What If? lace experiment continues/todays title

I'm taking part in Todays Title and posted my impression of this weeks subject Blue chair yesterday. I have been carrying on the with the title over the last few days and now give you................BLUE CHAIR (RUSTIC) LACE....in other words, I doodled with pen, then thread and bobbins. Its taken me several days to complete with the thread and bobbins shown in the previous post. Not brilliant as far as lace technique is concerned but fun.

The thread is actually quite a bit bluer than in the picture with flecks of red and orange.

What If? lace experiment continues

All week I've had a few chunky lace bobbins on the pillow with thick wool? thread from my stash. These a a mixture of bobbins collected over the years and are easier for me to pick up than my usual pretty ones with the beads. The thread is not terribly strong in places so I have managed to snap it a couple of times and my tension is totally shot at the moment but I'm making lace again to a fashion. Will show you the finished piece hopefully tomorrow.

new skill

ever tried finger knitting? instructions here

New Challenge

Well, I'm always a sucker for a challenge so when I spotted this, I thought it would be fun :-)


Titles spark of very different things in each of our minds, especially if the image that it goes with is yet to be shown. I'd like to invite you to join in with a little experiment to see what a title can stir in your immediate imaginations.



I'll probably post a new title at the weekends. There is no requirement to do each title, nor complete to a dead line. The only request is that you should start from the first thing that springs into your mind when you read the given title.

The momentum behind this blog is to capture that first image in your minds eye that the title sparks off and to show us in what ever way you can. I have to add that the aim is not to finish a beautiful piece of work but to convey the image. It is more important to capture the main points of your image than create a finished piece.

You can work in any medium or format to make a visual image. It can be a sketch, cartoon, painting, textile or mixed-media piece for example, from memory or photos or life etc.



This is the brainchild of Helen Suzane of Heb-art and now Todays Title is

Why not join in? Just drop Helen an e-mail :-)

bag

remember this sample from this post?


well today I found the finshed bag whilst moving a few things in my room.


torn recycle sari material woven through gold mesh fabric edged with cord cord recycled from xmas packaging, fastened with found button.lined with felt
finished in 2000 I think :-)

Lace Day

Nottingham Bobbin Lace Society proving that lace is alive and well in Nottingham

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part four)

back to playing with torn papers, this time influenced by mosaic floors.





these have yet to be transferred to fabric

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part three)

Paint and stitch on fabric.
At this point I must say that if I do this again using this design, the end result would be very different but this was about 5 years ago!





This is the closest colour match that I could get, Fuji cameras always give me a problem with red. Finished item painted, hand embroidered and beaded. Confession-it has lived in a bag at the back od a cupboard since the collage exhibition as I simply didn't like it much!!

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part two)

Ok, now I have a simple idea to play with.



more torn papers.
Next step was to find a simple motif from the original carving and make a print block.






Now to mix both ideas using paint, ink , bleach and some silk papers.







This is the one I liked, even more so once I changed the colour.


Next problem is to stitch it as a panel so I'll leave that for the next post.

Italian Holiday from Sketch to Stitch (part one)

In 2001, our motorcycle travels took us to lake Garda in Italy and we visited Sirmione at the southern part of the lake. Some background to the trip can be found here on Biker Teds blog. At the time I was looking for a subject to use for my city and guilds part two in creative embroidery so I took as many photos as I could (pre digital era!!) to use as inspiration.







These are the first pages in my sketch book and the jumping off point for design.





Easy steps first, just torn painted paper following the floor tile/brick design at the Roman Villa

thanks

a big thank you to Fannie at Imagine create and Inspire for these awards.I am passing these on to my visitors as i think all your blogs are fabulous!!

a grand day out

Julie of Mixed Media has written up our day out so much better than I can so check it out here, here and here :-) We had a great time, spent a few pennies and put the world to rights.



we went up to have a look at the sky mirror, seem to get a different photo each time I visit, see here for the last photo.



Hoe could I resist a photo of two bloggers on the loose in Nottingham

What If? lace experiment continues

remember my little fish doodle, well now he is part way to being a lace pattern.I have some lovely big chunky bobbins which make life a lot easier and plenty of time so if I have to rest after just 5 mins then so be it.

saturday workshop

This was the scene of destruction by dinner time on Saturday. My friend Claire of Pinky and Boo was running a workshop at the Textile Workshop in Sherwood , on transferring image to fabric and I went along as a helping pair of hands (sorry , hand)
we played with transfer paints, fabric crayons, bubble jet set, T-shirt print, ironed off a few paper bags and some traditional embroidery transfers, what with lasagna for lunch, choc bics fruit tea and coffee, a great day was had by all

Later Ian and myself popped round to see our friends so I could have a good chat with Sally of Crafty Salutations who is new to blogging but an old friend. If you like cards and stamping, then check out her blog :-)

Hopefully today we will be moving sometime of the extra boxes out of my work room so I should be able to get to my fabric and thread stash.

two more little creatures from my sketchbook





I managed a small amout of work on this then decided that I had been away from it for too long ( last touched beginning of December) so tied it off and cleared the opillow.

embellisher practise

I was having fun until I snapped two needles, think I need to wait until I have a bit more control of my right hand.

view from my window at the moment
I think I will grab a cuppa and watch the sky for a while.

Quiet Wednesday

had to stay in so nice man could fit carpet

postman delivered latest ebay purchase, two girls at stitched up are wanting to learn how to make lace and we have had a kind donation of a pillow, bobbins and thread. (thanks Caroline)

Ian had to move a set of drawers to make room for the carpet and look what I found, substantial evidence of a cross stitching phase.

and a friend popped round with these

altogether, not such a bad day

another little bird

more left handed stitching.

more shiny bits

I think these are a bit more my style.

Today's challenge is to see if I can cope with cross stitch. I have a little project left over from several years ago to sort out so I am meeting with some like minded people this morning to sew and natter.

We are having a new carpet laid tomorrow so hopefully by the weekend I should have the shelves out of my workroom. At the moment I can't get to most of my stash and I want to sort out some fabric to put on one side to make some shopping bags once I am able to hold my rotary cutter or scissors. Also I now have extra lace pillows and bobbins ready for anyone from stitched up who would like to have a go and need to find a proper home for them.

On the cooking front, thanks to everyone who suggested a slow cooker :-) Made our first meal in one last weekend, definitely going to use it regularly, Ian and BikerTed's cooking skills are coming on a treat. They are both taking care of me wonderfully and I am very grateful.

Sewing for pleasure

Every year I go to this show and come home saying that I'll not bother again so if anyone else is going, I may see you there.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part three

mostly machine embroidery, bottom sample (right) is a variation on the weave material into a plastic mesh bag (the kind you get fruit it) ! found some gold mesh and wove in some torn sari material.Will have a hunt for the bag that I made using this method.

It's dark and wet outside so I'm waiting for it to dry up before going to the library, mainly because I can't get anything waterproof over the frame on my arm because the sleeves are not wide enough.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part two

Ok, if I remember rightly this is string glued to cartridge paper. Crumpled tissue paper then glued over the top, bleached in places, gold dots added (can't remember how) touch of shiva stick and machine embroidery in gold thread. I bought a large kop of gold coloured thread very cheap when I started the course and still have some left!!



Examples of tradtional goldwork which I must admit that I wasn't too keen on hence the very small samples except the one at the bottom that was stiched over gold painted cocktail sticks.

playing with shiny bits (City and Guilds use of metallic thread etc) part one

For creative embroidery part two (not sure what it is called now) we had to show that we could use metallic threads etc so take on reel of copper wire and......

knit with it



add sequins as you knit



add beads as you knit and spray paint when finished



knit then machine and handstitch over it



French knit with it



add beads as you knit



wrap it round cocktail sticks



I later used wire and beads in brooches but can't actually get to them to photo-maybe later.

next post will be stitching with metallic thread.