Plush Addicts Open Day!

Check out the swag I grabbed today at the Plush Addicts Open Day!
plushaddict.co.uk is a great fabric website I stumbled upon a few weeks ago when I was looking for a certain quilting fabric for a project. They are based in Edenbridge, about an hour from me in Kent. Although they are based online they have open days about every 6 weeks where you can come to the site and shop in person.
My mum and I decided to go have a nose and this is what I came home with. I love my new foxy box for my sewing gear for work. I have no idea what I am going to make with the fabrics yet but when inspiration hits you guys will be the first to know!
We also bought a pair of KAM snap pliars and some colourful snaps to try out - I'm pretty excited about that. Keep an eye out for a project using those soon and check out the Plush Addicts website for great stuff.
If you are in the area this is the calendar of open days too.

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Having a cross stitch: Big Brownie Birthday Edition!

As I have mentioned I am a member of Girlguiding UK and this year marks 100 years of Brownies. This event has spawned a lot of projects and keepsake items and one that caught my eye was cross stitch patterns. There was a set of patterns for a Brownie, a Rainbow, a Guide and a Guider published in Cross Stitch magazine designed by Lucie Heaton. They were great but they didn't really represent my uniforms... So I adapted them!

Cross stitch isn't my usual medium of choice but I have done it in the past. I thought I'd give it a go for this project and attach the results to my new camp blanket. So far I have started my Guider and I will keep you posted on my progress :-)

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Steampunk fun times!

Recently I started taking part in my local Steampunk group Great Kentspectations. So, of course I had to make myself an outfit. Over the course of a week I knocked myself up an under bust corset and a utility skirt to go with my utility belt. What do you think?

 

 

 

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Sea Gypsy

You know those Home Sweet Home samplers that you see? You know how you expect to see them? Well, I decided to put my own spin on it. This was how Sea Gypsy was born. My home is not really bricks and mortar. My home, I suppose, is a cruise ship. It is a different one every time, but it is home for the space of time I am on it. When I am between contracts I go back to my parents house to visit, granted, but it's not really where I live anymore. I don't really live anywhere but the sea.

I took the Home Sweet Home concept and fit it to my lifestyle. Instead of using the usual house motif, I used a ship. Sprawling mountains range behind it and the sea swirls around the hull.

I used a verigated thread that reminded me of the art work on the side of the first ship I worked on (and, actually, the ship I just got off of). I experimented with waste canvas so that I could cross stitch the recognised phrase down the side of the ship, as if it were the art work itself. The rest of the piece is my usual embroidery, bringing myself and the traditional together.

This piece is simple in both it's style and execution, however, the meaning behind it is quite complex and full, particularly to me. And that's what art is really about.

Exhibition Report: Passing Reflections

Today I wandered over to Rochester to see Rosie James' latest exhibition Passing Reflections.

As always, Rosie's work is beautiful in its simplicity and impressive in it's scale. I am always excited by the way she chooses which lines to stitch and how these lines really capture the figures. On her larger pieces I like the smaller details she includes that really adds to the character and personality of the people.

Trafalgar Lunch

I particularly liked Trafalgar Lunch in this exhibition and Indian Ladies at the Gurdwara. James' use of not only line figures but also silhouettes in brightly coloured fabrics add to the sense of place and culture in these pieces.

Detail - Indian Ladies at the Gurdwara

I was very glad that I got to see Rosie's installation of hanging stitched figures. I had not yet been able to see these pieces in the flesh and being able to view them in this intimate setting was a joy.

The exhibition is open in Rochester until April 13th. If you are in the area I urge you to go see it. You can find out more info here:

I don't think I've cross stitched for about 10-15 years...

Goodness! I've got very behind in blog posting! However, you will be pleased to know that I have been working on lots of projects so there are several things that need writing about!

Let's start with my new iPhone cover.... and my new iPhone! I had an HTC but didn't like it much so I've got myself an iPhone 3G now instead. I know it's not the newest one but I wanted one that uses regular sim cards, not the micro ones for when I am in the US. I LOVE it! I am definitely a Mac! Along with all the amazing things you can do with a iPhone, another draw were the cross stitch-able cases I had seen. I went looking for them online and found this awesome tutorial on making your own on Wee Little Stitches blog. This blog is awesome and I encourage you to check it out. They also have an Etsy shop where they sell cross stitch patterns of Pixel People. They have a great range but they didn't quite have ones that I really wanted to use.... so I designed my own!

Jareth the Goblin King

Jem from Jem and the Hologram and She-Ra

I played around with some graph paper and, even though I haven't cross stitched in about 10-15 years or used a cross stitch pattern in that time, I came up with these. I quite like both so might have to stitch up both and rotate them!

Wish me luck!!

It's Not The End Of The World - Phat Quarter Swap

Continuing with the hearts theme this post, here is my latest swap piece for the Phat Quarter.

December had a fifth friday so that means a swap over at the Phat Quarter Flickr group. This time the theme was It's Not The End Of The World.... and my mind went to musical theatre! The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Tell Me On A Sunday has a song in it called exactly that. Apparently I'm a little bit obsessed with hearts at the moment so this image came to mind.

I wanted to experiment with using my own hand writing in a piece and to use a different stitch than usual. I went with a long and short stitch for the heart mixing metallic thread with regular thread to give it an interesting texture.

I quite like the way the writing came out. At first I thought it was too messy, but after I slept on it I think it puts across the emotion of this piece quite well.

In case you were wondering the background of this piece is rust dyed - it is one of my favourite techniques of late and meant that I finally got to use one of my pre-dyed backgrounds in a piece.

I like the simplicity of this piece but the weight of emotion that it brings. I think I need to investigate this interest in the heart shape as well and see where it takes me..... keep an eye on the blog to see!

A Cheeky Christmas

Here's a little Christmas gift for your eyes. I stitched his scarf for my friend Elvy Rose with patterns from Sublime Stitching and French Knot.

I'd wanted to use that dancer for a while! I think it came out pretty well and she loved it.

Happy Holidays everyone!

They took lots of honey, and plenty of money...

Next week two of my friends have their birthday on the same day. It's going to be lots of fun, especially as we are in St Thomas that day and there's a crew party! For each person I have crafted a very personal present based on who they are and what they like/do. This is the first, for my friend Jonny Danger (yep, that's his real name) who we all call Tuxedo... he works with the kids, ok!

Tux is a poetry major and particularly likes Edward Lear so I stitched him a tie to go with one of his suits. He better like it, is all I can say because I had to use metallic thread. And we all know how difficult that is :-)

Thank the Goddess for thread heaven!

I'll post the other present for my friend Karlene next....

No Food For You!

It's here! It's here! My swap piece from Cocoaeyes is finally here!! I got Cocoaeyes as my swap partner for the Phat Quarter Food Swap and my piece from her arrived this weekend. It was a total surprise - I thought it was a box of t-shirts and then I dipped my hand in to find a lovely stitchery!!!

Cocoaeyes is obsessed with hazard signs so stitched me one up as you can see above. Girl, you would be so inspired by my ship - there are warning signs and mandatory signs and hazard signs EVERYWHERE!! Here's a shot of it on my cabin wall next to our no smoking in bed hazard sign, just for fun!!

She also sent me a lovely card full of compliments which was very much appreciated - you rock Olisa!!

Check out Cocoaeyes' blog here at Stitch, Stab & Scrawl, I highly recommend it :-)

Work In Progress

Everything is a little hectic around here at the moment, but I thought I'd show you what I'm working on right now. Here's a sneak peek at my Sketchbook Project 2012 - enjoy!

Phat Quarter Swap! Food

Ok, let's share some stitchery! I made this piece for the August Phat Quarter swap.... I know it's a bit late but I've been busy :-) Finally, I have a decent internet connection where I can upload the photos - yay!! The theme was food so stitched a design based around one of my fave David and Goliath t-shirts...

The cheese is not the mother of the sad little nachos.... in case you didn't get it!


yes, that is a french knot pepper border!


I felt brave and used an orange background.

Personally I think this is super cute!! And I know Disobedient Child, who was my swap partner loved it!! Yay stitching! My Sketchbook Project is taking a long time to finish, hence why there is a lack of stitchery on the blog right now. But soon, my pretties - I promise!

Sewing Machines!!!

I was shopping at Bluewater the other day and came across this awesome window display! The clothes store All Saints currently has their windows decorated with loads of vintage Singer sewing machines!! I took a few shot on my phone so they aren't the best, but you can still see how great this display is!!!

To Be Free

Another piece derived from my experiences at Rosie James' workshop. This piece started out life as an experiment and finished as this fabric collage.

The figures come from a photo I took in Hawaii of my dancer friend. They are stitched on sheer fabrics and layered to create the illusion of movement.

The photo was taken on a beach so I ran with this idea when choosing my colour pallet and creating the collage. I used textured fabrics in silvers and blues. I free machine stitched a wave shape on silver lame to add to the collage.

I finished this piece off with the phrase 'To Be Free' which the figures inspired. I free machine stitched these through the blue and silver net layers.

I like the funky colours and textures I used in this piece. I am currently trying to find my signature style and this boldness might be it!

Columbia, 2008

I made this piece while on Rosie James' machine embroidery workshop.

Watched By The Lady (2008)

I started with this photo that I took on my travels in 2008. I then used machine embroidery techniques from the class to reproduce it.

The Lady was transferred to metallic organza and free machine embroidered with black thread.

The grate was sewn from the back of the piece with wool in the bobbin of the machine to give the raised effect. The figures were cut out of bondaweb applied to lining fabric and attached over the top.

The flowers were not part of my original design. I needed to make the piece bigger for the canvas I had and found the floral backing. When I placed the whole piece on top it just happened to fall with the yellow square over the flower. I decided to embroider over the top to incorporate it into my design.

I'm a big fan of these techniques now so expect to see more work like this from me - thanks Rosie!