What I did.... and other matters.....

First of all thanks to Gerry and Gail who like the post on Japanese wrapping. I guess you quilting ladies could make some really wonderful wrapppings. If I haven't mentioned it before(and I have been known to repeat myself!!!) what I really admire about quilters is their neatness and precision. If I could buy it, I would. I am a Virgo and we are supposed to be meticulous in all we do. I am the exception that proves the rule.....

Essential information, Sharon B can now be found here.. All the best with the new site Sharon, I don't envy her the amount of transferring she is having to do. And so To TAST. Portugese stem stitch, I really like this stitch, and will mark it as a favourite. Just a quick memo piece.


You will have probably gathered by now that even by English standards we have been having a rotten summer but yesterday the sunshine returned. Now does anyone agree with me that there is something that happens to the sun in late August, the sunshine that we had today is a compeletly different colour to the sunshine we had a couple of week ago. For me the Summer has turned toward Autumn. My son will inform me that Autumn does not start until the end of September and my husband, bless, just says "Yes, dear" when I start talking about the quality of the light! Whatever, yesterday in the golden light I decided it was a lovely day to work outside and I took Beryl Taylor's wonderful book as a starter and made this "fabric" paper. I don't know yet what I'm going to do with it but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I went to look for a link to Beryl's book and found she now has a web site and blog.



I also added to a piece I was making using the Purple Missus technique, I added some paper napkin images and some dried flowers, it isn't finished yet but was pleased with the way it looks so far.

Very autumnal I think, tee hee!!!!!

If you hate sticky tape.....

With Christmas coming............Oh yes it is! I saw Christmas cards on sale when I was in town last week. I was fascinated by these references to a Japanese art called Furoshiki. A way of wrapping articles in cloth. I came across it on Layers of Meaning and thought I would pass it on for the benefit of persons like me who hate sticky tape. I always stick to everything except where it is suppose to go.(my children can look at a pile of presents and say "that must be from Mother"). Seriously, I did think it would be a fun way to wrap small presents using printed cottons. This is my first experiment, I oviously need to pay more attention to my folds but I love the idea.



This is a link to the Japanese Ministry of the Environment description of folds(PDF)

The one I like in particular is the one for wrapping bottles, I'll have to practise.

Scroll Stich and scrambled thinking.....

This is my little scroll stitch sample, I like this stitch a lot. I think I may have come across it when learning stem stitch at school but I can't remember the teacher saying "Oh what beautiful scroll stitch" she just told me to unpick it!!!!!


I read with amazement the article in the Guardian by Germaine Greer. (Links from Albedo Designs and Sharon B )I am not a quilter, but I have stood in front of quilts and been moved to tears by the beauty of the colours and the incredible skill of the stitcher.
What is art? To me it is something man made which has power to move one or all of my senses.

"What could be the point of such an exercise in futility?" Ms Greer asks. The same question I have asked myself many times in many different in many different ART galleries.

I know what I like.......

Great day, I went to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Acamdemy as the guest of my best friend. I love this exhibition for it's variety, There is every style and size of painting, wonderful architectural models and sculpture. I really to fall into the "I know what I like" type of visitor(no formal art training). This can be abstract (usually because of the colour) or impessionist or realistic. This year there was one painting that drew me back three times. "Scene from a contemporary novel" by Nicholas Middleton.Please look at it.
This was in a room with the photographs which I thought was rather unfair as people walked by without so much as a second glance. But this is in fact and oil painting, the detail is incredible and also when you look into what at first appears to be monachome you find touches of blue and red and yellow. Amazing, I am so glad I have seen it.
Outside the Academy was an installation that was every rust lover's dream. Here are a few pictures.

Crested Chain Stitch

The summer months seem to be flying by and already the days are getting noticeably shorter, yuk! I am trying to make the most of it though, the leisure centre I belong to has an outdoor pool as well as the main pool indoors. I don't swim very well and I started going to try and help my back but the last couple of weeks it has been warm enough to swim outside in the sunshine. Lovely.
I am working on what will either be a present for someone or a UFO depending on how well it turns out and that is taking up most of my sewing time but I have tried the Crested Chain Stitch. It took me a little while as all twisted stitches do but then I got the flow of it and even incorporated it into the piece I am doing. This is the sample for my TAST collection.


As it is also called Spanish coral stitch, I thought flamenco, sunshine and bright colours,(not as bright here as in reality), I also had an excuse to play with my dusters and embellisher for the background.
Sun is shining, Ken has gone to play golf so I am off for, hopefully, a messy morning!!! It's ages since I had the opporunity to paint and dye.

Casting seed.....

Another place we visited this week was Wakehurst Place, Kew's "Country" Garden. It was our first visit but hopefully not our last, this is the home of the Millenium Seed Bank and there is a very good exhibition explaining the work. The were some amzing pictures of rare and unusual seed and this was the inspiration for my TAST stitch of the week, Cast on Stitch.
It's a good job my friend knows me very well as I sat and huffed and puffed whilst I translated the stitch. At one point I couldn't remember how to cast on (I have used the thumb method for years) and had to go and find a knitting needle and a ball of wool to remind myself. Cracked it in the end though and I love it.

Thank You.....

This is a picture of Scotney Castle in Kent which I took on Friday. I would not have been able to share it with you if it were not for the kindness of an unknown gentleman who handed in my camera. I did not miss it until my friend and I were going to Greenwich on Saturday. I had left it in the walled garden when we had a picnic, I didn't expect to see it ever again, I have no way of thanking the gentleman as he didn't leave a name so I will just have to put this into the ether and hope somehow he knows how grateful I am.

This is another view of Scotney where as you can see the Autumn colour seems to have started early, we found this in other gardens we visited this week.
I love this view and have photographed it, painted it and embroidered it in the past.