Comments Welcome

This is where I am up to with "Wolf Moon" the "mount" around the edge is only paper. So that I can get an idea of the composition of the finished work. The piece has not been pressed - so it does look a bit creased!

I am now in a position where do I .............

1) leave it as is with minimal hand stitching

or

2) Do hand stitching all over

Detail 1

detail 2
(Actually the wolf has a little bit more stitching on it since the photo)

Your comments are welcome

Work in Progress - Wolf Moon

I have started on a new piece of work - from the journal page that I did on the 8th January.
Yesterday I dyed the fabric, today I started laying on sheers and organza fabrics and tacking them down. The finished piece will be slightly bigger than this - approximately 12 ins x 12 ins.

I usually use a scoured felt - prepared for dying as my background fabric for a piece of work. Felt is a wonderful ground fabric when you are doing a lot of Free Machine Embroidery, and building up layers. I use heat fix silk dyes, and acrylic paint to add colour to the background fabric.

TIP - If you are tacking fabrics down before free machine embroidery - use a thread which breaks easily and is a good colour match to the overall picture. When you do dense FME it is impossible to get all the tacking out - especially if like me you work in layers. I tack fabrics down - and then overlay more fabric on top. If you use tacking thread that matches the picture - when you have little ends that refuse to come out - they look meant!

Listen to Your Muse

This is the canvas that I made for the 8 x 8 inch canvas swap on art-e-zine. Generously hosted by Christine (her blog is here)


It is the first swap I have taken part in - partly because I had the time available to do it. And because of the format - I love the 8 x 8 format - large enough to do some interesting work, and small enough to post to America. Also it was "a favourite technique" Obviously I used free machine embroidery, with hand stitching, done on layers of organza. So now I wait patiently for a canvas to be sent to me from America.

I am doing things in the studio - if somewhat slowly - without moving my head - or bending down - but it is not stuff that I can post about just yet.

Gentle Day

A gentle day in the studio to-day making a batch of these petal shapes with free machine embroidery on organza.

Tomorrow I will burn around the edges

I can not tell you what they are for - because it is top secret!
(With Christmas happening in 31 days)

Quiet Sunday

Quiet Sunday today - pottering in the studio - but not accomplishing much.

The vertigo is still with me - so I am pretty fed up about that.

The image here is a sketchbook page - probably for my "Travelling Sketchbook" which I share with Linda.

It is only a rough sketch - using painted bondaweb, and free machine embroidery. I was reflecting on the things we say like "keeping your feet on the ground" or "Being grounded" and how just now - the ground does not feel like a very safe place - in fact is seems rather squashy!! The colours probably reflect my dreary state of mind.

Thanks to
Judy,
Lynn and
Marion
For joining in the PIF exchange. I am really looking forward to making something for you all - don't forget to e-mail me with your addresses if you have not all ready done so.

Denice will also be getting something from me - although she does not have a blog - I am sure she will join in the PIF ethos.

Thanks to all of you who left a comment on my "Friendship post" I am the one at the back left of the last photo! And I had a great time at our class reunion

Jeans Finished Work

Jean popped in to see me to-day - to see how I was doing with the vertigo - and to show me her finished piece of work.

This is a close up - I particularly like what she has done at the bottom with the machine wrapped cord couched down to form the sea. Also overlaying the organza to trap the pearls and shells. It is lovely to see finished pieces of work and I was pleased she came to show me.

I managed a couple of hours in the studio to-day and I am quietly happy with the progress I made on my canvas for the canvas swap - but I probably wont post any pictures of it until it has been received by who ever gets it! - Well maybe tomorrow I will post a little corner for you to peep at!

Last Class Photos

This is Denice's finished work - well almost finished - She was going to do some hand stitching at home - to blend the heavily textured area more into the background fabric.


The picture below is a close up - lovely texture - Denice was pleased with the finished result.


I spent some time in the studio to-day - with not much luck. I have the idea of a piece in my head - but trying to work out the "How To Do It" was frustrating me to-day. Sometimes I wish I could just to the same old thing over and over again - as I feel like I am trying to re-invent the wheel with every piece I do.

I know it is just the frustration talking - and probably not helped by the fact that I am still a bit wobbly on my pins - and my head is probably not as clear as it could be.

Never mind - it will all come together .... or something at some point next week.

More views

This is another view of Pats sampler - again apologies for the quality of the photography.

Pat is going to do a small amount of hand stitching onto the little square to catch down any loose fibres that have come adrift since she cut the squares from a bigger piece.

This is a close up of one of the squares showing the lovely textures Pat created.

Blogger is not being very responsive tonight and the photos are not quite going where I want them. Why does this happen sometimes?

Last Class

Here is Jean with her (nearly) finished piece of embroidery. She will be so cross with me that the photo is of her holding her work up! She didn't want to be in it. I did take a close up of the work - but it was very out of focus - I blame the vertigo.

Jean had to leave early - so she was disappointed that her piece was not complete by the time she left. However she knew where it was going. She had also used all the machine embroidery techniques we covered in the three weeks and was so delighted that she knew more about her machine than she did a month ago.

Here is Pat, with her piece. She probably had the most unsuitable machine for all the techniques we covered. (I need to find out more about this particular machine.) Pat made some lovely textures, which she cut up and her finished work was a "sampler".

I will post a detail tomorrow - still not really able to spend much time in the vertical position.



Thanks to ALL of you who have left such lovely comments over the past 10 days or so. I really enjoy hearing from you all - and I am sorry I haven't replied to you personally.

Vertigo Strikes!

Sorry no posting for a while. I have been feeling a bit under par with some kind of virus. I had a horrid ear-ache for a while - and now a chest infection, but the worst is vertigo.

So I have been struggling to stay up-right - let alone do anything in the studio. I did this little play around today with my new machine - on painted bondaweb layers - but I perhaps I should not have done it - as the dizzy spells are back with a vengeance!

Water Soluble Fabric

Click on the photos for a bigger image

Another creatively fun day with the "Machine Embroidery for Beginners" group

Yesterday the class had a good day experimenting with water soluble fabric for the first time.
Next week is the final class - when the students are making a small (8ins x 8 ins) embroidery using all the skills they have learnt in the past three weeks.

A little Sample

Today I was preparing for next Wednesday Class - which is working with water soluble fabric and machine embroidery and I made this small sample.

I really rather like it - it is only small - maybe 5 inches or so. I simply laid fibres onto the water soluble fabric and machined it down - then dissolved away the water soluble.

Funny how sometimes just playing around works out well and leads on to other things!

Day 2 of Machine Embroidery Class

Machine Cable Stitch

Today we covered altering the tension on both the top thread and the bobbin - whip stitch and feather stitch. We also tried machine cable stitch - this is where a thick thread is wound on the bobbin and the embroidery is worked on the reverse.

During the afternoon session we covered machine stitched cords, and Jean has stitched her cord onto the piece that she started last week.

Sheilaghs work shows a wonderful build up of texture using whip stitch variations.

Another good day was had by us all - I really enjoy seeing how different folk develop their work from the same starting point. I think all the students are in agreement that after 2 days of machine embroidery - they know their machines a lot better and are beginning to test their machines full capabilities!

Playing around with your machine and practising with different fabrics, threads and tension settings is time well spent if you wish to develop your free machine embroidery techniques.

Again I am having trouble posting the pictures tonight - and I have visitors arriving tomorrow for a few days so ..... I am not sure when I will be able to add more pics.

Machine Embroidery Class

Today was the first session of Machine Embroidery for Beginners, and we were a very select group of 6;- plus me!

This was ideal as it meant we all had enough time.

For some reason - blogger wont let me post all my pictures tonight - so here are some of the samples done in class today. More tomorrow.

This are samples from the first exercise - simply using straight stitching over layers of threads and fabrics.

I enjoyed to-day. The group was humorous and hard working - a lovely combination!

Back to Basics

Sample 1

Spent the day going back to basics with machine embroidery. In fact the samples I did to-day are not even free motion embroidery, but are done using the regular straight and zig-zag stitches on the machine.

Sample 1 is done on a patterned cotton background - overlaid with scraps of thin and thick fibers, with sheer chiffon on top.

The grid is then machined using regular straight stitch.

Sample 2

Sample 2 is done on the same patterned background as 1, with the same fibres and threads laid on top. Then a rather revolting piece of organza laid on top of the fibers. The top layer of organza is to stop the fibres from catching in the sewing machine foot.

I then machined on top using the built in patterns on the machine, changing the thread frequently.

Sample 3

The last sample is the same patterned cotton, with fragments of a variety of fabrics snipped and dropped onto the background. These were caught down using a regular straight stitch, then over stitched using a zig zag setting. While stitching I varied the width and length of the zig zag randomly across the work.

It is useful to revisit basic techniques from time to time - as I see them in a different light and can see applications for them now - that I might not have recognized 30 odd years ago. I have always disliked using the built in patterns on my sewing machine - but sample 2 has some nice bits of texture in it - and could be useful cut up and re pieced into a larger art work.