Thinking

I have been following Rachel's progress on her foot stool done in canvas work on her blog.  I used to do a lot of canvas work but got bored with it.  Now I think I would like to stitch a piece.  At the Embroiderers' Guild they have a huge selection of threads for this kind of work on the sale table, so I can get the thread cheap and I'm sure I must have some canvas in my stash.  Next step was what would I stitch?

I found a colouring book on-line from 1615.  It was originally written for glaziers and plasterers but I'm sure some of these patterns would work.  (These are the kind of things one finds on in the Internet Archive.)

There is a design index at the beginning setting out all the designs as thumbnails.

Then these are expanded to full page prints later and there are some interesting designs that could work.

It also has some recipes for mixing colours that come with the warning that these might be dangerous, still, it is interesting to read how it was done back then.

I intend to have a play around with these designs and see what I can come up with.

My nine pointed star

So, I asked Mr Google how to draw a 'Nine Pointed Star' and this is what he gave me.  EASY.  I have to get some drawing equipment.  Then I have to work out how to make a foundation block.

 

But I have also come up with another design for Sonnet 43 'Then do mine eyes best see.'  In this piece he talks about what he sees in his dreams.

I think I could make some thing of this in black and white.  I might just make both of them.

The sonnet Project for April

I never have a problem with coming up with ideas for illustrations for each Sonnet.  The problem is deciding which one will make a good embroidery or textile pieces that can be made in the allotted time.

For this month I have selected Sonnett 38: "How can my muse want subject to invent"

In this he wants his subject to become the 10th Muse and there are lots of images of the other 9.

Many from ancient times.

Then I read that these had led to  the 9 pointed star pattern that was developed from the 9 muses and which is used in patterns from Middle Eastern countries and I thought maybe a quilt block based on this.

Nine pointed stars do not feature large in patchwork patterns but I might be able to develop an applique based on the above pattern or even draft a foundation pieced block?

 

More ideas for the tapestries

I am really being inspired by minimalistic art for my tapestries.

This is a quilt but it would work just as well as a tapestry.

A dilemma

This months sonnet sees me facing a dilemma.  Do I design a new piece or use something I have already designed that I like?

I have a quilt design that was inspired by the work of an indigenous artist.  Problem is that quilts take some time to make.

Do I compose another piece?

Well, I am working on this, but again I may not get it finished within the month.

Or do I use an old design?

Like 'Choppy and the Universe.'?

I think I will post Choppy and if I finish one of the others I will use that as well.

Sonnet 14:  Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck

Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have Astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.

 

 

(here is the pattern.)

Fashion

When European designers start thinking about Spring I think Autumn.  This is a left over from my fashion buying days, old habits die hard!   But I notice that wide legs in slacks are on the horizon again.

I still have some of those in the cupboard since they were last around!!

When things just don't work out

Some times you just have to admit defeat and move on and find another way.

This is what I have had to do with my book-cover piece.

On paper it looked great but I just couldn't stitch the design with my needle.  If I could digitize the seabirds and stitch them out on a machine it might have worked.  But, I don't have those skills. So I have had to rethink the whole thing.   What I have decided to do is reuse some beading I had on an old blouse.  I think I will machine stitch this in place and then outline the lino print in a gold thread.

And in my search for pieces I might be able to use I found this very old tent stitched piece.  I ran out of thread to finish it and packed it away, for about 30 years, but was unable to throw it out.

I went to the embroidery supplies shop, (All Threads), and bought some thread to finish it.  I think it will be used in another book cover.

Just having made those decisions makes me able to face some of the other stitching problems I have!  Like where did I put my lino print making tools?  I think I threw them away and now I need them.  Bugger!!

Shakespeare Sonnet for January 2025

I selected sonnet No 3 as the inspiration for this months piece of work.

This is how I 'feel' when I look at the photos of myself and my son Guy when he survived his reaction to penicillin as a babe.

 

Look in your glass

Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose unear’d womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?

Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime:

So thou through windows of thine age shall see
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remember’d not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.

 

I repurposed an old piece of embroidery I found in an Op shop.  Some of the leaves on the branch were started but I choose my own colours and finish them and added the wreath and the quotation.  Looking at it now I see I was also influenced by the Marjory Allingham books written in the 1930's that I was reading at the same time as stitching this piece.  The colours and style are certainly 1930's.

I still have no idea what I will stitch for February!

 

 

 

My first attempt at AI

There is so much talk about Artificial Intelligence I decided to have a try at using it.  I have an free account with CAVNA so have started with that.

The process is simple, you just type in some words describing what you want and up pops a design.

I put in 'fierce tiger' for this one and I think I could make it into an embroidery.

But these others are just too complicated for me.

I think I need to do some more research.

A friend of a friend

Stitchers around the world make up quite a community and a friend in my patchwork group has a friend in Denmark who is also a stitcher.  We were all nomads in the mining camps back in the 70's, wives of engineers and chemists who worked on these developments.  I lent my friend some of my candelwicking design books and these were sent to Denmark for her friend to stitch.

Her take on candlewicking was different.  She did the traditional stitch around the design but added a filling stitch in coloured thread,  much like the stitching of traditional pieces from the 1800's Scandinavian folk tradition.  The finished piece was stunning.  Now this same friend has adopted this approach to a Sashiko panel.  This blending of stitching traditions comes up with something quite different.

Like fusion foods this is fusion stitching.

Another free class

It must be that time of year.  All the free classes are appearing.  Now, I know they are just 'bait' to get you to buy the sellers other products and I don't have the spare cash to do that.  So, I am going to take advantage of the offers and go in my own direction and do my own thing, but, who knows what creative journeys they may open up?

So this one is "A little Art" from Mindful Art Studio.

It is about making small pieces of work, 2" square, each day.  You can do more than one piece of art or more if you want.

What I like about this class is they way the author has fully prepared her lessons. 

• It comes with print and video instructions. 
• You have time to prepare your materials so that they will be ready do go each day.
• And if you want to (I don't) you can by her products which are advertised.
• It doesn't start until February, so there is plenty of time to prepare.

Looks like January and February are both taken care of for tutorials.