Another Casalguidi style bag and more

Still with that Casalguidi embroidery workshop in mind, I've been making another piece of this type of embroidery. This is not at all what we'll be expecting the people in the workshop making, of course, but I do feel that it helps to have a few pieces to show folks what is possible. My mind is also obviously still in the purse/pocket/bag kind of groove as this is what I made ...

Very much along the lines of a 17th century sweete bag and with a square of hardanger stitched in for good measure. This may well find its way into the 17th century exhibition next year too.

And, of course, there's also lace ...

This time going along with my Russian theme. This is not the fabric that these colourful little matryoshka dolls will finally be mounted on and they will have embroidered faces, but I thought I'd show them to you as a work in progress.

A further work in progress is this book of colour experiments in silk and beads ...

which I'm working on in and amongst everything else when the mood takes me to do something completely different from my normal embroidery.

The only 'rules' I've set myself are to work intuitively without prior planning and to unpick nothing so ... if something doesn't look quite right when I've done it, rather than unpick, I'm just adding more until it starts to look 'right' again.

Some of those casalguidi techniques are showing up here like all those wrapped cords...

... and padded threads.

These little patches will eventually be stitched onto a silk page in a different colour and there'll be around 8 or 10 pages in total - depends on when I feel it's complete. Watch this space!

Jam and a bedroom

Spring has finally arrived here in my Yorkshire garden. I love, love, love these little snake's head fritillaries which bloom alongside my wildlife pond. There are already tadpoles swimming in the pond and the fluff I take from my tumble dryer filter and put out for the birds has almost all gone so proof that the nest building is coming along well too. 

The whole garden is awash with muted purples and yellows with primulas, primroses, daffodils and grape hyacinths. So full of promise.

I bought a large punnet of plums from the supermarket and turned it into jam for my storecupboard too. I intend to do lots more of this this year.

Now ... onto the grand spring clean in the Tea Rooms ...
I've never been happy that there is no staircase up from the first floor to the attic rooms in this building so I've constructed a back wall in the bedroom and added a small door. In real life this would only actually be about 3'6" tall but at least it hints of a way up to bed. The gaps need filling down the side and along the top but I'm quite pleased with how this is coming together now.

I did the same paint job on the furniture here as I did in the living room and turned the bed around to back onto that new wall. There are new cushions to tone with the wallpaper. Tiny slippers on the bedside rug, fluffy towels and a water jug on the stool and a lacy corset draped on the chair.

A trunk filled with linens stands at the end of the bed and a hot water bottle with a cosy knitted cover for cooler nights. The patchwork quilt is my favourite (there are more quilts in my Etsy shop).

A flower-trimmed hat sits atop the wardrobe and matching parasol leans against the pretty floral patterned luggage.

Miniatures today

Two posts in two days! Can you believe it? Today I'm updating you all on progress with my miniature projects. I haven't done all this work in the past week, I assure you - I do sleep occasionally, and this week the sunshine has lured me out into the garden to plant seeds and tidy up the borders.

 However ... there is progress on the tea rooms spring makeover and on the Swan Inn (as my little 48th scale pub is now called). I'll show you the tea rooms first.

 

 I made a new cover for the cushion on the desk chair, which now fits in with the overall colour scheme.

The rocking chair has two new cushions too.

 I made an armchair from foam board and card with two pieces of dowelling for the arms from a tutorial on Kris' blog http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.co.uk/, and then covered the shade on the standard lamp to match.
So this room is now finished I think.

If you enlarge this photo you'll see that there has been a mini earthquake which knocked photographs over, a book off the bookshelves and one of the fire irons onto the hearth rug. These have now been put back in their proper places and all occupants of the flat are quite safe.


The Swan Inn is almost finished too ...

... apart from curtains at the bedroom windows and books for the bookshelf in the living room - oh, and some pictures for the walls.

And this is my 48th scale village street. There are more cottages to add. The little house which stands between the cottage stores and the Swan Inn is actually a money box, but it's the right size to fit in here.

Exhibitions and embroidery

Sorry I've been away for a while. I went to London for a few days at Easter and life seems to have been running at a fast  pace ever since.  I'm just about beginning to get back into my routine so here I am with a bit of a catch up for you all.

While I've been away I've been to quite a few exhibitions which I found inspiring and hope that you might do too. First of all there was the Kaffe Fassett exhibition in London...

If you're not aware of his work just search in Google and you'll see that he's quite rightly renowned for his use of colour. Aren't these hats fun?! 

 The gallery was decorated in clashing colours too to display his work to perfection.

Yes ... he knits, quilts, embroiders tapestries and makes mosaics - all in the most stunning patterns and colours.

We also went to an exhibition of the work of Chuck Close - an American artist, whose work also inspired me - though no photographs this time.

A trip to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield where there is always an interesting selection of modern sculptural pieces - including the matrix for the piece which hangs on the John Lewis building in London.

Even the gallery building is interesting - interlocking blocks.

And finally ... a trip last week to the Bankfield Museum in Halifax where one of our Embroiderers Guild members has an exhibition of her work. I won't show you photographs of the pieces as I've not asked her permission but there was embroidery of many different types on show, including many pieces which had been stitched onto various kinds of paper - lots of ideas and inspiration and if you live close by I'd certainly recommend a visit. The display is on until early May.

So ... what else have I been up to? 

Two friends and I are running a workshop on Casalguidi embroidery later this year so, as I've only ever done one piece of pure Casalguidi before I thought I'd better practise a little. This piece is destined for the top of a box, which we're making in a workshop next month. The raised stem bar and the wrapped threads are typical of this kind of work, as is the pulled thread background. It is traditionally worked in white on white fabric but I don't like white on white much so I added coloured needlewoven leaves to this piece.

This little bag uses some of the Casalguidi elements too but this time in a much more modern design. The openwork background and wrapped threads are still there, together with buttonhole bars and tassels.

And I've also been mounting my lace butterflies in readiness for making my hexagonal box.

Oh, and I can now show you the pieces I was working on before Easter as they've now gone to my daughter as birthday presents.

 A little embroidery kit inside a tin - there's a needlelace scissor keep attached to a tiny pair of scissors (hidden from view) and the tiniest needlebook which held a gold-plated needle.

 This is the hardanger and cross stitch design I embroidered on the lid.

And a sketchbook covered with a square of embroidered crazy patchwork.

I'm so excited!

Winter here in Yorkshire, England is just going on and on and here we are, officially three days into Spring and we have more snow than we've had for years. It started during the night on Thursday and hasn't stopped since. So, to keep my mind off the weather and the fact that it's actually stopping me from going out and doing what I ought to be doing in the garden, I'm concentrating on other things.

Each year our Embroiderer's Guild Region holds a summer school, held in July, where we meet up with folks from other towns in the Yorkshire and Humberside region to spend three lovely days learning a new skill (or revisiting an old favourite) and stitching in beautiful surroundings, meeting old friends and making new ones. There are usually four or five tutors and for the past two years I've spent the weekend learning needlelace with Pat Gibson. This year, however, I'm fortunate to have a place in Owen Davies' class making an embroidered 17th century box garden. This is why I'm excited!

If you're not aware of Owen's work, this is the book he published on the gardens he's made.

 Isn't this amazing?

All embroidered with canvas work and needle lace stitches.

Look at the amazing detail on this brick wall.

Our class is apparently going to be based on the walled garden at Bishop Burton, where we spend the weekend.

Last week I took a trip out to a nearby village to visit my favourite needlework shop and bought this little treasure. The owner goes on regular buying trips to India and that is where this little pocket has come from. It's perfect for holding threads for a project.

Later this year a friend and I are running a workshop on Casalguidi embroidery (not really my decision to do this one) so I thought I'd better practise a bit and this week worked this curvy raised stem bar and some long woven picots. There is more work to be done on this yet, obviously, but I thought I'd show you what I'm currently working on.

There's more activity for the flat above the tea rooms too as I made this comfy armchair and set of pretty fabric covered suitcases.

The armchair still needs to be trimmed with braid but with some pretty cushions I think my tea room owner will be very comfortable.

Yes, there is embroidery

I know that I've not shown you any of my embroidery and, as I'm currently working on a couple of quite large projects, I thought perhaps it was time I showed you the work in progress, rather than waiting for the completed articles. I've been making some very special pieces for someone who I know reads this blog so I can't show you those yet as I don't want to spoil the surprise. However ...

I made another couple of biscornu and I'm calling a halt to this particular project for now. Some of these will probably eventually be put into my Etsy shop but I need to hold onto them until our Embroiderers Guild biennial exhibition in September as they're intended in the short term at least to be table fillers for that event.

I'm  really pleased with how they all look piled into this black ceramic dish.

One of the large projects is a hexagonal casket, which will be covered with fabric (probably silk) with lace motifs stitched onto each section. Here are the motifs ...

Each triangular section of the lid will contain a flower and each of the six side panels will hold a butterfly. There are another three butterflies still to complete. I've made boxes in the past, you've seen some of them pictured on here over the past couple of years, but never a hexagonal one. We have a workshop on box making at the Guild later this month so I'm waiting to see if there is a different/better way to do it before I start putting this together.

When I feel like a change from doing such fine work I've been 'playing' with some experiments in colour using silk fabric (inevitably), beads, stitches and wrapped cords.

 These three are just about finished ...

This one is still in progress ...

and this one is only just begun.
There will be twelve pages in all, I think, and each of those coloured squares will eventually be cut out and mounted onto a larger piece of silk, then made into the pages of a book.

I've also been making some silk paper, which I plan to use as a background fabric for stitching.

This last photograph is a little blurred I'm afraid. I've made some more today in shades of gold and red.

And finally ... some flowers from my garden. We're still in the throes of winter here in Yorkshire and, apart from primroses and snowdrops, this is all that is out there at the moment.

Beautiful hellebores.

Spring makeover and handbags galore

Time to give you an update on progress with the spring makeover in the tea rooms. Well to be honest there hasn't been much progress this week at all as I've spent most of the week making handbags. However ... this is where we're at at the moment.

This was the furniture following its paint job, all sanded to look a little worn and given its final coat of varnish.

The four chairs are heading for the tea room itself.

The rocking chair will look more inviting with cushions and a blanket draped over the back.

I'm particularly pleased with the side table - I even managed to get what looks like a water-mark from a vase of flowers onto the top.

Although now it's dressed it's not so easy to see the water mark.

The book case looks much better with the cupboard doors added to the base and new books filling the shelves.

So here's the room at the moment, with everything back in place - oh, apart from the rocking chair which I left out just so you could see the little shelf unit with its new ornaments in place.

All these handbags are now in my Etsy shop.