I'm ready...are you??

off to Harrogate on Sunday... saved up my pennies cos there's bound to be a few items I will NEED to purchase, got my comfy shoes, big bag, camera, lists...and we'll shop at MnS for easy refreshments...oh yes organised? ready? YESSIR!

if you haven't been...go on...you know you'd like to!

have a wonderful weekend whatever you're doing! Emmaxx

stitching texture...

as you will have gathered by now my dear patient readers I spend as much time as possible sewing, stitching, machine embroidering, creating, playing with fabrics and generally having a wonderful time...(housework what housework?!).. even better is teaching a machine embroidery Workshop and I thought I'd just share a little of what we covered at a recent one...looking at creating a textured surface...

I had 4 lovely and very creative souls with me, interestingly the Universe had kindly organised they were all students...one doing GCSE, two at A'level and one doing an Open COllege of Arts Textile course...amazing synchronicity!

as usual the immaculate studio prepared for my workshopees quickly bcomes a creative brouhaha...what a great word that is, no idea what it means but it seems to fit!

dear old bondaweb (ahem there are probably lots of other kinds of fusible fabric out there Ed)...that versatile "heat reactive, sheet of glue which permanently bonds one fabric to another when ironed"...aha but did you know it's really fun when you paint it? with watercolour, or acrylic or maybe fabric paint...

and then you can literally glue on texture by ironing on snippets of thread or fabric, then just add stitching...

mmm...pleased with these!

and then there's that weird stuff, Tyvek, described by Barnyarns as a "spun bonded polythene fabric that is non-toxic and accepts colour mediums, will shrink, bubble and distort when heated"...not half we say! Mind you it's not so good at the health and safety owing to fumes, so you must heat it outdoors. I don't personally use it a lot...but it is amazing...

here is some which has been painted

then heated...

stitched with snippets of fabric then zapped...

painted then stitched, you can see the fabric shrinking has distorted the stitching

On the whole though I prefer to use more fabric and stitch based ways and challenge my process and creativity to achieve the textures I want...

but it may still include some bondaweb...here used OVER lots of fabric snippets, ironed on then stitched...

and bondaweb underneath...

and there may still be some heating...I used to do this with a household paint stripper, all my degree work was done with me hanging around outside the door of my studio 'burning' my beautiful work with this device!

you'll be pleased to know I do now have a more specialised controllable heat 'appliance'...

eg for burning away a top fabric to reveal layers underneath...I have to experiment first to see which fabrics will melt away...

or for small pieces of fabric stitched on top and then burned away...so much delicious colour too...

you can see why I need a housekeeper, cleaner, gardener and cook...because doing this is just so much more fun!

Hope you've enjoyed the workshop...and maybe been inspired to have a go...

Emmax 

a visit to crochet heaven...

it's funny thing how things work out, once upon a time I taught a crochet workshop, just the one, and two friends came and for one of those friends it put her back on the road to crochet...and my oh my how she has learnt and practised and hooked her way... and now she IS  Lusciously Loopy! 

...and I couldn't be more delighted cos I never wish to teach anyone else to crochet, it was obviously meant to be just for her...so when I was at her home recently I asked nicely if I could share some of her creativity on my blog...

and here she is..

Lusciously Loopy...at home

ok actually that's Socks the cat sitting next to an early model crochet rug...

no really this is Lynn..., sitting in the lovely crafty corner she's made for herself, just so many inspiring things to look at!

and everywhere there's some of Lynn's magic...she is a whizz at making her home look lovely (and so welcoming) and has a designer's eye, crocheting lovely items in gorgeous yarns like cashmere and merino wool, bamboo, cotton...and such an eye for colour too...it is interesting that I call myself an artist, but she has an artist's eye for colour and form and beauty...

 

and I have been delighted with my pincushion in deep blue and pink...

and my four old school friends all loved their brooches...more of Lynn's handiwork...

oh and as it was meditation morning where 4 of us get together to meditate ie catch up and natter and sort out our lives and put the world to rights...and then sit for a while and quieten our busy minds... we had tea and 'meditation flapjack', delicious and guilt free...

so all in all a wonderful morning with a feast for the eyes and food for the soul!

I do hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour of Lynn's creative corner ...and you may like to visit her blog here...


ps
don't good friends just make the world go round?!

a frosty morning

pottering down the garden on Monday, well wrapped up for breakfast outside...a great way to start the day...and this is the beauty which met my eye...

we had a lovely halfterm holiday with friends and family, now it's piles of washing and mess everywhere...I just need to clone myself and catch up and get organised ready for workshops, getting artwork made and dare I say it, the C...word?? 

Even my Dad has made his Christmas cake, which is a wonderful thing, the first he has made since my Mum passed on so it's a real triumph...wish I could smell it warm from the oven! He cooked it the Mary Berry way in the bottom oven of his Aga so was up at midnight taking it out! Not bad for 85!

 

and on Sunday I had a stall at the Affordable Art Fair at Rheged..a lovely day meeting some really great people, a little selling and of course some buying as there were so many lovely artists and makers there...

 

think I'd better get out of my pj's now and get down to the studio...there's 'tidying' to be done ready for a textured textiles workshop on Saturday!

have a lovely day!

Emmaxx