Something (not) on Saturday

Cow 63

Another mug. I like the cute cow.

I should use it more!

I like Thankful Thursday

Sorry about no post last Thursday. It would have been a camel straw.
But this week is a lot better. So, here we are.

I have been looking for another fabric with squares or similar for another 'recording' type of fabric like I am doing with the daily bead project.
The other day when we were hanging my exhibition I saw this...

Just right. Now, which of many ideas to record?

I like these colours on my table. Just about to start working with them for my 4th Plinth piece. The next TVCT exhibition will be work inspired by one of the sculptures which has been exhibited on the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.

Thinking boxes at the moment

Loving working at my bead station in front of the patio window.


I like that I have got some mending done. The jacket is next. It isn't that I like mending, but I am glad to be getting a bit more space to work in...less piles of things which have been sitting round here for years.


And lastly, I like a Certain Young Man who is 29 years old today. I am very proud of him. 2 degrees, nearly finished a Masters and invited to embark on a PHD because of the research he is doing! Well Done that Man.

on Monday

On Monday I went up to Lady Sew and Sew to spend the afternoon demoing Free Machine Embroidery. Sort of meet the artist, but it had been a second thought when I was setting up, and I was asked to come. Mostly I sat and made patterns on my fabric!
The heating was not working and I was lucky to sit near the temporary one they had set up for the shop. I forgot to take a photo until I was nearly packed up!

I did get to speak to several customers.
One man, whose daughters(wife and daughter?) were in full burka, was very interested in the work. Eventually he had the ladies come over to speak to me about how they were done. The one in particular was fascinated by what I was doing on the machine. I gave her the leaflet about the next beginner embroidery class on the 23 April. Not sure she will come to this one, but maybe in the future. And if the dad/husband is already behind the idea, maybe more possible?

Besides the textile art pieces, the Dragon Gown and the Heat and the Flame Gown are on display. I realised I had never got a good photo of the Heat and the Flame, so here they are.

Front

Back

And in the centre between is a dummy with a 'gown' draped straight from the bolt, by Sarah Blundel. Something to perhaps inspire the customers.  You can see on the left that the bolt is still on the back of the gown. Clever!

I was told that 2 large coach groups had come to visit - particularly to see the exhibition. So that was good!
The exhibition finishes the 30th March. But because of the Easter weekend, I won't be taking it down til Tuesday, the 3rd April.

Bead on - 18-24 March

week 12 - 2018

beaded fabric


Double/Triple Petersburg chain

Finished!

You should be able to click these to see them larger.

Something on Saturday

This week even doing 'not much' has not been very easy. As they say a 'flare up'. But I wouldn't actually be able to tell you when I had a 'flare down'. 😕
But anyway, I have done a bit of mending, which means some clothing in piles are now ready to be worn and I even have the ironing already done - even the things I hadn't done for a while. So, progress and some spaces. Which is a good thing. 😊

Cow 62
Another mug -this one is china

It's a bit serious, but a sub collection is cows with calves.
Besides, it is china. good for mint tea when you need it.

Thread

In January, when InStitches came to the TVCT meeting, I fell in love with their threads. But I didn't have the money. (not that they are expensive, but there were a lot of things to pay for that month.)

Fast forward to Saturday just past. The SAQA area meeting was being held at InStitches Studio. So, I asked them to make sure the threads were out!
and this is what I came home with.

Besides just loving the colours and 'variagatedness', I do have plans for these.
But for a bit I will let them sit and glow at me.

Bead on - 11-17 March

week 11 - 2018

beaded fabric

Starting to give a bit of a picture of how the whole will look.

Well, if you block off the rest and look at the corner where you can see 3 rows.

or not. Use your imagination.

didn't manage much more on the Triple Petersburg Chain, what with exhibitions and dentists and the like.

22 inches

Something on Saturday

cow 61

About time for the mugs for a while.

I like this one because of the shape, and also because I love the idea of a cherry tree farm. and also because, ok, why is it showing a cow and not a cherry tree? Curious.

along with my exhibition

Apparently (meaning I only have limited details of what this was about), the Cloud Puppy might have got some exposure this week... and may be in the Henley Standard at some point.
Jon from Lady Sew and Sew asked to take him to a meeting in Henley on Monday night where a photographer from the Henley Standard was going to photograph a group of people standing around each holding up a piece of art. He wanted to take something that would stand out a bit more in such a setting.

So, yes! That would be great! But rather unclear, as to the whys and wherefores! Maybe a meeting looking ahead at the Henley Art Trail in the beginning of May? As I am not in that area or county, I am unsure when any such photo will be published so I can get a copy. I should ask Jon.

Who also asked please could I have something in the Henley Art Trail. Motivation for another Fire Creature perhaps?

Also, the Dragon Gown.
Still somehow the dummies might be thin in the waist, but are too busty for it! I still can't get it zipped right up! It worked on my dummy, because I draped it right on the dummy. ??😕
So, this time I have folded in the zip at the top.

It works quite well and since I pinned the edges of the sip with brown-headed pins, the result looks as if it were meant. Well, sort of.

I will have to get a photo of the Heat and the Flame dress because I put a net petticoat underneath. It looks really good with the skirt standing out to show the embellishment.

I like Thankful Thursday

Today's likes have all been from other countries. I see them in their various places round the house and remember friends.

Ethiopia
     
The bell on the bell pull has the most delicate tinkle sound. These from my friend Karin in Ethiopia. I have some of the Ethiopian clothing, but they are packed away.

Romania

We actually have 3 of these, known as the Romanian Chairs. 2 slightly larger and this one. (For the 3 bears I think. 😊)We got them when we went to Romania 27 years ago. Well, one was for us and our friends sent the 2 others for other families. But they weren't particularly interested! The straw is still very strong...even though some little one through the years picked at some of it. Strong enough that this is usually my step stool!

I showed a photo of my Romanian glass a while ago.

This window sill in the dining room has a few countries.
Poland, Holland, Romania.

an enamel milk pail, an enamel coffee pot(or cream/milk pot?) and a milk dipper for warming and pouring milk into coffee.

Poland

This used to live in the dining room, but now it lives in the front hall near the Ethiopian pot holder looking piece in the first photo. from friends who emigrated there for a while.

Israel

This lives over the front door. From my sis-in-law from her holiday there.

Zimbabwe
  
Same dish, just a different part of the pattern. To get an idea of the scale, compare with the milk items photo. Ignore the cactus.

Brazil

I bought this when I was in Brazil in 1973 when I was about 12/13. I thought it was beautiful. Especially the blue butterflies. In those days we weren't worried so much about blue butterflies being rare. and being that age, I didn't think of it either. I did think about how long it must have taken to make the pattern from butterfly wings.

This little coffee set with the orange flowers was also a purchase from Brazil. Over the years it has been dropped (not by me, I might add. ) The mirror surface had flower patterns. It also had handles as it was meant to be a tray, but those came off ages ago.

The brown set next to it is a Coffee Ceremony set from Ethiopia given me by my dear friend.
The piece at the right is an injera maker/keeper. I have some similar items to these made in basket work.
And at the back, a teacup and saucer from my sis in Alaska. Alaska is another country, isn't it?

USSR (via the market in Holland where I got the coffee pot with the cow on it. because sewing machine from the Soviet Union. Yes, please.) But the metal in the area under the foot where the chain stitch is meant to form, bends too easily, so it doesn't work for more than a couple stitches after being fixed. Still, it is kind of unique to me.
 
Two photos of the front, but I couldn't decide whether gold or white was a better backgrounds. It lives in my bedroom in front of a bookcase. (surprisingly, mostly filled with books about people who do live or have lived in other countries.)
And yes, Collette, I always have thought the badge on the body looks like the John Deer deer.

To see what the others like today, go to LeeAnna's blog for the links.

Off in the post

I was almost out the door with this today when somewhere out of the blue I got the thought about hanging it. Oh. So, I came back in , undid the parcel and put a hanging sleeve on it. and parcelled it again.
THEN went out the door.

Ramshackle Homes - for SAQA Benefit Auction 2018

12x12in

I didn't do hand stitch in the end. I had it 'visible' for sometime and I just thought it was fine as is.

More sorting - learning new things.

Now that the exhibition is hung, I can get the studio back in a bit of order from the upheaval of last week.

I changed 2 different drawer units about. One used to be at the back of the table with the overlocker and one used to be next to the computer desk.
The first one is a bit higher and slightly longer, but works. It means I might get to those drawers easier.
The second one fits under the table with the overlocker. Next to it, there is room for a few of the boxes that used to live under the bead station where the Thoughtful Man was clearing last week so as to get to the radiator.
One of the benefits of the small boxes living there is that they can be pushed to the back of the table and there is room now to fit my knees and the pedal in that space. Thus overlocking will be more ergonomic. (My physio will thank me.)

You can see the difference in the drawer units. The one I moved to be near the computer
 is like the permanent one on the right under the bead station desk.

I sorted one of the rolling crates that used to live under the overlocker table. It was full of things I might possibly mend. So, I narrowed it down to one or two (or three) that I will mend.

One of those things was a tablecloth I like. But it has been living in the mending box for years. The overlocked edge had got quite tatty.

I have some thread just right for mending it - only to be used for the overlocker. But I haven't used that kind before. I thought it might be a bit tricky...thus the reason the tablecloth was still there.

My friend loaned me some similar threads to try on the overlocker. This was before Christmas, but I hadn't tried it. The lemon colour worked for underneath the peach.

I couldn't find the little plastic bits that go inside of large cones so you can work with them. They are in the right place, but I couldn't remember where that was!

So, I searched in my thread drawer til I found a reel that fitted just right.

I set the overlocker up as suggested in the book. And voila! The test piece went well with no tweaks.  The large cone worked happily with it's small thread filler.

And, here is a glimpse of the new edge as the old edge gets cut off.

If you look at the top photo again, you will also notice I have taped a little bag under the overlocker just where the trimming comes out. All these years I have been doing overlocking with the rubbish bin perched on a stool or clutched between my knees to catch the trimmings. Yes. I got this in about 2005ish? So, I am really chuffed with myself to have mended the tablecloth, learned how to use the wooly nylon and made a way to catch trims that was more user friendly!

Next job is to sort the other rolling crate. But for now it is out of the way of working.

Bead on - 4-10 March

week 10 - 2018

Beaded fabric

Oh. I just realised I turned the corner but didn't skip a row. So, will sort that tomorrow!

Triple St. Petersburg Chain

around 19 inches now.

Something on Saturday

Cow 60

with bells on

I love this one from my sister in law.

and so the Net

I have mentioned the net a few times this week. The reason I wanted it was to pin my small pieces to, so it would be easier to hang them for my exhibition.
The idea being that it would blend against the wall.

It took some effort on my table to lay them out in a decent order, but I got them done just a short time after the boiler men left this morning from their finishings off.

Mr Thoughtful came with me to do the climbing. When we got to Lady Sew and Sew, the ladies had a different idea. Rather than hanging them in the front entry room, they wanted them hung within the shop floor so more people would look at them and so they could talk with visitors about the work. It took me a while to see how that could work, having prepared for the original plan. But we soon worked out a system.

So, here are the pieces hung on the net.

Dragons

Tudors

A few pieces I didn't want to leave out.

So, it wasn't what I had in mind, but it works ok. Because you can see through the net, you can pretend it isn't there easier. There is a lot going on behind it, but you can stand close to look at detail.

And then we hung some other work as well. These are just quick photos. All these are hung from dowels which are hung from metal beams.
You can see the backs of work, but there is enough space between the beams that it isn't reading as a surround, which can happen if you hang different sized work back to back.

Captured Butterflies  (not as dark in real life!) next to Dragons

Some of my work with unusual materials included.

Cloud Puppy

Rainforest Dragon and D is for Dragon

in the centre area at one end will be the table with Lady Sew-Forth and leaflets about the exhibition.

And at the other end will be the dragon gown. And I have been asked to also bring the Heat and the Flame to display as well.

I will get better photos on Monday. I didn't get the labels done, and as it is Small Stories,  there has to be some reference to the stories! So, that is the job for the weekend.