This week I have been mainly machine stitching. On Tuesday I went to the first session of my Machine Embroidery for Beginners with Marian Murphy at Art Van Go. Although I have picked some basic ideas from books and video clips it was brilliant to have a whole day with an expert. We played around with different tensions and threads and just practised free machining. We then went through a couple of design processes. Marian's design book was an inspiration in itself and made me want to be more disciplined in developing ideas. But knowing what a butterfly brain I am, I don't hold much hope! However the practice gave me the confidence to infil the petals and background on my daffodil book with machine embroidery.
I want to embellish it a bit more with some more hand stitching and beads as I want it to be quite 'rich'. I also prepared the inner pages today, tearing them to shape and leaving them stewing in a lovely Brusho mix of yellows and green. Unwrapping the pages is a treat and a surprise - I will try to remember to photograph them, but as it is a messy process the camera is usually well out of the way.
At the workshop Marian flipped through my 'doodle/ideas' sketchbook I had taken with me and spotted this doodle and said it was the sort of thing that could be translated into stitching so I thought I woudl have a go.
I traced off the face onto tissue to transfer the outline and then just tried to use the needle like a pen.
I was pleased with the result and could see its potential. I just need to apply these ideas instead of going off on another tangent. Here are some details.
I chose a few favourite areas and created a collage
I was pleased with the colours - I just had to work with what I had got, but feel there is potential for development. There is a couple of weeks between the workshop sessions, so plenty of time to work up a few ideas.
Meanwhile here are some waxed papers I was working on. I may have a go at a couple more boxes/pencil pots!
On the homefront I have managed to wear my new shoe inserts all day and walk to the corner shop for the paper. It just feels like a hard ball of cotton wool in my shoe instead of a pebble, so things are improving ( I have given my feet the day off today) and Marvin the cat continues to live with his diabetes with no immediate problems. Mr T is cataloguing his entire CD collection (He has hundreds/thousands) which is keeping him quiet. A walk round the garden in the grey dampness this morning revealed a few buds on the verge of bursting, so a bit of sunshine this week would really be good.
Whatever you are doing I hope the sun shines for you, have a good week.
Jill
