Progress on Beach Inchies

The beach themed inchies are taking shape!   Having needlefelted the fabrics and fibres in my previous post, I have been busy hand stitching and embellishing the beach and sky inchies.   I've used a variety of threads, although my favourite is Perle no. 8 so I used this the most.  As well as beads I also embellished the beach inchies with fragments of shells.

The Sea still needs some work but the inchies are all cut ready for stitching.

I needed to dye some threads for these as I wanted some deeper turquoise blue so they are different from the sky so I had a dyeing session with the following results.

Ready to go now to get the sea finished and mount the results.

I'm on  roll with inchies!   I find they are handy little things to have to stitch in front of the tv or when my mind needs a rest.   I also find them handy to take away so this lovely pile of felt, fibres, silk, organza and threads will be needlefelted ready for me to cut up and take away.

Watch out for seaside theme inchies.

Hello Again!

I'm rather embarrassed about the length of time since my last post.  Started off with the excuse that we moved to Dorset but that was now over three months ago so I'll just move on.......

We have settled well in our new house and as it was brand new, we were able to move in without any further work.   We have had the garden to do so that has taken some time recently but as it is quite small, I can't use that as an excuse.   I got my workroom sorted quickly too and the best thing is I have my own room so no more having to clear away when the grandchildren come to stay.

It's not massive but I managed to get all my things in and with less space, I have to keep it tidy. So far, so good!

My only regret is that my large Perspex table that I used with my Bernina is too big for the desk so at the moment I have had to resort to the small extension table that came with the machine.  I have seen that Cotton Patch do a similar one (a lot cheaper than the Bernina one!) but I am having trouble deciding which size to get.

I have been busy with a few projects......

... the first one was a quilt for a friend's new baby boy.   We are caravan neighbours so I went for a seaside theme.   Baby Paul has now arrived and Mum and Dad loved the quilt.

 

 

I have also decided to have another go at selling online, this time giving Etsy a go.  I will start with some of the items I already have ready and will also include some of my framed textile art.  I've also planned to make some mounted arrangements of inchies, something I have done in the past as part of my themes on rust and maps.   For these new ones I am going to have colour themes but choose colours that can relate to occasions and anniversaries.  So far I've done purple (just because I like it!), red (Ruby Anniversary) and white/silver (Weddings and Silver Anniversary); will go on to gold next.

 

For each set I started by creating a felt base on my Embellisher, incorporating various fabrics and fibres including organza, scrim, netting and silk.  I then added beads, buttons, sequins, ribbon, lace or hand stitches before finishing the edge with buttonhole stitch.

 

 

 

I have also done some work in my sketchbook, but not as much as I wanted to.    The first two pages are based on some of the many photos I have taken of beach huts we've seen since we moved.  I've included photos, some gelli plate printed deli paper, some stitched applique and some hand stitching.   I found the colours particularly inspired these pages.

 

 

 

The second page uses car park tickets as the background which I printed with the gelli plate, adding some cut lettering to finish.

 



 



 

Hopefully there won't be a long wait until my next post.

 

 



Retrospective 3

My first experience of free machine embroidery came while I was taking City and Guilds Creative Embroidery during the 1980s.  It was also at this time I bought my first Bernina sewing machine so I could do the free embroidery.  It was second hand and worked like a dream for many years before I upgraded to a new Bernina.

Here are some of my early samples of free machine embroidery. 

Retrospective 2

Back in the late 1980s, I was one of the original members of the East Grinstead branch of the Embroiderers Guild and during the time I was a member we had an exhibition at Hever Castle.

We spent some time before the exhibition drawing, painting and photographing at Hever for inspiration for the work we were to exhibit.

Some of the piece I created are still in my possession and definitely on my list of "will not be disposed of"!

The first is yet again a piece of canvas work.   The bag was based on a tudor bag design and comprised of two circles that interlocked.  The canvas work was worked with fabrics and threads that I dyed myself but also included some machine stitching as well.  The strap and tassels used the same dyed threads.

I loved this bag when I made it and I still love it as much today.

 

Another bag I made for the exhibition was inspired by the tiled roofs of the Tudor Village that is behind Hever Castle.

The "tiles" were made from dyed silk that had been embellished with machine embroidery which trapped fragments of other fabrics.   The tiles were then cut with a soldering iron and then stitched to a base fabric before the bag was constructed.   The strap was made by machining over a cord base and the button in covered in the same fabric as the tiles.

Once again, I love this bag as much today as I did when I made it.

Retrospective 1

One good thing about moving is having to look through old work that hasn't seen the light of day for some years.   The down side is some of it has to go!

I've surprised myself at how ruthless I've been but made sure anything that went was photographed first so I so have something to remember.

Back in the 1980s I did City and Guilds Creative Embroidery Parts 1 an 2.  It was my first experience of any formal training in anything connected to art and textiles and it blew my mind!   This was really the beginning of the journey I'm still on and I don't think it's an exaggeration that it changed my creative soul.

Looking back over the work I brought back some happy memories and several surprises too so I thought over the next few weeks/months I would share some of this retrospective work.

This first collection  consists of canvas work which I loved and, as you will see, I did quite a few pieces.   I also tended to work in primary colours at this time, which again is apparent.    The first few ones were based on tulips.

And of course, in true C&G tradition, the design board that went with it!

 

 

The next group are other various examples based on canvas work.

 



 

Threads woven over netting



A view from a window

 

Black and White with canvas detail



Detail

   

Dyed threads worked on canvas

   

Detail

  

Stitches on canvas using various fabrics and threads



Detail

    

The final piece was inspired by a day spent dyeing thread and fabrics which hung out in the garden to dry one sunny summer's day.

 





Goodbye 2015 and hello 2016

Looking back at 2015 is rather mixed.  Creatively I have achieved a lot, culminating in the Thread and Exhibition in November which was a great success. But looking back at my targets, so many have not been achieved.


1.  Make smaller items alongside larger items - when making a quilt, prepare smaller similar pieces that can become smaller mounted textile art, postcards or cards.  For each of the main pieces, I made greeting cards which can be mounted or framed as small pieces of textile art

2.  Use the smaller items to sale on Folksy and outlets currently used.  Also review all the pieces of textile art that I have and add them to the items for sale.  Very little success with Folksy this year so I have really abandoned it for now.   I still continue with one of my outlets in Pagham but sales are small but as it does not cost me anything, I will continue for the time being.   I pulled out of the outlet in Chichester as despite the owner working really hard on my behalf, I did not achieve any sales. 



 3.  Attend at least one workshop with an artist who inspires me.  Sadly this has not happened this year.  I did look at various venues and artists but nothing in the right place at the tight time.




 4.  Meet with Thread and Shutter at least once a fortnight, as well as outings to exhibitions, shows etc. This has again been difficult as we are not at home for much of the time from March - October.   We did manage to visit some exhibitions together which is always enjoyable.

5.  Continue with regular blog posts, at least two each month.  Looking back I achieved this many months but some months it was only 1 blog.  This was balanced with some months with 4 blogs so I'm giving myself a tick for this one.


Looking forward to 2016 is very exciting for me as we are moving to Dorset later this month/early February.   This is of course tinged with sadness for the friends I leave behind but I see it as a chance for new beginnings and already I am thinking about new things to do.   With this in mind, I'm setting myself smaller targets for the year......

1.  Sketchbook - work in a sketchbook at least twice each week.  With this in mind I have made a list of media, techniques and tools to use with the intention of choosing one at random as the starting point for each day.   I intend to only spend an hour on each page, not always aiming for a finished piece of work.

2.  Join a local group.   There is an Embroiderer's Guild that meets nearby so I will start with that and see where it leads.

3.  Make quilts for Project Linus.  As I pack ready to move, any quilts that have not sold or used and are no longer needed will be donated to Project Linus so I intend to keep my self busy once we've moved by using up any fabric that is not required and make some more quilts.

4.  I'm also sorting out my textile art as I pack and selecting some pieces that I think may sell.  This time I am going to try Etsy and see if it is any more successful.


Whatever happens next year, I will have loads of new places to inspire me so lots to look forward to.