I Haven't Been Here for a While...

... so much so I forgot how it worked and have had to have lessons from my grown up children!


I am busy up loading chapters to my Module Six Blog and completing the Wall Hanging which should be on show at Summer School.


This is coming up very soon!


Suffice to say I am being very creative!


Looking forward to meeting up with all my fellow Distant Stitchers

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat where have you been...

Well actually Patches the cat stayed at home but I've been globe trotting...

So since my last post I been looking after ailing parents up North in between travelling to the States to exhibit the Magna Carta Quilts which were an important part of my life last year.

October found me in Houston, Texas

at the George R Brown Convention Centre

where the world renown International Quilt Festival is held.

We had been invited to show the quilts as a special exhibition

and what an honour that was!

Quilt Market and Quilt Festival

Myself, Paula Doyle, Kate Martin, Sheila Roberton and Carole Montague,

a small contingent of The Ladies of the Quilts, gave talks and guided tours of the quilts to the visitors

The Magna Carta Quilts take the Golden Cause of the Magna Carta

as the theme throughout each of the eight quilts.

This is one of the three remaining of the sixty clauses still in British Law today.

The right to be tried by your Peers.

Habeas Corpus - that no one should be imprisoned unlawfully

The Medieval Quilts

These quilts tell the tale of King John from the death of his Brother Richard

 to the enthronement of his Son Henry III

The Legacy Quilts

These quilts have portraits of People throughout history and the world

 who have fought for Human Rights

 

 

The Thames Mosaic

The Medieval & Legacy Quilts are double sided and show

the Thames from Windsor to Staines upon Thames.

The blocks are our way of raising money for the upkeep of the quilts

and also as a fund raiser for Liberty the UK Human Rights Charity.

After the Houston Quilt Festival the quilts were invited to be exhibited at

The Texas Quilt Museum, La Grange, Texas

The quilts were on show until the end of March.

The quilts were on their travels again all the way to Chicago for the Quilt Festival

at the Donald E Stephenson Convention Centre.

It was great to see the quilts again, a bit like meeting up with old friends.

 

The show was a great success with both Paula and Myself chatting

to enthusiastic Quilters from every State in the USA.

At the end of the week the Quilts were packed away to travel back to Blighty.

 

They have arrived home safe and sound

and will be making an appearance in Egham

for this year's Magna Carta Festival.

June 7th June-17th June 2016

at the Unitarian Church, Egham High Street.

In August they will be making an appearance

at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.

If you are going please drop by the exhibition and say 'Hello'

And now it's back to the 'normality' of ecclesiastical embroidery

and my City & Guild's Module 6 wall hanging...

Hello!

Well that was a slightly longer interlude than I was expecting, but hey! I'm back!

Totally re-energised from another brilliant Distant Stitch Summer School I will be downloading images later of what I created.  Shelley Rhodes is a very generous tutor and enabled me to find my mojo again. So Module Six of the certificate is in my sights and ready to be blown out of the water!

Here we go...

Urchfont–Summer School 2012

 

Here is my first attempt with Live Writer

More later

Home

It was an interesting journey home as Ludgershall was closed as the Olympic flame was passing which stopped my planned route to the M3, but not to be availed I rerouted to Hungerford and the M4. Once on the M4 the heavens opened and lightening was seen through the spray! Now emptying bags and planning for Module 6 - will download photographs and download Live Writer later and will have a go at loading up the pictures, fingers crossed. Thanks to Sian for planning another successful Summer School, thanks to Sandra Meech for being such a generous tutor - I have lots of ideas and new techniques to try, and a big thank-you to the staff of Urchfont Manor who, under the cloud of redundancy, gave such great service and food to die for! My compliments to the Chef!

Urchfont - The Final Visit

Putting together equipment, fabrics and threads ready for the Sandra Meech workshop during my final visit to Urchfont. I hope it will be as fun as it has always been, but can't help feeling the melancholy of it not being there anymore after September. But on a more cheerful note - hands up who's going to be there?

Remember this?

Last September?

It became this...

Jacobean Crewel work

and here are close ups of each detail

It was great fun to do and gave me the chance to play with embroidery stitches

which I don't get to do as often as I like, especially during the design and paper sample

stages of the C & G modules

Having said that Chapter 9 and 10 of Module 5 have been fun if not very colourful!

See the Module 5 blog for details

Happy Monday

Finally downloaded photos from the new camera.

Yes I know I got it for Christmas but ...

Anyway  new Chapters added to Module 5 blog

Chpt 8 - Chpt 11

Still can't figure out how, after I've rotated the photos on the computer Blogger still wants to show them on their sides.  Don't blame me if you get neck strain!!!!!

And this is why the labour pains are worth it in the end...

Sirloin Steak with Olive Mash and Watercress

Victoria Sandwich

Main meal cooked by 14 year old Son using Jamie Oliver recipe

and cake cooked by 17 year old Daughter from her Great Gran-ma's Bero baking booklet

It was one of the best Mothering Sundays, I was very proud 

Threads

Thank-you for your thoughts on thread organisation, I have made the following decision...

I shall separate my collection into three groups

Machine Threads and Threads Used for Business

Thankfully already organinsed in a lovely drawer unit, all other threads used in the designs kept separate from rest of workroom 

Specialised Embroidery Project Threads

Silk Shading

Gold Work

Black Work

Crewel Work

Textile Art Project Threads

All Other Kinds of "Sewing", "Crouching", "Weaving", etc threads and ribbons will be kept in "Colourways"

This will make life easier as I can grab a colour knowing a variety of threads will be available for whatever I am creating, plus I won't have to waste time collecting and returning them to their original boxes, also the threads I gathered for Summer School, won't now need "tidying up"(hangs head in shame)!  I hadn't needed to use them as I am working with white threads at present - honest!

So now will arrange the drawers from "Type Of Threads" into "Colours" - "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" - last two put together in a purple drawer!

Seriously considering sorting beads, wires, buttons, eyelets and other stuff used in the creative process into colourway drawers too so I can just grab a drawer when the creative urge grabs me!

Feel free to use this system if, like mine,your threads are currently in a bit of a mess!

Happy New Year...

...I'm spending the first few days of the year - now that everyone is back to work, college and school - putting my workroom to rights.  I'm nearly there, but I have a tricky problem of what to do with my threads.  Most of them are currently in colourways - same colour different types of threads, some are mixtures of colours but in the same type of thread.  Dilema!

Do I spend time putting colour sets back to type or put the types into colourways? 

How do you store yours?

Missing in Action...

I can't believe I've not blogged since 11th September!

I have been checking up on my favourite bloggers but not had much to say, so I did't!

Plenty of stitchery has been going on...

Just been downloading 300 photographs and will be posting something of interest soon

For those cat lovers out there, here's the cat that has adopted me!

Celebrating Hope and Courage

Today is my Dad's birthday

Obviously every 11th September has a bitter sweet edge to it since 2001,

but it's my Dad's birthday and I hope he has had a lovely day while on his holiday.

He deserves it.

And celebrating the madness that is the excentric Englishman I turn to David Walliams who is swimming the Thames for Sport Relief. I had the honour of seeing him today as he swam through Shepperton Lock. How proud I feel - not sure why as we are not related or have even met, but I feel a great sence of admiration for the folly of what he is doing. What with Weil's Disease and signage everywhere on the river banks forbidding swimming you have to agree he must be quite mad. But using the old adage "It's for a good cause!" I suppose the least I could do was give a donation and clap and cheer him on his way. He is expected to complete his journey tomorrow at Big Ben, (St. Stephen's Tower). I shall be monitoring his movements via Twitter and raise a cup of tea in salute when he gets there!

Come on David! You can do it!

A rather tired David navigates the lock and goes for a sit down and a cup of tea with his Mother and Doctor Who (Peter Davidson!) What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon

So here's hoping Dad has continuing good health

and David has lots of courage to complete his challenge.

And to the survivors and families of 9/11 you are in my prayers

Good Night.

Goldwork Update

This is the last Goldwork Update for a while, unless I can find a way to complete 4 new orders, my City & Guild course work, my new venture and not sleep!

So it's off to the WiP pile until time allows.

Leaf 2

I've also added cut work to some of the stem padding

Not to far to go now, the end is in sight.

Design Teaser

Can you see what it is yet?

Design created, tracing made and pricked.

Fabric being stretched.

Currently deciding which stitches and which coloured wools are going where.

This is not a project, this is a serious piece of work...

...and there are 8 weeks to do it!

This was week One, I shall give you a weekly update - weekly!

Goldwork Update

So at the end of Day 5 of the Gold Work Course the sampler looked like this...

and some may have wondered if any more would have been done

- would it be added to the W.I.P. pile?

The answer to that is no, I have continued to cover the padding and so far the "flowers" and "leaves" look like this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

making the whole sampler look like this...

Still plenty to do so I'll post more photos when there is more progress!

Holiday Over, Back to Reality

I've been away from the computer for most of August

After a wonderful week at the Royal School of Needlework I was back down to earth with washing and packing for our annual holiday.

This year was Longleat Center Parcs, the one I usually go to for my girlie weekend in Oct/Nov.

We had a lovely villa with a great view from the patio

We awoke on the first morning to find this deer outside of our window

The weather was interesting to say the least and on the Thursday when we were supposed to be canoeing - rain stopped play! - we ended up playing 18 holes of very crazy golf instead

Rain didn't stop play here but added a serious hazard that even Rory McIlroy would have trouble with and as for retrieving the ball from the hole - when we finally found it - was a very wet experience indeed.

On the last morning we had a "good bye" from the duckings and their mother.

They had visited daily to check we were enjoying ourselves

The rest of our holiday time has been spent visiting the Parents up in the North West.

We are blessed to still have a full set each living in the same village.

and spent a lovely evening playing dominoes.

Keeping it traditional

It's always good to spend time with Mum and Dad especially after the last two years of the medical upheaval of breast cancer - both of them! - and the subsequent difficulties of the chemo and radiotherapy that my Dad endured. All now is well and we hope they will be taking up the invitation of sharing Christmas with us.

Goldwork Day 5

I have had an amazing week at the Royal School of Needlework, the intense ,yet fun, Gold Work course with people from Canada, America, Kuwait, Sweden, New Zealand, Austrailia and of course the UK was brilliant. What can I say about the Tutor Owen? He is a very talented embroiderer who is very generous with his time and talents. Should you be thinking of taking a course at the RSN, DO IT! All the tutors are trained to the highest standards, know their subject and are very helpful.

Embellishments to the Padding

Embroidery silks with Pearl Purl

As time was against me so I did as much as I could to remind me how to finish each piece

Cut Work

Cut Work added to the main stem

End of Day 5

Silk Shading, Crewel Work and more Gold Work yet to be added

The Course is now over, but the sampler continues. I will have to put it to one side for a day or two, but I will keep you posted as new parts are added and especially when it is completed.

Goldwork Day 4

So this is where I have been all week, on the upper floors above the Royal Apartments

It is close to where the imfamous fire started all those years ago and it has been restored as close to how it would have originally looked. It is wonderful to be in such a historic building and when I arrive, before the tourists, I am able to walk through the Tudor area and soak in the atmosphere, half expecting hoards of servants to be rushing around getting breakfast ready for the King!

Adding Colour with Tapestry Shading

Another Way to Pad - Carpet Felt

Layer One Completed

Layer Two Awaiting Stitching

Layer Two Completed

Layer One of the Other Area using Carpet Felt

It's abit messy using this stuff and my fingers are suffering today!

Completed CarpetPadding

End of Day 4

All areas padded and colour added to the Pearl Purl stems

The flower on the top left hand side will have Silk Shading

What Will The Final Day Bring?