Christmas and catching up

I seem to be doing a lot of that lately - catching up.  The lead up to Christmas has been really busy, and especially so the last 10 days.  

On the creative front I made a few Christmas presents this year and also a Christmas tree decoration.  Don't you love it when the Christmas tree goes up?  I love rediscovering the decorations we've had for years and ones I've received from friends.  

If you look towards the top right hand side of the photo above you'll see the cloth Christmas tree decoration I made.  It was so simple, just two half circles of cloth sewn together and turned through and then the curved edge brought across to the straight edge in such a way as to create several folds backwards and forwards.  Voila!  It resembles a tree and a few beads completes the effect.  I made a couple of these for friends and used tiny bells from what was supposed to be a cat's Christmas collar to give it a bit of a jingle.

In the photo above is a daft decoration I made last year that I had completely forgotten about, probably because it crippled my hands to do it.  I scrunched up paper into a ball and then glued tissue paper over that.  It was finished off by glueing sequins, beads and pieces of broken jewellery and shisha mirrors to give it some sparkle.  Not difficult and a bit of fun.  

At the beginning of December I did a class at Stitchcraft with Wendy Coyne and made a very easy but efffective box. 

Inside the box you end up with a tiny triangular pocket at each corner.  I've since made a second box with lace layered onto felt for the inside surface and I've covered the flaps with buttons and beads.  I thought I had a photograph of it but can't seem to find it.  It's gone to my stepmum for her Christmas present so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was very pretty.

Early in December my Mum's care home had a local school bring their choir to sing carols for the residents and everone had a great time.

I don't know how they did it but 25 children and two teachers crammed into the lounge with the residents.  The children came from St Mary's Junior School and sang beautifully.  My Mum joined in with some of the carols and I tried to sing but had a huge lump in my throat.  Can't imagine why!

Last week was the busiest of all.  First was a return to the care home for Mum's Christmas tea, then a fabulous trip to Leeds to see Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.  I have been a fan for years so it was wonderful to see them live.  The show was at the new Leeds Arena which is huge but a much pleasanter venue than some of the other arenas. 

We had good seats quite high up but at the front so we could see everything.   We even managed to get ourselves on those big screens waving our Union Jack about during one of the numbers.

Excuse the glare where the stage is, phones are not perfect at recording.  I was intrigued by how the orchestra get onto the stage and now I know.

 The Youtube clip is Andre's tribute to Nelson Mandela which formed part of the concert and which was a tour de force by the soloist, Kimmy Skota.

Andre Rieu gives a fabulous concert and by the end there is a real party atmosphere.  Some people missed the last half hour as they believed Andre when he took a 'final' bow.  They ignored our assurances that the concert would continue which it did within less than a minute.   Our local coach company A and P Travel are organising a trip to Andre's home town Maastricht in Holland for his 10th anniversary concert there in July next year and we've already booked to go.  It should be something special!

Saturday saw us on a coach trip to London to enjoy a Christmas Carol Singalong at the Royal Albert Hall.  Again we were lucky with our seats which were near to the stage.

We had a bit of a wait before the auditorium doors opened.

I was really pleased that our seats were in the stalls and not up the top.  The white squares everywhere are the songsheets.

As you can see we were right near the main action alongside the orchestra.  I'd never been to this event before and it was more like the Last Night of the Proms and lots of fun.  

Sunday saw us in Hyde Park having a walk round the extravaganza that is Winter Wonderland, another new event to us.  It was a cold and breezy day but Hyde Park looked at its best.  

No, we didn't go on the big wheel!

We weren't able to get into the Magical Ice Kingdom as all the tickets had sold for the day but we had a lovely walk round taking in the atmosphere and then went for a walk round the Serpentine.

This is part of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial garden and water feature.  

These must be a very early species of snowdrop in flower in time for Christmas.

As we went back to the coach to come home we passed the monument to the terrible bombings in London in 2005.

There is a post for each life lost and the time of the incident.  The names of the lost are commemorated on a slate tablet nearby.  A moment for quiet contemplation in  the middle of all the excitement of Christmas.

Well, the shops are now all shut and there's nothing left to do but to hope that the bad weather doesn't upset too many plans.  We are seeing Mum tomorrow and will then be spending Boxing Day with her and all the family, not least her great grandsons. 

I hope my nephew will forgive me for 'borrowing' his photograph.  Callum, Max and Duke, in case you were wondering.

Whatever you have planned for the next couple of days I hope you have the best time you can have with people who are special to you or doing what makes your heart glad.

Merry Christmas

Curves and Leaves

It's been an eventful couple of weeks since I last posted although I have been trying to slow down a bit after our trip to Cornwall.  I had a bit of a reaction to the hectic time away and thought I'd better heed the warning and put the brakes on a bit.  Consequently I decided that I wouldn't go up to Harrogate for the Knitting and Stitching Show this weekend.  I'm hoping there will be some blog posts around so that I can enjoy it vicariously.  Don't worry, I'm back to my usual state of health so there's no problem just need to pace myself and not take on the world!

Happily after my blip I was able to take a Friday Fun workshop at Stitchcraft yesterday.  'Take' as in 'Teach'.  The workshop was concerned with free form curved piecing using a flat seam.  I had 7 ladies which was just enough and not too many to get round in the time.  After a bit of a chat and demo from me they set to and produced some great pieces.

Christine made this beautiful panel above which will become the centrepiece of a cushion.  Christine was fairly new to quilting and stitching so she did really well.

Elaine had some beautiful fabrics that she incorporated into this lovely piece above.  She got a good variety in her curves.

I discovered that I already 'knew' Jackie, who used these gorgeous African fabrics , through a mutual friend who I have been having playdays with.  It's a small world!  Jackie intends to take her cutter to this piece and insert some cross sections.  Give it some attitude!

Joan, who comes to the Sit and Stitch days at Stitchcraft usually makes very traditional quilts and wanted to free herself up.  She's certainly done that with this fabulous little landscape.  Joan, you're a natural! Look at the variety of curves and the movement she's achieved.

Maureen is a member of Wing Quilters and worked so quickly she was able to layer and quilt her piece ready for binding.  She used some beautiful batiks and has got some lovely movement through this scene.  Maureen said as she left it was the best fun she'd had in two hours in a long time.  I was delighted and also blushing.

Nichola, above, was not familiar with this way of working but produced a lovely seascape with a good use of fussy cutting some of the fabrics.

Last but not least Sue made this lively landscape with a mountain range.  I thought she was quite brave to include the fairly deep peaks and between us we decided one or two judicious clips would help the fabrics come together.  

I was so nervous at the start of this workshop and my mouth got so dry that I could hardly speak at one point but I think it went well. Everyone seemed pleased with what they had achieved in the time and there may be a chance to take this technique further in a future workshop.  

As I had decided not to go to Harrogate today I have been pottering around tidying up a little in my sewing room and finishing off a Linus quilt. (No picture yet).  I also took the weights (books) off a pressing of leaves I had set up a few days ago.

The paper is still very wet as it has been sandwiched between waxed paper to stop the books getting wet.  As you can see there were some subtle marks showing through which made me think it hadn't been particularly successful.

How wrong could I be?  The beech leaves didn't work very well but that may be because they need longer to break down but the (?)sycamore leaves have made some lovely marks.   I've still got some more leaves that I've managed to keep moist so I think I will set this up again with some fabric.  I may try some leaf hammering too! Oh and some Gelli Plate printing.  Watch this space!

(Just so you know, I soaked the Khadi paper in the bath for about an hour before I drained it off and set the leaves on it.) 

Have a good week and keep warm if winter is catching up with you.

Three go on an adventure!

Just over a week ago two friends and I set off on an adventure to Cornwall to take a workshop with Anne Griffiths who teaches embroidery, amongst other things.  I had booked the course way back in March and thought the months would never pass but finally the day arrived and Wendy, Tina and I set off. 

The terrible duo enjoying a free day in St Ives :-) (I was there too).

The venue was a beautiful farm complex on the hills above Mevagissey.

The studio was on the top floor and accommodation on the ground floor, with further accommodation in cottages on site.

This was our working (and living) space, with a lounge area at the far end and the kitchen behind me.  If nothing else I got plenty of exercise over the course of the week going backwards and forwards between the various areas.  

Unfortunately the week didn't go quite as planned as bad weather stopped us getting onto the beach as planned on the first day, so we had to resort to existing experiences of the beach and finds we had brought with us.

Our first task was indigo dyeing, which I hadn't tried before and I've got some interesting results.

 A previously procion dyed orange and blue piece from Wendy overdyed in indigo using rubber bands for resists.

 A dip-dyed doilly that I was going to cut up but now I'm having second thoughts.

I was delighted with this silk velvet piece above that I used bottle tops and rubber bands on to create resists.

I intend to use the piece above in a vertical orientation to suggest waves or movemnet underwater.  Horizontal lines were stitched across it and the threads pulled up firmly to make the resists.

 It's difficult to show you the fabric above.  It's silk organza that was first dyed in onion skins, again with rubber band resist, and then unrolled and re-rolled, rubber banded and dyed in the indigo.  The marks I have got are very subtle and fade out across the fabric.

The marks above were made with Fast Black K (a type of potassium) which leaves a reddish tint when washed through.  Anne has made extensive use of this in her work.   I havn't yet washed my piece at all.  

 If you are wondering what the marks are underneath the fabrics above they are drawings from an online workshop I have been trying to keep up with with Dionne Swift.  More of that later.

Sketchbook work followed spurred on by Anne's own work and ideas garnered from being in a group situation.

 Collage fishes with a dorset button sea creature,

Wing needle stitching on silko fabric using some pre-programmed stitches,

 My favourite, suffolk puff-style pebbles in pre-dyed fabrics.

 Self explanatory, scallop shells used as stencils,

Spirally sea-creaturish stitching which merits more work,

My very own sea monster made with a wing needle in scrim and trapped sequins.

 A hessian weaving above which I loved doing and will work with further, given time enough to play.  I pulled out threads on the warp and weft to make room for my threads and fabrics.  

This weaving was made before I went, on a peg loom, and is just a very small sample.  Lots more potential here too.

This piece is about 12" tall and incorporates a piece that I started with Shelley Rhodes (how long ago was that!).  It still needs a little tweaking, maybe at the bottom to balance the bulk at the top but I really like it.  It feels a bit American Indian in a dream-catcher kind of way. (Or should that be Native American?).

If you know anything about me you'll know that my heart is in a certain town in Cornwall and the wonderful Wendy whisked us off for a day of fun and frolic and not a little laughter on our day off.  It was a wonderful sunny day in St Ives and yes, we did manage to get in a little beachcombing (and a pub lunch).

You may be wondering how much stuff three textile artists can cram into a Honda car and above is part of the answer, not to mention 3 suitcases, coats, cardigans, wellies and shopping!  Not forgetting us! lol

The week was challenging, informing, educational, fun and sometimes frantic and we all made new friends and renewed old ones. The venue was Bodrugan Barton and the studio is available to hire for workshops or retreats (or even for family holidays).