Snowdrops are everywhere - in the woods, in the meadows - quite breathtaking. Here are some pics.
I did a swoopy pic and then hot waxed it in PSP. A slight shift in rotating morrors produced this.
I have to say that my small garden can beat them for hellebores - we seem to be good at those.
The back was not bad but I didn’t walk for too long. I was very tempted to hijack one of the disabled scooters that they provide. We got one for Val once, when we were running a course on digital photography, and she was a terrible danger to life and limb. Clive was the only one who could manoeuvre the thing so she had to hop off at every corner, which rather defeated the object. Good fun, though.
Comments on Comments
Chrissythreads - thank you so much for the Prism CD - it looks a wonderful show. Wish I could have gone but this is the next best thing.
Kate - I shall look for Ben Fogle - sounds good. At that time of day Clive and I are usually trying to both finish work at the same time so that we can eat. It’s not easy - I say to him ‘How long will you be?’ He then says twenty minutes, so I go off and do something that takes thirty. By then he’s started something else. And so it goes on. Perhaps this show will give us something to aim for.
Sally - making pics bigger used to be easy before Windows Vista. They take an age to load now so I’m limited to a maximum of 600 pixels in any direction. Anyone else have this problem?
I love this quote on your profile. ‘I have got to an age when I look in the mirror, I see my mother’. Did you ever see the Billy Connolly show where he was talking about being in a very opulent hotel suite with a huge mirror over the bed. He said it was a real passion killer when he looked up and saw his mother watching!
Elli - come back to us - we want to see your corsets! Also pics of the studio.
Wabbit - sorry to hear that your Bernina doesn’t have the necessary buttons. Hope that is not the way they are going. What model is yours? Mine’s a 640.
I like this designing by committee - good fun. I shall effectively be placing another layer behind when the piece is mounted. I shall probably use a weighty board with tissue paper glued and painted and then mica mortar and copper wax to glow through from the back.
I have had a bit of a revelation about the piece and hope to show the finished article next time I blog. In the meantime Stevens finds it a good place for a wash.
She seems better but I am wary of speaking too soon.
6 comments:
We miss you at Boughton, but now I have a way of checking on your progress! Sorry about the back - my osteopath says they like variety and if you can be upright and don't sit in the morning, you can stake yourself out after lunch. It works for me, but it may take a few days for it to kick in.
I've been 'between jobs' since the end of October. Have I produced anything? Well, apart from a little purse using cotton velvet and embellished scrim, not really. Although I did do a bit of monoprinting last week which was real blast from the past - I wonder where I can go with that?!
Hi Maggie: Hope your back is improving. Back pain is very frustrating. I recommend a hot tub! I had never been interested in one but the home that we bought in Kelowna came with a lovely one outside which we keep going in the winter. I jump in every morning and often at night. It is a real back saver. Maybe you can talk Clive into one! I have been amazed at all you accomplish even when you are in pain; you have such an eye for interesting composition. So, along with all your faithful blog readers, hope it is a good day today.
If you have an opportunity, I would appreciate your advice. Looks like my old Husqvarna may get replaced but I am struggling with the purchase of a new sewing machine. So many changes since I bought it in 1980! So, like "wabbit", I am trying to find one that will do what you can do (might help if they also programmed some talent into the mix). A while ago you demonstrated the “walk away and let it stitch motif” but I have been told that only comes with an embroidery machine. In your book "Stitch, Dissolve and Distort", you have a section on stitching. Will a sewing machine with embroidery stitches do the trick? I am looking at the newest Janome 6600; it is a regular sewing machine but it does have 150 built in stitches and seems to have the features you mention in your "Stitch" book like elongation and it can store programmed stitches. One thing I wondered about is your comment on the restrictions that electronic controls put on stitch lengths. The Janone lets you adjust the stitch width up to 7mm and length to 5mm. Will that be really frustrating or do you think it will do? I figure this is the last machine I will buy and want to make sure that I will be happy with it as I follow your blogging creations. If you have any comments on "must have features" I would really appreciate them.
I can't believe it has been over 27 years since I bought my machine. Even putting it in print seems mind boggling. Carole
My Bernina is a 435 EL, the anniversary edition of the QEE. I just presented it to myself for my birthday in December as consolation for becoming so old! The max stitch width is 9 mm, a major consideration in the selection, infinitely changable (though with soft buttons rather than a dial) down to a straight stitch. I bought the embroidery module as well so that I can do some rather prosaic pieces that will make it seem more useful to my sweetie. I'm excited about all the built in stitches and the amount of stitch memory. I bought my last one in 1992, a Bernina 1010 before they added my favorite stitch to it (the three step zig zag).
I second what Jude and Carole said about stretching out and hot tubs. A day at the spa always helps too, though it is hard to imagine you doing nothing for so long! Just relaxing and getting a massage helps a lot until you do something ill-advised and all the muscles tighten up again. I find that getting those muscles loose and keeping them loose long enough for all the tissue to calm down and stop bothering you is the challenge. The scooters are a matter of paying attention and a little practice; maybe Val was distracted by all the sights.
May I ask if scrimn is called scrim in the US? Do you know where there might be a glossary of embroidery and textile terms translated into our common language?
Hi Wabbit: Thanks for your tips. Just before I logged on to Maggie's blog (my ritual every morning), I had just called the Bernina dealer here about the 640 and gasped at the price. My problem is that my Husqvarna still works other than it won't do buttonholes anymore (although I do have one of those birthdays coming up(smile)).Did you review all the various makes or did you have your mind set on another Bernina? On your machine, can you walk away while it is embroidering a motif?-I really like that idea! Can you scan art work in and digitize it? Is that a straightforward process? Any advice would be appreciated.
(Maggie: Hope you don't mind the intra corresponding in the blog.)
Carole
I'm assuming your back feels good enough for you to be non-stop sewing or embellishing which is why we haven't heard from you today. I hope you're doing well.
I see what you mean about the snowdrops! Aren't they fantastic? As a complete aside, I was showing a chum - someone you possibly know?how to blog the other day (gaye, www.leamsidetextiles.blogspot.com if you want to see what's she's up to at the moment!)
Post a Comment