Architectural embroidery workshop

It was bitterly cold in Hornsea yesterday for the workshop with some sleety showers and then a tiny bit of snow here last night, not good.

The embroidery workshop was something completely different for me and was run by the very talented textile artist, Gina Smith who is part of the Diverse Threads group in North Yorks. Gina is particularly into architectural embroidery which is kind of building up layers of fabric and then embroidering or embellishing upon them. Below are 2 of Gina's textile artworks.

The subject matter is not necessarily architectural but for this workshop we were asked to take our own picture of something like a building, a doorway, archway or such to work upon.
I took a view of the Shambles I had, with hindsight this was rather too detailed for a first attempt and a bit ambitious! I think some of the other ladies had been on a similar workshop last year and they knew to take something simpler.

We were given an info sheet on what items we needed to bring along and I had slightly mis-read one of the most important bits which meant I got into difficulties as the workshop progressed. In the items to bring, it referred to 'shears', I interpreted this as scissory things or pinking shears, it actually meant shear fabrics, floaty silky, organza type stuff which I had very little of and not in the colours I wanted to use. I only sussed this out the night before when it was too late to change my project or buy more fabric. Anyway, the shear fabric was needed to build up layers, to create shadows, to insert other bits n bobs between layers and so on, so it was really was a big part of it. I on the other hand had been thinking we were using cottons. 

Cutting to the chase, you needed to draw your photo onto some backing fabric, being quite bold in biro.

You then put another piece of plain cotton over the drawing, opaque enough to see your pen lines. You then select shear fabrics for the background and it is almost like painting as you cut other shear bits up and place them in position for the different parts of your picture.

At this point I realised mine was too complicated and I didn't have the right colours of fabric to use.

The horrible chiffony fabric had a life of its own and wasn't good for cutting small bits which my picture consisted of. This is about as far as I got as we neared the end so not much of a result to show I'm afraid, and no actual embroidery on the fabrics.

I wasn't put off by my lack of success, in fact I will be keen to try again but that will be at a time I can concentrate more, when the weather is good and the light is good and when I have some suitable shear fabrics to use. So you could say a work in progress which is going to reappear at some point next year perhaps.

An interesting way to do textile art and with a lovely group of ladies so a good day was had by all.

Tweed things finished

This has turned into a hectic week and tomorrow I'm going on an embroidery workshop in Hornsea so I have lots of bits of fabric and equipment to gather for that.

I've managed to finish my Harris Tweed jewellery. I'm frantically trying to get on top of craft work because once the weather turns very cold as predicted tomorrow, it really will mean I slow down and my hands and feet will be too cold to work on much. We were trying to hold off putting the central heating on until the end of Oct but it's going on tonight as temperatures plummet this weekend.

Here's the wrist cuff with the addition of some embellished tweed scraps and buttons, I love the earthy colours

The brooches have embellished bits too.

I have some new screen printing things to play with but that will have to wait for another day!
Keep warm everyone!

Pure wool fabrics for new jewellery

This week I'm making textile jewellery in some beautiful scraps of pure wool, naturally dyed fabrics.
There's a lovely, woolly smell to the fabric but it frays a lot so it's not the easiest thing to work with and especially on a small scale.

I'm working with Harris Tweed which was kindly donated a couple of years ago by a bloggy friend who used to live up there. I just love the colours on the long thing which is going to turn into a wrist cuff.

The brooches are nearly finished.

I'm also working with scraps of woven, tapestry wool fabric which I got in Wales from the Trefriw Woollen Mill. This is really thick to stitch, a bit like carpet!

Have a good weekend! x

A couple of new fabric bird brooches

I've got lots of brooches and things just nearing completion and here are 2 new bird designs which I've just listed in my Folksy shop.

These are lightly stuffed have felt legs, they measure approx 9cm across from the widest part, tail to beak.

Shaheen's soup for tea

If anyone else follows the wonderful Allotment 2 Kitchen blog then you will probably have read about the blog's author, Shaheen, winning a Covent Garden Soup competition.
It was to create a seasonal vegetarian soup and Shaheen won with Butternut Squash & Black Turtle Bean with Jalapeno.
Here it is, I found this in Morrisons today

I was so excited to find it and how brilliant for Shaheen to have her recipe recreated by Covent Garden Soup and in the supermarkets.
It was very delicious with a kick of heat from the jalapeno which was just the thing for a chilly evening.

You can read more here and Shaheen has a link to the recipe if you'd like to try it out at home.

http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/shaheens-september-soup.html

Brooches, iPhone cases & felt biscuits

Had a really productive day on Saturday delivering my goods in York. I dropped off a batch of Nutcracker Cut & Sew kits to the Sunday Nest above Me & Mrs Fisher cafe.

Whilst I was there I picked up one of their lovely little scrap bags and some woven ribbon.

From another shop, the Viking Loom, I got these lovely fat quarters.

Next stop was The Attic to deliver iPhone cases and coffee brooches, and also to have some delish coffees!

Brooches, some of which use coffee sack

A few final iPhone cases, the red Bob the Bunny has sold straight away!

This one is in Harris Tweed, donated from a bloggy friend who used to live up there.

And now for something different as it's been gadget cases for weeks!..,  although not terribly original as handmade biscuity things are popping up everywhere.

There were some felt biscuits in Mollie Makes some months back and I think they were just ornamental so I've done something similar and made brooches.

Very easy, this is a jammy dodger in progress.

Sandwich the bits together and stitch on some detail.

Add the sugar for a finishing touch with some small glass beads.

Ta dah it's done, and now I'm on with iced rings, it's nice to do something frivolous now and again!

October is Orange

It's October already and the blogging has slowed up recently due to workload.
Once October arrives I am often reminded of that Haircut 100 song, October is Orange. It seems to sum things up nicely, the leaves are turning, the pumpkins & toffee apples are appearing in the shops, and there's a desire to see the warming glow of a fire on an evening, although not in this house!

I've been busy making more iPhone / gadget cases, here is the pile of finished ones with a few favourites below. I will take some of these to the Attic in York and see if they want some and then the rest will go in my Folksy shop.

Also got a batch of brooches which are nearing completion, I just have to embellish some small glass beads on these and then some will go to the Art & Rose Gallery in Pocklington.

Here's something cute my sister sent me, a small pair of knitted mittens which is a brooch from Bratislava, she thought it might give me an idea to make something similar. I only wish I could knit something so small & lovely! Maybe it might spark off you knitters out there! I might try some felt ones, much easier!

I bought the Lakeland Pie Maker recently, I thought it would come in handy for those many times when the cooker is not hot enough for pies. Actually it's pretty good for making small pies for pack-up and should be good for festive mince pies.

Even managed to slip in the first and only BBQ of the year last weekend whilst it was still relatively fine. As you can see no expense spared on this disposable jobby!

The jkt spuds and Quorn fillets didn't get enough heat so ended up in the oven, halloumi skewers were fab.

And one final project whilst I'm catching up. I've entered this weeks Spoonflower contest, it's quite a weird spec, to design a 1980's embroidery pattern and produce it in reverse so it can be stitched from the rear. Here's mine.

Phew, that's a long post, it's the end of September all rolled into one!...thank you for sticking to the end if I haven't bored you.