Inspiration on a plate

Who would have thought that the remains of a lazy lunch in the sunshine could provide such a rich source of inspiration?  A mezze dish of green beans and tomatoes left beautiful pools of oil on my plate - I just had to draw it......

..... and then turn it into stitch.

The colour palette was dictated by some wool that I was given for the Embroiderers' Guild regional Chairman's challenge.  The result is a contemporary crewel work design which will form part of a patchwork of squares submitted by Skipton Embroiderers' Guild.

Viewing practice

Last week (although it seems a million miles away now I'm on holiday) I did a mini workshop led by Claire Hignett.  It was a back to basics lesson in drawing, but in particular, learning how to switch off your mind and draw what you see.  For me, the warm up exercises were the most telling.  We were asked to sign our name and then produce a mirror image. Easy!  I'm a chemist, I spent a great deal of time studying the shape of chemicals and working out lines of symmetry.  The trouble is that when you are so familiar with a shape, like your signature, you fail to see what is really there and see what you know is there. I fell into the trap and produced a copy rather than the required mirror image. Lesson learned.

At the end of the 2 hour session I had begun to re-evaluate my drawing skills.  It taught me not to worry to much about what I thought it should look like, but make good use of what I had achieved.  The outcome was a simple stitched motif that would happily embellish some piece of fabric.

To learn more about Claire's workshops, see her website www.clairehignett.co.uk.

Bags of character

Just before we all go off on our Summer holidays my sewing friends and I got together for a whole day of stitching, eating cake and of course, talking.  We were inspired to make these lovely little bags that we found in Hoop-la magazine designed by Hiromi Widerquist.

We backed some pretty patchwork fabric with fusible interfacing and using the pattern as a guide, worked simple running stitches.  The technique is a contemporary version of Japanese Sashiko used to embellish and strengthen fabric.  

Mine is the green bag (of course!) and it's perfect for holidays. 

Yellow fever

Yellow is the colour of the moment and certainly the colour of Yorkshire!  I have been busy making bunting with my lovely friends to celebrate the arrival of Le Tour de France.  Thirty metres of bright flags decorated with tiny bikes will adorn a toilet block close to our favourite walking place. See if you can spot them on the TV coverage!

Burning ambition

Last week I took time out to play with some new materials and techniques at a workshop organised by Grassington Embroiderers' Guild.

Corrine Young, our tutor for the day, started her second career as a textile artist after completing a degree in Textile Design at Bradford College as a mature student (a similar path to my own).  Her degree show included delicate Paper Moon flowers made by machine embroidery on handmade linen paper.  

Corrine is a generous teacher, not just with her advice and guidance, but she had also made all the sheets of linen paper that we used in the workshop.  The paper was delicately tinted with soft colours.  I chose a blue/grey palette and then worked stitching in duck egg blue (left-over from the goose grass scarf in case you're wondering).  I left both the linen yarn spines and the top stitching threads to give a loose, slightly messy effect.  The flowers still looked a bit rigid but Corrine suggested burning small holes   by using a glowing joss stick.  The effect was transformational (and a pyromaniacs dream!)

I haven't quite finished - the flowers need to be stitched onto a background with perhaps a few beads at the centre.  But this could take some time given my current "Do list" so here is my almost finished version.  I'm off to write my talk for Grassington Festival now!  

Rabbit catcher

Meet Binks the rabbit catcher!  He's small and has almost perfectly symmetrical markings. He found us on a snowy Boxing Day two years ago and hasn't left since.  He loves the dog but the feeling is not reciprocated - cats have claws and teeth and a dog's nose is a sensitive instrument! 

Binks (or rather this picture of him) is going to St Gemma's hospice in Leeds for their Secret Art Project.  It's a great idea to raise money and they are aiming to reach £100,000.  The designs will be listed on eBay along with some others created by celebrities.  Everyone's name will be listed but who has created each piece will remain a secret.  I'm hoping that someone will like him enough to buy him.  St Gemma's provides fantastic care for people with terminal illnesses and 100% of the proceeds go directly to caring for patients.

Goose grass

Goose grass?  Yes, the sticky weed that clogs up borders and scrambles over walls.  But apart from being a bit of a thug in the garden it's actually a very pretty little plant with delicate whorls of leaves and tiny white flowers that become sticky seed balls in the late summer.

I've been making a scarf as a birthday present for my friend Louise.  I thought this would remind her of summer walks with her dogs.  I have printed a tangled motif of goose grass on silk viscose georgette and then applied devore paste to reveal a border of blades of grass.  The patterns were cut in paper and screen printed with a bit of kitchen chemistry.  I should make more time for printing!