Stitching by the inch

Well here I am again. Just popped out of the other side of weeks of constant work making up orders from a Trade Fair back in January and suddenly we've reached almost the end of them and I find myself with free time.
So once the list of boring jobs are out of the way - accounts, stocktake, tidying up etc- I should be able to lift a needle and thread again.
I did make time for a tiny piece of work during my Christmas hols, which became part of my sister's Christmas present. It was pieced together between cooking and cleaning and was made up of colours and fabrics that were to hand with no real thought or preparation. But I enjoyed making it.

January Inspiration

Today I was lucky enough to catch Forever Changes, a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Michael Brennand -Wood. If the name isn't already familiar, he is one of the most influential textile artists working in Britain today.
I've loved his work ever since he first started exhibiting but I'd never seen any of it up close until now.
If you are in Edinburgh the exhibition is on at the Dovecot Studios until 12 January and what's more, it's free!
The studios themselves are well worth seeing too.
http://dovecotstudios.com/whats-on/event/20/forever-changes-michael-brennand-wood

Christmas Greetings

It's Boxing Day and I'm enjoying the feeling of nothing to do. The ham is boiling away on the stove, the trifle is in the fridge and our family will arrive later on but for now .... relaxing.
Another year of embroidery wilderness due to the pressures of work.
Except for a small piece of playing around last weekend.
I'm going to give it to my sister for Christmas. Hope she likes it.

Just visiting again

How long ago it seems since I've been here.
No work done - stitched work I mean.
I'm living the life of a slave to our business and she demands all of my time..and more.
A couple of years ago I could say that the first few months of the year were the quiet ones for the business, and I had some free time to myself. I was easing myself slowly back into the idea of working with a needle and thread again.
Since then, there have been no quiet months. Of course the fact that the business is going so well is something to be celebrated. But it is at the expense of other ( important) things.
I'm telling myself that we should be working as hard as possible just now so that we can have a cushion to relax against when we retire, but maybe we won't be allowed to retire. The business seems to have a life of its own.
A bit of a ramble tonight, but I've just noticed that although nothing has been updated  for a year at least, there are still quite a lot of visitors who spend time here, and I'd like to say thank you to you all - mainly it seems from across the Atlantic - who have stopped and looked.
Come back again....I might have something new to show.
Well here is something not new - over thirty years old actually. But it is pertinent as I made this sampler for my daughter when she was a baby, and now she has her own baby, our grandson. Sorry to say I haven't made a sampler for him - yet.

Patience

The time isn't here yet.
There will be a chance to do some embroidery again, and move a step or so further but not for a little while yet.
We are just too busy with orders from the Trade Fair in January but the list is getting smaller.
Meanwhile I'm doing a bit of thinking and hopefully planning. There are a lot thoughts running around in my mind all the time, mainly about colour. It's difficult to actually grasp one and pin it down, but one day I will.
We're off to London in a week or two for a few days of culture and possibly inspiration.

Playing around - fly stitches on rubber matting with added net and french knots

Withdrawing threads from raw silk loose weave and working into it with nets and threads.

Large cross stitches on sprayed canvas.

New Year Break continues

I've just been to Edinburgh today to see an exhibition of Turner's watercolours, but I also wanted to see these amzing embroideries again - two shown here are from a seies of four entitled "The Progress of the Soul" by the Arts and Crafts artist, Phoebe Anna Traquair.
They are a staggering six feet high, and are entirely stitched in silk and gold thread on linen. The detail, texture, colour, vibrancy, craftsmanship is a pure joy.