Sunday, October 25, 2015

Wips and other things.........



Ah Autumn,
Strictly Come Dancing and American Football on the TV.  Love it.



Watching so much television is also a great excuse for sitting and sewing, this is what is on my settee at the moment.  A vintage chair back cover, who remembers them (and replacing them a thousand times)?  This one is acting as a sort of stream of conciousness, sort of.  In other words what ever comes to hand or into my mind goes on it. It started with the red line and grew from there.  Still lots of space to fill.(as there is in my  head

I got off the settee yesterday and went up to London for the NFL Fan day in Regent's Street.ahead of today's game at Wembley. It was a bit spoiled by the rain but great fun to see and  the 250 strong Ohio State
University Marching Band.

  First time I have ever marched  down the middle of Regent Street. Well, you have to follow the band! Sorry.


 I spoke to the very proud grandfather of this young man who explained that his grandson played all the highest notes.   I asked if he, Grandad,  played the trumpet and he said "No, the banjo for sixty years". 
I do love these little meetings you have with people on days like this.
I spent a little while watching some very large man be introduced until I gave in to the rain.  A wander back down Regent Street produced this spectacle.
 Last Wednesday it was The Girls day and we played making books.  We were having so much fun I completely forgot to take any photographs so mine is the only one i can show you. This is the other Wip.

 I made up sheets and then cut them into three, the thinking behind was the books we had as children with the head, body and legs so that you could make weird and wonderful people and animals.  These are just backgrounds and as you can see are not yet attached but I think they will stand further embellishment.

See Strictly bit on previous post.

Strictly Come Dancing




This was supposed to be in the post above but Blogger wouldn't play nicely.

Monday, October 12, 2015

I will...

...get beck in the rhythm of blogging, just don't know when.  Days are flying by, dark mornings and the nights are drawing in. This post will be photo heavy, if blogger allows

We had a really enjoyable workshop with  Viv Sliwka at Sew Not Strawberry Jam. Just what I needed after my miserable weeks.  Good company, lovely setting and good cake!

I just love this place, I may have mentioned it.


This is Viv's thread nest and travelling companion.
I loved the way  Viv had laid out the little samples she used to explain what we could do.  Absolutely no restrictions on what we wanted do. 
These are my bits, I love my little grey brooch which says "Embroidery is easy to begin."
Lovely day, thanks Viv, thanks Sam.

Our latest voyage was our annual pilgrimage to the Knit and Stitch Show.  All in all a good show.  
Off to a good start with this amazing mural made entirely from re-cycled fabric by DAMSS
 Closer

 and closer

So clever. Mesmerising.
Well if that hadn't been enough our next surprise was a full sized fish stall by Kate Jenkins


What a huge amount of work and what fun. As was this exhibit from the Royal school of Needlework. The needlewomen are Elena Thornton and Connie Wynn.
I will never look at my sieve in the same way, given the size of the stitches I don't think I will be trying this at home.
These next darlings were on the New Zealand Contemporary Art stand  he artist is Sherril Jennings. 



and the last exhibit I photographed was this chess set by Mavis Walker. I particularly liked the pawns.




So that's it for another year, I enjoyed it and di a little shopping though I was disappointed not to find even weave canvas which was on my list.  Saw lots of cross stitch but no tapestry.  Interesting how the emphasis changes, a few years back it was all beads this year there were a lot more dressmaking stalls.