Art Meme - Mark 2!

A couple of weeks ago I took up the challenge of ART MEME. I responded to Jo's offer and so far I've had two take ups Linda and Leslie. I need 3 more people, either people who want to recieve art, or don't have enough sign ups themselves.
I'll be making Artist Trading Cards as described in my post Busy,Busy, Busy.

This meme has reached the point where I'll make people some art even if they don't want to repost ;)

EDIT: Jo wants some art so now Two spaces left.

Stitched things from home.

A few years ago my I was suffering from a great bout of depression. As a method of distracting myself I took up Cross stitch. Several of them are unfinished.

this is a little design of some violets.
This is a poppy. I may actually finish this one up and use it as part of my BF's mum's birthday present.
This is some crocuses.
If I remember correctly these are some primroses.
This is a lovely little fairy I stitched. This might find its way to Erin in the states!

These are some christmas decorations I stitched. I need to finish them off I think!

I started this 'Canticle Angel' by Serendipity designs when my grandmother died in 2001. I don't know if i will finish it as i don't seem to have the threads for it anymore.I want to but part of me thinks i should start it again. There's two others that go with it.

This was my first personal design. I do want to finish it but its frayed so close to the design I don't what to do! there was so much work in it I want to save it! Any ideas would be appricated!

More things from home!

In my parcel from home was this collection of threads; The above carded ones and the lower ones which will go to my leftover threads project.


These are cotton sewing threads. Am wondering if I can embroider with them.

This lace motif is left over from a bag i made when I was 13/14.

These are the needles i found in the bottom of the box, some plastic canvas and some keyrings I might make up for xmas.



There was all these beads too! I'd forgotten I even had them!

parcel from home.

First of all, i'd like to mention a comment that was left on my post about textile arts.

Barbara said "SharonB's blog pointed my way to your piece, and I'm so glad it did -- it is extremely stimulating. I'm taking Sharon's embroidery class and am conscious of feeling a need, easily suppressed, to apologize for it that I would certainly not feel were I taking a studio art class.
Your piece does such an excellent job of pinpointing the ways women's arts are diminished. Thank you so much for it."

Part of me feels horrified that anyone should feel (even if they can supress that feeling easily) ashamed of what they love to do! I'm proud of what I do, the fact that i can use a needle and thread to create something beautiful!

But I, who have recently proudly proclaimed to my friends I have joined the embroiderer's guild have found some peoples attitudes change towards me when they discover my hobbies. Some of them find it hard to considate it with the more feminist side of my personality (from a young age i didn't like being told I couldn't do things because I'm female.). They don't understand that I just happen to enjoy expressing my artistic temperament through the use of textiles. I also enjoy painting and other techniques but I often return to my fabrics and threads. Part of the reason i got into textile arts to start with was that i started with basics, which were, at the time relatively inexpenisive. These basics compared to those of 'fine' art are more accessable, less messy (though the do take up more room now I have a stash developed! ;) )

Textiles have always been an aspect of my life. My mother taught me to use a sewing machine earlier on and supervised my helping with the sewing together an outfit at an early age ( I think i was about 6 or 7). I helped make my outfit for my cousins wedding when I was all of about 8 including a matching bag! Textiles have always been part of my enviroment. My mothers sewing room was a treasure trove of colours, smells - she screen printed special orders and made her own labels that way - and I was the only person in my Home Ec. class who could thread a sewing machine without directions at age 12.(I was also the only one who knew how to wire a plug...says something about the survival skills known by the youth of the country,doesn't it?!)
My mother made a good proportion of my clothes while I was growing up. I hade a fantastic corderoy and wool paddington style duffle coat in blue and red, she made all our fancy dress costumes (we had a big tin chest full of costumes and vintage net petticoats and things) and the grey knee length pencil skirts she made me lasted me the entirety of high school! There was always something going on, be it orders of the kit clothes she made, (ready cut fabric for people to sew up for thier children) ,screen printing, new clothes for me or my sister, or just some personal projects of my mums.

When i got my own room at 12 me and my mum made me a patchwork quilt to go with the antique iron bedstead that was in my new room (it had been in the attic for a long time!) This is it! We chose the fabric together. She cut them and we laid them all out. I sewed them into strips and she finished the edges. Its actually a duvet cover and its kept in a bag at the moment as every time it gets used it has to be washed and ironed and it fades a little more every time.


When I saw my parents on saturday they had bought me a parcel of things from home...craft and arts things.

This was my aunts embroidery book. It has instructions for stitches in it and has her name scratched into the top of it.

This bag has a netted exterior with a pale purple lining. From what i've been told my grandmother made it. Its very pretty, but has some damage to the bottom left corner that i need to work out how to repair. I need to find something with which to give it a drawstring.
This is my painting box! It was my grandmothers, got given to my aunt when she was learning and then was passed to me when I was learning to paint (my mother still has my first proper painting on her bedroom wall.) The piece of paper is my 'colour chart' and test area. It has all my good brushes in it too!


These are the polymer clay buttons I was finishing for a seamstress friend.

I got a mention!

Sharon B has written a response called textiles and value systems to my post knowledge and who you know . Not only that she's mentioned mine and linked to it!!

Am so happy! Am relatively new to the world of blogging and textile arts and its made my day!

I'm working on another piece on arts and crafts, so if that interested you, keep checking back!

The weekend that was!

Well, didn't post much this weekend. This was for a couple of reasons.

On Saturday we had to drive down to Nottingham. My parents where visiting Nottingham to pick up a narrowboat my aunt has bought. It was the first time I'd seen my parents in 2 1/2 years! Its ridiculous that a train ticket to visit my parents costs more money than i earn in a week!It was also the first time my beau had met them too!

Understandably I was rather tired when we got back.

Yesterday I had a rather mixed day; I burnt my hand - only minorly, when doing some housework in the kitchen. The oven had been left on overnight and a baking tray that was on it had heated up and I picked it up and have minorly burnt my palm from the knuckle area up. Its ok. I can just feel it whenever I move my hand! On top of that my IBS has been playing up and I have serious PMT....so i spent most of yesterday afternoon in bed, watching Miss Marple and finishing some beading I needed to finish. (Of which there will be a photo tomorrow. My camera had accidently got switched on in my bag so the batteries are charging at the moment)

My mum bought up a mixed box of my craft stuff up which had some stuff i'd forgotton about in it! It also had my painting box as well! This is a painting box that was my grandmothers, who gave it to my aunt, who gave it to me! Photos tomorrow!

The other thing I will be photographing is the only 'sane' quilt i've ever made...if i can get my fella to stand still long enough to hold it for me!

Just to keep you sated...

Heres some pretty things to go look at ;)

Textile Goddess has been making some very beautiful things, including Journey Quilts. These are a concept I am trying to learn more about!

Musing of a Textile Itinerant is a blog I read regularly and just really enjoy!

jkcrazyquilting is working on her christmas stocking for the same swap I'm in!

Barbara at Thinking Out Loud has an amazing fan blocked quilt on her blog.

Will tell you all about my weekend tomorrow ;)

Video Stitch Tutorials

Lillian at crazyseoulsister sent one of the groups we are on sent me this link to some video tutorials of stitches! The french knot one is very useful (a stitch I still haven't got the hang of!).

Knowledge and who you know...

I know it must seem like I'm always going on about Sharon B, but she does have a wonderful blog and I have to say that she has a great website including a stitch dictionary and a interesting informative blog.

In her latest post 'web truths' where she is responding to the Joshua Porter idea of the fact that the internet isn't authoritative on subjects and compares it to walking down the street, overhearing conversations, that may be biased, but are also informative.

She goes on to talk about the inherent marginalization that occurs throughout the academic and internet world.

There is the basic fact, and a quote I was reminded of constantly growing up was that everything is biased in someway; 'The victors were the ones who wrote the history books' Some of you may not know that I have studied Art History and as part of this, we had to look at what gets left out of Art Books...

You'd be surprised! Gombrich's "The Story of Art" is an art textbook used the world over. It was written in the 1950's and has been a staple book for H.of A. classes since.

Now, if you start with the title He presents it not as A story of art but as _THE_ story of art, the one, the only, the definitive work on the subject. On closer inspection the book concentrates almost entirely on art produced by white men of European origin (He does include American artists in the later sections).African art and that of Oceania are all covered in the first chapter on PRIMITIVE art...That was the first lecture I took at University.

The university I attended teaches the social history of art rather than the "This is an oil painting by such and such and you can tell this by...." type of art history. It covered the who, where, when and why of art.

One of my tutors (and in fact my mentor and personal heroine!) was Griselda Pollock. She is somewhat of a leading light in the world of social art history. She focuses on various subjects but one of them is the role of Gender in the art world.

One of the modules I was taking before my impromptu departure from university was called Old Mistresses. The entire concept of the series of lectures was to get us to look at the basic fact that as long as art had been being talked about the dominant, and for a long time, sole voice on the subject was Male.

This underlying complete bias affecting not just the art world has been perpetuated down through the centuries. As Sharon put it "It is not a deliberate conspiracy, it is simply that dominant themes are told and retold. Within these themes dominant value systems are constantly enforced."

In Griselda Pollock and Rozsika Parker's book 'Old Mistresses' there is a chapter called 'Crafty women and the hierarchy of the arts'.

It has some really interesting ideas in it such as; the fact that the gender of the artist DOES matter as it affects how the art is seen and interpreted. I wish it didn’t but it does. The fact my university had/has to run a module to identify these issues shows this up particularly.; The fact that due to the fine arts and decorative arts split in the late renaissance, the decorative arts aka crafts became considered a 'lesser' art.

The main focus on this chapter is while it is still a majority of women who practice these 'lesser' arts it should not be considered a solely female area. Just because the fields of embroidery and sewing are seen as 'feminine' doesn't make them any less of an art form.

By the time I reached Art College the 'crafts' had been parceled off to one side; relabeled design crafts and mainly involved ceramics and a small amount of textiles.

Embroidery as a taught subject is also almost non-existent these days. I want to take a C&G in Stitched Textiles but since government legislation about minimum class sizes, I can only do it by mail order at vastly inflated prices.

There was, up until the end of Victorian era and earlier into the last century, a view that embroidery was a pasttime of the middle and upper classes. Sewing is seen as being below embroidery as one is decorative and the other functional. Being skilled at Embroidery soon became seen as the feminine proof of refined gentility.

Sewing and Embroidery are seen as 'domestic', which lumps in into a category with cleaning, washing and cooking!

A good-sized section of the chapter 'Crafty women and the hierarchy of the arts' is given over to the Patchwork Quilt. Although they don't comment on CQ, they do look at the Patchwork quilt in some detail.

Describing an exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1972 entitled 'Abstract Designs in American Quilts' they point out that there is, even in this short title an underlying formalization of the quilt in that 'emphasizing the formal elements in the quilts as their reason for new found recognition of art...and the exhibition was dedicated to "the anonymous women whose skilled hands and eyes created the American quilt". This separates the makers from the objects, dedicating the exhibition to them suggests they are not present, that they are not represented by the art that they made...morever the women are reduced to skilled hands and eyes as if quilt making bypasses the mind, feeling, thought or intention." (p72)

They highlight that the quilt, in the early days of the US were an important survival tool and the important social value of them. They look at the idea of the Quilting Bee and the very idea of the social interaction that these things involved. They even point out that skills with the needle were and are held so highly that you were more or less socially excluded from these events if you couldn't sew well.

What I am trying to say is, just because the established art world, with its still intensely patriarchal views on the world doesn't fully recognize the beautiful things we make for what they are - Works of Art - it doesn't make them any the less beautiful or less valued by OUR community

I was bought up in an environment where EVERYONE sews. My mother studied fashion and much of my childhood was spent getting under her feet in her work room. My father works backstage in the theatre industry, can thread a sewing machine or overlocker without looking and is the first person who gets called by the costume department if the machine is playing up. He can sew as well as my mother. My sister makes her own clothes when she has the time. My step-grandfather embroidered as part of his schooling and his recovery in a military hospital after being in Burma. I sew and embroider because it keeps me sane. I even used to aid my recovery from various illnesses because it gave me something other than the illness to focus on.

UFO's/WISP Challenge for 2007 + 15 mins of stitching...

JK (one of the fabulous list mamas at CQforNewbies) is talking about UFO's and WISP's on her blog The Neverending Journey. Sandie from ABeautifulCraft devised this challenge for the coming year which is to get your Un-Finished Objects finished, and your Works In Slow Progress worked on! ( I love the term W.I.S.P.!I believe Sharon B of inaminuteago came up with it!)

I only have 3 major W.I.S.P.'s and 1 minor U.F.O.

My Modern Gypsy Bag is my first W.I.S.P. - This is a project which I said I would do when I joined the Hand-embroidery Yahoogroup. Using this tutorial here we were to make a little evening bag with a silkie of a gypsy or similar on it...I didn't have access to silkies at that point ( i still don't particularly but a lot of them aren't to my taste!)
It includes this lovely lady - my modern gypsy!
And these selection of goodies. I have them all in a squishie somewhere and I don't know where I've put the damn thing!

My Second W.I.S.P. is my first proper Crazy Quilt(I've done several CQ projects but not a quilt yet) - my W.I.S.P that is getting the most attention at the moment. It's pretty much a design in progress, partly as am not completly sure what I am doing! I'm working in cottons for this and I've got one block in the process of being embellished and 3 in the process of being made.
Yesterdays dedicated stitching time went into the preparing of these blocks!


My third W.I.S.P. is my Cherry Blossom Bag - I don't know if this will ever get finished....It got overtaken by other projects and I've never really got back to it.I may keep the piecing to make into something else.
This is my minor U.F.O. I made this SRE choker to possibly sell on ebay and it needs something adding to it, some greenery or little beads round the flowers maybe? Its should probably be at the top of the to do list....

My major problem is not W.I.S.P's but B.U.R.P.'s - Blasted Un-Realised Projects; those great project ideas I've had and haven't quite got to yet.I have a whole host of these swimming around in my brain but either don't have the time to do them or just feel i should finish some of the others first!

My major B.U.R.P involves Suffolk Puffs - also known as YoYo's. I'm from the county of Suffolk and feel an textile affinity with these little circles of fabric! I've got all sort of things planned for them, i just need to find the time to make some!
I didn't make the ones in the picture - I was sent this picture by a friend so I don't where it came from but this is the sort of thing I would love to make!
Theres a really great tutorial here if anyone is interested.

Right, off to watch Miss Marple (BF got a box set of them!) and do some more stitching!

Its Finished!

Over on CQForNewbies (yahoogroup) we have a Victorian Boot Christmas Stocking Swap that Mary has organised.
This is a stash building swap. Each person taking part is making a Christmas stocking that resembles a Victorian ladies boot.

They had to be a minimum of 8 inches in length and embellished. They also had to have a loop so they could be hung up by the reciever if they so wished.The colour and style of the stocking was totally up to the person creating the stocking which is why mine is a little unorthodox being all purple and silver, with a snowflake theme!Mine is approx 10-12 inches long.Its decorated with Cross Stitch, straight stitch and Beads (plus various seam treatments).

Into this stocking will be going a minimum of 4 squishies (though they may have to be smallish to fit!)


This is the side with the toe facing to the right
And this is the side with the toe facing to the left.
This shot shows the green lining and the braid I've used to finish the top edge and create the loop with!

This is a close up of the lovely silver coloured lace thats decorating the top edge!

I hope the person who gets it likes it!

Blog Flog and more stitching....

Today I have more stitching to show you and I want to tell you about a blog I've come across.

Robin Atkins over at Beadlust , who's father passed away in july, has made some absolutely beautiful memory dolls for her family from his ties. Please go and look. Its such a lovely idea!

She does amazing beaded art as well which definetly earns the label of 'eye candy'!Her blog is always a good read too!


Stitching...again, I did more than my fifteen minutes and finished off the seam treatments on this block. Gerry is being an absolute star and sending me some more of the purple rickrack so I can make it a ongoing element in my quilt! (WOHOO!)

This is a close up of the littlest seam...I was having a real mental tug of war last night with what to do with this seam. My lazy daisy stitches are a tiny bit uneven but it came out pretty well.
Today I think I need to sew up some more blocks, and then sit down and do some sketches of how I'm going to proceed with this block!

I should probably design my name badge while I'm at it!

last nights 15 mins of stitching...

..although it was technically more like an hour and a half of stitching while watching a video..



I sewed some gorgeous purple rickrack, that I got from Gerry in my birthday box, onto my block, and have emailed to ask her where she got it as I think I want some on each block, as a theme of sorts!
I then did long stitches in some fine silver/grey perle at each curve, then did lines of back stitch to either side and down the centre of the rickrack which i then whipped with some lilac perle.

I'm also doing a row of chevron stitch on the other deep purple patch which mirrors the one on the opposite side of the block and ties them together nicely.

I hope to get the chevron stitch finished tonight and then I will do pekinese stitch on the lilac seam and am considering some very fine wheatsheaf stitches on the black seam.

More tomorrow!

15 Minutes of stitching.

On the Hand Embroidery yahoo group there is a '15 minutes of stitching challenge' which I am taking up. The idea is that you spend 15 minutes, every day doing some hand stitching.

The blurb goes like this "Grab your needle,thread and favorite project and take 15 minutes out of your day to sit down and stitch! With 15 minutes a day we can get something done and take a bite out of those projects that have fell by the wayside. Be it redwork, crewel, a UFO or crazy quilted project, kick up your feet, take a few minutes for yourself, and get to stitching! "

Well, heres what I'm doing...
You may have seen the picture of this blank block a few weeks ago. It is pieced in cotton fabric and is my first attempt at a specifically arranged piecing technique rather than my previous 'sew pieces of fabric on till the shape I want is covered' technique.
Heres what I did on it last night. I'll be doing more it this evening. So far I've just used Rajmahal Art Silks on it and one of my beaded polymer clay faces.

These top two seams are; on the right, tied herringbone, and on the left blanket stitch.
These lower seams are; vertically, chevron stitch with a straight stitch between the gaps on the seam, and horizontally, two curved rows of back stitch. (excuse the chalk mark I haven't sponged off yet.)

Right, am off to do more stitching now, after popping over to Sharon B's 100 details archive to get some inspiration!

Sketchbooks

I mentioned in my last post about the use of sketchbooks in the design process.

While at school, they were a required part of assessment, and then at college they were a secondary but important working tool and these days can be a work of art in themselves.

For those who are really into thier art, whatever medium thier final work is in,a sketchbook is a really good idea. As a record for everyday obvervational drawings, sketches,design ideas and final design ideas they are a valuable creative tool.

I know a lot of people who hate drawing - I used to hate my drawing classes at college, I know how to draw, and didn't appriciate being told that it wasn't 'right' - but even basic line drawings can often be all thats needed to spark off an idea.

They are also a great place to store written ideas, samples of fabric,Photos, pictures from magazines etc. They are a great way to plan a piece of work as well as recording ideas for you to come back to!

Those of you who saw sharon B's wonderful 100 details in 100 days could think that that in its own way is a glimpse into a sketchbook of sorts, in that it is a store of all the wonderful things you can try!I'm trying to get into the habit of keeping a sketchbook handy at all times. I also have a sketchbook I keep soley for putting found images into!
- i have a very battered one from my college days with pictures from magazines in it!

You don't need vast amounts of art materials either. printer paper, a ringbinder and a pencil can be just as efficient as a having a cupboard full of moleskin sketchbooks and high grade pencil sets!

You can use a sketchbook for a wide range of things, from observing, to researching, to expressing and playing with ideas to finally designing your work.

Another concept approach to the sketchbook is the idea of the art journal.
An Art Journal is an illustrated diaries or journals on any theme.

Imagine a normal journal, and then think of it illustrated and embellished!

There is an amazing website here about art journals and doing them!

Although not strictly about sketchbooks, this website is also really interesting; Its all about peoples love affairs with thier moleskin notebooks and planners: The Moleskinerie.

Guild Meeting

Wow! What an afternoon I had on Saturday! :)

I went to my first embroiderer's guild meeting!

I arrived at New Earswick Folk Hall for the meeting to find it is a Quaker Meeting House!

On going in I was greeted by Mary Burton who welcomed me very warmly. She showed me around. The things these ladies organise are great! Theres workshops in a wide range of subjects, There is going to be xmas card making activities for next month, they have a sales table where you can buy threads and needles etc, a table you can give items away on, and they have the most wonderful library which you can borrow books from for 10p each a month! I came home clutching four books I'd borrowed!

I ended up joining both the national guild and the local branch and am now a fully paid up member of the local embroidery guild!

There was a talk by Pauline Burbidge:



She is a textile artist based in Allerton, Scotland who works mainly in the area of what I call 'art' quilts and her work is very interesting! Her work in held in international collections including the International Quilt Research Centre in the USA.
She takes inspiration from landscape and nature and subtly abstracts the image into beautiful designs.

She talked about her entire creative process, from sketchbook to concept to finished piece, and happily showed her sketches, and working processes, including relief painting, that is quilting and then painting the raised parts of the quilt with fabric paint. It was interesting to seeing craft done with the academic art practices behind it, as thats the method of working I've grown with. I actually find incredibly daunting to start working on something without having planned and done at least a basic sketch first!

The thing I noticed, and really loved in the work she bought to show us, was that on the wall hanging she was exhibiting the dividing lines between the panels didn't have straight edges. They were undulating, which actually enhanced the imagery of the quilt which was a series of panels of an image of a reflection in a scottish harbour.

Her wallhanging 'Wind over Water' is just simply stunning!

She uses natural materials such as cotton and silk. One piece she has done captures feathers between layers of incredibly fine silk!

She's inspired me to go back to my own sketchbook based methods of design. Shall talk more about that another time.

She's kindly allowed me to use some of her photos in this post. They are all owned by her and were taken by Keith Tidball.

I got a copy of the talk schedule for the next year and am looking forward to some of the talks coming up; Theres one next april by Kay Greenlees who wrote "Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers and Textile Artists: Exploring the Embroiderers' Sketchbook" (which is going on my xmas wish list!) which I am really really looking forward to!

Now, I need to go design and embroider myself a name badge for the next meeting!

*Photos are from Paulines website and are used with permission.

Photos as promised!

Well, here is my organised stash. Not as tidy as some peoples but organised none the less!

Here on the top shelf and second shelf of the stash shelves. The top shelf has pretty things on it as its otherwise too tall for little 5ft2inches of me to reach. The teaset is one i got second hand for £5 (US$7-10) at the charity shop near my flat. There are two wicker pots that are a similar shape to the oriental ginger jars my mum has.
One the second shelf are my small pieces of fabric in plastic containers. these are going to be sorted into colour groups once I can find a good colour wheel to reference from. I had many of them and they seemed to have been taken in sacrifice when I moved by the moving gods. they also took my good fountain pen and a skirt I really really like. :( The tin and jars hold buttons just waiting to be used.

On the third shelf are books, spare little containers and that tape doesn't belong there! The box in the middle is W.I.P. and U.F.O.'s, and theres my art materials that didn't have a home.


On the forth shelf we find the tool box in which are my polymer clay and moulds, along with the tools i use with it. The green box has some yarn it it . The frame has a embroidery project I'm playing with on it and the box under it has my beads. The larger box has various embellishment goodies in it.The fourth shelf holds misc stuff. the big box is fabric - mainly fancies. Theres some boxes with random sewing notions in, the sideways box has planned ROAK's stashed in it and the box at the end has some batting in it.
The fifth shelf is exclusively fabric. The end box has scraps of velvet in it, the next one has reclaimed fabrics (cut-up clothing). The big mottled box has lengths of black and white polycotton, white muslin/cheesecloth and the vast amounts of deep green taffeta i keep meaning to make cushions from.
In front of the bottom shelf (not shown - it just has folded up fabric - black fleece, black velvet, and some heavy linen - on it) is my lovely sewing machine. I think i need to dust it!Its a good basic one and I bought it with staff discount when i worked in a haberdashery that was a Husqvarna Viking dealership. Its not got a huge range of stitches and was the lowest of the price range but its very good at what it does. Its a Huskystar 207 model, and my sister is still sulking that i took it away when I left home.

I hope to get some more of the tidier brown boxes for my stash next time I'm at IKEA but the reused ones its in at the moment will do!

Some of my stash is else where and will tell you about that at a later date.


I've been after some cigar boxes to decorate as gifts. I had made one for a friend and had a request. I just have to work out how to get all the labels off now!Will show pictures as they progress!

Must get ready for the York Embroidery Guild meeting now!