Up and Running

Back to normal at last with Broadband. Boy, do you miss it when it's gone.

Heather – Yes, I think Sue Rangeley’s work is wonderful. Her drawings and fashion sketches are so very good and we’ve angled the book to show how she moves from inspiration, through studio work to sampling and finished pieces. Then there is a section to show the techniques in detail. There is an excitement about Isobel’s book too, but I will wait until I’ve met up with her next week to tell you about that.

Had such a giggle about the book on the Amazon, JP. Hope it had enough in the way of pics to be an inspiration.

I’m still enjoying card making for the WoW gift subs. Sometimes the simplest things work really well – this one is just a hand stitched strap made from silk carrier rods with some couching and a metallic leaf.

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We are having new furniture in our sitting room and the mess and work this has generated is quite unbelievable. Emptying drawers, taking the cast-off furniture to the kids and getting rid of the spiders and cobwebs that had been lurking behind the bookcases, has taken ages.

I hope to bring you photos of my new look living room in the next post. The sofas aren’t coming until after Christmas – just as well with all the GCs trampling about.

I left Clive to it yesterday and went out with my girls for a spot of Christmas shopping in Southampton. Always fun when we get together and we found lots of good pressies. I forgot my camera and had to use the iphone for these festive wintry shots.

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Not bad for a camera phone and very easy to transfer to my laptop.

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I am loving my iphone even more than I thought I would. Have had a lot of fun in the app store – more on that later. Best of all is that I can now have Spotify – the music streaming site – playing on my iphone dock (I have these all over the house). You have to pay for the premium service. I already had the free version on my laptop but it’s a hassle carrying it around. Figure I will save money on itunes, though.

Did anyone go to Harrogate K&S? I don’t do that one but would love to hear how it’s going.

Almost Here

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm much better now. New Sue Rangeley book out in January and we'll hopefully have one from Isobel Hall, too. There is a rumour that she might do free classes. Fingers crossed.

Well, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, as the song says. We lost our broadband connection this week – first time in about ten years, so I guess we’ve been lucky. Don’t you just miss it? It’s not properly back yet – all the companies blaming each other, of course. I can only get on line on the laptop with wi-fi. I’ve had to use it in some strange places around the house and I think we’ll draw a veil over the episode in the downstairs loo. That was the only place it worked at one point. I’m at my desk in a quite normal situation at the moment but this will be a short post in case it goes again.

What a great excuse to buy an iphone. I’ve wanted one for ages and it’s so exciting. I can get on-line with it – yesterday I even got my emails but today I can’t. Will investigate tomorrow. It even works on the docking station although they said it wouldn’t.

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I’m busy making cards for Workshop on the Web’s gift subscription scheme. If given as a pressie, the recipient gets a hand-made card and the subscription details and the giver get an extra issue of WoW. Anyone interested get in touch with fiona@workshopontheweb.com

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I love making cards – do you like my mulberry bark angels with tassel skirts? Good to do some fun hand stitching in the evening.

Must go now in case it disappears – quit while you are ahead I reckon. Back soon.

Bouncing Back

I've not had a good week. A gum infection left me crumpled on the sofa for most of the week and not only was it painful but I looked like something from a Sci-Fi film. Half human, half hamster!

The dentist sorted me out with some antbiotics and now it's much better.

Two things have cheered me up - the first was the fact that we decided it was a good excuse to light our new wood-burner. Curling up and watching the flames was great, although a little too hot. At least this time we didn't have to open the patio doors.

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The second up-cheerer was the Yahoo group that links everyone doing our free d4daisy online classes. They've been turning out some really good stuff. Here is Doreen's piece from Lynda Monk's workshop.

This one is by Thelma from my lesson. Books were the linking theme and Lynda's 'mystery ingredient' gave lovely results.

Now one from Heather - love that binding. More will be shown and the next lesson is due soon.

I have managed to do some work. The next d4daisy book is by Sue Rangeley. Her work is breathtaking, based on nature. She starts by showing where she finds inspiration and then goes on through the studio proccesses to the finished piece. Here is a little taster on a rose theme.

First the drawing.

Then a detail of one of the pieces.

I think it will be a great book and the pics have cheered me up no end. I hope to be back in full stitching mode next week.

I'm a bag lady

I've been working on the bag lady challenge for our charity Christmas party. This is a very exclusive affair which started off as a City & Guilds Christmas party, then became a party for all those who studied C&G at our tiny hall in Christchurch, Dorset. This is why it is exclusive as we won't move to a bigger venue and there are always disappointed people who can't get in. The hall is an ordinary village hall but it is right on the estuary of the rivers Stour and Avon and the views are fabulous. It's a wonder we ever got any work done.


We have a speaker (who we manage to persuade to take a pittance in fees), some excellent traders, a competition, raffle etc. but best of all is the lunch. Everyone brings a dish and they all give their all in the making of it. We choose a local charity, this year it is the Youth Cancer Trust who have a hotel near us for teenage sufferers and they give them such a good time. They have too many requests so need to extend and we hope we can help a little.

So, it's the best of all worlds - a great party for a good cause. This year's challenge is to make a bag. (I do hope the term bag lady isn't too non PC for you. My grandchildren told me yesterday that they are not allowed to use the term 'brainstorming' any more as it is not fair to the metally ill.) We were given a pattern - a rectangle of paper which has to be turned ingto a bag. We can add or subtract bits and do anything we like to embellish it. Sue Chapman, our speaker, will have the terrible job of judging it on the day. Here is the pattern.







Here are my ingredients.









Some straps and the background - felt, with Kim T's wonderful dots ironed on.







I love these straps - here is a close up.


What will it be? I shall show you after the party on December 5th but the clue is octopus.

We also have to make gift boxes which we will sell. This is the shape.





Some of the group have made loads but I haven't made one yet. I shall do it at the weekend - honestly girls, I will.

Urchfont

Heather - you and me both, when it comes to messy demos. Both Carol and Lynda looked immaculate. I just lived in my pinny at Ally Pally.

One for Aussie Jo - this is the Alice Kettle piece I fell in love with. It will be so exciting if you come over here and you must come to the K&S. Pity it's not next year.

Hi Genie and Jac - hope you've found the free classes at www.d4daisy.com. I do enjoy the Yahoo group, especially when the pics start coming in.

Softsculpt - in the States try Meinke Toy or www.stitchesquiltshop.com

Oh Blomman - what a shame. Do come and see us next year when I'll be one of the exhibitors.

I just been for some R&R at Urchfont Manor College. I belong to a group that meet there - we don't have a dedicated tutor but take it in turns to present ideas to the group. This time we did silk paper, which we all grumbled about - been there, done that etc. But when we got going we had such a good time and everyone had lovely pieces. I discovered new things to do with Carrier Rods - first setting them in a thin layer of silk.

Then I painted it when it was dry - needs ironing but you get the idea.

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I then discovered that the silk half-bricks sold by Oliver Twists (wonderful colours) were hollow. Can't really tell here -my pics are not great today - pushed for time.

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I pushed a piece of polythene into the middle and wet the rest with wallpaper paste. It turned into a bag - eventually. It took ages to dry, but I can't wait to stitch into it.

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The weekend was lovely and I made myself stay in bed longer than my usual 6am and the food, of course, was great.

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I feel so much better now and that's just as well as ....Ta Da..... the boy is back. He's spent the summer with my daughter as we were away so much. He seems so glad to be home but I'm afraid that Stevens is under the sofa looking fed-up.

The Show

Back from Ally Pally. It was so good to see you all and put names to faces. Sorry you couldn't make the show, Heather. Here's a tiny flavour - lots more in my review for December WoW.

Sorry but I only do London, JP. Next year Wessex Textiles, the group I exhibit with, have one of the group exhibition slots so I might make it up north for that. If I manage to get any work done!

Have been working flat out since we got back - mostly admin but also putting the final touches to the free distance learning classes that go with the Stitches, Straps and Layers book. Carol and Lynda have classes with their Stitching the Textured Surface book too and I am setting up a new, joint Yahoo group for all the classes. Should be great fun and I hope to see you all there.

I've found a new way of combining the Model Magic/Model Soft compound with fabric. Such fun. That will be one of my lessons on the course.

The show was super - the exhibitions, especially were wonderful. Sensory overload with so much good stuff.

Cindy Hickok's made me laugh so much. Such witty ideas. I love all these 'people' rushing in the door and the cardboard cut-outs of Cindy and Doyle were an inspired touch. Here's a special one for the Brits - a cup of tea.

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One of the stitched pieces made me howl - it was a study of Lautrec's prostitutes - all portrayed with colourful pies and the title was 'Tarts'.

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Alice Kettle's collaboration with Alex McErlain and Helen Falcey was a real talking point. I love this jug, scratched into by Alice. She was showing some amazong head studies but they were glazed and not good for photos. Alice has promised to send me photos so I will include them in the review.

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We did well with the book selling and Carol and Lynda drew crowds with their demos from their book. It was such fun watching them - here is Carol in action. They really made the show for me.

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Must rush away now - more on the show later in the week.

Come to the Knitting and Stitching Show

Phew! It's manic here. Trying to pack for the K&S but life keeps getting in the way. Exciting news is that, on Friday, Lynda Monk and Carol McFee will be on the stand (TGE6) demonstrating techniques from their book ‘Stitching the Textured Surface’. This will happen at 11.30 and 2.30. More on that later.




Jo - What luck to get a bursary. We heard from Jae that the book was going well in Oz and it has certainly done well here.




Smudge's return can't come too soon Heather, as our next door neighbour's son has come home to live (like lots of other kids in this recession) and brought his three cats with him. They are lovely (just out of the kitten stage, but still playful) but they love our garden and have terrorised Stevens. One of them tried to come in the catflap and, due to Steve repelling all boarders, it has now broken. It was set into the double glazed doors and was very expensive. Stevens now spends her time with just her head sticking out of the remains, waiting until the coast is clear for a quick pee.

Ann, thanks for the copyright info. Will look into that later.

Back to the show. I always demo on the stand and this year I am working on techniques for one of the online classes that are free with the Stitches, Straps and Layers book (details on www.d4daisy.com). It's going to be based on extending the ideas in my Digital Humanity piece. Detail below.

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This uses such exciting items as black rubbish bags, tomato puree tubes, Model Soft and, of course, water-soluble paper. The secret is in the glazes. Here is 'one I prepared earlier', waiting to be enhanced at the show. Not a good pic - had to use flash as no time to play with lights.






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The work is based on the Beowulf story of the monster Grendel and his mum, using imagery from the Lewis chess set. My drawings of Grendel make him look fierce but his angry parent keeps turning out looking mumsy. The last drawing even had eyelashes! I'm working on it.



I hope to make a couple of finished pieces at the show, so do come and see us.

Off to make the bed for the cat sitter. Her last visit this year - hooray. I love to be home-based and there is nothing like going away to make you appreciate it.