Stash

We had our regional day at the weekend and I seem to have acquired an awful lot of sari silk...

I keep saying I'm going to invent a labeling system, where I attach some sort of label to each new purchase with a very specific description of the project I had in mind when I bought it....because once it's been hidden put away it becomes "stash" and "precious"....I must also get over my scarcity mentality, the feeling of not being able to "use up" my favourite materials because I may never be able to find the colour/visit that shop/remember where I got it again...let's face it, I'm good for sari silk beads for some time now.

Talking of beads, I did a workshop at the show and came home with a sticky needle:

Impossible to focus to photograph, but they are fibre beads stuck together with Paverpol.  Who knew?  Time to dig out that large pot of the stuff...another resource I've been hoarding, but honestly, I've got enough for a lifetime of these little beads...

Unfortunately our branch didn't win the Challenge, but I think our entry did look rather splendid:

My page, if you remember:

and my favourite page:

love that stubble field...

This made me laugh:

Meticulous stitching, moi?!  Should have seen me struggling the other day....I even resorted to a trawl of the internet for a video on how to test if the timing was out on the machine - I have hit a few beads lately.  The method involved sticky tape and a ruler but I don't think it is out, I think my problems were more to do with an ill-advised combination of thin embroidery rayon in the bobbin and thick quilting cotton on the top...just as well the teaching year has ended!

I'd love to say I was busy stitching with the new sari silk, but come on, Art Trail is still more than two weeks away, I've still got time to do more random things before I bring it all together and focus!  I'll show you what I've been working on in my next post...they've been breeding...