First Five on Friday!

Yikes. Friday came round quicker than I thought...

1. Teaching prep
I finally got down to some work, and started my tried and tested method for planning my teaching year - shuffle lots of bits of paper around the table and hope they don't blow away. As usual I've lurched from having no ideas at all, to having far too many for the time available...

It's a hard task because I need to take into account the wishes of returning students (more heat dispersible, more textured stitching, how about some felt and paper-making? etc) with the needs of the beginners or less experienced. And I find that the more I start to nail my ideas down, the more pop into my head. Catching and containing my ideas into a 25 week teaching plan is a bit like trying to hold cooked spaghetti in my hands.

2. Sketchbooks
Also in preparation for my classes, I took delivery of this rather delicious pile of sketchbooks. Now there's a stack of blank pages Gina!

3. Mushroom
Sadly, one of our EG branch members (and ex-Chairman no less) died at the start of the summer, and friends and EG members have been helping the family to clear the house. An avid stitcher and beader, Fay definitely won the competition for "she with the most fabric at the end, wins" so at last week's committee meeting there was a bit of a fund-raising bun fight - with more at the meeting on Saturday. Despite my attempts to declutter and not buy any more STUFF, I confess a fair amount came home with me - including this beautiful darning mushroom.

How could anyone resist?

4. Food
In the name of research, I baked burnt some low-sugar biscuits this morning, using bananas as the sweetener. Hmm.

Hard to judge with the slightly charred edges, but I think they're lacking a certain something. Probably sugar. I'll try again, this time with choc chips not pecans. In other culinary news, I continue to knit my own yoghurt - with more success than with the biscuits.

5. Embroidery (finally!)
I have been inspired to make a bowl.

I should be finishing other things, but you know how it is once you get an idea? I wanted to try and make one using fabric, not water soluble and thread, but not wrapped and coiled, and not one of those folded quilted things with binding and ribbons at the corners, or a hexagonal sort of effort. I wanted it to be completely smooth and rounded.

This is my first attempt, just a small one because I wasn't sure my idea would work, but it is! I wouldn't go any smaller though, it's a pig to stitch as it gets caught under the machine. I need to work out what to do next as well. The outside is all one colour, pale blue, but I want a bit more texture and interest inside.

Onwards! Until Tuesday x

Bowled over

'scuse the pun.

Big one. 

Wool tops inside (with beads) and paper outside; free machining; water sol.

Showing outside of big one.

Little one. 

Paper outside and in, with extra paper stuck on the bottom as an afterthought.  Wish I hadn't thought it, but oh well.  Beads, free machining, water sol.

Inside of little one.

Little one inside big one.

What a busy week.  Lots of exams, another teaching sesh, a visit to Prism (where I found and rescued a little lost soul known as Mandy, created by Gina - thank you!). 

I've also made a little canvas, same colour scheme as the bowls.  Pic later.  And because yesterday was an Inset day, the Girl and I made a lookalike Mandy aka button babe - with green hair (pic later, also) - to give to Granny, who is coming to supper tonight.  Girl has an attention span of a gnat, so this was a struggle, and my asparagus quiche is beeping at me from the oven.  Must go!

Round and round

I have discovered, much to my delight, that if one stitches round and round and round then things that are supposed to be bowl-shaped really do become bowls, all of their own accord.

I sort of knew this, but forgot.  I am chuffed.

This is an experiment with paper, water soluble and wool fibres - felty on the inside and distressed papery on the outside.  When I've added a few beads to the edge, I'll coat the outside with something stiffening.

I'm also chuffed that I seem to have made another thing without even trying, so that's two bowls this week.  This despite being busy with exams (other people's, not mine - I just pace up and down and hand out pencils) and finally teaching the much-anticipated session on dyeing.  If you add up all the hours I spent fretting and preparing and mixing stuff and so on, it took a whole week of preparation for two and a half hours of teaching. 

I think it was worth it though:

 These are one of my student's nine rainbow dyed squares, which I did for her as she was unable to make the class.  The others took theirs home to rinse so if they've all turned out as vibrant as this I'm deeply chuffed (not to mention relieved) all over again!