Moving forward

The past twelve months have been a struggle.  In June I lost my best little friend, Bonnie.  As hard as it was to say goodbye I know how lucky I was to have her for so many years, as she was almost 17 years old.  She was a wonderful companion and filled my heart with joy, and I hope she is happy wherever she is.

On top of this I lost my beautiful mum in August, after watching her fight the battle of her life with cancer.  I can't find words to express the loss I feel.  She too was my best friend, as well as a confidante, doctor, critic, supporter, mum - and so much more.  There's a huge hole in our lives but I know we have to keep going.

So now I'm trying to climb out of the dark tunnel and find joy in things that make me happy again.  I have to give myself something to aim for, so I recently joined two textile groups.

Septembers meeting at ATASDA saw Lyn Brown displaying her art books which she is exhibiting in the eastern states shortly.  They were amazing, and came in all sizes. She'd certainly been busy.

As well as Lyn's display other members also showed their work.  Here's Dorothy Boxall with her blankets, naturally dyed using carob seeds and avocado.  I love the patterns created on them.

Wendy Burgess was a new member this week and brought along a wonderful display of her work, including this spectacular dragonfly.  This was only one of her many fabulous creations she shared with us.

Judith Harvey brought along her quilt which she'd recently exhibited.

Apart from Show-n-Tell and a discussion about the future of the group there was no stitching this month.

The following week I attended my first meeting with Art A'peel, a textile group in my local area, and I had a ball.  I got a lovely surprise when I discovered Lyn from ATASDA was also a member of this group, and was teaching us all how to make some of her book covers using Lutradur.

We all had a brilliant time painting our Lutradur, stitching into it, adding embellishments and then attaching it to felt to create the covers.  I've since ordered more Lutradur and hope to make many more.  Here's a few samples of everyone's work.

As well as painting and stitching we got to have a play on a big shot machine, embossing foil/tin panels for future work.

Then Lyn kindly showed us some more techniques, like how to emboss a plastic CD disk using embossing powders and a heat gun.  The finished pieces were so exciting and my mind was racing with how I could use this technique further down the track.  

We did have a good laugh when she produced what looked like an implement of torture but was in fact just an eyelet gun.

My mind was like a sponge soaking up all the new techniques and information, and I can say it was one of the most enjoyable days I've had for a long time.  I spent the following few days working on completing my book cover and here's the finished piece .....

... the only problem is I'm too scared to use it in case I  ruin it!!!

Finished !!!!

The last few months have been busy, busy, busy with my head down and bum up, working on finishing my Level 3 - Embroidery City and Guilds course, and ..... I've done it!  Module 12 is on its way to the UK as we speak (or read) and hopefully I've submitted enough for the final EV's assessment on 18th June.

What a relief, after 7 years of studying.   Yes, I know I'm slow, but sometimes life just gets in the way, and thats the beauty of distance learning, you do it at your own pace.  I've thoroughly enjoyed it, although there were times when I struggled to think outside the box, and the down side of distance learning is that you've no-one to bounce ideas off, so you're really on your own, and at times I wondered if I was on the wrong track, but all that is par for the course.  In the long run thats what determines your own style of work. 

I haven't yet found a particular "style" that I could say is "me", but I know what I'm comfortable with and what I enjoy doing the most.  I'm not a very loose artist, I find it hard to be very free in my designs and way of working, I'm more constrained and like to work in a precise way, but thats just me.  On saying that, the loose methods and designs I did do, pleased me, and probably surprised me in the end as well, so who knows, now I'm free to work at my own pace I might loosen up more. 

The other night my hubby was looking through my work from the very beginning and asked if I could believe I'd done some of the work, and I have to admit, some of it surprises me, but it also shows how far I've come and what I've learnt.  I have a better understanding and appreciation of modern art, varying techniques, how designs evolve and come about from primary sources, history - not just in textiles either, and a whole load more.  I don't regret it for one second and would encourage anyone who's considering undertaking such a course to go forth and grab the chance, because you won't regret it. 

I've included photos of some of my note books I created ... the first one was my notebook on Fabrics, Conservation & Laundering Methods.  I used up hubby's old shirts to create the cover as a little bit of a tribute to wonderful man who has supported and encouraged me throughout.

The second book was all about my white work techniques and was made with layers of fabric and net, free machined around the contours of a layer of lace to give it dimension. 

Next was a sketchbook, covered with pva glue and tissue paper, and washes of acrylic paint and wax.  Makes a good hardy cover, idea for a lot of handling.

The last one is my notebook on Patchwork Quilting and Applique and consists of brown paper, vliesofix, scrim, hand made felt and some hand stitching.

 And finally ... you can see the aftermath of all my work in my studio ... yes, I've a LOT of cleaning and tidying up to do, but thats for another day ... for the next couple weeks I'm putting my feet up and relaxing.

Drawn, pulled and woven thread work

I thought I was making good progress lately - all I seem to do is sit and stitch at the moment, but I found out yesterday that the cut off date for this year is first week of May.  I have to finish Module 11 and complete all of 12 by then ... somehow I don't think I stand a chance of finishing this year.

I've finished the traditional pulled thread sample, drawn thread sample (above) and needleweaving sample (below) and I'm half way through the cutwork sample.  Then have the experimental samples and my set of accessories to do.  There just isn't enough hours in a day at the moment!!!!!

I went to the city last week to find a special birthday present for hubby and decided to pop into a technical book store (as you do) found Janet Edmond's book "From Print to Stitch" and Cas Holmes's "The Found Object" and JUST HAD TO HAVE THEM .....

 then a few days later happened upon a secondhand bookstore (honestly, it was by chance!!) and what did I find in there .... Gold!!! Yes, another Jan Messant book.  They are SO hard to find ... this one was in perfect condition, so I put it under my arm, then found "Inspired to Stitch" and put that under my arm ...

and then another find .... "Needlemade Laces".  By this stage I had to get to the cash counter before my hubby dragged me out of the shop.

Now I just need the time to sit and read them.  I have the new glasses ... just need the spare time. 

I found the hand sewing quite a strain on my eyes, after not doing fine work for a long time, so went to the optician for a checkup.  Two new pairs of glasses later ... I now have 5 pairs of glasses.  One for long distance, one for the computer, one pair of bifocals, one pair for sewing, and a pair of multifocals which my 2 year old grandson mangled and can only be worn if I develop a head like an alien.

I'm hoping out of all these pairs of specs I should be able to finish my needlework and be able to read my new books without getting mega headaches and boz-eyes ... just got to find where I put the damn things now. 

Where has the time gone ...

Wow ... April just flew by and I only managed 3 blog posts.  I can't believe how fast the weeks are whizzing by, and the years too.  I got an email from SST telling me my C&G registration had expired and I needed to re-register to continue the course.  Panic set in !!  I really do need to get cracking and finish the course, I'm so close, so  its been head down and bum up for the past few days.

Since my last post I've been mega busy with general day to day things and not had much time for sewing.

I went to Brisbane, Qld for 4 days to spend time with hubby for his birthday.  Fell in love with a wonderful new housing estate set amongst the hills, but just need to win lotto to be able to purchase a block ... in the meantime I'll continue dreaming ....

Whilst in Brisbane I managed to squeeze in a day at the Modern Art Gallery where they had an exhibition of hats from the V&A in England, entitled "hats an anthology by Stephen Jones".  It was brilliant!  There were old and modern hats, way-out hats, delicate soft hats .... all mouth-drooling stuff.  Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take any photos, so I've included a scan of the brochure instead ...  I know! I know! it just isn't the same thing, is it?!   Some photographs would have been much better .....

I've also had a birthday recently and hubby bought me 4 new textile books.  The rest of the family gave me new pj's, a gorgeous lilac fleecy dressing gown, and massive fluffy slippers that make me look like the big Yeti ... so I'm now spending my evenings curled up in front of the tele, snuggled in my new night-attire, cuppa tea in hand and reading my books and dreaming of wonderful textile things I can do.

But of course, there's still the wall hanging to finish.  One requirement of the log book is that one of the finished pieces has to include hand stitching, so I'm throwing as much of it as I can into this piece and have just spent 3 days couching a celtic knot pattern along the side edges of the hanging.  Why do I always pick the most time consuming methods ????

So now its back to the grind stone and more stitching ....