Loops Of Life - A TIF Challenge for February

I finished the February TIF Challenge today. I must admit I found this colour scheme a little dull

to work with. A few years ago I would have loved it but my friends from Stitchers Plus have drawn me out from my comfort zone & taught me to add sparks. To me this still needs a spark in some way, shape or form.

My thinking on this piece can be read here, and my stitching went like this. I started with a blue piece of poly cotton, then added my digitized design of circles. This was made by creating a background in a candlewick stitch, cutting circles in this background with my "cut holes" tool, digitizing satin stitched circles, cutting, pasting & re-sizeing them to where I felt they looked OK, then added a row of stem stitch to tie them all together. Once stitched, I then added some buttons to continue the circle theme, add more texture & interest. The pink button has given a little life to the piece but not enough in my opinion. I'd be interested to hear opinions of others.

A Stitchers Plus Day

Today was the first meeting for the year for my creative stitching group. Show & tell as always was pretty amazing, we are such a creative bunch. There are lots of pics of what we had all been doing over here. The ladies in the Library were also having a major sorting out. I made a donation & in return added two more books to my personal library at home, both on bobbin lace. This is just one of the pages in one book. I dream to be able to one day work these beautiful edges.

Mother Nature's Architects

February in Sydney can be extremely hot, humid & sticky. This year has been a little different in that the extreme heat has not eventuated, however the humidity has been horrendeous. We have had rain nearly every day, sometimes in storms, sometimes in just little drizzles like this morning. The little fine shower early this morning was just enough to accentuate the spider webs in my garden.

February TIF Thinking

I have been thinking a little about the February TIF challenge that Sharon B has posted. Mmmm...... what am I old enough to remember?

The first thing that came to mind was the Moon Landing in 1969 where Armstong took "one small step for man & one giant leap for mankind". I was in primary school at the time and had the headmaster for a teacher. He happened to live next door to the school & I remember our whole class was squashed into his private loungeroom that afternoon to watch this historic occasion on black & white TV. I might add that the rest of the school were in the school hall watching one little TV set out upon the stage. I somehow think that we had a better view, even if we were squashed.

The other history event that I vaguely remember is our Prime Minister Harold Holt dissappearing off some beach somewhere in Victoria. I was only really little & the memory is more about my mother being glued to the radio trying to listen for news updates. Please note this is the radio my Mum was listening to, not a TV. The only technology we had was the radio, television was something new that only the richer people in town could afford. I remember being taken across town to my Mum's friend's house to watch "I Love Lucy", it was a treat for Mum as her name was Lucy also. Mum finally bought a TV when I was 11, and that was because my older brother had homework of watching certain shows on TV. A little hard when we didn't have one.

Because my early chilhood life was without TV, we spent lots of times playing outside. There were daisy chains to make, bikes to ride, a double block of land with lots of friut trees & garden to play "hidies" in, the kids next door and across the lane to play with. On hot days there was the council pool or the river to swim in, & on rainy days we played games like monopoly, ludo, scrabble & cards.

Then there were the trips to Newcastle by bus, (getting up at the crack of dawn because the bus left at 6am), Queensland or Sydney by train, all because we did not have a car. We would go to these places for holidays to visit family, & I remember my Dad carrying suitcases to the station to catch the train. We were lucky with the bus, it started just next door.

Telegrams were the quick way to get urgent messages. Few places in town had a telephone and we often relied on neighbours to relay messages that were of utmost importance.

I remember stinking hot days when we would play in the tar bubbles on the street, temperatures of 108 deg F in my mother's kitchen. Then there were the mornings when the ice would put a layer over the dish of hand washing water outside by the tank. The loo was ouside in the garden, a torch was required at night to see the way and also to check for creepy crawlies. The only running water in the house was in the bathroom & to get it hot to have a bath we had to light a chip heater. At my Aunt's house the "dunny trucks" would come twice a week to take away the human waste because the sewrage was not yet connected.

We walked to school everyday, & came home for hot cooked lunches every day. There was no fear of predators & we walked the streets a plenty collecting bottles for refunds for pocket money.

Cooking was on a fuel stove, the ones that you had to light a fire in to get heat to allow you to cook & boil kettles to wash up the dishes. This required wood & kindling & it was my job to collect the kindling ready to light the stove. This stove provided our heating in the winter & I remember getting dressed in fornt of it so as not to catch cold on those cold frosty mornings. Our school clothes would be hung on a wire above the stove so they were warm for us to get changed into.

OK, OK, enough of the childhood memories. So what are my thoughts on this challenge? I feel that life is a circle. We are born, we live, then we die, some of us think we are born again. Throughout life we see changes in technology & our standard of living, but there are times throughout life when we don't have the technology, like when we lose our mobile phone, or the power goes out for hours at a time when Mother Nature gets angry. Who can forget Cyclone Tracey who flattened Darwin?, and more recently the tsunami that devistated the Indian Ocean rim, or Hurricane Katrina ? So what do we do then? We go back through the circle of life & remember how we coped when we didn't have the technology. So I think I will base this month's challenge on circles. I have been through my fabric & thread stash ( pictured above) & picked out some colours. Not sure how it will all come together yet but watch this space & you may soon find out.

What a Difference a Day Makes

24 hours sometimes can be a very long time, other times it flies. This time yesterday we were all sweltering in the humid conditions of Sydney, and it was January. Today it is much cooler, the humidity is much less & my garden is singing after the 50mm (2") drenching that it was given by the storms which blustered through Sydney late yesterday afternoon & early evening. The storms were reminiscent of the one we had last year, but with less damage.

Today is also February, the start of a new month, and a new TIF Challenge. Sharon B has posted us all a new challenge which can be read here. My brain instantly went to the moon landing, but I am know there will be other things if I stop & think some more. The colours we have to work with this time are above, an interesting combination which should be easy enough to work with. Watch this space as my interpretation of this challenge evolves. My January TIF challenge can been seen here.

On the personal stitching front, I have made some progress on my other challenges for 2008. Patternmaking has started on the bridesmaids dresses, one quilt top is well & truely on the way, the second quilt top has been planned & all fabric bought & pre washed, and the reticella piece is slowly being re-designed after my major bungle. At this stage it is highly unlikely that it will be a reticella piece at all. I have had a list of about 20 different ideas as to what to put in the space, but all the things that I want to do just will not quite fit in. At least the re-designing exercize has led me to other areas in embroidery that I now want to explore. Oh for more time!

Reticella Progress

I just thought I would share some of the progress on my latest Reticella piece. There really is not much to share at this point. I am still trying to overcome the re-designing I had to do when I made an itsy bitsy counting error. Well, it wasn't really a counting error, it was more about not thinking a design change through properly, which led to a counting error, then to a huge error in stitching on my fabric. This then led to my Reticella border not fitting in the space. When I discovered the mistake, I made the decision to re-design the piece rather than unpick it. I am still on that re-designing process at this point in time. I have had lots of ideas & stitching friends have given me still more ideas. I have written them all down & will work through them one by one to see what will fit in the space that I have. Then I will make a decision as to what I like the best. I would love it to be a Reticella piece, after all, that was the point of the piece in the first place, but that may not happen. It will depend on my design capabilities. The fact that it is on even weave linen opens the space up to all kinds of counted thread techniques. Watch this space for further reports on my progress.

January TIF Challenge

I finished my January TIF challenge today. It has been half finished for a while, just waiting for a few extra bits & pieces to be added. I think it fits in with the given colour scheme as well as following my thoughts on people I admire.

I started with a purple background that was interfaced well. I then set to looking for letter "R"s" to digitize. In the process I found a symbol which I think must be the one used in the Greek Alphabet for "R". It looked interesting so I digitized it, then set it as a pattern in my digitizing program. I then used it as a fill stitch for a background on my purple fabric in darker green thread. I then digitized a fancy "R", copy & pasted, resized & changed colours until I got something I liked. This was then sent to the machine to be stitched out. It looked like it was missing something so a play in my button, ribbon, & thread stash completed the picture.

A tribute to everyone with the letter "R" in their name.

Tif Challenge

Ok, so this TIF challenge has really got inside my head. Yesterday I started to think about the people who I admire & the list goes like this. It could go on for a while but I figured this would do to start.

My friend Robyn for her ability to pick up a drawing impliment or paint brush & make wonderful marks. Such artistic talent this girl has in all areas of the fine arts.

My friend Sheila for her ability to FME. I sat in awe one day watching her draw irises with machine needle & thread. A prize winner in the quilting world.

An aquaintance Heather who has sooooooooooo much embroidery knowledge & talent. A wiz a filet embroidery. A prize winner in the embroidery world.

Marie Laurie, a teacher in the Embroidery & Lace world. I first become aware of this lady a few years ago at an embroidery exhibition . It was one of her pieces that made me drool & want to take home. Since then I have seen many pieces of her work & they all scream at me to take them home. At our exhibition last year, I was ready to come home, but thought I would have a quick look around the traders tables, not realizing that I had missed a whole table of work by the Fine Needlework Group. Every piece of work that sent me goo-goo-gar-ing was a piece by Marie. I have had the pleasure of meeting her & a number of years ago made this piece of Snutki in one of her workshops. I had admiration for this lady way before I met her.

Then there are the lacemakers of the 15th century. Some of the most amazing pieces of lace work was produced in this time period. I am trying to produce this now with all kinds of aids like electic lights, bi-focal glasses, & a magnifyer. The women of this time had none of these aids & yet their work is so fine & accurate.

OK, so enough of all the stitchers. I started to think about actors, actresses, entertainers, politicians, etc etc. There was Princess Dianna for becomming the people's princess & not just another Royal, Oprah Winfrey for becomming something from nothing & giving all, Rene Zelwigger for being different, the Bronte Sisters for writing classic novels like my favourite "Jane Eyre"

So my thoughts went from a list of names to what do these people all have in common? In my wakefullness last night I realized they all (besides being female) had the letter "R" somewhere in their name. So I have decided to use the letter "R" as the basis of my design. Postcard size and digitized so that I keep the practice up on my embroidery software.

Take it Further Challenge

I swung by Sharon B's today for a look & to check out the challenge for January. I will certainly have some reading to catch up on everything. As for the challenge, we have the choice of using the colour scheme above, or using the concept of people that we admire & look up to. My mind has instantly gone to a few people in my personal life, all stitchers or needleworkers, who I admire for different reasons. I need to write all these names down & see where this will all lead to. As for the colours, I think they are fabulous. Definately in my safe zone.

As for a finished piece, I think it will have to be small, as I have so much other stitching to do this year. Postcards sound good. Actually, that was my idea last year for another monthly challenge which fell by the wayside. I hope I can keep up with this one. OK, off to do some thinking.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to one & all ! A bit late you all say? Well, only a few days. I have only just come back home after a few weeks R & R on the beautiful North Coast of NSW. The weather might have been a bit iffy, but there were a few days on the beach before they were all closed due to tretcherous & dangerous surf, lots of reading, scrabble playing, trivial pursuit playing, dinners & lunches out, sleep-in's till late, catching up with family & friends & watching of fireworks on New Years Eve. There was a fishing day on the edge of the river, not that I was fishing, I left that up to the others. I just enjoyed sitting in the shade with a good book & the river breeze blowing over me. There were shop brousing days, checking out all the local antique & craft stores, & drooling over all the beautiful hand made glass ware that I would love to have brought home.

OK, any textiley stuff? Of course! I did come home with 2 pieces of patchwork fabric which will be the starting point for a new quilt. I have an idea in mind already for what I will do but I need to source some more fabric. I also took some hand stitching away with me. It was the piece that I mentioned here, but unfortunately it did not quite work out the way that I planned. Silly me made a mistake in my counting on my original graph, so consequently my beautiful Reticella border will not fit where it is supposed to. I had gone way too far by the time that I discovered the mistake & would have had way too much unpicking to do to fix it, so I decided that the design would change. The border will hopefully now contain some filet work which is one of my personal challenges for 2008 that I mentioned here. The major Reticella piece will just have to wait a while longer. Oh well, such is life. Lucky I am flexible.

So here I am, 2008, with plenty of challenges happening already. Watch this space to see how they all pan out.

Merry Christmas

'Tis the season to be jolly, well this week surely has been, and it is only Tuesday. You know the deal, dinner & drinks with friends, sharing gifts, hugs & Christmas wishes. So I thought I would take this opportunity to wish everone out there in Cyberland a very Merry Christmas & prosperous 2008. This will probably be my last post for some weeks while I go to spend time & Christmas Cheer with family. So whatever you all do over this Holiday Season, be merry & wize, travel safe, & I will return sometime in 2008.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

More Reticella

I just thought I would share with you all my latest stitching sample. I have worked this in preparation for a major piece I want to do. The sample was to test out a new design, plus different borders & corners. The sample has now served it's purpose, I have made decisions, & the major piece has been started. Yippee! Holiday stitching here we come. Watch this space for a pic of the real piece, sometime in 2008.

Personal Challenges

Well, it is less than a month to Christmas, (view my decoration made for 2007 above) & even less time untill I go on holidays again. So it is that time of the year that I start to plan for next year. OK, so what is on my personal agenda for 2008 ?

A wedding - one wedding gown & three bridesmaids dresses, due late in the year but planning has already started.

Two quilts, both 'big birthday' presents. One has already been started but a long way from being finished. Mmmmm........time is running out. The second is due later in the year (around the time of the wedding) but has not even been designed yet! Ouch............... have to get a wriggle on!

A piece of Reticella, like what I did here, just a bigger piece & a different design. The planning of this piece is just about finished & I might even get to put needle in fabric some time this week. Yippee! This will be my holiday stitching, and January, and February, and March and..............

Then there is the Filet Work that I want to try. You know, net based fabric with embroidery & needleweaving, very geometric, very me.

Enough challenges you all think? Of course not! Last Tuesday I was doing a little blog surfing & came accross Sharon B's "Take it Further Challenge. " You can read about it here. Well, being a sucker for a challenge, as well as wanting to be able to interpret design into stitches, and extend my design capabilities, I have signed up for the challenge.

What HAVE I done! Oh well, you all have something to look foreward to seeing here in 2008

A New Toy To Play With

Last Saturday was A Stitches Plus day. It was our last meeting for the year, so Christmas lunch (where we all brought a plate), & an inspirational walk in the bush was the order of the day. So armed with camera , I set off with everyone to photograph anything which caught my attention. There were amazing seed pods, beautiful & interesting Australian wildflowers, multi-coloured & textured gum leaves, interesting rock formations & much more. I turned on the camera only to find it would not turn on fully. Disaster! After much fiddling, changing of batteries, prodding & poking, I gave up on the camera & resorted to my very limited sketching skills.

Yesterday I took the camera into my local camera store to see if they could shed any light on the problem. After much prodding & poking by the technician, I was told that it would cost $$$$$ to fix & I could buy a new one for just a few $ more. So I am now the proud owner of a brand new camera which takes pics like this.

A daisy which is about 5cm in diameter.

A 2cm width sample of my bobbin lace.

Anyone like to guess what this is?All I have to do now is learn how to use it to it's fullest. The camera shop will give me free lessons so I think I will take them up on their offer.

A new blog to visit

Last Saturday, over our Christmas lunch meeting, my creative stitching group voted to start up a blog about what we do. I had been thinking about doing it for a while but needed to ask everyone else what they wanted. Of course I was met with questions like "what is a blog", but after much discussion most of us agreed it would be good publicity. So our new blog is up & running & can been seen here. I hope you all join us as we share our travels through the world of creative textiles.

Mixed Threads - An Exhibition

This my good friend Robyn Johnstone with her two works hanging at the gallery. She is another very talented artist & stitcher & in the two works that you can see here she has first painted, then combined surface stitchery with cut work & drawn thread work. Just yummo. Bug hugs Miss Robyn.

Mixed Threads - An Exhibition

How WOW are these? These two fabulous works are by Elizabeth Low of Australia, posted here with her permission. These great landscapes are stitched by hand, believe it or not, and they are just beautiful. They are currently on exhibition at Rogues Gallery, Long Jetty, on the beautiful Central Coast if you want to see them for real.

Three groups of the Embroiderer's Guild of NSW got together to produce work for this exhibition. The Stitchers Plus group, which I am a member of, was one of those groups. We had an official opening last Saturday complete with food, wine, & speeches. A really great afternoon was had by all. It is an exciting feeling walking into a gallery & seeing your own work & the work of collegues gracing the walls. More pics to come.

Cutwork Success!

I tried today at my second attempt of digitized cutwork. I had lots of help & suggestions from my on-line friends to make it better. I took some of these suggestions on board and managed to have success. I used the same digitized design as last time and it looks so much better. I have made myself some notes to use in the future & will add more still, as I think even this could do with a little fixing. I need to experiment some more.

A Digitized Cutwork Disaster

What is this disaster you all ask? Well, this is my first attempt at digitizing some cutwork. The idea was to lay down all the support stitches, cut out the appropriate area, then stitch the support bars and surrounding satin stitch.

OK, so it was all digitized, everything looked spot on. I download the design to the machine, hooped the fabric & stabilizer & off I went. Everything was good until I had to remove the hoop to cut. Once I cut, the stability was all gone. Obvioulsy everything all moved, maybe I didn't have it tight enough in the hoop.

I let the design continue without cutting the second side and as you can see it is beautiful. Obviously I need to sort out the support issue once I cut. Back to the drawing board again.

More Reticella

I have been playing with another design of Reticella. I want to do a major piece and am having trouble with design. For some reason the designs just are not flowing. Something about this little sample looks disjointed. I think I know what it is and have come up with a new design which flows much better than this one but have yet to put needle into fabric. I want to test it first before I start on the major piece and am running out of time. I want the design sorted out so that I can take it away on holidays with me in December. Yikes! Only eight weeks to go! Better get stitching!