Stitching news

I've been pretty busy stitching this last week. As you know, I'm doing the sumptuous surface embroidery course with Sharon B from pintangle.com so I've been working on my cat picture. I now have a whole series of cats ...

I have a cat who's intrigued by a butterfly ...

 I have a cat who's birdwatching through the window ... and ...

I have a cat who's about to pounce on a ball.

but I've chosen to begin stitching my 'disinterested' cat - cream on cream. The cat itself will be 'negative space', i.e. not filled in at all. The upper part of the picture is going to be stitched in low relief pulled thread stitches while the lower part of the piece will be filled with highly textured stitches - all in neutral shades.

The second piece we do on the course is in colour so I'm probably going to work the cat chasing the butterfly for that one as it will be set in a garden - so lots of colour.

 I stitched an orchid in needlelace and I shall make more of these I think as it was such fun to make.

I've also been working on a fabric book, which is almost finished now, but I'll show you that when it's completed.

Last week a friend and I went to the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield, which is where my friend lives. If you live in the UK and get the chance to visit, it's well worth a trip. It's named after Barbara Hepworth, the sculptor, whose work is heavily featured in the gallery, but there is also work by other contemporary artists and sculptors. If you're not familiar with Barbara Hepworth's work, here is a taster.

 If you've visited London you may have seen the full size version of the piece in the picture above on the wall of the John Lewis store.

Her work is perhaps not to everyone's taste but I think that some of these pieces are just waiting to be interpreted in stitch.