Swirls of Colour

Phew, thank goodness it's Friday. I've been stitching like a mad thing this week, and all the while videoing the proceedings. My room is a tip and I'm tired. But I think I'm nearly there!

I've been wittering on about sorting out an online course for so long now, but I think I'm within touching distance.

Yes, I still need to edit all the video and work out where and how I'm going to host the course, and recruit people to test it and then promote it and all of that, but for now - I'm pleased.

If you'd like to be one of the brave people to try it out, please let me know! You can sign up to my newsletter and tick the Swirls box to make sure you're on the list.

Change and challenges

It's probably fair to say that these are interesting, and challenging times. 

Personally, things started to go a bit awry last week when this happened to my tyre on my way to do a talk:

And of course nobody has a spare tyre nowadays, we all have those silly inflation kits and there was no way that was going to fix this. So I needed rescuing and putting on a truck. This is the sort of thing I've always dreaded happening, so on a personal note it's good to know that I can cope and work it out, and not just fall apart in a helpless heap.

One new tyre later, I managed to get to Chichester for the second day of my visit, for a Swirls workshop. Unfortunately, Chichester Embroiderers' Guild had their own bad luck in that their regular venue had been flooded. Luckily, one of their members was able to secure an alternative room at very short notice so the show could go on.

my teaching sample

And despite being in quite a small room, with limited space, the work that everyone stitched was super.

As always with these workshops, I love how people's personality comes out in their colour choices, and the size they choose to work. A lot of the time they surprise themselves!

I "was" booked to teach this workshop quite a few times in the coming months, so I'd prepared a folder of samples showing the whole process. I tried to remember to video what I was doing as I was going along, and my initial intention was to produce another little book, with links to the videos as a bonus. But now a lot of the workshops are cancelled, I'm thinking I may finally get my act together and create a little online course. I'm not sure exactly how to go about this, so that's what's occupying me while I can't go out and do anything else!

When things are up and running again and life has returned to "normal", I will of course be teaching in person, but an online course might be a solution for now. If that is something you would be interested in, please make sure you've signed up to my newsletter to hear about it first (you'll also receive a link for a 15% discount in my Etsy shop when you sign up). 

For now, thank you for reading - and stay safe everyone xx

Many things

Many things to tell you! I always tell myself "I'll write a blog post about that" and then time gets away from me again, and then another thing happens and I say "I'll add that to the blog post I was going to write about that other thing"...and so on.

Where to start?!

Workshops

Just before Christmas I had a very exciting meeting with Becky Drinan from Dot to Dot Studio in East Hoathly, East Sussex. Becky is the dressmaking tutor who taught Jade the Girl with the Bright Red Hair, youngest ever participant and finalist in the 2016 BBC Great British Sewing Bee.

Anyway, back to Dot to Dot. We've agreed three dates for one-day machine embroidery workshops for this coming year, with yours truly teaching up to 8 people a little project in the Dot to Dot studio.

The first workshop is Saturday 13 April, making little books with appliqué covers and stitched cord fastenings.

These are great little book covers for using up all your snippets and oddments of fabric, practising free motion embroidery, and learning how to stitch a cord. Your little book could become a needlecase (easiest) or a cover for a handmade paper book, or a reusable slip cover (a little more involved - for the keen!).

The second workshop on 17 August is machine embroidered landscapes - again, using lots of scraps of fabrics and different threads and fibres to create either an imagined landscape, or maybe recreate a favourite place in stitch.

In the third workshop on 23 November we will be making embroidered Christmas baubles!

To book your place with Dot to Dot please click here.

Exhibition 1

In 2017 I exhibited at Ramster for the very first time, and I'm going to be there again this year. The show runs every day from 16 to 31 March, and is well worth a visit - two gorgeous old halls in a stately home, absolutely packed with embroidered textiles. Much of the work is for sale, and there are always hundreds of artist cards to choose from, unframed pieces of work, and other bits and bobs for sale.

I think I will enter my purple swirl

and my two little birdie pieces that I've been working on recently. Here's the first one (sorry the photo isn't great, I blame the lack of daylight!)

Exhibition 2

Maggie Grey has kindly invited me to take part in the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta in the New Forest on 27 and 28 April. I'll be exhibiting and selling work, as well as handmade cards and packs of goodies. I've never been to the Fiesta before, but I know it's a popular event - and I love the New Forest! The last time I was there we were camping at Easter, and our tent zip froze. While we were struggling with frozen fingers to escape into the frosty morning, we were taunted by the smell of sizzling bacon from all the cosy campervans and caravans. I've booked a B&B, but I am tempted to take my little tipi and camp...it won't be that cold, will it? It's nearly May! 

I've also given one talk already this year, and one workshop, with another three workshops and a talk to come - all before Ramster kicks off!

So at the moment I am VERY BUSY trying to make enough things for all these different things, and keep all the plates spinning! But busy is good, and it takes my mind off politics, albeit temporarily.

Finally...

Back in November I did a couple of little questionnaires asking for your thoughts about what I'm up to, and also about the creative process. Thank you to everyone who took the time to take my little surveys - the results were really interesting to read and very encouraging!

The results of the creativity survey are being compiled into a project that I've had ticking over for a while now. I have a Big Idea about the creative process, in particular how to get "unstuck", and also how to make your work "better" (something that is also hard to define).

Personally, I get stuck all the time - and I'm a master procrastinator, so I have much experience in this area! Can you tell?!

As a tutor, I like to think that I help people to get the best out of their stitching when they come to one of my classes or a workshop. I've worked with many many people now, and I can usually tell where people need a little prod to produce really wonderful work.

The problem is, do I turn this project into a mini online course? A mini book? A longer course? A longer book?! Maybe I'll do them all. When I've got a moment.

Thank you for reading!

Paradigm shifts and selfies

Hello. Are you still here? I know I'm not very often, for which I apologise.

I've been doing many things, as usual, although since getting back from this place not as many as I would normally be doing at this time of year.

Rather than bore you all with all the details, especially if you've heard it all before, I'll just say "dog, dislocated shoulder, six weeks house arrest, large Barclaycard bill, child no longer child but sixth-former and workload to match, group exhibition in Brighton, illustrated talk about my work to these lovely people on Monday, still too much damn clutter in the house and DIY projects still undone".

And I'm having an existential artistic crisis. I'm not sure if that's really what it is, but that seems to cover it. Basically, I'm having a rethink. So probably not a crisis. Yet. I knew I had the autumn free to have a think, so now I'm here I might be having a wobble. I suppose I don't know what the outcome will be.

I'm being vague. Sorry. I'll try and clarify.

For example, here is a necklace I made ages ago. It's not for sale, never has been, and I wear it. It is machine embroidered, but also stitched and beaded by hand, and has a silk pouch on the back - also stitched by hand, with invisible stitching. It is quite tiny but intricate.

If I should make such a thing to sell (and I have done in my etsy shop) how much should I charge for something like this? All in all, from raw materials to absolutely finished, it would probably take a day to do this. At the rate I charge for teaching workshops that should be £150 and that doesn't include materials or overheads, that's just my time. Obvs, that's not what I have been charging. But then, they've not sold like hot cakes despite the low price.

Hence my crisis. Or do I just need a paradigm shift. Worth. Value. Or am I mad, verging on the deluded. Who knows. The selfies I took to try and get a "in use" shot of the necklace may answer that.

wistful

getting frustrated 

quite angry now

resigned to the bad selfie

Taming my Magpie Mind

That's the title of a talk that I'm supposed to be writing - I have until tomorrow teatime to finish, as I'm teaching on Thursday and invigilating exams on Friday. So what better time to write a blog post!!

Apologies, etc etc, as usual for being rubbish at keeping the blog up to date.

Here are some photos of a few things that I'm talking about. This little collection is where the rot set in...where I learnt to use materials and techniques I would never have dreamed of...where the flood of ideas started...why my mind now needs taming!!

My first ever piece of machine embroidery, before I started C&G. I did this with Wendy Dolan.

One of my early C&G pieces. Detest the colour combination, but oh look! Are those holes burnt through with a soldering iron....??

A box (lying on it's side here). Can you see my name? And can you also see those beads, stitched onto the edge?? I think this is where the "difficult bead thing" started....

Little textured piece - with embroidered wire spirals, obviously (RHS, look carefully).

Grated crayon and cling film. Uh-oh....

OK. Should start to get worried now.

Grating silk on a cheesegrater and poking stuff through the rips?

Or just burn some more holes in things...

Ah! These look faintly normal - beaded tassels, stitched completely on the sewing machine...those difficult beads again...

So why not incorporate "difficult beads" into a cobweb felt scarf covered in the little blighters. Yes, every bead was stitched by machine, including the fringe.

This is where the laminating started....(Yes, we need a laminator. No, not for the office).

With added handstitched "netty" bits, copper shim, wire connections, and galvanised wire hoops (they've definitely featured in my work since I made this!)

What happens if you are playing with stitched laminated bits and pieces and also volunteering in a charity shop? You take the tag gun home and use it to connect your laminated embroidery, that's what you do...

If he wasn't worried before, Mr G was definitely worried now...

Ah! Paper! How wonderful, something else to collect...

including those brown paper grocery bags, oh, and sticks. Obviously. Must have sticks.

And wire! Yes! Do more with wire...

So I did...looks a bit like my recent beaded wire fish and leaf, made earlier this month:

That's all for now! 

If you'd like to come to the talk, it's with the East Kent Embroiderers' Guild branch, near Canterbury this Saturday. Details here.

Snow Day

We planned a day of stitch, a day with no teaching, just a day to come along to the village hall and catch up with each other, and catch up with work.

But we didn't reckon on this! We woke to a very light dusting of the stuff, but then it turned more serious. 

 

This was the carpark by 9.30. What to do? So I cancelled. But they came anyway! 

And we had a lovely day, productive yet relaxing, and we were all pleased with our progress (well, most of us). And all that pretty white stuff was all gone by 4pm, hooray.

I spent all morning ironing. How did that happen?? And then stuck lots of sari silk to some pelmet vilene, which I have just started to stitch with automatic patterns. This follows on from my sketchbook meanderings that you may have seen on my facebook page.

Morag has been making silk paper, and stitched these fabulous oak leaves. They are destined to become a leafy bowl:

Fiona was catching up with her metallic samples after missing a class, but has overtaken us!

Here are some strips of scrap collage that she was going to use for borders, but are rather lovely by themselves

Kathy has been finishing her bird piece from last year, and turning it into a book cover

Vix finished her poppy, and a landscape

Libby stitched a foiled sample

And Di started assembling a miniature quilt, based on our copper samples:

She also brought this scrap collage to incorporate, but we can't decide how. It's not quite wide enough to cut into strips for a border, but we love the colours and texture.

Jill brought a stack of household sewing projects and diligently worked her way through, and Carole thought she would machine stitch a beaded fringe to finish her silk bag (started this time last year) but ended up sewing by hand.

You may notice that both Carole and I are working in a similar colourway...no coincidence there. There may even be a competitive element to this (moi?) but neither of us has any confidence in even being placed this time round! I hear the competition is quite stiff...