A New To-Do Tab

Sorry I have been so busy this new year. New windows and a new front door. Too busy for much cloth unfortunately. But I have a new tab on the blog; my Textile To-Do List! It will be added to as and when I think of things I want to create, and hopefully things will get crossed out as they are done, but perhaps they will just evolve into other things.....

Holidays, Gifts and a New Year

Firstly there was the wrapping; the bows took all day on Christmas Eve but it was worth it. 

 Then there was a present; this one was made for me by a fellow stitcher at work and isn't it great? She said she was inspired by my artsy stitching and had to try her hand at random stitches - I like the result. And isn't that bow and label just brilliant?!

 And then after Christmas I came home alone and started a little Holiday Cloth. Inspired by Jude of course. 

 I've been working on it after work every day this week. Work has been so busy this week. Isn't the time after Christmas and before New Year so odd? A dark and empty week full of strange times that always makes me want to watch Twin Peaks; which I did and stitched this during it; can you see a bit of Lynch darkness in there?

 And of course I finished the Winter Cloth before I started the Holiday Cloth. 

 Happy New Year everyone. 

Autumn/Winter Cloth _ WIP

Still a Work In Progress this one; the moons have shifted and are in flux; showing the phases and yet still full. I want to stitch some more into this. See it below atop my Summer Cloth with its lone green moon over taken by a shadow of felt.

Christmas Fair

 This is the grey massam teacosy I felted the other day; added appliquéd gingham hearts to it and blanket stitch to the bottom; sold it so I am happy! In fact I sold 4 teacosies and lots of the stuffed xmas trees and hearts.

I even sold one the little coloured twines even though it was just there as decoration! 

Crafts Stall at Fowlmere Farmers Market this Saturday

Fowlmere Village Hall Farmers Market - last one before Christmas - craft and food stalls including mine!

http://www.villagehall.fowlmere.com/More.html

I will be selling my handfelted teacosies (perfect Christmas gifts; very light to post), handmade Christmas decorations, there will also be Christine's Christmas Bunting and my sister's jewellery and table decorations!

Be there! 9am to 12 noon!

An alternative to Massam wool?

This is a close up of a felted teacosy made with Masham/Massam wool. It is a beautiful colour and is British. Trouble is it has a very long staple length which isn't particularly suitable for small items like teacosies; I am on the hunt for the same wonderful naturally grey coloured wool with a shorter staple; any felters out there that can help?

Handmade Woven Christmas Cards

So here are the finished cards! 70 ish of them; all different but the same. 

Stuffed Leaves

Making Christmas Cards

Its that time of year again; 70+ cards to make for friends and family; plus extra for selling. Nearly there.

Handmade Christmas Decorations

 Have not been stitching much other than these little decorations; ready for stuffing when I get some. The weekend is slipping away at an alarming rate again. 

Studio Experiments

Pick of the Current London Textile Exhibitions

Those of you who are Selvedge readers will have read a wonderful article about the Foundling Museum's current exhibition Threads of Feeling. As soon as I had read that I wanted to go and so today had a chance to fit in some exhibitions before going to my studio. This quote was taken from the website:

Threads of Feeling will showcase fabrics never shown before to illustrate the moment of parting as mothers left their babies at the original Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram.

In the cases of more than 4,000 babies left between 1741 and 1760, a small object or token, usually a piece of fabric, was kept as an identifying record. The fabric was either provided by the mother or cut from the child’s clothing by the hospital's nurses.  Attached to registration forms and bound up into ledgers, these pieces of fabric form the largest collection of everyday textiles surviving in Britain from the 18th Century.

The exhibition is small but extremely interesting and thought provoking; connecting mothers to the babies they were leaving behind and to the scraps of cloth they left with them; tokens of a bond that was broken and the desperation that these women faced. I look forward to reading the catalogue when I get a chance. 

I also went to the new Hauser and Wirth gallery in Saville Row where Louise Bourgeois fabric works were being exhibited. An excellent showcase of her cloth pieces from 2005 - 2007. Some really excellent pieces which were not in the Tate's exhibition the other year. I was really happy to see her combining 3D elements with flat painterly pieces and this has really inspired me to continue with my flat + 3D elements in my own cloth works. I also noted the heavy use of cloth strip weaving in her geometric flat pieces. 

If you live in London these two exhibitions are not to be missed! 

Harvest WIP's

So here are most of my WIP's all laid out. The pears will be made into Pear and Almond Cake later on today. The stuffed hearts are most likely ending up as gifts or will be sold at the craft fair I am doing in December. The needled hearts I need to make more of, might string them together or sell them individually. The piece on the right is an old WIP you may recognise, but I chopped it in half recently; feels much better to work on now. The piece on the left is my double sided black moon weave.

You can go to the flickr image of the above and read the notes on each item here. 

My double sided black moon weave; which I cannot put my finger on yet; something will happen with it soon I hope. I needle felted black wool into a circle on this blue poly cloth, then wet felted it to finish and get the nice bunching. I am now weaving the edges to of the blue cloth with some linen cotton to see what happens. Progress is slow. 

Why Hearts?

Needle felted hearts for practice - I am getting better at this. Stuffed cloth hearts too. But why hearts?

And what do you think of the new blog layout? too much sidebar?

Darning the Divide

My sister and I have set up a new blog; one to communicate to each other across the miles that seperate us. If you want to drop by it is here: http://darningthedivide.blogspot.com/

Process

During.