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.

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.

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.

Good Day To-day

Beaded Silk / Velvet devoree with glass

Nice day to-day - not a high pressured creative day - but I spent the day assembling necklaces for the Beetroot Tree Christmas Show.

Silk / Velvet Devoree with Indian Glass Beads.

This is something that is rather time consuming - but gently enjoyable - I could actually listen to the radio while I was doing this - something I have not done in a while!

Silk / Velvet devoree with Labradorite

I make bangles and ear-rings to match the necklaces - the earrings I will do next week. As tomorrow I will be preparing for Day 2 of the "Machine Embroidery for Beginners" class which takes place on Wednesday.

I would like to reply to the comment about it being stressful teaching a course for beginners. Comments like this are always useful as it makes me stop and think about why.

Yes I find it stressful - and sometimes I would much prefer to stay in the studio and create rather than going out there and face the world. However there are several reasons for getting out there, here are just a few that apply to me.

The Bank Manager - the bottom line is that I find it difficult to support myself as a full time artist. If I am in my studio - I am creating pieces that might or might not sell at some point in the future.

Isolation - If I stayed in my studio creating - I believe I would not grow as an artist. In teaching I get the opportunity to re-visit techniques that I have not used in a while, and develop existing techniques. Students are interested and exciting - especially adult students as they are in your class because they REALLY want to be there.

Joy - it is a great joy when a student is totally excited by what she has produced in class - their joy and enthusiasm is infectious - if they continue with the work when class is over - then - Job done.

The amount of teaching that I do is minimal, however for me - it is worth the angst and stress.


PS The necklaces have not got their clasps on yet - and apologies for the quality of the pictures - we have had a very grey day here - and (again) I left the photography until to late in the day!

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!