It is very not and humid here. Thank goodness for the air conditioning. But, we have a cyclone hovering off the coast.
They are talking about 45 knot winds on top of super high tides. I sure hope it changes direction. Just in case it keeps coming I have all the washing on and am getting things tied down. Not much I can do about the big trees out the front. They have become stressed by lack of water and all this heat.
I am always on the look out for books to read and when given the heads up downloaded this to Kindle.
I hadn’t read any thing about it prior to purchasing it and once started was drawn in by the story about a boy growing up in Africa. Then it suddenly dawned on me that this wasn’t fiction. I was a true story. I sat up till the early hours reading.
I found the story inspiring, uplifting and enjoyable. It is an easy book to read, I did it at one sitting, and it left me thinking how blessed I was and how resilient William was. A good read.
Most of my time seems to be taken up with my computer course lately. I swing between elation and utter frustration. I have to work really hard as I just don’t have my brain set at the same responsive rate as the kids. They just dive in and it seems to work. I tried this. I dove in and everything just siezed up! Still I have made some progress.
I have worked out how to trace around a photo using my Apple Pencil and then,
removed the photo layer.
I had to try 3 different drawing programs because I kept getting nowhere. I ended up on Adobe Sketch, which I signed up for when it was free. My copy is still free but I don’t know for how long so I had better learn how to use Sketches quickly!
I then played around in Airograph to make the image more geometric,
then onto Moku Hanga for another effect.
I decided to stay with the same image to make a repeat pattern in mega photo.
Next I am moving onto printing these designs onto fabric. That has meant a trip to the shops for freezer paper. I have also gone on line to buy some ‘wonder under’, who knows when this will arrive?
This is all very basic stuff, but one has to start somewhere.
The next Children's Class will be in the first week of the April school holidays. Keeping with the theme for the year which is looking at copyright this project is called 'Inspired by".
Many embroiderers' are inspired by traditional designs. This one is based on the Paisley design,
which in turn is inspired by the Indian 'first mark' design. (made by clenching your hand and dipping the side of your hand in the ink .)
The modern Zakka embroiderers have also been inspired by this design.
Our design is inspired by all of these. There are two versions, to suit the skills of our embroiderers.
A large version.
and a small.
I wonder which will be the most popular?
Do you have a list of blogs that you like to look at or subscribe to? I do and I find that with time constraints etc they are the only ones I tend to look at. So last week I decided to dive in and go surfing. I didn't find a lot of new material but I did find one that is a going to keep me occupied for some time.
Her name is Jessica Grimm and she is a German Embroiderer who is also an archaeologist, although embroidery is now her main career. (Her site is written in English and German so I am not trying to translate all the time.) She offers classes in a range of techniques and I believe she trained at the RNA. Some of the classes offered are available on-line and there are some interesting kits in her shop.
Her blog is going to keep me coming back for some time.
Her posts about embroidery she saw whilst teaching in China have me hooked.
And just for me she has a section on embroidery artists you might want to explore.
Seems I am recovering from my illness, although I still find sitting, standing and walking a bit of a trial.