It's been a while!

It's been a little while since my last blog, but I have been pretty busy. I've been spending my days sewing and embellishing my embroidery samples, and where the time goes while your sitting sewing I'll never know! I've made quite good progress with my 3rd piece under way and 1st and 2nd are almost done. I hope to start my 4th sample next week, but time is ticking and still need to trim and mount my work eek.

Over Easter I went with my family to Twycross Zoo, somewhere I've not been before. It was a great day out and we saw lots of animals including this magnificent giraffe. It was a very hot day though and ice creams were needed. There was also lots of shady places needed for the animals and humans to retreat too when it got all too much. We did find the elusive Snow Leopard, fast asleep in a shady spot.

Sewing the day away.

Since breaking up for Easter I've been doing a lot of sewing. This design was inspired by Japanese wineberries. I've enjoyed spending time calmly sewing, but I'm very conscious that time soon flies by and yet it can look like you've not made much progress, especially if hand embroidering. However I will keep going and will now move onto my second piece and go back into this one, once I have a few more pieces well on the way.

To keep other parts of my brain active and free from boredom, also so I don't get too much eye strain I have the TV on, but daytime TV is a bit naff, perhaps the Poirot dvd's will have to come out!

And so to thread!

It's time to get sewing! The second part of my project involves embroidery and time to sit and ponder as I sew, ( and rest the poor tired knees, which have been aching like mad from standing for long periods).

I am combining print with stitch and introducing some typography too, which is something a little unusual for me. I often put words on my drawing sheets, but they never seem to make it onto my patterns. I'm also looking forward to using my Madeira threads and my ever growing collection of beads and bits.

The contraption in the image, that is kindly holding my embroidery and hoop, is affectionately known as the dinosaur. A very lovely friend of mine, has lent it to me and it's a great help, as you have two free hands to sew with. This means I don't suffer from quite as much back ache or stiff shoulders whilst sewing.

Inspiration for embroidery

I am about to embark onto the embroidery side of my project and I have been looking at some contemporary embroiderers. As I was researching I was reminded of the work of Louise Gardiner, top image. Her work is full of quirky characters and interesting combinations of techniques. I love her bird embroideries, they all seem to have been portrayed in such a way, that they each have a little personality of their own. I love her mix of techniques too. Take a peek at her work and I'm sure you'll find something to inspire you too!

Also if you like felt and bold bright colours take a look at applique originals, Jane's work is fun and has a lovely simplicity to it. She is a local artist and has some of her brooches for sale in the Biscuit Factory gallery. The bottom picture is an example of her work.

It's interesting to see the way two different people have interpreted an image of an owl too.

CCAD Textile and Surface Design Degree Show 2011: Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap...

CCAD Textile and Surface Design Degree Show 2011:

Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap...: "Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap shots of them at work...Impressive stuff guys! Silk screen printing is definately hard wo..."

Final lengths!

FINAL LENGTHS!!! These are the two scariest words in this project so far, HAND-IN are two more, but I'm not worrying about that just yet. The last few days at college have been a bit nerve racking, but I decided it was time to tackle my lengths. I started with a simpler design the "Sycamore" which has just one silk screen. The trick was to get the pattern lined up correctly and the devore paste on evenly. As you can see it seems to have worked out well, phew!

The "Clematis" design was a little more complicated with 3 silk screens needed to build up the design. After a day of do I don't I print this as a length, I bit the bullet and here we are, another one done. There are a few bits that aren't as perfect as I would like, but it adds character to the print and shows it's been hand done. The fresh spring green compliments the green of the "Sycamore" design so that they work as a complimenting pair.

Indian Textiles

I really enjoyed watching this tonight, really inspiring! Griff Rhys Jones travelling around India and discovering traditional textile printing and embroidery.

Image Guardian.co.uk