Happy Valentine’s to You All

I am a member of a group of slow stitchers who collaborate on textile projects.

Nanacathy is also a member.

Last year we made a card for someone we knew, who had been going through a difficult time. Each one of us made a twinchie (two inch square piece of decorated textile). Colour and design was not specified. Many of us were moved to create hearts and we packed a lot of love into that card

The piece of vintage blanket in the middle was there to give a feeling of cosiness – a virtual hug

and created pockets for messages, cards and of course chocolate.

I am sending the sentiment and the hugs to each and every one of you who read this blog – becoming companions in a wonderfully inspiring supportive community.

❤ THANK YOU ❤

and

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

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Mothers Day Exhibition

It is Mothers Day here in the UK.

Helen Birmingham of Untangled Threads is having an online Mothers Day exhibition.

There are some very moving pieces in the exhibition and well worth a look.

These are the two pieces of work I entered

‘Why Cross?’

I had a difficult relationship with my Mother, which improved when I had children. She was a lovely Granny (Mamgu) to them.

My second piece:

‘Secrets and Lies’

If you would like to read the story behind the pieces, please go to the online exhibition:

MOTHERING SUNDAY ONLINE EXHIBITION

 

❤ May your day be happy ❤

Mend it Monday

Mrs Snail of The Snail of Happiness runs a regular feature called ‘Mend-it-Monday’. Mrs. Snail is the queen of mending and has all sorts of tips, ideas and gadgets to help her on her mission to use and re-use things as long she can.

She is a constant inspiration to me and is even in the early stages of opening a shop to store all sorts of pre-loved items and tools for mending and re-purposing.

I saw this exhibit at Harrogate and thought it would fit right in on this Mend-it-Monday.

It was laid out on the floor, each detail fascinating.

Mending as art – love it!

Green Twinchies

First an apology. Especially to those of you who were enthusiastic about the Green Twinchies and sent me your wonderfully decorated squares.

I have finished the Blue Twinchie collaborative piece and will show you that in another post.

When I turned to these Green Twinchies, they just would not come together in a design that felt right, so I set them aside waiting for inspiration to strike.

Amanda had sent one with a see through ‘window’ and that made me think about making something 3D so that light could filter through.

and because of the earthy colours, I wondered about putting them in a grid and use my bug hotel as an inspiration…… but after several attempts nothing sang to me.

Right now I am part of another collaborative project based on a woodland theme. We are working on hessian, and I am loving it. I have found some old camouflage off cuts in my stash.

Something is stirring and I think I might be going into the woods with the Green Twinchies.

So be assured they have not been forgotten.

If you have any thoughts or ideas about where this might lead, I will be delighted to hear them.

Squares Together

Back in July 2020 I made a piece of crazy patchwork

Chopped it up and sent the pieces off to 15 members of the group Stitched Together – a splinter group from The Stitchbook Collective, made up of people who would like to work collabratively on pieces of textile art.

The aim is to make some pieces in a relaxed and enjoyable way and then to exhibit them to raise money for both national and local mental health charities.

I sent a little bit of sari-waste ribbon with each piece. This did not have to be used but some did.

Magic happened!

It seems like a miracle to see how all those 2″ squares have been transformed

I have had permission from all participants to share our work on my blog.

It was so exciting to open each envelope and discover a beautiful gem inside.

The eye suggested Egypt to me and the nearest I had to a parchment background was some reused teabags that I had sewn together in layers and painted with Gesso.

I painted it a pale sandy colour and started to arrange the pieces.

Each time I thought I had arrived at an arrangement I liked, I left it overnight and then in the morning realised something needed to change. I tacked the squares down and undid and rearranged them 4 times before I was satisfied.

Here they all are now sewn into place and ready for some surface stitching to complete the piece.

If you are wondering what has happened to the Wild Green Twinches, I will be working on them when I have finished this piece.

Textile Tuesday: Wild Twinchies

I just love seeing those little envelopes pop through my letterbox. If you want to know more about this project see this post.

These are just arranged randomly at the moment.

Aren’t they yummy! An Autumnal theme is developing methinks.

Only two more to come and then I can start playing around with how to bring them all together.

Thank you so much to all who have joined in

Life is a bit hectic here right now – all good but it is keeping me away from blogging – I am looking forward to it all calming down soon.

Textile Tuesday: September

Good Morning! A brand new month and moving into Autumn. I am looking forward to more stitching time, but for now the garden still occupies much of my creative time.

However, the Wild Twinchies are returning home! Which is very exciting.

These are the two little gems arrived from Dawn, so beautifully wrapped in a tiny box, it felt like opening a lovely present

and when I put them with the others ideas started to form about how I might work with them

Thank you so much Dawn,  Cathy, Amanda and Rainbow J for your beautiful pieces of textile art – all gorgeous, all fabulous little gifts arriving in the post.

Just over half are here, I’m excited to see what comes next.

~

There was a piece on Woman’s Hour last week about a collaborative Quilt project organised by Sue Brown and Louise Asher called Same Sea, Different Boat.

It seems that many of us had a similar idea at the same time  – Hundredth Monkey Effect and/or Zeitgeist!

There is also the Quarantine Quilt on Instagram

~

If you have any textile news or views to share – pop a link in the Comments.

 

❤  Happy Stitching!  ❤

Textile Tuesday: A Challenge

The Brown Paper Bag Challenge.

Thanks to Tracey of Yarn and Pencil, I have joined in the #brownpaperbagchallenge that is running on Instagram at the moment and in the Facebook Group ‘Stitch Meditations’.  It is the fabulous idea of Anne Marie Desaulniers.

Tracey alerted me to this by tagging me on IG, and I am very glad she did.

Another form of Scrap Happiness, another form of fabric collage

The idea is to put fabric scraps into a brown paper bag, without thinking about it  – just any old bit of fabric lying around small enough to fit in the bag. There is a video on Vimeo by Liz Kettle demonstrating the approach.

Then just pick out pieces without looking and make a small collage

Then stitch.

I cut up part of an old sheet into 4 inch squares and the first thing that happened was that I got caught up in the collaging, so instead of just doing one, I went on to do 4 before I felt like stitching.

And now I just pick up any one of the 4 and do a bit of stitching at odd times in the day. It is really very relaxing. I often do it while the kettle boils. The artist Fran White has done a whole series of sketches and paintings based on that very premise. I met Fran at the Seawhite Studio last year. I have been fascinated by the development of her journey with her #whilethekettleboils series.

This square is turning into a mixed media piece

with a piece of ‘colour catcher’ paper in the middle and I am thinking of adding some of the orange plastic mesh onion bag. I might also add some beads and/or buttons, we’ll see – the piece will tell me as I go along.

~

Have you seen any interesting textiles, are you on a fabric fun adventure or will you have a go at the Brown Paper Bag Challenge? – put a link in the comments if you would like to share any textiles this Tuesday – links to archive posts welcome.

Textile Tuesday: Wild Twinches

Yes, I’m going with that name for this project as a working title.

I have made a start on my square. I might add some beads and French Knots, and maybe blanket-stitch the edge, not sure yet. I might take out some or all of the machine stitching.

(The camera never seems to capture blues correctly, the embroidery threads are darker in the middle, getting lighter towards the outside.)

So far there are 6 people interested in joining in with this project, 3 blog followers: Cathy, Margaret , Amanda and Tracey.

And two Instagram followers: Lindy and Sue

❤  Thank you everyone!  ❤

That makes 7 altogether including me. If we had one more person we could do two squares each – anyone?

If not, the 7 of us will do one, two or 3 squares each

You do not have to be a blogger, you do not have to mention this on your blog, if you blog about something completely different you are still welcome to join in. I will post to anywhere in the world.

If you are one of the 6 Wild Twinchers, please go to the Contact Me page and send me an email with your postal address and I will send you the randomly selected square(s).

Please let me know if you would like to make one, two or three squares.

You will have up to 3 months to complete it/them and send back to me.

After that, I will create a piece of textile art bringing them all together.

You do not have to stick to the colours of the fabrics and you can take the square anywhere your imagination leads you, using any technique you like – it will be fun seeing what comes back to me and an exciting challenge to see what I can do with them.

Of course, I will post progress and when the project is complete I hope it will be clear what to do with the piece. If there is a local exhibition it could go in, I might exhibit it.  Or maybe we keep it amongst ourselves and see if any of the Wild Daffodil followers would like to buy the finished piece,  with proceeds going to a Mental Health charity. I am open to suggestions.

Eeek! I am more than a little bit excited to see what happens!

Textile Tuesday Twinchies

Now I am back in the swing of blogging, I thought I would try and make most Tuesdays all about textiles. If you would like to share any of your posts about textiles, past or present, put a link in the Comments, I’d love to see them.

On Friday, I shared a project that I am making with a private group called, Stitched Together, which is a splinter group of the Stitchbook Collective.

A few of you expressed an interest in joining in with a twinchie project. This makes me very happy! I am really interested in working in a collaborative way and seeing what unfolds. So I have created another set of Twinchies for us to do together. Exclusive to Wild Daffodil followers (on WordPress and Instagram).

This time, I tried to make my squares slightly more uniform, by measuring and marking up the squares on the back

I think it worked – well – good enough for me anyway.

In Stitched Together we are working towards an exhibition to raise money for Mental Health charities. Our collaboratively created work will be exhibited and pieces will be sold to raise funds.

So what will we do with this piece made by Wild Daffodil followers?

I could put the finished article up for sale with the proceeds going to Mind, a UK Mental Health charity (the chosen charity of Untangled Threads) but I am happy to hear your suggestions.

How will it work?: Any number up to 15 (+me) can join in. I will post you one or more squares, depending on how many join. If you only want to make one, that’s fine.

We all work on our squares with stitching and embellishments in any form we like.

When done, post them back to me, within 3 months of the initial posting date.  I will put them all together to create a piece of textile art.

I am happy to post to anywhere in the world.

~

I picked one square to make a start

and will share progress as I go.

This is by no means an example of how yours ‘should’ be done –  just one way to do it in case anyone is completely at a loss. I am hoping for 16 completely differently decorated squares – let your imagination run free.

~

I am tempted to call us the Wild Twinches, but do you have a better name for the group or the project?

Edit: It is absolutely fine to join in and not mention the project on your blog. So if you blog about something entirely different, but would still like to join in, you are very welcome.

Twinchies

 

I have long wanted to make a collaborative piece of textile art and there are a few members of the Stitchbook Collective who are also keen to join in.

Between us we have lots of ideas, so it is going to be a fun challenge to decide where we go with it. Early days.

Somebody mentioned Inchies and I went to Pinterest to see what they were talking about. Cute! But I thought a one inch square is too tiny – hence Twinchies– also to be found on Pinterest.

To get us going I have been doing some experiments

A 10 inch square of calico, allows for 16 twinchies. I am making them appproximately 2.5 inches square to allow for creative eventualities.

I laid some scraps of fabric on the calico, pinned them and ran some machine stitching through, with the stitches at the longest setting

Then measuring about 2.5 inches, I cut them into strips

and then squares

As you can see – not accurately measured or cut! I know that will drive some people mad, but I like the randomness of it. Others might like to trim them to an exact square.

They will all get jumbled up in any final arrangement

The idea is to send these little fabric collages out to a few people for them to decorate as they wish. When done they will all be reunited and mounted as a piece of textile art.

I don’t know if anyone else will want to join in with this particular method, I am interested to see how my fellow stitchers react to my rather drunken twinchies.

A little bit of recycled sari ribbon will be sent with each one, to be used or not.

What do you think? Could you cope with randomly sized ‘squares’ to work on?

Have you ever made an Inchie or a Twinchie?

EDIT: This project is just for our Stitchbook Collective splinter group which is called Stitched Together (a closed group). I’m excited about Crafty Creek’s comment below, so if there are more of my blog followers out there who would like to join in with another wonky twinchie project let me know in the comments and we can see where we go with it.

Textile Tuesday: July

We are edging towards the end of The Stitchbook Collective year, in August we will receive our last kit. Was there ever a better timed project! There are 150 of us in the Collective and it has been a wonderful creative community to be part of over the last few months.

Our June box was all about Laid Work and Couching, including how to couch lettering.

Of course I had to include a bit of rust dyed fabric – Rust Dyeing has been my favourite process of the whole course – I love the magic, alchemy and serendipity of it.

The Laid Work was a real challenge for me

I like to be messy and abstract and fairly free with my stitching

but Bayeux stitch is not any of those things – keeping within the lines is what is required, (and as I am writing this, I am already creating a design in my head of a messy, borderless piece, but still using some of the Bayeux stitch technique…. ooo .. but no … I have to finish writing this post first – ‘inspiration’, a blessing or the opposite?! sometimes both)

I searched online for an Art Deco pineapple design (you might already know how much I like pineapples, here is just one post about them, but there are loads more and if you want to see them, just type Pineapple into the Search Box top right) and created the above from a wallpaper pattern.

After all that control, my inner rebel needed to get messy again so time to experiment with some eco-dyeing

An old calico curtain pickled with mould spots has found it’s time to shine. Soaked in soya milk, and then wrapped round a rusty nail, encasing leaves soaked in rusty water.

In they all go to be steamed

I like the look of the bundles as much as I like the dyed fabric. There is something intriguing about the mystery they hold. (Argghhh! another idea …. project of bundles as the art work themselves, on a theme, so wrapping pertinent pieces of memorabilia in a bundle and then working on the outside to hint at what it holds ……. noooo … get back to writing this post!)

To speed up the process of drying, I sat them on a wheat-filled heat pad that is heated in the microwave

But even that wasn’t quick enough for me, so I later put them under the grill on a very low heat.

I also tried printing the leaves onto paper

I was a bit disappointed with the results at first, but there are definitely marks to work with …. I wonder where inspiration will take me.

Although there is a tinge of sadness that The Stitchbook Collective is coming to a close, there is also celebration as our books are going to be exhibited at the Kniiting and Stitching Show in Harrogate in November.

Even better news! Anyone who would like to be part of the next Stitchbook Collective can be. Helen is running another one next year – I can highly recommend it! Suitable for beginners and experienced stitchers alike. You can subscribe for a whole year or buy the individual kits.

Must go, I have messy Bayeux stitch to figure out and a few bundles to make.

~~~~

If you would like to share any textile related posts in July, just pop a link in the comments below, current or archive, anything textile related,  are all welcome.

 

Textile Tuesday: Tyvek

Is anyone else losing track of the days, weeks, months?!

Here just one week late is Textile Tuesday

In The Stitchbook Collective we have been having fun with Tyvek.

Each month we get a pack of goodies to experiment with

It is always a wonderfully exciting moment to open the parcel to see what is inside

Colours I would not usually choose to work with, all carefully chosen and lovingly put together. The kits are still available if you go to the Untangled Threads website, and a pound from the sale of each kit goes to the mental health charity, Mind. So far Helen has raised and donated £2,489.50.

Tyvek is a synthetic fabric that reacts to heat

Creating great bobbly textures

This one was painted with a tester pot of Dulux emulsion before hitting it with the heat gun

Here is the piece of fabric collage I will put on a page in my stitchbook

Now onto the next parcel to open, which is all about felt.

Have you been working with textiles or found any interesting textiles or textile art recently? If so it would be fun to see what has caught your eye in the world of textiles. Just leave a link in the Comments.

 

Textile Tuesday: Box

Textile Tuesday happens on the first Tuesday of each month. Join in by leaving a link in the Comments. Current or archive posts are all welcome, your own textiles or those you have seen out and about.

Inspired by Cathy’s Scrap Happy post, I was itching to have a go at making a fabric box.

I have lots of bits and pieces of canvas left over from my needlepoint obsession days. A piece of this made a nice firm frame.

I cut 3″ squares of canvas, and 3½” calico squares as the backing for some little pieces of textile collage.

After stitching the pieces in place with just a few stitches, I put a piece of wadding between the calico and the canvas and stitched them all together.

The two pieces on the left have little pockets.

I sewed blanket stitch round the edges and made a plain calico base

then oversewed the sides to the base before sewing up the sides.

Oh I did enjoy making this but it had taken me a whole day and I wanted to finish quickly. I cut a piece of canvas for the lid and thought, ‘that’ll do’.

I added a piece of thicker wadding top and bottom and found a shell for the handle.

Ta Dah!

I think it works

Now – what to put in it ….

 

Textile Tuesday: Rusty Delights

Hello Everyone and welcome to February’s gathering of Textiles on this, our second Textile Tuesday Photo Challenge of 2020.

Have you got any textiles you are working on, or have you found any when out and about? Archive posts are welcome.

Just leave a link in the comments to join in.

In another life I would be a Lichenologist

I still can’t leave Rust Dyeing alone. The serendipitousness (? !) of it has taken me hostage and will not let me go!

It is so tempting to just keep dyeing, the results are so exciting but at last I have three finished pieces to share with you.

Desert Rendezvous

The rust-dyed Mulberry Paper in the first piece reminded me of tree bark.

The second one, using rust-dyed curtain lining, reminded me of the desert scenes my son sent me when he was running in the Sahara.

The third became a lament for the devastation created by the recent fires in Australia. The turquoise represents hope and water and new life returning.

After the Fire

I am thinking of painting the background canvas for this one an Uluru Red.

Eventually they will all be for sale, I am working towards getting enough together for an exhibition. When I say ‘working towards’ – the main work to be done is getting my mind round the whole idea of exhibiting and all that goes with it, but I would like to see my work all presented together somewhere, sometime. It will happen when the time is right.

~

I am really looking forward to seeing the Textiles you would like to share with us on

TEXTILE TUESDAY

 

Joomchi

Our deliciously delectable December box of goodies from The Stitchbook Collective is all about experimenting with mulberry paper – a technique known as Joomchi.

Helen has sent us some sheets of paper in a variety of colours and has devised a cunningly clever way of felting them together in various ways to produce a fabulous textured surface that can then be stitched.

These are the pieces I have created – before adding any stitching

the one top left is much more see-through held against the light

I haven’t been able to completely wrench myself away from rust dyeing

and found some more goodies in the hardware shop to play with.

This piece of felted paper seemed to go really well with the rust and red wine dyed cotton curtain lining

I discovered that the wet paper can be moulded over textured objects to add surface interest.

This one was moulded over the top of the radiator and looks at home on this piece rust dyed calico

I added some simulated rust staining to the green paper by painting with Koh-i-noor inks.

Just a few stitches to hold it all together and I have this month’s page of the Stitchbook done.

There is more to explore with this technique so I have just ordered some more mulberry paper from Calder Art Supplies in Huddersfield.

I might try rust dyeing the paper when it comes ……..

Rust Dyeing

rust and red wine

I’m in deep!

rust and red wine

I have been thinking about writing a blog post about my adventures in rust dyeing, but I’m so into it, I can’t stop to put cohesive thoughts together

rust and black coffee

So here are a few photos to give you and idea of what is going on around here

dyed with black coffee, before washing

after washing

calico, nails and white vinegar

white vinegar, copper panel pins, rusty nails

I found some craft stranded threads for 40p a skein, made by Trimits, ideal for rust experiments

I have made a start on stitching

copper panel pins, white vinegar and stitching

Must go and check on the pieces I left overnight…….

The Stitchbook Collective: Texture 2

As you might remember, I have joined The Stitchbook Collective: a year long adventure in stitch with monthly Workshops created by Helen Birmingham.

In September’s Texture Pack we were sent a small pack of factory waste threads to play with. Helen provides some very helpful video tutorials and explained the process of glueing these threads together to make them into a piece of fabric that can be used in a fabric and stitch collage..

I separated the threads out into colour groups and used mainly purples for this piece

Although it works as an example of the technique, I’m not thrilled with the design and prefer the more abstract look of the back

especially when I flip the photo

I can see this in paint on canvas ……..  each excercise sparks new ideas.

With the next groups of threads I kept the threads in a rectangular shape, hoping to be able to create a better design.

I cut the lower piece into 4 and laid it on some waste sari silk which I got from the company YarnYarn.

At Helen’s suggestion (in her video tutorial) I added some netting provided in the pack

and then stitched into it with Rice Stitch, Running Stitch and Cross Stitch.

I am happier with this one.

Here are the two pieces as they will appear on the page of the Stitchbook.

I am really enjoying the workshops and the stitching, but I don’t feel I am in the creative flow of it yet. I am waiting for that magic ah-ha moment, when the creative penny drops and, well  ……. hmmm ……..  I’ll know it when I feel it.

The best bit is to be part of a like-minded supportive group, sharing what we are making and talking all things textiles – I’m really loving the sense of community that is building up.

The packs and tutorials are so well put together. It is very soothing to sit sewing whilst listening to Helen describing the process and her joy of stitching. There are a limited number of packs still for sale in Helen’s online shop, one pound from the sale of each pack goes to the mental health charity MIND.

To date £749 has been raised.

Happy Vase

Erigeron or Fleabane, neither are names pretty enough to describe this little gem of a daisy that grows on my patio, interwoven with what I think is a type of campanula. Both seed themselves liberally and I love them together.

The vase is a pot I bought in Florence, Italy in 1987 when I went there with my Dad. We had a wonderful time together, I have such happy memories of that long weekend .

It was Father’s Day here in the UK yesterday and he has been much in my thoughts. He died in 1998 and would have been 96 this year. He worked hard and played hard, loved a party, had a huge sense of fun and was never happier than when playing with his Grandchildren.

Teamed here with another of the textile pieces I’m working on

Title: “You are my happy”

I have to have several on the go at the same time. I seem to need to be able to have a rest from each colour combination in order to see each piece of work afresh.

Joining Cathy and ‘In a Vase on Monday’.

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Sunshine

You are my sunshine

Matching the temperatures outside today.