January Blues

No chance of the January blues when these little beauties are there to greet me every morning! I love hyacinths but they don't like the heat and quickly bolt when kept indoors. I've discovered that the secret to keeping them strong, healthy and deliciously fragrant is a very cool, North-facing windowsill. 

Their colour is rather illusive; is it blue or purple? It's certainly off-set by the vibrant green leaves. The multiple flower heads on each stem lend themselves to a repeat process so I set about making potato prints. Using fabric paints, I mixed a deep turquoise blue with rich purple and a hint of sparkly pink for warmth.  Once I'd printed the flowers, I added some highlights of green/gold.  I printed onto thick hand-made paper. Now I can keep them all year round. 

Winter Magic

In amongst the bare twigs of my winter garden, I notice that the witch hazel has performed it's magic.  Weird clusters of petals (I hardly dare call them flowers) appear on the branches and in the cold Northern light, they positively glow.

From a distance they look brown, but on closer inspection they have many hues: salmon pink, pale orange, rust and at their heart, a rich, deep, claret-red.  The petals of the flowers look crumpled and spidery and they cling to the branches in clusters, like loose pom-poms.

I use my pastel pencils to scratch out the twiggy outline of the bush and then choose a selection of colours over-layed to achieve the glow that I see in the flowers.  Like a good student, I have analysed the colour palette on the side.

A Year in Colour

Inspired by a sumptuous book called Gypsy by Sibella Court and an equally lovely leather-bound journal that I received for Christmas, I have set myself the challenge of recording my year in colour.

Since it's both the Feast of Epiphany and the 12th day of Christmas it seems only fitting to start with gold: a candle burning bright, a smaller pot candle scented with orange and cinnamon, luscious clementines adorning my fruit bowl and a jar of precious spices from the Middle Eastern chef Ottolenghi.  These are my favourite things of the season: gifts given to me by friends and family, chosen with love and care.  Simple pleasures but worth their weight in gold.

What the Elves left behind....

Teeny tiny shoes that may have been made by Elves.

Stitched onto cotton organdie, embellished with free machine embroidery using lustrous viscose thread and metallic beads. The shoes were carefully assembled with tiny blanket stitches.

Oh the joy of a new sewing machine!

In stitches

You wouldn't believe how happy this simple star makes me!  Not the star itself, not the fact that we are in the season of advent but the act of doing embroidery with my new sewing machine is just a joy!

For those of you who know me, I have been vascillating over a new machine for years.  I have been put off by the endless choice and complicated functions of new machines and concerned that I would loose control of the creative process.  My old trusty workhorse was repaired in the summer but when it came back it was unable to do free embroidery.  I didn't feel too disloyal when I started to look at new alternatives.  

My quest took me to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate and with the support of my friend Melanie I plucked up the courage to go to the stands selling sewing machines.  I was horrified to watch machines churning out computer designed patterns with no human input.  What was the fun (or creativity) in that?  Thankfully the staff on the Janome stand were extremely helpful and in next-to-no-time I was sat in front of their new DKS-100 machine.  Decision made, my new machine was delivered last week, albeit delayed by the thick fog and by the weekend I was happy stitching.

Simple patterns using variegated viscose thread was impossible on my old machine.  I'm buzzing with all the ideas for new things to try..... happy sewing.

How do you like your potatoes?

I'm running from one project to another at the moment with little time to prepare. Luckily I've done this before but not as a taught workshop and I need to make sure that I've got all the right equipment to hand.

It's a simple concept of potato printing but I've been inspired by the work of Julia Burns who creates the most stunning wildlife prints.  Cutting potatoes is no mean feat but once you've got some good knives and a sense of what is achievable you can get some great results.  

I made the echinacea flower in two stages: a cut with two petals that I printed in a rough semi-circle (don't worry about overprints) and then an oval shape for the centre that had been textured by piercing holes with a kitchen skewer.  All very low-tech but the results are great.

Why not take a look at Julia Burns' website Red Hen Originals and see all her lovely work (pheasants are my favourites!)

Gone....

My little girl is all grown up and has started her new life in Cambridge!

I have sent her with some home comforts including this quilt with a few of her favourite things. Too many to squeeze into a photo but they include Yorkshire tea, a dormouse and some teacups to remind her of her sisters, cocktail glasses, cake and right in the middle, a yawning cat.

Here is our last view of her as she walked back into the college last week....