Wisdom

Mom always says, "never cut a knot, always untie it. If you can't figure out how to untie a knot, you'll never figure out how to solve your problems."

Sunday, September 16, 2012

not much to say!


Most completed piece from last week - the piece from Karen Ruane's: Extended Embellishment

This is a piece of scrim that has had FME: free motion embroidery done on it with a sewing machine then wrapped and embellished with embroidery stitches.  The piece isn't actually complete yet but the main section is.  The "framing" and "edge" work still has to be done. 

The other things that I have been working on is causing my fingers to get sore and achy:  English Paper Piecing:

I am basically practicing making little hexies and 9 (1") patch pieces.  I'm hoping to use these as elements on a base cloth (perhaps the one I started - see last post) - using traditional quilt elements but interpreting then in my own way - embellishing and stitching - something in that boro style that is inspired my Jude's work. 

The other thing that I've been doing is hunting and gathering...as the days cool down things start falling from the sky and it's time for me to find shapes and save dates for my winter's inspiration (mood board?) images/imagery.  I still have all my oak leaves from last year in a box.  These will start a new box:

I'm also gathering real material (cloth) for a new class with Karen Ruane that will start in November:
http://karenruane.bigcartel.com/product/embroider-embellish-create-2012

This is real vintage lace gifted to me by my sister.  She got a bag of cuffs and collars a while back from a friend who had removed them from garments from an elder relative that must have passed or was cleaning her closet of old dresses.  Some of them are very fragile and I'm not sure I'll be actually manipulating them but how wonderful it is to hold and have these things (fellow stashers will understand!) 

And speaking of stashes aka our own messes:

 I am quoting here from Karen Ruane's blog post (hope it's okay Karen.) 

 Karen had posted a picture of her work table:
http://karenannruane.typepad.com/karen_ruane/2012/09/unpacking-virtual-boxes.html captioning it, "what's on my table?" and from this grew a flickr group: (karen's quote)
 "Sara has started a new group centred around tables, the stuff we have accumulating on them. As you know my own table is always covered in junk!The group has the potential to grow into a fascinating archive of images and the more contributors the better. To sign up or browse then just go here"

So without further ado I proudly present my table (aka mess):




Cheers  for this week.  Thank you for stopping by. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

what i did during my summer vacation


My show and tell of what i did during my summer vacation...
finishing, starting, returning...

Jude Hill Contemporary Boro class came to an end...or a new beginning. 
I started taking a few on-line classes with Karen Ruane...still a beginner.
Returning to cooler weather, autumn/fall, milder things and Jude's diaries...
with November Karen will be starting her Embroider, Embellish Create:

So this is the show and tell:

the pieces below were created as part of Karen Ruane's Ledger class: 

a very fun class that actually took a lot of time.  it was based on creating/finding ideas from elements in your surroundings and extending them in stitched form.  a great tool for brain storming. 







currently i am doing also another class with Karen - Extended Embellishment: 

another example of me trying to step outside my box to use other colours that i normally might not consider using: pastels, white, and cloth that i wouldn't have even thought about: silk dupioni and scrim (one of my new favorite toys)  you can see my decorative types of elements that i might never have tired if Karen hadn't been standing over my shoulder!  






I also did work on the things that I had started in Jude Hill's Contemporary Boro Class:

Again, the class is still going on for many of us as we are continuing under her influence to create/recreate/mend/bend our thinking about cloth.

the boro jacket is what i first started.  it is all stitched together, most of the element that i will add are finished awaiting assemblage.  







the second object i was working on is finished.  it is the linen shirt i reworked.  i altered the hem: shirt-tails to a straight hem.  altered the collar from conventional to a stand up. it went from 5 buttons to 4 and added a patched placket on the buttonhole side.  i also made a strip of cloth patches to use for a trim on the sleeves.



these are the projects that kept my hands busy indoors.

my outdoor project - the garden is just about spent.  i will start the clean up for fall, keeping most of the greens and hoping to overwinter them if we have a mild winter as we did last year.

summer is usually a difficult period for me but so much has to be done, in and out of the house, especially now since there is only myself to manage the care of two households.  weeds are really quite welcome to hang about though.  during my sister's visit, last week in july - august week one, we did turn a new bed and cleared a lot of bramble.  but it has started showing it's weedy little head since we've had some rain in the last two weeks. very little rain and hot hot days really made this a odd growing season.

my short term plans are to finish the jacket (hopefully by christmas for my sister) and keep up the samplers of embellished stitching for the ledger i started...also putting down "subjects for a short story."  a reference to chekhov here,
meaning a place for noting ideas working out things, regarding cloth.

i have started a base cloth too for a new oak leaf cloth:
the weave is made from pieces left over from the shirt and jacket


and my continuing project of the oak fascicles is still on my list.  there is a current one in the works:


so, that is what i did on my summer vacation.  but now it is september, as the old song states: "see you..."

i hope to be a better blogger.  considering not having such long intervals between postings if i make them shorter...more like this is what i did today instead of what i did all summer.
mom's health keeps declining so my time is limited to sneaking in a bit here and there but stitching is my one great relief.  hopefully i haven't lost too many reader/viewer/friends out there and that my absence is forgiven.

thank you to my mentors and guides: my spirit guide and my "chipper" friend, who keep me grounded. and those who have stayed with me through my journey.

take care all and good stitching and or art making as each to their own finds a trail for themselves to follow.

dla mamusie.  

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

soon

to talk about where i've been and what i've been doing.  cheers and thank you for standing by.