Machine embroidery

Ever since my wonderful day in London with Lauren Shanley, I have been itching to spend long hours at the sewing machine, and at last I have managed to have a couple of clear days buzzing awayLauren was about to move her shop and was having a bit of a clear out, so I was lucky enough to go home with a bag of delicious pieces of fabric which has been like a great big bag of sweets for me to go through – it’s amazing how much fabric can fit into a carrier bag! Thank you Lauren!

I went for a orange, red and yellow combination first and the next piece is mainly blues There is something wonderfully meditative about the process of getting all those pieces stitched onto the backing fabric: a repetitive action that requires just enough concentration to keep practical worrisome thoughts at bay but allows other creative free flowing thoughts to play across the mind – bliss!

And as I continue with the stitching all the doodling I have been doing starts to appear on fabric

 I love the way the backs look too

And this combination of red spotty fabric with orange thread on it, just makes my heart sing!

At the moment I just want to carry on covering acres of fabric and playing with the colours and doodles, but ideas of what to do with it are beginning to emerge – more experiments ahead!

More fabric hunting too, anyone got any old clothes they’d like to see transformed into some crazy patchwork?