Update

I haven't visited this blog for months because I didn't want to get depressed/disillusioned/frustrated by the fact that I have had to lay aside this aspect of my work while I concentrate on the business side of things over here.
Since June we've given up all spare time to business work, but once more the end is in sight. You see we have an unbalanced year - the first half is relatively quiet and the second half is manic.
Once Christmas is past things start to slow down and suddenly there are free evenings again, possibly even afternoons and I can start to think about doing some embroidery for myself.
This year I've decided to start thinking about it earlier, so that when the free time arrives I've done the thinking and can make a start right away. Don't want to waste precious time.
So tonight I've opened up this blog again and have reviewed the meagre amount of work I managed to do last year.
Roll on 2011 - hopefully I can take a few more steps on the journey....

I Admit Defeat (I think)

I'm going to bow out gracefully for a while. Even the ten minute rule has had to be abandoned for the next few weeks because the business part of my life has become just too hectic.
It's not that I'm actually not doing any embroidery - it is in fact part of my business life. It's just that I'm not getting the chance to do anything just for myself. And that's what this blog is all about.
So I'll leave off posting until I have a chance to get time to myself again. Hopefully it won't be too long. But summer is always crazy.

All my threads, fabrics and bits and pieces are not far away though.
Bye for now.

Now What?

Time, where does it go?
Not enough hours in the day. I ran on empty for a few days ( and nights) at the end of last week, but finally lack of sleep caught up, and I stopped functioning in a rational way, and had to go to bed early last night.
The problem is being self employed. It becomes almost impossible to create a sensible work/life balance, as they say.
Especially when it starts to get busy, like now.  I could probably work 24 hours a day, if my mind and body allowed, and I still would be running to catch up.
But some things have improved.
1.  The workshop is tidy for once, which allows a certain degree of control rather than the usual chaos.
2.  I am trying to keep to a simplified work plan. One order at a time, completed and dispatched before the next one is started.
3.  And still the ten minutes a day rule for my embroidery. I've been using those minutes to plan in my head rather than do anything definite as yet. But it's never far from my mind, which is good.
4.  And despite the lack of sleep, I seem to have an unusual amount of energy and stamina. I think it's because we have upped the production a level or so ( this is our business I'm talking about  - Embroidered Originals ). This usually happens around now. The first few months of the year are quiet in comparison the the second half, which we have now entered. Each year I say that we have to build up stocks in the early part to help us cope with the busy times, and each year we run headlong into pandemonium and the stockpile melts away.
5.  So if I can apply some of this new found energy to my own embroidery as well....
6.  I think the answer for now is to try to produce some small pieces, which can be finished in a realistic time, and use them as stepping stones. I don't imagine there will be any theme running through them as yet. I'm still at the experimenting stage, so each one might have a different direction. But that's how you learn and develop, isn't it?

First Finished Piece

I saved up all my daily ten minutes' worth for the past couple of weeks and made a concerted effort over the past two nights ( and I mean nights) to get this piece finished. It's not exactly finished to the standard I think I'm used to - but I made a decision to add it as an extra present for my daughter's birthday on Sunday (ssh, don't tell her). Once I make a (rash, impulsive) decision like that, it just HAS to be done.

So here it is...

Sorry, the tacking stitches are still in the corners!

Now it's not a major work of textile art - it's not even a miniscule work of textile art, but  it has the distinction of being the first piece to be completed in this new journey of mine. That's satisfying.

Interesting to note that this is one of the few pieces I've made which has not been framed. I like the softness of this work and I don't really want Laura to have to hang it.

Already planning bigger and better, but time is against me again.

I think I'll set myself another deadline......

Holidays over, back to work

This is where we were for a few days. It was an inspiring place  - for light, colour and texture. Work, as in making a living work, is demanding at the moment, but tomorrow I intend to DO MY OWN TEN MINUTES (see previous posts) and will post the results. It's a promise.

PS One picture tonight - a postcard, made and sent to Emma at A Little Bit of Everything for her 50th birthday. I was playing with techniques of fusing fabric with a soldering iron.

I've never done any swaps like this before, and she had sent me a lovely postcard in her own distinctive style - one of approx fifty she has made and sent out to blog friends all over the world - which must have been quite a challenge.

She is now receiving daily a whole host of gems of work in return. What a good idea to mark a special birthday. She is posting photos on her blog if you want to have a look.

Sorry Emma, I haven't photographed the postcard you sent me yet. I'll do that tomorrow.

PPS Here is Emma's postcard to me. A collage of paper, fabric and stitching with stamped details. Very reminiscent of sea and shore, I think, and apt because she lives on the beautiful Isle of Skye.

Just Marking Time

Progress this week has been slow - well non existent, due to the pressures of the business. It always follows the same pattern. The first few months of the year are quite calm and quiet, and then we hit May and it's as if the old machinery is whirring into life again. Our shop orders start to pile up and our own shop starts to get busy and on top of all that we are preparing for our summer and autumn of craft shows.
But I'm trying very hard to keep the thought in my head that ten minutes a day to do my own personal work is achievable.
Granted the past week or two has been unusual. We are going to have a small holiday, starting tomorrow, but that has meant working doubly hard to make sure every order currently on the books is made and shipped out before we go. It just means that I can go away with a clear head.
All jobs are now done and we're up to date.
I'm going off up north for a few days of walking and fresh air, and hopefully I'll come back with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Considering the next step

Today I've been thinking about how to incorporate this little bit of stitching into something bigger.
This book - Indian Textiles - has been inspiring me of late, especially the idea of strong colour on a dark background.
So I went back to it to see what I could  do to link small areas of intense colour and large areas of solid dark.
I'm still not sure about the eventual shape of the stitched area, but I quickly put together a border of squares in related colours which I think I might apply alongside in some way.
Hopefully this will lead on to another area of plain interspersed with some repeated motifs from the embroidery.
I should have planned all this from the start, but I'm still finding my feet again.