Other things

I write this blog for myself to record what I’m doing and right now I need to focus; I’ve been dabbling in too many things. Or, perhaps I’ve just been learning new skills. Here they are! A proud moment – I followed a knitting pattern – hooray – to make this lovely coat for Gwen, our Greyhound. Maybe a bit big underneath, but you need to get her legs in somehow and its easily adjusted by fixing to the inside of the rib instead of the outside. Excuse the peg tin balancing on her head!

Then I’ve been weaving diamonds with Alice @humelooms. This was an online workshop and completed with Alice telling us when to go under and over – Not sure I’d be able to do it again!

Then I decided that I would use some of the money I had placed with West Dean College for a course that didn’t happen last year and signed up to a Small Twined Baskets Zoom day with Mary Crabb. It was a really nice day making 2 “big toe” sized baskets out of paper string, using basketry techniques. Something nice to do with your hands. I like the little round bottomed basket.

Last year I purchased some Indian woodblocks from the Arty Crafty Place. They work with artisans in India to commission the blocks and then show you what you can do with them in a series of videos. Well worth visiting the website to take a look. I decided that I was going to make some gifts for friends but hadn’t got much beyond stamping a few cards, until now. I made this t-towel for a friend – she is probably wondering what’s wrong with me – I didn’t tell her it was hand printed!

I also attended a 4 week workshop, Adventures in Goldwork with Hanny Newton at Ardington College but I’ll save that for another day!

Merry Christmas 2020

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, the best one you can have in the circumstances.

From MRes to kits

Before anyone had heard of Covid this year, I was about to sign up to a Creative Industries MRes at the University of Portsmouth where I was planning on exploring something along the lines of information seeking behaviours articulated through stitch. I’d spoken to course leaders, started reading books on material research methods and then the pandemic hit. Everything turned on its head and worst of all, my sewing room turned into my office. I knew I had a lot of work to do this year and so the MRes was cast aside. My sewing mojo dwindled drastically, although I kept on with a bit of knitting – something to do in front of the TV and a bit of sneaky webinar sewing to help keep me calm. By the end of the year, I was doing kits! I hate following rules, but anyway. My dad sent me a seagull kit for Easter and I felt obliged to do it. The scary thing is I enjoyed it!

Then there were all of those online craft shows… I attended a Punch Needle Workshop for Beginners by Lucy Rowan. I had all of the kit, just hadn’t ever really got around to doing it properly. A simple task where this time, I actually made the wool stay in the fabric! I also learnt how to bind a hoop and made this piece of wall art.

I can see that this will be useful for incorporating into sewing projects and maybe some weavings too, so I must remember to try it out in the new year.

Nansen Hill

Our first trip out was on my birthday – just after lockdown was eased a little. We took a flask of coffee and some lemon cake and drove to this lovely spot just outside of Ventnor.

Sometimes, I just get the urge to get my oil pastels out and that day was one of them. I chose water-soluble oil pastels to record my visit from memory, adding the route, I felt we had taken – the black lines.

There were some elements that stuck in my head that day, can you spot them in the pictures below? I didn’t take a photo of my lemon cake – but its in there!

The thing is, I don’t mind if you can’t spot them, I enjoyed the process. The pastels have a child-like quality and remove my fear of drawing. I chopped the piece into 8 for some little projects to weave or stitch. There’s already a weaving underway.

 

Big Bird!

My ‘sew-in’ friends encouraged me to show them what I learned at a workshop last year –  how to make a bird. I was well outside my comfort zone trying to show them how to wind wire together and not really being strong enough to do it myself. Nevertheless, it worked well even if the wire armatures were a bit bendy. Adding the fabric was the bit everyone was looking forward to. One of the group used up some fabric she had screenprinted.  It was really effective, but was very hard to stitch through and her first lesson was not to do that again! Its amazing how starting out with the same template you get quite different birds. This time, mine was quite a giant! I put him on a wood block I found on the beach and made some bunting out of machine wrapped wire and fabric off cuts to finish off the base.

burst

Merry Christmas 2019!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

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I made this little bird, only 8 months after my favourite workshop of 2019!

 

Repurposing

The market at the top of Causeway Head in Penzance, always yields something of interest. On the last visit I purchased an old framed embroidery which was looking rather worse for wear in the £1.00 section. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with it and then a flash of inspiration came to me as my husband handed me yet another pair of jeans for the rag pile.

I cut the image from the frame – it was very snug and beautifully laced on the back – a needle even fell out. The colours of the threads were much brighter too, so it was lovely to see.

I decided that it suited the colour of the old denim and so I set to work trying to remember how to approach a ‘log cabin’. Possibly should have sampled first!

My old City & Guilds sample came in handy. I decided not to be too adventurous on making the cushion and followed a nice video from Women’s Weekly .Who knew they had handy sewing videos free to watch online? On the back, I used scraps left over from making a dress – lovely big red roses!

Guldusi: Connecting Afghan culture with the World

I came across the organisation, Guldusi, in a recent edition of Embroidery. The project aims to help women in Afghanistan earn a living by selling their beautiful embroideries. The current projects encourage fibre artists in Europe to purchase an embroidery to incorporate into their own work. So, when my husband asked what I’d like for Christmas, I sent him to the website to choose a piece for me. He was a bit overwhelmed at the amount of choice but he selected well.  I don’t think a bad choice was possible. The work is exquisite and characteristic of the region with its Persian eyelets. I’m not quite sure what to do with it yet.  I don’t want anything I add to overwhelm the original design. Watch this space…

He also bought me a book of the latest exhibition, Gardens Around the World. A fascinating look at how each piece of work evolved. It was started by a European embroidery, sent to a woman in Afghanistan who added to the work and then returned to the European woman, who started it, to finish the piece. You can see how some partnerships let the work evolve, whilst others took charge and reordered the final piece. I’m hoping to get working on something for the next project, Keep Your Eye on the Planet.  Perhaps you’d like to get involved too?

 

Proddy Rag Rug

Finally, 20 months after I started, I’ve finished my rag rug! It looks lovely next to the Victorian fireplace on the dark red carpet in my bedroom, but I won’t be making another. If you need something to keep you warm over the winter, then its a great thing to work on but if, like me, you have a dust allergy or you’re just very house proud, I wouldn’t do it. The technique I learnt at Penelope Davis’s workshop using an anti-slip mat for the backing was much better than using hessian, in terms of dust. I just can’t believe how much fabric it took though. Thankfully, my husband gets through lots of sweatshirts – the benefit of working over a longer period of time, you get to collect more clothes and remnants. I just hope the dog doesn’t take a fancy to it. He loves all of my handmade rugs but this one will malt forever!

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Back

Supporting Ventnor Botanic Garden’s horticultural apprenticeship scheme

Spotted an advert in the local newspaper wanting artists to support Ventnor Botanic Garden‘s horticultural apprenticeship scheme. Work has to be A5 and fit in a C5 envelope. It can be in any medium and will be sold for £50. If you want to support this cause, all pieces should be received at the gardens by Friday, May 19th. Further information can be obtained from philthepitts@icloud.com

Although the design can be of any subject, I thought flowers would be appropriate. I chose the beautiful book, Fabric of India as my source of inspiration and decided to work a simple motif in stranded thread on calico. It gave the opportunity to make another piece of patching and piecing which is useful for so many things including framing small works. The biggest challenge for me, as ever, was working to a fixed size,  I just about managed it.  It fits successfully in a C5 envelope anyway!