Stolen Sunshine

Making the most of the last few days of October sunshine, sitting on my back steps with a mug of tea and a handful of threads, sampling for some new workshops.

King Harold's Dog

Bayeux stitch - The Battle of Stamford Bridge Project

Somewhere in the East Riding of Yorkshire you will find a dedicated group of stitchers who are creating their own prequel to the Bayeux Tapestry.  The good citizens of Stamford Bridge want the world to know that it was the battle fought in their little village that was the turning point for English history, not the later Battle of Hastings.  You can read all about it on their website The Tapestry Project.  

I picked up one of their little kits in order to learn more about Bayeux stitch.  It was great fun but I'm not sure I'll pass their rigorous standards.  Here is King Harold's Dog.

Beyond the sea

Oh, I know I said I wasn't going to do any more raised embroidery this year but my summer school group suggested an aquarium when they saw the cactus garden. 

So here goes:  a wire-work goldfish, needle woven picot seaweed or anemone (take your pick) and a needle lace coral.

Autumn Madness

Autumn is a really busy time for me:  preparing for a new batch of workshops, a new season of Embroiderers' Guild work and trying to finish projects started over the summer.

I started sampling ideas  for a new workshop.  I wanted to make an embroidered scarf and found some fine cotton cheesecloth in the wonderful emporium that is Bombay Stores.  I hand-dyed the cloth, before cutting bold flower shapes to applique to the main fabric. I soon learned that I needed some light-weight fusible fabric to help control the shapes and make it easier to embellish.

I'm quite pleased with the result but it has meant spending several days in my kitchen toiling over dye baths.

Other work included a day installing the Textilia 3 Dissolving Margins exhibition at Skipton Town Hall.  Exhibition closes on October 18th 2018.

New venue for Textilia 3 'Dissolving Margins'

Finally, I managed a couple of quite days away in North Yorkshire where I was blown away by the medieval tiles at Bylands Abbey

Medieval tiles at Bylands Abbey

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Skipton calling

Skipton Town Hall, stitched on pale grey silk using stranded embroidery thread.  The newly refurbished building includes the wonderful HUB, which as been a popular venue for Embroiderers' Guild community workshops.

On a street where you live

Oakworth is famous for its little station on the Keighley Worth Valley Railway line which featured in the Railway Children film. Throughout the Summer months, we are serenaded with toots and whistles from the steam trains and occasionally a long wait at the old-fashioned gated crossing.  Its a lovely nostalgic little building full of quirky fixtures and fittings.

Here my station house is stitched on evenweave linen and mounted on a background of painted fabric and Bondaweb applique.

The square will form part of a border for Skipton Embroiderers' Guild Where's My Home community project which will be displayed for the first time at Yarndale.

She sells sea shells

Here is the last in my series of raised embroidery samples.  I've chosen a seasonal theme of sea shells which demonstrates two different styles of padding, a wired shape and some shisha work to incorporate a piece of sea glass.  Worked in soft browns, pinks and cream and a mixture of stranded thread and super-shiny cotton perle.