A bed for the retreat

My retreat now has a bed - no bedding yet but to be honest I'm so pleased with the bed and its mattress that I'm just enjoying looking at it as it is for the moment.

The design isn't mine ... I found it here on Kris' blog http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/How%20to%20make%20a%201%20inch%20scale%20shabby%20chic%20bed. I still need to sand down the edges a little and dirty it up a bit but I have to say that it was actually a lot easier to make than I thought it was going to be when I first started out.

I also made a little reading corner beneath the stairs. You can't actually see very well but those shelves are crammed with books and storage boxes, and I painted a magazine rack and placed it by the side of the armchair - no magazines yet but there will be before very long. Do you see the paperback book on the chair where it was dropped while the owner went off to make a cup of tea?

 You can see the shelves better on this photo - before I glued the staircase into position.

Saturday stitching roundup

I've decided that I need to get a little more organised - what again?! I hear you cry. I know - it's an ongoing battle, what can I say? So, the plan is that in future I'll post about my stitching projects on Saturdays. Miniatures will go in a separate post and I'd like to say that I'll do that on Mondays (Miniature Monday does make sense) but Mondays are always spent with friends making lace or at the Embroiderers Guild meeting so maybe it will have to be a case of Tuesday's Tinies instead.

Anyhow, here's what I've been working on recently.

As you know, I'm doing an online Sumptuous Surface embroidery course with SharonB and we've now moved onto working in colour, as opposed to the monochrome piece we did during the first three weeks of the course. First, we had to work out a colour scheme. We did this by clipping small squares of images from magazines and from the internet in our chosen colours and putting them together. Then I wrapped threads around a piece of card and stuck these into my workbook along with the magazine snippets. My printer has finally died so I've been a bit hampered in this process and will need to catch up once  the new one is delivered next week so the second of my designs has no images yet other than the photograph of lichen that I included.

I really wanted to use those threads that my friend gave me for my birthday so my first design was of flames so that I could use all those gorgeous reds and yellows.

My second design is inspired by lichen on rocks found on holidays in Scotland - which are just begging to be worked in textured stitches. This design will use the greens and golds and just a hint of orangey-red.

This is probably going to be a series of pieces eventually - earth, fire, air and water and this is the one I decided to begin with. So ... here is the outline for my 'earth' picture already stitched in a lovely hand dyed silk boucle thread.

My regular readers will know that I'm also stitching pieces which are destined for an exhibition of 17th century style embroidery which my branch of the Embroiderers Guild is planning for next year. I love doing Blackwork, so that's what I started with.

Blackwork was first found as early as the 15th and 16th centuries but was still popular in the 17th and I'm working on a very popular 17th century design - the tree of life. The ground beneath the lion isn't quite finished yet, as you can see, but it will be by the end of this weekend.

And here's another snail. I have no idea why snails were so popular in the 17th century! They're certainly not popular in my garden as, yet again, they've munched their way through all my delphinium stems (though I do enjoy stitching them).

Birthday presents

Last week was my birthday and both my son and daughter came to visit for a few days, which is why I've been absent for a while. I thought I'd share pictures of some of my presents ... the sewing related ones at least.

 My daughter bought me these tins to hold my silk lace threads. Aren't they just beautiful?!

My son bought me this kit for a stitch sampler book from Jane Greenoff. I've been regretting not having bought this when I first saw it at the Knit and Stitch show in Harrogate last year but felt I couldn't really afford it. I'm being very strong-willed at the moment and haven't actually started stitching it yet as I'm working on other pieces and trying hard to finish them before starting something new but I'm really not sure how long I'll hold out.

One of the friends who comes round to my house every week to stitch lace with me gave me this book on Casalguidi embroidery. We're hoping to go to a class on this later in the year so the book might give me a head start - or help afterwards to remember what I was taught. The sweetie jars are filled with threads and beads - see below. Aren't they gorgeous? And a brilliant way to present them too. I normally wind my threads onto little cards and then file them away in boxes but the jars look so good on my display shelves that I can't really bear to do that just yet.

There wasn't much in the way of minis going on while my family were here but I've been catching up a little this week so there's a little progress to show on the retreat.

I got the windows and deck rails painted and was able to finally attach the deck to the front wall. Of course, I couldn't resist playing with some of the furniture I'm planning to put out here.

 There's a table and chairs for all those al fresco meals ...

 The wicker chair looks so inviting by the plant table - no plants yet but they'll be coming soon.

Upstairs I've fixed a rail around the top of the stairwell to avoid accidental falls in the night.

and a telephone on the unit at the bottom of the stairs.

I've also been busy stitching my cat picture for the Sumptuous Surfaces embroidery course I'm doing. This has been such fun to do and I really learned a lot about the design process.

Now we begin to work with colour and this week's lesson is all about colour theory, so again lots of new ideas to think about. I'm currently playing with tiny squares cut from magazines to make up colour schemes for my next piece of embroidery, but I'll show you those in a few days time when I've got a little further with it all.

The Retreat

There's just a little progress to report on in the retreat this week. 

The kitchen is finished! The sink has a splash back, taps and a waste pipe and the space underneath the sink has a bucket, dustpan and brush. I've put a packet of washing powder under there too since I took the photograph. The kettle is on the hob and the pot is warming ready to brew the tea. The dresser is filled with groceries and a big bowl of fruit. There are even biscuits in the biscuit tin. I'm quite pleased with the way this area of the retreat is looking now. Maybe I'll hang that shabby little sign up on that wall though as it looks a little bare at the moment.

I've also been making a settee to sit opposite the chair. This is not quite finished yet and eventually it will have a throw draped across it ready for snuggling up in in the cooler evening air.

I also made this cute little tea tray for my Etsy shop.
The rest of the week has been taken up painting the big windows for the front wall of the retreat and the railings which fit around the deck - still not finished and certainly not worth showing you.

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.

Retreat progress

I have been so busy recently with my cat design for my new embroidery course that the miniatures have taken a bit of a back seat. There is a little progress in the retreat however.

I've finished the flooring in the bedroom at last, and am now trying to work out what I can put in those tight angles between floor and roof. I've tried some storage boxes, and a little table. I know that I really need to make the bed and get that in place so I can see exactly what space I have left to work with before making any final decisions but I couldn't resist playing a little.

Downstairs I've made the range cooker. The sink unit still needs a splashback on the wall and the taps fixed but the curtain is in place and a bucket stored inside the cupboard.

The kitchen area is now almost complete.

I couldn't resist making this shabby little sign for the wall.

There's also a mirror on the wall at the foot of the stairs with a little storage unit beneath it and a set of shelves which just fit in the space underneath the stairs. Lots of books and rolls of fabric needed to fill these.

A new venture

Yesterday I began an online embroidery course run by Sharon B at www.pintangle.com. The course is entitled Sumptuous Surfaces and a big part of the purpose, for me at least, in taking this is to learn more about the design process. I've designed things in the past but it's always been kind of intuitive, or accidental, or something, but I've never known the 'theory' of the process.

Lesson 1 is all about that design process and at last I have a framework in which to work and suddenly it all makes sense. For the first three weeks of the course we work in monotone, which doesn't necessarily mean we have to work in neutral shades, though that is what I've gathered together. It's all about the texture so there are soft cottons, crochet threads, perles, chenille, rayons, linens and metallic threads. I think perhaps I need something a bit darker in there too but until I've decided on a final design I'm not sure.

My first piece is going to be based on a cat (surprise, surprise!!) so this morning I sat down with a cup of tea and mind-mapped some ideas about cats.

What struck me particularly from this exercise were the contradictions inherent in a cat's nature - independent/demanding; aloof/affectionate; wild/domesticated etc. and I want to incorporate some of that in my design. Watch this space for further developments.