Proud parent....

 well that's what I feel like.  It was the SE Area Day at Ardingly on Saturday and I am proud to announce that the Sevenoak's Branch came Second in the Challenge Cup.  The theme was Flight and this was our contribution.

Snow in summer....

Last winter I tried snow dying, now in the summer I have been using some of the cloth.  This was mainly from the second batch which wasn't as vibrant as the first. 

This is my Doodle Bag, it was made for the EG South East Area Day. I outlined the colour areas on the cloth and then filled each one with a different stitch. The bag is made from purple dupion lined with lime green.

The odd  bits of cloth have been joined together as part of the classes I am taking with Jude Hill and form the base for the piece I am working on at the moemnt.

A day at the seaside....

I have a new toy and a day out in Deal with my friend Pam where there was an open studios event was not to be missed on all levels.We had a  lovely day though we only visited a few studios as being one of the hottest days of the year we were drawn to the sea and then to a delicious lunch and of course I had to play wiith my new Lumix FZ38.  Before I show some of the shots I have to tell of a remarkable co-incidence.  At one of the studios I was fascinated by two "Cabinets of Curiosities".  These looked like the kind of exhibits that you used to see in a small town museum when I was a child but closer inspection of the labels showed that things were not always what they seemed. Do have a look, amongst the real curiosities were sly little jests such as a broken empty eggshell labelled "Curate's eggshell. The good and bad parts have been removed" and my personal favourite "the invisible bottle" When he was working on the first cabinet David became "interested in the authority of the label and the fact that a label can convince its readers that what is stated is correct"(Remind you of some textile labrels you have read?) Fascinating stuff which made you want to create your own cabinet, the co-incidence was, that out of the few studios we visited, David Nicholls  had actually done a very successful workshop on Celtic Design for us at Sevenoaks EG in May this year.
Here are a few experiments with my new camera.

Middle Street

                                                                        The Beach

A bronze of brave men.

These two are adjusted in Paintshop Pro to highlight the amazing fog bank that was off shore.

 

and finally if found a friend for the little stone I found two years ago.

Lovely day, thanks Pam.

A Day with Maggie Grey......

A beautiful summers day, a drive through the English countryside, a meeting with friends for a day organised by the Tunbridge Wells branch of the EG.  Congratulations to everyone involved, who must have worked so hard to organise all the bits and pieces, prepare the delicious lunch and the mountains of homemade cakes. Maggie was in fine form, always inspiring,  informative and generous, she gave two demonstrations in the morning and then in the afternoon gave a talk called "Visible to Invisible" with Clive, her husband,  working his technical wizardry to provide the stunning images. I couldn't take notes fast enough.

Unfortunately for my bank balance, Fay Maxwell and Myfanwy Hart had brought their wonderful displays of threads, materials and fun stuff.  I gave in to temptation, well , sometimes you have to don't you?  A good day.

With my cotton I bought last week I have nearly finished scarf number two but I sidetracked to make something I have been meaning to try for ages. I follow a blog called heegeldab, I can't understand the words because Marianne lives in Estonia but the pictures are wonderful. I saw a daisy necklace sometime ago loved it.  So here is mine, made from the varigated cotton.

Going round in circles...........

One of the things I like about our EG meetings is that you never know what is going to happen, or what you are going to learn.  If we brush aside how to restore the fuses, which I didn't really want to know about, there were two other delights yesterday.  One was Susanne's demonstration of how to cast on a Moebius Scarf, this a You Tube demo link and this is a picture of mine at the moment.

I have no idea if it is correct and won't know until I cast off.  I had a terrible time fighting against "casting on " with the wool in the wrong hand.  Great fun, thanks Susanne.

The other was Fay's heads up on a new book by Jan Messent, Celtic, Viking and Anglo-Saxon Embroidery.. Gorgeous. I have ordered a copy. Thanks Fay.

I have been very remiss with my postings on Ideas of Inspiration, the first part of may was glittering gold, hope this will do.

The second part of May was the letter E, I think these will fit, I found them on my last visit to London

Just realised this one qualifies on both counts. Hurrah!

A real gentleman......

We were looking forward to having Lorna Bateman talk to us at EG this weekend, her talk was to be called "An Africa Experience". Unfortunately due to the volcanic cloud disruption Lorna was actually marooned in Africa. We hope she can come to us another time.  To cut a long story short we were more than fortunate to have Richard Box take her place. Generous, informative and very funny, what more could you ask in a speaker. My piece of paper was covered in notes which I hope I can decipher. I bought his book "Drawing Techniques" and I am kicking my self for not buying his DVD "Drawing for the Terrified". Richard  confessed to not being very computer oriented and  mystified us when he talked about "up-building" photographs to a computer . I have "up-built"  Richard on You Tube.



 .

Teesha Moore has posted 4 video tutorials on making fabric journal covers.  Looks like a fun way to reduce stash.

Snow cloth finished.

When I was wondering how to proceed,  Jude gave me the advice to "let it do", such advice is precious and I tried to follow it.  I outlined the the main areas of colour and then I started to fill them in just as I would when doodling.  As I worked I realised that there were even more subtle changes of colour so then became a little area too.  I  tried to use a different stitch for each area just as I would make different marks.

The colours are still not quite right, I've tried indoors and out.  There is much more contrast between the purples and green. For the moment I have turned it into a bag which I will use for the EG South East Area Day Tote challenge, I have made it so that it can be converted into a cushion later on.  It has taken me two months and I have to say I enjoyed every minute.  I would like to try it again sometime, either with stronger colours or  maybe in monochrome.

When I was chosing the material for the backing the salesgirl in John Lewis said "Well, the embroidery's quite RAW!".  I smiled sweetly and said "I think you mean FREE!". Everyone's a critic!!!

EG...

Todays speaker was Louise Jessup, her talk was called "A Journey in Mental Health with Textiles as a Companion".   The work she had to show us came from the last eight years, her recovery years, because although she had turned to textiles many times duing her illness she had destroyed all her pieces as not being of any worth.  Louise told her story with humour and honesty. Very moving and thought provoking. You can read more about Louise here

February fill dyke is certainly living up to its reputation and it isn't as beautiful as this painting by Benjamin Williams Leader which is in the Birmingham Art Gallery

It was a full day on Satuday at EG,   we were treated to a talk by Libby Smith, she took us through the inspirations for her work and brought a wonderful array of examples.  From large and small beaded tassels to fantasy shoes we were able to examine each in detail.  My favourite piece was an encrusted purse made in the shape of India (a source of much of her inspiration). I can't quite remember the phrase she used but it was something like "not quite goldwork" in other words she has used goldwork techniques but lots of others as well.  I forgot to ask if I could take a  photograph. We also had Neredah's Threads do delight the eye and dent the bank balance. (No web site I'm afraid). I managed in between things to put about 6 french knots on my Snowcloth.

My Snowcloth started here after I had vaguely maked out the ares of colour I realised that it was a bit like the way I start a doodle....idea!  So I am now gradually filling in the areas in the same way I would doodle, it is great fun working out which stitches to use to make the different fillings. 

The Darenth Valley was beautiful in the morning but I didn't have time to stop but on the way home I couldn't resist this

and this

and best of all

Early Christmas....

Because we don't meet in December the Sevenoaks branch of the Embroiderers Guild had our Christmas celebration on Saturday.  Lee Ault brought some of her wonderful collection of antique and vintage dresses, which also included exquisite baby garments and handkerchieves which were definitely just for show.  The most amazing part was that she allowed us to handle the pieces, a rare priviledge.  While we relaxed , after  our huge shared lunch, Lee showed us how a dress should be packed. with layers of tissue paper in each fold and "doughnuts" of tissue packing the sleeves, it can take two hours to pack a dress properly, as Lee and her husband were off to New Zealand the next day I hoped their packing was done. Unfortunately Lee doesn't have a web site but if you ever have the chance to listen to her grab it.This is Lee in a vintage gold embroidered coat which she wore over a black dress.

Some of the lace and beaded pieces, click on them to see the detail and imagine yourself doing work this fine day in day out.

and imagine yourself doing the Charleston in this

this had a matching jacket, gorgeous!

For a bit of extra fun we had a dress the doll competition,remember those days with paper and crayons designing, colouring cutting out.  How many times did you accidentally cut off the tabs?  Queen Elizabeth won.

a few of the others

Exhausted.......

Today was the South East Area day of the Embroiderers Guild at Ardingly, at 7am I loaded the car with everyones work and with Marien wearing her "don't panic" brooche we set off. No one said that part of my usual route was going to be closed! The leafy lanes of Sussex are beautiful on a summer's morning.......but panic was definitely rising as we tried to find an alternative route.

We did arrive in time and and set up our exhibit which we had called "Trash to Treasure" the overall theme of the exhibition being "Re-invent, recreate and recycle - Embroidery for the 21st century. I wish I could show you all the branches, Brighton won the day with a very striking and topical "Rubbish in Space", Tunbridge Wells, who were next to us, had a chair and table set for afternoon tea complete with a vase of flowers, every bit made from denim, very clever. It was so popular with the visitors that Marien remarked that there wouldn't be a bit of denim left in the charity shops come Monday afternoon.

Our own (Sevenoaks) display didn't win any prizes but it won a lot of interest and a lot of smiles. Our theme was trash to treasure and we had rubbish tippling out of a council recycling box interspersed with the members items.



One of the most exciting parts of the day was when the exhibit was filmed by Jennie Rayment and her team for a brand new internet site called Just Hands on TV. Just click on the link to have a look at the exciting venture.

Hung over the boards is my own contribution and tomorrow I will photgraph it properly and show what has been keeping me quite for the last three months.

Christmas started....

a week has gone by since we had our "Christmas" meeting at the EG(we don't meet in December) I meant to post these days ago. These are the results of our Christmas challenge, to make a tree decoration to be swapped. Good fun and some lovely work.




There were 25 takers for the next challenge, more of that nearer the time.

Hibernation.....

is something I am seriously considering This should have been written about four days ago. Blame our disgusting weather for robbing me of the desire to do anything but curl up with a book!! If this is summer roll on winter...Enough!!

Last weekend was terrific. I have to congratulate the organisers of the EG Eastern Region, Regional Day. I had a memorable day, no little thanks to the company I was in. The speakers were Diane Bates and Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney.What can I say about the famous duo. It was fascinating to listen to there different approach to the same subject. Listening to Diane's Northern accent and humour made me quite homesick and I just loved her outlook on the work she does.
The exhibition had some beautiful work, there were a couple of things I wanted to bring home, one was an artists's box and the other was a stunwork tree which revealed more the closer you looked.
The highlight of the day was being told by Lynda of Purple Missus that I had won the draw for her quilt,(thank you Will) I was so suprised and thrilled. It looks really good against my new grey walls so I am just trying to find the perfect place. This is Lynda's photo I hope she doesn't mind.
Another delight arrived on Monday, my post card from Carol See how pretty...

My last little happiness was to see a picture of my Cyber Fyber card, I lost the original picture when my machine crashed. Just look at all the other cards, what a wonderful exhibition this will be, I wish I could get there. Wouldn't it be great to have it at the Knit and Stitch next year.

A Tale of Two Challenges..........

Do you have time?

Sharon's June challenge said "They (stash) are either purchased or scavenged materials that have accumulated over time and as such they often have a story to tell. Or it is possibly more correct to say that stashes are full of stories. The interesting thing for textile practitoners is that these materials can take on another story. They can be made into something new and take on other meanings in someones life.".

At the last EG meeting our lovely Jane, who brings us useful things like pelmet vilene and thermolan, had some bags of bit and pieces which she was selling for the huge sum of £1, of course I couldn't resist, well I needed it didn't I? (Like the proverbial hole). Having seen the colours for Sharon's challenge I challenged myself to use this bag of pieces for the June TIF. (The woman is challenge mad!!!)

When I opened the bag this is what I found.


I I examined them I realised that these were probably all fabrics from a bridal shop.
I spread them out

I had thoughts on weddings that happened and those that didn't and thought about
a fabric book for stitchin fingers but that will have to wait a while
because on closer inspection I found that the one's outlined in red and green

were very interesting indeed.

The one outlined in red was a part of a very small bodice and remined me immediately of Degas' Ballet Dancer

(hold that thought)

The piece outlined in green was some kind of head scarf/bonnet made of organza petal shapes.

I went away to think some more about the TIF challenge. "So this month the idea to think about is stories that are and stories that are possible."

Stories...hmm I love stories. Those that are... the scraps of material. Those that are possible.......the (wedding) dresses. Stories...... my favourite story is still Cinderella. Charming version here.

and there it was I would make a dress which showed the "ARE".. the rags and the "POSSIBLE" .....the ball dress.

The proportions aren't quite right but I was determined to work with what I had, I added some sequins and some gold ribbon for the sash and some eyelets for the lacing but everything else came out of the bag.



This is the Cinderella dress front and back. It was very difficult to photograph but it will give you an idea. Here are a couple of close ups.




It is imperfectly made but it is an idea that could be developed at some time so I will tuck it away until that time arrives.