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.

Step by step ...

and slowly! At the moment my so called brick quilt, or maybe its the shadow quilt, is occupying some of my bedroom floor,

and the rest of the room is full of stuff usually in the linen cupboard. Hopefully the small changes to the laundry room will soon be complete -maybe some pics this week - and I'll be able to move more easily around the bedroom.

The quilt in progress might also be there for a few more days  ... I'm still undecided about the the size of the shadow that I'll add after the quilting, and even more undecided about the border. Still, its great to be working with my own dyed fabrics and a photo taken of Crumble and I out for a walk last winter .... maybe by next winter the finished quilt will be on my lap.

To close a couple of recommendations. If you're a stitcher then do take look at Michelle Carragher http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com/Game-of-Thrones-Gallery(2829575).htm for some inspirational hand embroidery. I heard her speaking on Saturday ... such skill and dedication, and a great speaker.

If you like the movies then I and a few friends all really enjoyed Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool with Annette Bening and Jamie Bell. Here's one of the reviews https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/19/film-stars-dont-die-in-liverpool-review-annette-bening-jamie-bell.  Lots of very good performances by the major and minor actors and, for me, a clever and powerful accompanying score and authentic set.

Have a good week. I'm going back to the last few games of the tennis final.

Colouring in the garden

Its still sunny! Perfect weather for unwrapping and unstacking the paper I left overnight in dye and steam baths.

I found a great set of tutorials to help with eco dying, see https://wendyfe.wordpress.com/tutorial-leaf-monoprinting-by-cassandra-tondro/. I followed most of the instructions given, but also used the remainder of the Logwood and Persian Berry dyes as a bath for some of my stacked and wrapped papers.

The big hit was poppy heads, with bay leaves coming a close second in terms of subtle colours and interesting shapes. Most of what's shown in these photos is paper, pre-soacked in an alum bath ... next task is to try the poppy flowers - the bank behind the house is covered with them, and bay leaves from our very large tree, on some fabric.

Inside, my design wall has been moved to be flat against a solid wall so now I can audition fabrics, tea bags, whatever and they stay in place!!! 

the beginning of a quilt. 

this may become a curtain!!!!

Finally, a quick catch up ...

for my stitch a line a day project today's thread was red (left over from sewing  the binding on a quilt) and today's stitch was running stitch,

my yoga socks are finished ...

and I've been chain stitching ... the motif on the old piece of lace just seemed to call out for this stitch to be added, even though I've used it on this piece before ... some things are so good you do them more than once!!!

A few days in a few pictures

Bonjour, its warm and sunny outside and some weeds need pulling, so this will be brief.

Finally, I'm set up to do some natural dyeing .... its a wonderfully slow process

Logwood, Persian berries and onion skins ... 

Solar dying with avocado skins  ... might be ready in July

I'm learning how strong the Logwood dye is even after several days 

I'm also doing more slow stitching, inspired by Hazel http://justtotheleftofthemoon.blogspot.fr  from Institches Creative Textile Courses http://www.institchestextilecourses.co.uk

... this is an old, rust spotted chair cover (provence unknown) and, with some hemp thread that has proved useless for anything else, I'm learning some new embroidery stitches from several great websites including http://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/stitch/

and relearning some old favourites ... only one stitch a day mind, and only one length of thread.

Finally, as I'm at home in France a photo of the new dog kennels and the lime and hemp bricks that will soon be the walls. 

Oh, and by the way last week the wonderful Reuben Woolly published one of my poems on I am not a Silent Poet.
Here's the link  https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/?s=hammick   ... there are lots of other great poems there, so do visit the website and just in case the above link fails here's my poem.

Westminster, March 2017

The people who won't be going home today

are people like you and people like me.

This morning they checked their emails,

read another chapter of their book,

bought a coffee to go and, wrapped against

only the March wind, chose the pavement.

The people who ran towards the blood

are people like you and people like me.

This afternoon they took off their coats

to pillow an injured man's head,

blew their breath into a dying women,

put their palms across pulsing wounds.

All these people walked from the south

or the north, they were willing to cross over

and look east and west towards the other side,

the side with plenty of places for more bridges

if people like you and I make the space.