30 Tones of Grey

A great excitement - I have been offered a wonderfully large exhibition space at the Craft4Crafters show at the Westpoint Arena, Exeter, 29^th to 31^st January. 

Shapes of Grey (thanks to Deb Jackson for the title) will be a retrospective, covering thirty years of stitching. I have managed to find some of my City and Guilds work (omg, am I really brave enough to show it?). 

The pics right and below show work from the last ten years - they all came out of the box marked 3D. Perhaps it should be called Fifty Shapes of Grey.

The little bag on the right is heavily stitched gold thread on net. At this stage I was fascinated by the movement that dense stitching could create - the vessel below has outer 'leaves' of machine stitched felt. Buttonhole stitching around the edge makes the leaves curl.

I still like this mask (below) made from heat-manipulated Softsculpt. Lots of metallic wax and Pearlex powders used here. Plus a beaded fringe - influenced by Val Campbell-Harding, I think.

I am really looking forward to digging out my bigger pieces - a trip for Clive here, as the loft may be involved.

Together with Sam Packer and Fiona Edwards, I will be doing lots of demos and promoting Workshop on the Web, of course. We are right next to the West Country Embroiderers stand (I am very honoured to be their president) and they give wonderful demos. Hopefully we can co-ordinate our fabric decoration and stitch so we can pass samples back and forth. 

I think, if I have room, I might bring the Brother Scan N Cut. I have a project that will probably still be on the go in January - more on that later.

Yesterday my friend Jane Wild came round to play with the cutter. I wondered how she would use it as her art is very much centred on the figure. Here she is preparing her design - a wonderfully abstract lady .

Here is the first cut - and the sketch that produced it.

It turned out to be wonderfully Picasso-ish as the scanner omitted an eye and lost one of her boobs. We like her that way.

Jane left my house with a book to review - thus proving that there is no such thing as a free lunch. We had great fun and vowed to do it again, soon.


The fantastic sketchbook below is from Paula Watkins and is a response to Workshop on the Web's support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. We are asking for sketchbooks or hand-made books to be donated so we can sell them online in aid of the Charity. We have some great ones already, from artists such as Cas Holmes and Anne Kelly. Details on www.workshopontheweb.com. More on this blog, too.

Finally, if you purchased my latest book 'Cut, Shape, Stitch', you will find another free online class at www.d4daisy.com. Based on trees, as you can see below.

 Many thanks for all your good wishes to my new knee. It is doing well ans sends its love. All signed off from hospital and physio and I am able to go for wonderful walks. Still doing the exercises!