Home again

Sorry I've been gone so long. It's been quite a hectic summer and I just got back from two weeks in beautiful Scotland. The first week was spent on Rannoch Moor - and, ok, it may not be to everyone's taste, but to me it seems like a little piece of heaven.

 This was my third stay on the moor and this is where I stay - the hotel is literally at the end of the road, just across the way from the railway station.

And then there is nothing for miles around.

 When you walk down to the loch the only sounds you can hear are the singing of the birds and the buzzing of the insects.

I spent the second week in Glasgow - home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the main proponent of the Art Nouveau movement in the UK.

 This is inside one of the two Willow Tearooms, for which he designed the furniture. Obviously I sampled both!

These are the kind of designs for which he is famous -- beautiful elongated figures and flowing lines ...
 

and of course, the stylised Mackintosh rose.

So, inevitably, I had to do a little stitching in homage - a bookmark (though more may follow).

 I've also  been making a canvaswork bag - this is the front, the back will just be stripes. The idea was to use up a large percentage of my stash of tapestry wools - hence the odd selection of colours, though actually I think they work surprisingly well together.

 And finally a piece of free embroidery - alliums this time which are one of my favourite flowers.

Prizes, workshops and lace

You remember in my last post that I told you that I'd entered some of my embroidery into the handicrafts competition in our local flower and handicrafts show? Well ... I won three first prizes and one second! And was shortlisted for 'Best in Show'.

The large trophy in the centre is for being awarded the most points in the handicrafts section of the show.

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks actually as I've been trying to get all my pieces ready for our local Guild exhibition on Saturday 14th September (11am - 4.30pm in the Parish Hall at Kirkheaton if you're close enough to come along). I can guarantee that you'll be blown away by the handiwork of some of our members!

I've also attended two workshops ...
the first was held at World of Wool with a wonderful felting artist called Chrissie Day who lives in North Yorkshire. We made a handbag from nuno felt, which, for those of you who have never heard of it before, is made by felting woollen fibres into a pieces of openweave fabric, such as a polyester or silken scarf, which is what I used.

The piece of fabric I chose was patterned with poppies, so I chose autumn colours of wool (the bag is bright sunshine yellow inside) and red leather handles to pick up on the colours in the fabric. It has a firm metal frame and no stitched seams. I did do a little embroidery on the poppies when I got it home though (well, I had to didn't I?). The bag was finished in the day and only a little damp when I brought it home ... and I love it!!

The other workshop was run by a member of our Embroiderers Guild branch and we made a box. I know ... I've made lots of boxes before but I'm a firm believer that a girl can never have too many boxes and I thought maybe Janet (who makes the most beautiful embroidered boxes) might have some new tricks and tips to teach me - and I wasn't disappointed.

The lid still needs to be attached and, of course, we didn't get all of this finished during the workshop. The little lace flower you can see inside is going to be stitched on top of the lid (probably this evening). The flower was made a while ago as an experiment and is in three layers, with a hole in the centre of the bottom two layers so that when I stitch it in place with a pearl bead in the centre the upper petals should be drawn into that hole and should stand up a little. That's the theory anyhow. I'll let you know if it works.

It's a while since I showed you any of my lace, and this is the reason ...

This is what I've been working on - countless hours of work and it will eventually, when I've worked out exactly how to do it, will be attached to a plastic mask which I have. This is going to be entered into a competition too, but not until next year.

As a little light relief since completing the Venetian carnival mask, I've been making butterflies.

This is the first - much more free-form lace here and great fun to stitch. A second is already well on its way to completion in autumnal orange and copper shades.

And finally I've made a suitable background for the lace seahorse which I stitched for last year's needlelace challenge.

He's now mounted on a scrim covered canvas and, once he returns from the exhibition, will take pride of place on my wall.

Last but not least I thought I'd share with you a photograph of the corner where I create much of my embroidery.

My lovely rocking chair covered in my Liberty lawn patchwork quilt which sits next to the shelves which hold my thread stash. The fabric for this quilt was a gift from my daughter and I know that she'll be delighted to see that it is finally finished and in use on a chair which Willow doesn't like to sit in because it moves when he jumps onto it. How devious we cat-owners have to be :-)

Defeated by the heat

The summer heat this year - to which we in Yorkshire are so unaccustomed - has completely defeated me. I'm not really grumbling too much as I know so many people have enjoyed it, and it is far better to see the sunshine than the constant rains of recent years, but I have felt ill and constantly exhausted as a result - hence my lengthy absence. I have been stitching in the slightly cooler evenings though and there are completed birthday gifts to show you.

 First of all, a hardanger kit which I bought last year and has been waiting until I felt confident enough to tackle it. It's now completed and made into a cushion - in time for this weekend's local flower and handicraft show. I'm entering this into the soft furnishings category.

This kit was a birthday gift from my son - now turned into a beautiful pin cushion, which will certainly never have a pin stuck in it during my lifetime! Far too pretty for that so it will sit on my hearth to be admired.

 This little sampler bag was also a birthday gift - a kit from Jane Greenoff. Also now complete. See, I have been busy.

 Apart from the cushion I'm also entering two of my stitched books into the craft contest - my flower sampler book into the embroidery category ...

... and the Playing With Rainbows book into the 'any other item' category.

I've made a silk fabric patch to hide my name for the duration of the show.

And then there's the 3D box garden from the Owen Davies workshop in July. 

Here's where it was by the end of the workshop.

 Here it is with all the plush work finished - what a mess!!

 And after it had been shorn. Much better! The trimmings have been saved and put to one side for next spring when I'll put them out in a small wire cage hung from the bird feeder for the birds to use to line their nests.

 

 The gardens at the college where we stayed for that weekend were a great source of inspiration for future projects.

 Isn't this mossy wall beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine?

And here is the finished garden. I made some walls and a box to sit it inside - well it is supposed to be a box garden.

I covered the outside of the walls/box with heavy calico, covered them with gesso, painted with ivory coloured emulsion paint and then dirtied them up a little with a dry brush and a tiny bit of raw umber acrylic paint. Then I rubbed green and grey chalk pastels on paper then painted on the resulting dust to create a mossy appearance to the base of the walls.

Owen Davies workshop

Yes, last weekend I went away to Bishop Burton agricultural college for a workshop with Owen Davies, learning how to make a 3-D embroidered garden! If you ever get the chance to go on one of his workshops ... jump at it! He is a brilliant tutor - inspiring, fun, generous, talented .. ok you get the picture .. I'm a huge fan.

For those of you who have never heard of him, this is Owen's most famous garden

It's actually even more stunning when you can see it up close - and yes, those gates really are made in wrought iron.

He had decorated the room we were working in with mood boards all around the walls and green silk covered the table on which our embroidery frames were clamped. There were huge wicker baskets filled with embroidery threads from which we could choose our colours, and a vintage suitcase filled with old embroidery magazines and books for sale.

Just a small selection of the mood boards. I chose to set my garden in autumn so chose hot shades for my flower beds.  I was thinking of dahlias, late summer daisies, berries, lilies and leaves changing colour. You get the picture from these pages taken from the journal/workbook I'm making of my garden.

This is the complete garden from which he took our design. We are working just the central motif.

Here's where I got to by the end of the weekend.

 And here's where I am now, ready to start on the topiary hedges. I'm thinking that I shall make brick walls too and put my garden inside a box.

And finally, here's a little posy for you all from my garden.

A trip to London and new cottages

Sorry I've been away for a while but I've been down to London for a few days so I'm going to begin this post with a few of the photos I took whilst I was there.

My son and I had tickets for centre court at Wimbledon - on the day that Federer left the competition. Such an exciting experience ... and another one ticked off the list of things to do whilst I still can. Do you have one of those lists? I don't call it a bucket list, though I know that some people do.

Yes, we were a long way back but actually we had a brilliant view of all the action.

I also made a visit to the William Morris Gallery. I love his designs and found lots of inspiration for embroideries whilst I was there. The gallery is situated inside a park, and as the weather was glorious I spent quite a while looking around the gardens there too.

No photos but my daughter and I went to see Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall - my favourite ballet (it's actually the 9th time I've seen it - all by different ballet companies) and with 127 dancers in total, including 60 swans, this production was certainly impressive!

I've also been busy with my 1/48th scale cottages. There are two in a row this time - one is tiny and the other has obviously been extended at some time as it's twice the size.

I've put false walls in the back of some of the rooms so it appears that there is at least a staircase to the upstairs level.

 This is the ground floor of the smaller cottage - complete with cooker and dresser...

... and here is the bedroom - tiny but there will be enough room for a bed and chest of drawers at least and perhaps a dressing table in front of the window.

The larger cottage now has a separate kitchen with a cooker and sink unit (I still need to put taps on the sink). Probably some wall shelves will complete this room.

Lots of space in the living room for bookshelves, sideboard and comfy armchairs.

Upstairs is a large bedroom and ...

... a tiny bathroom.

The front wall has been covered with air-drying clay with the smaller cottage being given a stonework finish while the larger cottage has plain rendered walls.

There is still lots of work to do on these but I'll show my progress over the coming week or so.