A little work

Finally I've managed to drag a little work out of my poor brain ;) Jane at Inchmore Gallery , near Inverness is having  a second CD case sized exhibition. Today is the day they were meant to be in & she's very kindly saved me a space for 4 CD pieces.

The 'sketchbook' layout - I printed a pressed Acer leaf onto plain cloth & have surrounded it with bark, little sumara seeds text & gold paper.  Then there's a quick drawing of my kind of flower on top of a lovely blue shiny fabriccovered with a bit of organza & some ribbon. The paper under it all is the wipe off, stamp off paper I keep to hand when working on bits & pieces. Then there's a copy of a screen print of my twig drawing - i had to make it smaller to fit & I looked at my sample book from last year as it never did make it further than that. Last is a seedhead sketch on purple fabrics various with lace & beads.

The first one is the flower - quite pleased i haven't forgotten how to  free machine. The second one the allium seedhead with just gold beads & a tiny bit of ribbon in the corner with lace from the Oxford market. A bit of wonky hand stitching at the top there, i feel wonky!

The Acer leaf print with 2 tiny cut away holes - I may stitch on the sumara before I get them in the post. & the twig, still a little tight in the 12x12cm size. I feel I'm making a little series here!

Finally, a short post today as I've had 2 very long ones recently! Inspired by Dot & her wonderful shoes - (she seems to have absconded to facebook where I must have seen them)  - I've finally put down a base coat of gesso, getting rid of a nasty brown. Nothing wrong with brown but these are my version of 'crocks' great for nipping in & out of the house to studio & just kicking them off when I feel like it, but looking down, I thought I could see my Grandpa's feet, bless him. So what do I do next, Dot? I'll have to wander over to fb & get sucked in ;)

A little more Knitting & Stitching

Well, quite a few more photos from the show! I won't say much, promise, my eyes are already falling out from sorting out the rest of the holiday pics ;) But first a little about my travels. First stop, the Eldest & my dil to be's new home in Chippenham, near Bath. Well, I've completely fallen in love with Bath!

 While wandering around I came upon a fabulous exhibition in Walcot Street,  held in a tiny chapel, completely empty but for these wonderful mixed media paintings by Jan Jeffcoate, no website. Very tactile pieces, lovely.

 Surrounded by a sea of gravestones, not surpriingly. Did I take a pic? No. Too busy experiencing it. The above 2 are from her card. Had an interesting chat with my brother later- 'did it not happen then, just because you didn't record it?' Well, no, just that it would have been totally appropriate to share here!

 All things lead from the Abbey

 Also in Walcot St where I was hoping to find Walcot Reclamation yard, gone, but there was this amazing shop with a million items of clothing in it.  blurry sorry. There was another vintage type shop, the kind of place I feel a home in.

 Dyeing for a cuppa as there are so many hills here (you'd think I was used to it!)I stopped here, Bea's Cafe I think it was called, just like having tea with my grandmother!

curly railings on the way to Bath's Fashion Museum - thanks to Serendipity for the heads up ;)

Stunning 17th c costumes

wonderful gauntlets - I bought a top once from a charity shop of course, which had lovely bits of added 'lace' on the sleeve ends &  I thought, hmm, good idea to make for the studio (it's still on my list!) & here they were doing it for gloves all those years ago ;)

60's shoes & bags

So glad I made the effort to climb all the way up Bath! Walking back down there are so many fabulous 'indy' shops - you'd need a fortune to live here!

A view from the Eldest's bathroom window, 3 floors up, a beautifully renovated old forge they're renting.

one or 2 things from Bath market - I want to find 'spools' to wrap spare wool onto - this will inspire me, as will the dinky little tags found in a 'new vintage' shop. Then in a the new stuff market those earring findings you can't do without & a bit of paint.

Off to Oxford & in the open Thursday market I found a lovely bit of lace & I doily - my first! that I hope to print with.

I've got to show you what the lovely 'Heloise' generously gave me - bundles of jewel colored snippets along with organza, thread & a bit of painted bondaweb peeping out at the top there. She's being very supportive,  following my efforts with the  purses & brooches I've been making. Good to have a blog buddy near Oxford & it was great to catch up.

So to the second half of my Knitting & Stitching visit! Thanks to Linda I found out who these wonderfully eccentric artists were, above &  below is Sue Walton

& below is Ann Small
good to meet someone else who uses bones! Amazing work.

Above is the delicious Louise Baldwin, part of the 62 group (see Louise link)  50 yrs together.

Elaine Megahey

Jae Maries, both also of the 62 group. Such wonderful work.

Lizzie Houghton above asked could I take a general shot - that coat on the right & the wrap you can just see on the left were stunning!

 Dale's  beautiful buttons above & herself below - I hope she likes the pic, I think it's great!

 Last but not least! The 4 pics below are my new hero, Val Holmes.

Wonderful, what I'd give to go to one of her workshops in France!

The next best thing is her book, along with Frances Pickering's some Lizzie Houghton wool tops & sari ribbon from

Stef Frances  I was very restrained ;)

Well I've given you one or 2 links to be going on with!

A taste of the Knitting & Stitching Show

I'm home! Had a fabulous break, tired from traveling, but refreshed - I needed it.
I'd normally talk about things in Chronological Order saving the best til last but this time I'll start with the highlight of my time away; the last day (not counting friends & family visits, of course!)

I've been waiting for months to get to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally - I realized that I could just catch the first day of the show on the last day of my holiday & spurred on by the possibility of seeing the work of          Cas Holmes in real life, I made it happen.

 I asked permission of course for taking photos, introduced myself as a follower of her work, book & blog.

She was very busy along with her friend & collaborator Anne Kelly

but still made time for all the young students around - I include myself in that lot ;)

Being a follower of Cas' work I was quite amazed at how much I hadn't seen before,

 I mean I think every piece was new;  absolutely stunning & magical in real life!

 I took some pics of them on their cameras & just managed one on mine

 I desperately wanted to touch her work, very carefully of course, & on a technical aspect

 see how the work was hung - very tight to the top of the work, a thin quilting sleeve

 & hers are softer to the touch than I manage, I probably use too much pva or acrylic wax to attach & seal the work

 she was inviting people to join her in making little squares, above - I like a good square - then they'd get strung up & taken to each of her shows. I sat down & made one, didn't photograph it ;(  & I can honestly say that 10 minutes was the one serene & calming few moments of the day! It was desperately hot & airless.

 I got a pic of Anne by her 2 pieces of work before she left. While Cas was rearranging a sign just outside her stand, leaving me in charge.....ME! some of Anne's students came in & said 'look, it's Miss's work' Imagine having a 'Miss' like that to teach you at school!

Some more beautiful smaller pieces of work including books, oh so lovely.

I can't really do justice to the excitement I felt seeing this work in person & having a chance to talk to Cas; I'm sure I could have asked so many more questions but it can get quite overwhelming, from both sides, I imagine & I just enjoyed absorbing it all. Completely inspiring & so great to meet them both, thank you!  I'm so looking forward to the book coming out next year ;)

Well, again, the best first, not last. Tho certainly there was so much more amazing work there.

You first saw on walking in the Embroiderers guild North east Region work - above & below

 called 'Mining a gold seam' I hope you can read the names on the cards.

Then I decided to walk round half of the suppliers hall - I love the bottom right particularly

 I should have gone straight to the exhibition bit as it's exhausting in the crowds, Stef, above.

Oliver Twists, my fave bit top right (can't find a direct link)

Then look at this a nettle knitted short jacket! lovely. I asked everybody first could I take a pic & blog about them. 

 Oh, I'm inspired to put more flowers in my work by this wonderful piece by Jill Denton I'd honestly never seen her foxgloves before!

& fun & happy mixed media pieces by Sue Dove (I saw sue but can't be sure the google links are her, anybody knows, please tell me ;) ! - theirs was the first stand as you entered the exhibition bit.

 I met Frances Pickering, too busy looking to take a pic & Lynda Monk's work, above, demonstrating on Art van Go's stand.

 Jean Littlejohn & Jan Beaney very busy people being greatly encouraged to go off for their break by their tireless DH's, just caught them.

but I'd never seen the work of Judy Merchant, just wonderful

Can't resist a circle, can I? If you go to the show tomorrow, the last day, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I've more, but this is enough for one day, I think. Here I am, home to my very own pot of gold.......
ok so I was fiddling with the camera & missed the most amazing rainbow.....! darnit!