Since Last Week...

My weekend away teaching went well and it was good to be back at Missenden Abbey again. I miss being there on a regular basis but the new School of Creative Arts seems to be going well and there were lots of people and a good variety of classes on offer.

I arrived on Saturday morning to beautiful sunshine and it was actually warm enough to sit outside with a cuppa before teaching began. Not a bad place to be going to work!

I had seven very enthusiastic ladies in my class who all worked hard to translate their landscape inspirations into textured textile pieces. Despite a wide range of experience from beginner up, they all produced a picture of which to be proud. Most are not quite finished but still looking good, every single one.

Back home I've struggled with headaches, blurry vision and queasiness all week, something I get about three or four times a year, usually lasting several days at a time. Never bad enough to incapacitate me (although I had to lie down this morning for a while) but enough to make me feel less than 100%. I think they are probably a migraine and the sensible thing would be to stay away from the screen and sewing machine etc and rest, but then sensible was never my strong point - too much to do, too little time.

The cupboard clearing has been limited to the airing cupboard, prompted by our shower pump (housed in the airing cupboard) packing up. As it is the original pump we assumed it had died but it turned out to be a blown fuse. At least the bed linens and towels were sorted out. I won't embarrass myself by telling you how many duvet sets are going to the charity shop, but lets just say it's been a long time since anyone had Mickey Mouse bed linen in this house!

Finally this week winter seems to have left us and we have by-passed spring and launched straight  into summer. It won't last I'm sure, but it was a good excuse to do some much needed work in the garden yesterday, plus it was a break from the sewing machine and screens. My head felt slightly better as a result although I walked over to book club last night and it although it was a fun evening, there was so much noise and laughter, my head was pounding again by the time I walked the mile home. Our book was The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, a fictional diary of an 83 year old in a care home, which was met with mixed reviews. Some people found it really sad and depressing whilst others thought it was hilarious. I found it a mix of the two but enjoyed it nevertheless. The idea of having an "Old but Not Dead" club for a select group of the care home residents really appealed to me... old people going out having fun and eating and drinking. My sort of club!

I had one portrait left to do for my 'critical mass', each one stitched on a normal domestic sewing machine I might add. I don't have an embroidery machine! I had hoped I might get to twenty five but sixteen will have to do. I managed to finish it yesterday morning but it was a struggle with my funny eyes and flashing lights. I wasn't sure it was as good as some of the others as a result but the family recognised Johnny Cash... can you spot him?

And my exciting news is that next week these will all be on display at Art Van Go in Knebworth - probably the closest I'll ever get to having a solo exhibition. I might sneak that one in as a sixty by sixty! I won't bore you with sixteen individual photographs but here they all are...

They are all fairly random choices based on their distinctive characteristics if I'm honest. The whole point is that they are recognisable. The first one came about because I was researching tattoos for something else entirely. I found a picture of a Amy Winehouse tattoo complete with roses which fitted the bill, so stitched that. But when it was complete I abandoned my original idea and mounted the embroidery in a hoop instead, which I quite liked.

Then David Bowie died and as a long time fan I decided to stitch him, closely followed by Prince. At this point Stewart named them my 'Dead Singers' so Freddie Mercury followed but was never finished. The roses stuck as a sort of signature.

They were then abandoned for eighteen months but at the beginning of this year in an effort to finish things off I got Freddie finished and just carried on making them. I'm not superstitious but it was with a bit of trepidation that I stitched my first couple of portraits of people still living. As far as I know they are still well! Have you got a favourite... I'd love to know?

So that's my week since last time really. Still no more waistcoats done but they are on the list for next week. I would like to be out in the garden again today but I need to accompany my Mum to hospital this afternoon. This evening we are off to see Westwood at our local Picture Palace and then tomorrow morning I am off to Coventry for another weekend of teaching. I'm hoping the head feels better by then.

I hope you've had a good week!

A Snapshot of my week

I seem to have settled into a regular routine of baking and other domestic chores of late, so it was an unexpected surprise when I was asked to demo for Art Van Go at the Festival of Quilts at the last minute. Having only a couple of days to gather supplies and decide what to demonstrate certainly focuses the mind but after rearranging some other commitments I arrived at the NEC on Thursday morning raring to go!

I travelled up with Anna Pye, my friend, neighbour and talented printmaker and we both had a fabulous day. We talked to people all day long, demonstrated some of our artwork and generally had a wonderful time. This is before the doors opened to the public.

I was stitching these little brooches... if you want to give this a try yourself you can find a tutorial to buy here in my Etsy shop.

Meanwhile, there have been three birthday cakes this week... this one for a friend who is a keen blacksmith in his spare time. His reaction when he saw the cake made it so worthwhile.

A rather serious looking cake for a young lady who has political aspirations... but the serious exterior hid a frivolous cake inside. A strawberry daiquiri sponge... three layers of vanilla sponge soaked in a strawberry rum syrup and sandwiched together with a lime buttercream and rum soaked strawberries!

And finally another layered sponge cake today. I've a couple of days off before more birthday cakes next week.

There was also more farm shop baking this week and this was my table on Friday morning. The cakes and jam are selling well at last.

And today I managed a couple of hours in the garden. Since breaking my ankle I've not been able to do much gardening. Although Stewart cuts the grass he's no Monty Don... and the weeds have taken over, so much so I decided that one bed needed clearing competely. I hadn't bargained on help from my under gardener though, who proved to be very good at digging, although perhaps a little too enthusiastically!

What... me?

My Week in numbers...

One little dog...

Who is not so little any more.  Hector is a constant delight yet drives me to distraction on a regular basis. I've given up all hope of the garden ever looking good this year! But he does make us laugh. He found this old deflated football in the depths of our weedy undergrowth ( it's years since any of the boys have kicked a ball in the garden) and it is his most favourite thing ever!

Three birthday cakes...

There have been three birthday cakes made this week, each completely different, each of them well received and I've enjoyed making them which I guess is good news. Although I enjoy the process of baking and trying out new recipes it is the decorating that gives the most satisfaction. After all they might taste good but they need to look good too!

I didn't know the person who ordered Sarina's cake and he came all the way from Milton Keynes to get it... I was flattered but I'm sure there must be people who bake cakes in Milton Keynes!

Six machine embroidered graffiti signs.

I taught a machine embroidery graffiti class at Art Van Go on Thursday. It was the first time I had taught this class and although it was a small group it mostly seemed to go down well and there was much chatter, laughter... and rudeness if you haven't already noticed!  And some pretty fantastic results too. I say mostly, as there were actually seven people in the class but one lady wasn't so happy... she was bored stitching all day so left early! Can't please everyone I guess... although I'm not sure what she expected from a machine embroidery class. Tap dancing?

Five desserts...

Our branch of the Embroiderer's Guild had a fabulous supper party on Friday where we were treated to an inspirational talk from the costume embroiderer from Game of Thrones, Michele Carragher. I've never actually watched the TV program but the costumes are stunning. Do check out Michele's website to see her fantastic work. It was a real treat to listen to her explain about her inspiration and process. After the talk we had a buffet supper. I'd made two cheesecakes and three pavlova. There was almost a crisis with the pavlova but whipped cream came to the rescue and cemented it all together! There wasn't much of either left so I guessing what they lacked in looks they made up for in taste.

Five loaf cakes...

More baking for our Farm Shop. I had planned to make more than five loaves (I'm sure there is a joke about fishes in there somewhere if only I could think of it) but ran out of time. Just as well really as I popped in this morning and they had only sold two all weekend! It is the third week baking for them and it's all very slow. 

The week ahead is filled with more bithday cakes, more puppy playtime, more farm shop baking and more preparation for another weekend of Open Studios. Chatting to other people it seems Open Studios has been particularly quiet for everyone this year so I'm not holding out too much hope for a busy weekend. Meanwhile I'm making the most of the sunshine and washing everything in sight. Didn't factor in having to iron all the loose sofa covers in this heat though... I'm steeling myself!

Gossip

Well, one or two of you guessed and some of you knew but my "news" from earlier this week was neither exciting or good. In fact it is rather sad news. After summer school in August, Missenden Abbey will no longer be a centre for adult education in Buckinghamshire. Which means that more than half my annual teaching commitments will just disappear... Leaving me with a lot more free time on my hands and considerably poorer! It is a very sad day for adult education in this country but for me personally I am seeing it as an opportunity for more time to devote to ideas for my new business so I am trying to see it as a door opening rather than one closing... Exciting times for change. Meanwhile there is one last chance to take a summer school with me at Missenden Abbey  from 1st - 3rd August where I will be teaching Stitched Graffiti Art.

I will also be teaching this as a shorter one day workshop at Art Van Go on 14th July. And talking of Art Van Go there is a fabulous exhibition of oil paintings on there at the moment by Vicki Otte called Colour Fest which runs until 28th May.

 Vicki Otté is lives and works in Hertfordshire and has always painted, originally with acrylics  illustrating children's stories, which also led her to create painted wood sculptures. However, for the last few years Vicki has concentrated exclusively on oils.

Many of her paintings involve portraits and it is obvious from her work that Vicki Otté has a keen eye for people and for characterisation. All of her paintings are portrayals of life as she sees it, usually with humour, and always in vibrant colour. They just made me smile they are such joyous happy paintings.

I just love the colouful exuberence of this work, so much so that when I was there teaching little stitched miniatures a few weeks ago I took this painting called "Gossip 2" as inspiration for a little stitched miniature of my own

And this was the result... obviously not for sale as it is a copy of Vicki's work, but for my own enjoyment.

 

So that is my news really.

So I am not sure how many more workshops I will be teaching in future... a few at Art Van Go, odd ones here and there but mostly my focus will now be on my baking. And I've lots of ideas for things I want to do so I'm seeing it as exciting times. I'm dancing in the rain!

And for those of you who can't make it to a workshop in person, I still hope to be able to teach via downloadable tutorials... a new one is in my Etsy shop today for the stitched miniatures which you can find here. And there are more planned for later in the year.

Cake, cake and... More cake!

I remember the days when I was a regular blogger with a wide range of interesting things to write about (well, I thought they were interesting). When I also had time to read and comment on your blogs too... but times have changed and I'm hardly ever here and when I am all I can talk about is cake. I fear I will bore you all to bits and you will abandon me in droves, but nevertheless as I have just found a spare half hour to sit down (after delivering 29 desserts to the local pub tonight) I bring you more cake...

The week started with a lovely Christmas market in the church where to be fair I sold as many stitched items as I did baked goods... and then promptly spent every penny buying things from other stall holders! After that my baking week got underway in earnest... mostly more mince pies... lots more mince pies but a few Christmas cakes too.

 

First of all there was this little 6" cake decorated with a holly garland...

 

Then this larger one... the request was for classic decoration.

 

Another which had fruits and nuts rather than marzipan and icing...

 

And finally, because I was in the groove I finished a cake for us too. I don't think I have ever finished my Christmas cake so early! There won't be much else done for Christmas with all the food orders I have for next week but at least we'll have cake!

And then I finished the week at Art Van Go for their rather lovely "Bizarre" and was relieved to find I can still remember how my sewing machine works!

And seeing that last photo and spotting the crochet snowflakes I've remembered I was going to tell you all about them too... but I'll save that for another day and maybe you'll all come back to read a post without cake!

A Busy Five on Friday

Well since I was last here, that was some mad crazy week that's not over yet... So I thought I'd pop by very quickly, join in with Five on Friday if I can remember how and then take my leave once more. Goodness knows when I'll next find time to blog!

1. Holt

 

We had a lovely weekend away in Holt, despite the weather being pretty awful. The day we arrived I could hardly walk, the arthritis in my left knee had flared up so badly, so I didn't mind the rain and the excuse to stay inside. But anti-inflammatories worked their magic and the sun came out for a while so by Sunday we managed some walking and saw loads of seals out at Blakeney Point. Stewart also managed to fall in the mud which was slightly amusing... I wasn't quick enough with the camera unfortunately!

2. Work

By Tuesday I was back teaching in Letchworth and on Wednesday this was followed by a workshop at Art Van Go. This is a collage of some of the wonderful applique made by the ladies in my class.

3. The Kitchen

 

It will probably be several weeks until it is entirely finished and every time we think maybe it will all be done today something else crops up... like the fitter having his tools stolen when he left the van unlocked (not on our drive I hasten to add) or the damaged worktop that needs replacing etc etc. But I am working in it as you can see. And today the painter is in and it really is starting to look fabulous (bare plaster is so dark!)... and that cooker... Oh, I love it!

 

4. Crochet

 

Spare moments are being spent making crochet snowflakes... I'm aiming for fifty of them and so far have done twenty that are still to be blocked. I'll tell you more about this particular project in a week or so, if I ever get it finished. (I've got until 26th... loads of time!)

5. Cake

 

This is what I was making in the kitchen photo above. My first order to come out of my new kitchen... another chocolate and peanut butter layer cake. I was getting slightly worried I wouldn't be able to get this done in time and I'm mighily relieved I can work that beautiful cooker too!

Now if you'll excuse me I must finish my last bit of packing before I head of to Missenden Abbey for my final weekend teaching there this year. Have a lovely weekend!

Joining in with Amy for Five on Friday.

All I Need is Time!

What a splendid time I've had in Harrogate!

I'd like to tell you I had plenty of time to see the beautiful town, visit its many attractions and that I'd had tea and cake in Betty's (there was a big queue outside) but it wouldn't be true... that will have to be a treat for another time.  For most of the time I was sat behind a table on Art Van Go's "Artists in Action" stand at the Knitting and Stitching show.

 

 

I arrived Wednesday afternoon in time to set up my table (it has a calm before the storm feeling, don't you think) and met some of my fellow artists... Clare Bullock, a wonderful feltmaker (without a website unfortunately) Alison Hulme and myself had a lot of laughs over the days we were there... many that seemed to involve the security guards but that would be telling!

 

The time whizzed by as we demonstrated, worked on projects and even did some collaborative work... Clare made felt, Alison printed on it and then I stitched it... and of course we chatted to the public, who were all so friendly and interested. I met several ladies who said they read this blog... HELLO!!! That's a big wave to you all, it was lovely to meet you!

 

It was so much fun I ended up staying an extra day  (which involved having to find an M & S to buy clean knickers but that's probably too much information) and didn't get home until Saturday evening... absolutely exhausted! Yesterday and today, I've pottered about, putting things away and tidying up but feeling very inspired to finish off work with plenty of ideas for new things as well. All I need now is more time... If only M & S sold that too!

 

Before I went away, I had a fabulous day in London where I met with two fellow bloggers - Frances, who had come all the way from New York and Celia, a friend from not so far afield. We had a lovely day that included a visit to the Constable exhibition at the V & A and a leisurely lunch. Celia has written so eloquently about the exhibition here that I'm not even going to try, but I do need to share the lovely gifts I received. A set of Celia's beautiful Christmas cards together with buttons that she had covered with Grayson Perry fabric... I think I may have squealed just a little at these. And Frances had hand knitted this dear little fairisle sweater. Mine is already pinned up on my notice board and will not be relegated to the Christmas decoration box, that's for sure.

 

So that's my busy week... although there are commissions to finish and teaching to do in the coming days so it will be back to work for me in the morning. If it's true that there's no rest for the wicked then I reckon I must have been pretty bad as some point! Catch up with you soon!

A Flying visit...

I've been teaching a class today at the wonderful Art Van Go. The class is called "Stitches and Doodles" and the idea is to get beginners to free machine embroidery, drawing and writing with their sewing machines, taking away the fear of free machining. I took photos of the finished work and promised to post them on my Facebook Page (which I've done) and then Jill asked "But what if we're not on Facebook?"... so I promised to put them on here too... just for you Jill! And if you are on Facebook... please go and like my page!

 

 

There was such a wonderful variety of work and such a high standard, especially considering the majority of the class were complete beginners. I'll let the work speak for itself...

 

This is the second time I've taught this class at Art Van Go and there has been a waiting list on both occasions so if you are interested get the date of the next one in your diary... 10th April 2015!

 

That's my flying visit.. Now I've got my feet up, cuppa poured and knitting out. After having August away from teaching I need to get back into the swing of working all day... I'm shattered!