Stitching news in Colour!!!!

Yes, this is the third blog post today and will go some way to explaining the long gap! I've been busy with, amongst other things

- a workshop at Happy and Glorious https://www.happyglorious.co.uk/pages/our-shop, run by Cas Holmes http://casholmestextiles.co.uk

Here's the small precious objects piece  I left the workshop with ...

Paper, teabags, fabric and hand stitching inspired by my Mother's lace.











It took a while for me to find my way to the set of three and to add some free motion machine stitching ... but now just look!!

and one reason it took a while was more playing with fabric, this time a small length of woven strip cotton, more details on this are here https://www.africanfabric.co.uk/fabrics-textiles/african-fabrics/handwoven-strip-cloth

The top piece is rusted in salt water and the lower piece found itself in a tray of dye at the Institches Studio last week, https://www.institchestextilecourses.co.uk.

I've probably said that I'm on my third year long course with Hazel and Terry this time learning all about adding colour.

Some great results last week, well worth all that rinsing, washing etc, because some of the fabric is now being auditioned for one of the 'pages' of my London Loop project.




Here's what it looks like so far .... comments welcome.

I'm trying for the deconstructed and reconstructed look to give Heron a well deserved stage.


Finally, something else found its way into the dye tray. Originally my embroidery and Mum's lace but neglected somewhat so it had mould stains that washing did not shift.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it now but it certainly looks more loved than it did. I'm pleased that the lace has taken the Procion dye so well. I might play with lace and dye again.

That's all for the moment ... it is still very windy and raining hard here ... a good day for indoor tasks like the one now done here.

All about the waiting ....

For what? You ask.


For lemons to ripen, our desert grape vine to settle in after planting and the basil, well, I guess we are waiting to find it frost free zone so we can continue to reap the benefit of its wonderful flavour.

 

And I am waiting for one more day before unwrapping the fabric around a great selection of rusted bits and pieces .... watch this space for the colours and patterns that'll emerge!!!








I'm hoping for some fabric that will be suitable for book spines. So far I've printed a photo of the book spine onto fabric ... some are interesting,

others not so much. So maybe what I need is a mixture of photos and free motion quilting of the lettering onto a matching fabric. One more reason to watch this space....  I'll post more pics soon.



And I will leave you with beautiful morning sunshine now the mist has cleared ... looks like a day to be outside.

Writing and Stitching in the digital era ...

Good morning

Days, hours, where do they fly to? So, a small taste below of happenings in yet another blog gap.

In my stitching life I'm beginning to see the shape of my project about walking the London Loop with a group of friends. I created a separate notebook using the Paper App on my iPad to mirror possible pages in a fabric book about the walk. I'm adding photos taken on the walk with those of the work in progress (there is a lot of that) that the photos have inspired. My first Paper app notebook on this project has lots more detail about the  methods ... memory joggers really ... and  I needed a second notebook with a shape that might be that of the finished piece.

The app is very useful, and its easy to use -   do have a look at it, more details here https://www.fiftythree.com/paper.

the beginning of a railway arch ... 

In my writing life I've been editing my novel after a chat, and with the so very useful notes of, wonderful Jane - the first of my beta readers. To give me hints and encouragement in while I'm doing this I joined an short online course about the writing life. It has audio snippets that are good for just before sleep and when I wake up listening and thoughtful questions at the end of each brief 'lesson' .

It was a good decision and here's the website of the writer who put the short course together and has lots more to support fledgling writers   https://janfortune.com.

I feel I'm close to sending my first book out into the big wide world so have been researching how to do this via an agent and the possibility of self publishing.  This Saturday I managed to listen on-line to some of the presentations at a Self Publishing Advice Conference. More details at http://selfpublishingadviceconference.com. There's lots of good stuff on their website if you're thinking of self publishing.

And so good to  rejoin my Saturday morning yoga class at Yoki Studio http://yokistudio.blogspot.com
...    and to get out in the garden where this small creature had found its winter home

The pleasure of a rusty box

Great find yesterday, a wonderful place to keep all the "tools' I use for painting fabric with rust.

Yes, I'm easily pleased ...

Somewhere to store all the small things  - screws, bolts, old secateurs, etc. etc.  to make patterns that ask the question what does stitch add?

That question is key for me. But its not sufficient on its own. There is also the necessity of how to make a form of some sort, a piece, so to speak.

Today's task is to consider that for the rusted fabric in my stash ... perhaps in a bigger piece than I  have previously.

Nuff said.  I'm off to lay out the rusted fabric so that each time I walk by it there's a chance an idea will come to mind.

Have a good day

that last stitch feeling ....

... is such a good feeling. Just when I didn't want to look at the fish on the quilt I've been stitching for months anymore,  it is done!!

Really done, it even has a sleeve on the back to hang it up by and thanks to Paul it will hang with the fish swimming. Otherwise, he says, they look like dead fish on a fishmonger slab. A very good point.

I thought about adding fins, ones that would stand up a little. But, that would make it less than cosy as a lap quilt so these fish have hidden fins.

Its Saturday, the sun is making lots of shadows on the stone walls around me and the air is full of quiet. Have a good day all.  I'll be back here soon.


Oh, forgot to add ...

The fish quilt is mostly my dyed and painted fabrics, it was free motion quilted on a Bernina 750 by me and the edging is faced using a new technique which I will definitely do again.

More details of that can be found here https://weallsew.com/make-quilt-facing/. It is a very straightforward way of finishing a piece without interrupting the overall design.

Worms and experimental fish eyes

 Some days are memorable, on others I experiment with how best to sew fish eyes and fish (!) for worms in the richness of what they make from our kitchen waste.   Ordinary tasks ...

I love that this 'can of worms' is about 20 years old, is very well travelled and always, of course, stays out in the elements.

Yet, it is intact, does its magic work today as it always has done. Magic that means we fill it with kitchen waste and a few worms, and it gives us beautiful compost.


OK, the egg shells don't quite get fully broken down and I did find a piece of string, a plastic label from, probably, an apple. The only thing that stays the same as when it goes in is an avocado stone. What is it about these? Clearly, the worms cannot munch through that tough outer skin.

As for fish eyes, I've been playing with different ways to give my quilted fish a face. I have a large, well, very large, collection of buttons but I didn't like the way they looked. I also discarded painted eyes  ... not really my style.

 Had a go at a hand sewn eye ...  really hard to get a neat enough shape.

The winner so far is a programmed stitch on the Bernina machine ... looks good, will be the same for all 24 fish, and I can add a french knot in the centre. Now to find the right colour thread that will show on all the different colour fish ... back soon, Please leave a comment.

Leaves in stitch .... and other things

Good Monday morning ... hope your weekend went well.

We are still eating figs -rocket, avocado, goats cheese and fig salad was great with a from the garden/ market Spanish omelette.  And the fig jam is very good on scones. I have, at last, found a recipe using plain flour. Self raising is not available in France and my previous attempts have been less than light!
So thank you to https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_scones_70005.



I am still stitching ... 24 fish complete and now its leaves and more leaves ....

Next will be the eyes of the fish ... suggestions on how to stitch these please.

And in case you missed my FB or tweet about this great post on journalling, here's the link

https://medium.com/@janfortune/how-to-cultivate-the-powerful-mindset-of-a-writer-a7ad6df6bba6

I've been thinking for a while that I should combine my morning pages notebook with my daily journal and the other notebooks I have - mainly to lighten my load when travelling. Jan's post has convinced me to give that a go.

I also need to explore more of the entries on Medium and maybe posts some of my thoughts there.

Meanwhile, I have at last found some French language podcasts at my level ... they are good to listen to as I hand sew.

Finally, away from the electronic world I'm going back to the garden to do some gentle and therapeutic clearing rubbish and weeding.

Back here soon ....

...

Thoughts on hanging stitched pieces ...

It is hot, 32C at 09 00 and so I did some brief morning Pilates indoors. The laundry is done and dusted, I hung it out to dry carefully avoiding the wasps nest that needs to be dealt with.

Now its time for doing things in the cool of this lovely house. The cool indoors is thanks to thick stone walls and the opening and closing of shutters and windows as the day progresses.

 - small break while I close the shutters to the midday sun .... and wow, look what came into the kitchen while I was there ....

Back to today's topic. (BTW the figs are very wonderful)

Some of you know that I've been considering ways of mounting and hanging some of the small stitched pieces I've made during the last few years. Quilts are the easiest! Add a sleeve to the back, find a pole to fit the sleeve and hook that up by the best means for the wall that suits.

You can see an example of that in the background of this photo. The Bargello Quilt is incomplete and finished. It should have been much larger but I ran out of patience with tiny fussy pieces.

In the foreground are five small stitched pieces of my dyed fabric ... my aim here was to see what stitch added to the patterns produced by the dye techniques.

This is a semi permeant hanging (!) to test whether I like it. So far, I do ... it's great seeing the pieces from afar as I walk into my room.

Each piece is tied onto (hidden) fishing wire and could be removed if I wanted to put them in an exhibition. My best guess is that they will still be there this time next year.


The next few pics show three embroidery pieces (hemp thread on linen) in box frames from Leroy Merlin. Easy to put together and inexpensive. I stretched each finished piece over foam board and fastened it with flat head pins. No glass as I like to see the 3D effect of textile pieces.  The box files are useful in places where fixing frames to a wall is a challenge. They stand up well and can be moved somewhere else if necessary.

The top piece is white linen embroidered with dark thread on a wherever the line leads basis, then mounted on hessian and linen and fixed to foam board with more flat head pins. Simple mounting to suit a simple piece.

 This is the Swindon Postbox, Inspired by the real thing in, yes, Swindon, made with painted fabrics and lots of free motion stitching.

It was stretched and mounted by the Framer in Fleurance. Very expensive and looks good but I realise that I can do this myself so a lesson learnt.

The edges are unfinished, this tends to be a theme of my stitching ....

And finally here, one more DIY framing, hanging on another beam. The piece is fabric dress pattern paper and old maps, printed with eucalyptus bark then lots of machine and hand stitching.

Probably not the best photo here - sorry!


It turned out to be just the right size and shape for that particular place and that place allowed the randomness of the edges to shine.

Here's a better photo of the piece ...

The fragrance of figs is reaching my room, and I hear sounds that tell me the jam making has started. I'll be back here soon.

Comments on the above very welcome. Please tell me what you do with your small stitched pieces, or any other small art works. Thank you.

Practice without a purpose ...

... is a phrase I came a











... is a phrase I came across in Pencil Dancing (see https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Dancing-Ways-Creative-Spirit/dp/158297005X). My copy was 50p second hand and is useful to dip into for a few minutes with my early morning tea, just a glance, a few rows of knitting and some birdwatching.  Sparrows are still feeding young in a nest in the gaps between the stones in the front house wall and I'm told a Hoopoe visits occasionally.

The phrase 'practice without a purpose' is a good label for what I've been doing for the the past couple of days with three lengths of white silk and some left over scraps of coloured silk.

rusty nails from a falling apart pallet - I love the sort of regularity 

odds of silk wrapped in an old chain and drill bit 

and below a melange of Procion dyed cotton marked with a Markal paint stick using our walls of lime plaster, hemp bricks and wood.

Most of marks were similar!!

Doing this has  given me some ideas for the 'brick quilt' that's slowly happening.   Watch this space.






Meanwhile ... as the pics below show my line a day project continues and also a hand embroidered and charcoal marked piece I started at the Textile Study Group's summer school two weeks ago. For more detail of this inspiring group see https://textilestudygroup.co.uk

one little basket of beautiful thread 

The heatwave here in France continues. A good time to have some slow days!  A good time for listening to Test Match Special reporting  the England v South Africa at Old Trafford.

I may be back here more regularly than usual ....

adding stitches to the marks, 

a line a day.   noting more 

summer school sampler now folded and stitched into a sketchbook