Distraction

Working on the big project has been mentally exhausting. I just couldn't look at it anymore... so I started a new collection of mini-projects to do when I can't do the biggie a moment longer ;)

I came across this wonderful quote and wanted to make sure I didn't forget it.

"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."

Progress report

Oh my... this is slow work, people! Has it really been 2 years since I last posted?
Why are you even still around to read this? :)) 
The day job has been very demanding, but some progress has been made, on this and other distraction projects. 

Commission

Sneak peek at a commission I've been working on...





If you'd like to see more of my embroidery work, you can pop over here.

Geo Love Printed

Sorry for the break in transmission... life continues to get in the way around here.

Some progress: I've had a go at printing up my new Geo Love block. 

The circles I added on the computer last time looked so good in the design that I decided 

to carve a circle block to go with the geo... thank goodness I did. Not one for accurate

mathematical planning, it absolutely came in handy for keeping the design in place,

for the most part anyway ;)

I started with white circles and laid the Geo Love block over the top in silver, but it was 

too pale on the natural linen...

So, I decided to overprint again, this time in a darker grey...

Do you see stars or octagons? :)

Then it all started feeling a bit too much like the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, 

as this one looks a bit too dark to me ;) Hopefully, when I print it again I will find the 

perfect tone of grey that is 'just right' :)

For now, this one is done. I think I'll make it up into a tea towel when I can coax 

my sewing machine into working again (it gets very temperamental in high humidity 

and it's been raining here for days on end). 

Hope things aren't too Goldilocks in your part of the world! :)

Creative Space: Geo Love

Those who check in on my instagram might have seen last week that I 

carved a new block, a tricksy octagon. So, yes, it sat on my desk for a bit, 
but finally I've started playing around with it to see how it might form a pattern... 

I knew when I cut it out that it wasn't going to form easy continuous patterns, so

I made some of copies of the block and began playing with how they

might work. 

Attempt 1... I began by trying to form patterns with the shape of the block...

Attempt 2... I started looking at the pattern within the octagon and how the 

block could be placed to make these lines form a new pattern...

Attempt 3... bringing them all much closer to make the line patterns

more obvious...

And then Attempt 4... looking for new ways to make more obvious patterns 

within the pattern. 

There was something about this one that really appealed. I instantly 

loved how I could see circles in the design and stars within the circles.

And this made me think of other possibilities if I looked at it as being

part of a geometric grid...

Anyway, I guess you can see where I'm going with this. There's still a lot of 

playing to do. So glad I can do this on the screen and not waste fabric ;)

What's in your creative space this week? You can see more here.

Christmas Ornament Swap

It's been ages since I took part in a swap... I'd forgotten how fun and nerve wracking 

they can be (all at once!). Don't get me wrong, it's been great but I always find it so hard 

deciding what to make and then there's the performance anxiety when you start seeing 

all the amazing things other people have done ;) 

My recipient said that she likes Scandinavian design, so I decided to 

try my hand at a Dala Horse... like this one (below)...

After a couple of REALLY bad attempts at freehand cutting, I sought out a 

pattern for the shape online and found this one (below) here...

At one stage I thought I'd finished but then I saw some amazing ones on the Creative 

Space meme and realised I was going to have to try harder if my recipient was to 

be happy, so I began doing different strand widths of embroidery to give the design 

some depth...

... and I did a bit of block printing for the saddle etc. 

Anyway, it's done and I so hope my recipient likes it.

Are you taking part in Christina's Xmas Ornament Swap too? I can't tell you 

who my recipient is but I'm happy to report it's all finished and ready for posting :)

Process

I find it amazing how time after time I need to enact ideas to see if they work or not. 

The fabric actually has to be screenprinted or the colours crocheted together in order for 

me to see if it's what I want. I love that I can look at something (anything) and know 

instantly whether it 'works' but I'd equally love to be able to conceptualise in my mind 

and 'know' that way too. The thing that frustrates me about this process is that it makes 

for an abundance of waste if I can't find a way to make ideas work.

When it does come together, though, it's do-a-little-jig time. Sorry if this is totally 

boring for you but it's meaningful for me to document my process on this fabric.

It started with an idea. I had an old block I'd carved last year and I wanted to create a 

kind of funky check by lining up the diagonals in the pattern... I soon realised that I 

could only get them to line up in one direction, but I kind of liked this bit of wonk...

I sewed lines to try and make the 'check-ness' of it more formalised and it really 

didn't work (sorry - no pics of this), so I unpicked all of this and started thinking about 

ways to make the design more cohesive, finally deciding to overprint in another colour...

This was okay, but it still didn't have something that punctuated it or drew it together. 

I thought about more overprinting in a different pattern but then was wildly distracted 

by a fluoro floss find online and started plotting a bit of embroidery on the piece, 

starting with some black thread just to see if it might work...

The black was fun but I could see it wasn't going to work on the whole piece, so 

when the floss arrived I set to work and found myself doing my favourite stitch at 

the moment. I have no idea what it's called but I think of it as a skeleton stitch 

because it looks like I've just boned a fish and laid out it's skeleton flat ;)

I've done about five of them so far. I'm going to do alternate diagonal lines with

the embroidery and see how that looks alone. If it needs a bit more interest or 

contrast I might do some black thread detail on the other diagonals.

Do you play with your pieces like this? Do you have to re-work things until they 

come together? I often think that if I was better at designing my blocks I 

wouldn't need to fuss around like this... but then maybe this very process is

building on that body of knowledge that will all come together in my mind one 

day and I'll be able to design without the need for all this fussing ;)

Hope it's a lovely (Father's Day) weekend for you... I'm hoping we'll be able to 

corral our daughters' social and work commitments and go see Moonrise Kingdom 

all together :)