed. If you have watched any of the videos posted on here about putting my little books together you will know that I embroider pieces of cloth, paint sheets of paper, doodle on paper in order to build a stock of pieces I can use in my artist books....just like in this video which I chose at random. Now that stash is coming in handy for goody bags.....who knew.
Titivations, buttons, Suffolk puffs.....thinking which of those two things would look better on the surface of this embroidered and appliqued silk piece. Maybe they would work together, buttons and puffs? I'm leaning towards puffs though, they're softer, gentler....
There is very little surface embroidery left to do on this. The next decision, for miss indecisive 2015 is whether it should be a pillow or a pocket? I'm thinking pocket.....what about you?
I'm continuing from this post, more titivations. My plans for all these tiny hand stitched embellishments will come together later this week when I will share them with you again.
In terms of the number of these I need I am there, enough, finished. Thing is I am tempted to keep going as they are so much fun to make. Silk Suffolk puffs, silk funky puffs, embellished toggles and covered buttons....in some ways it's like a sweetie shop.
My blog appears to be loading slowly. Is it just me? Are you having issues too? Can you let me know?
And before I go......I was asked about this, it's ready, my next class...here.
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...
