natalie fergie – Dreaming In Stitches

Back in the frame…

Oh what a summer! I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have weeks and weeks of warmth and sunshine. As expected, with the girls at home there was no blogging – I tried to keep up with blog reading, but even that eventually ran away from me, but things will return to normal – I hope!

Although there were no updates, there has been some stitching on the new piece – albeit mostly snatched half hours, between taxiing the girls and cooking endless cheese toasties. This is where I am today…

This is the new piece painted up - in alcohol inks. — This is the new piece painted up – in alcohol inks.

I’m sticking to the plan of using only tent stitch or derivatives for this piece (which also has no name as yet). There was so much texture in Splodge that I feel the need to go flat again for a while. But I am having a wonderful time trying out new yarns. In addition to the lovely yarns from Natalie Fergie, I’m also incorporating a couple from Victoria at Eden Cottage Yarns. They are perfect for working in this linen scrim and give me the tonal variations I was looking for. It seems to me that this is the route I’m going for the future – needlepoint yarns are fine, but there is so much variety and texture available from knitting yarn dyers – it’s a wonderful resource for people like me – and using so much, it makes far better sense to buy larger quantities.

During the summer, I realised that I have hundreds (well in fact that’s probably thousands) of photographs, sitting on my computer, taken because there’s something I like about a scene, a colour or a texture – but they just stay there, rarely revisited. So I thought I might try an experiment and put up the occasional photograph here – a kind of ‘something about this appealed to me but I’m not entirely sure what’ approach. So if you start to see random photos, you’ll know what it’s about…

Perhaps something like this…

The roof of the Chapter House - Elgin Cathedral. — The roof of the Chapter House – Elgin Cathedral.

It’s good to be back. Happy stitching.

Splodge and overlapping…

slow stitching

And breathe…

It’s finished. Five months of stitching, but to be fair I wasn’t really giving it as much attention as some pieces I’ve made – we’ve been having a lot of mundane ‘life’ for the last few months and somehow although the stitching is always relaxing when I actually get to sit and do it, sometimes I don’t get beyond the ‘thinking about doing it’ stage.

This is one of the first pieces I’ve worked with large sections of like-coloured wools. I’m not sure I really enjoyed that, perhaps the on-going decisions about which shades to use is part of the fun for me.

Now that it’s stitched, I think it has more Moorcroft than oil-spill about it, but Splodge has stuck, so that’s what it will remain.

As I was getting closer to the middle of Splodge (I worked from the outside to the middle), the usual thing happened – I started thinking about the next project I want to make. This has become the norm for me now, I think it’s my brain’s way of preparing for the loss of a project – a bit like buying a new puppy when your faithful old dog is starting to ail.

There is one particular piece I’m trying to work out based on the stone and glass textures in a section of a church wall, but so far I can’t seem to get it down in a way that works – yet.

But perhaps as a reaction to the palette I used in Splodge, I’ve found myself going back to the stained-glass approach for a bit of relief. So the project that has overlapped with the end of Splodge is going to look something like this…

I intend to keep this all in simple tent stitch. The first few stitches went in at the weekend, including some of the sock wool I bought from Natalie Fergie, which I have to say stitched like a dream. I’m seriously thinking about adding more shades from her collection, it has a fabulous texture as well as working easily.

So there you are, on to the next one.

Happy stitching.

P.S. The girls are on holiday, so I probably won’t be here much until September. We’re not planning any major expeditions, but I have to fight them off to get near my computer. I’ll try to keep up with all your blogs, but please forgive lack of attentive comments for a while.

Extended interlude…

slow stitching

Ok, I admit there has been a longer interlude than even I had expected, but that’s what happens when the weather finally decides to behave nicely and we have eight family/friend birthdays in four weeks – with parties, and we have ringing competitions, school-leaving events, school awards evenings (times two), orthodontists to visit, sports days, and island hopping trips to Scotland (oh yes, but that’s a story for another day)…

So, not a lot of stitchiness happening here at the moment.

On the other hand, we are loving the warmth, seeing a lot of friends we don’t see for most of the rest of the year, and generally having a good, if rather chaotic time.

I have however, been keeping my eyes open for new threads, and succumbed to a little bunch from Natalie Fergie – thanks to Annie at Knitsofacto for pointing me in her direction.

I’ve also stocked up on some new watercolours and a selection of alcohol pens – do tell me I’m not the only person who despite having enough art materials to sink the proverbial battleship, sometimes feels bored and wants to try out something new or different.

And I’ve started reading Cat Bennet’s new book, Making Art A Practice. (For those of you following me over at Mostly Motley, I admit to having a lapse in the ‘not buying any new books’ challenge to buy this book – so far my only hiccup, but I hope if you read Cat’s books you’ll understand why I wanted it).

Cat has a gentle way of helping you see art practice as a form of meditation, taking many concepts from the practice of yoga. This idea of art as meditation resonates completely with me, it is exactly how I feel about the stitching I do – it’s all about the process and the way our minds change while we’re in the flow of creativity.

I’ve still got a few days of chasing about to do before we can officially talk about being on holiday, and then, with both daughters at home, I’ll no doubt need to resort to all kinds of subterfuge to get near my own computer – so you’ll know not to hold your breath in this little piece of Blogland. I will do my best!

Happy stitching…