June Take it Further

June has been an eventful month. I won't go into too many details, but it has involved quite a lot of traveiling and meeting lots of people. Yesterday was my mother's birthday and we had a small family gathering to celebrate. Tomorrow we are having a larger party, so there has also been planning and preparations for that. She is now 90, not bad as she was only given a short time to live some years ago.

During this time I have been giving the June Take it Further Challenge some thought. The theme this month was 'stories that are and stories that are possible'. Not sure which way to take I suddenly realised that I could run it into a swap that I joined on Etsy.

I have a large 'stash' of dyed fabrics, but I am always adding to this as I dye on a regular basis. Although intended for selling, I often dip into these for projects. A couple of the 'new' fabrics went perfectly with some of the older ones, and suddenly they were transformed into a bag for ..... (I'll reveal the name when it is received and also the story of why I chose these particular fabrics).



The finished bag, and below a couple of closeups.





It's a practical bag - maybe it will take a trip to the shops and carry home new additions to someone's stash every now and then.....

May, Take it Further

What a chapter of accidents! I have had to write this post in fits and starts. Many interruptions caused me to save and return to add more. The problem arose when I had more than one copy open in several windows (I still don't know how this happened). The result was that instead of publishing the final copy I saved the first! All the time and effort (well, almost all) was wasted and I have had to start again. Hopefully I can remember what I wrote, at least in gist.

I know it's June now, but I had actually completed the challenge by the end of May. As I thought, it was a holiday project, and here are my thoughts and results.

I gave the question a lot of thought because it goes much deeper for me than it would at first appear. My name is Welsh, but as soon as I open my mouth you will think I am English. It was a quirk of 'fate' that caused me to be born and brought up in England, but in spite of living here all my life I still regard myself as Welsh. I experienced Hiraeth long before I knew there was a name for it, and travelling over the border always makes me feel as though I am returning home.

In my working life I wear many figurative hats. I am a dyer, stitcher, artist, enabler (I feel that that is different to just a teacher). I work in textiles. My other hats include wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. At different times and if different places my 'title' needs to be different. With regard to my working life I consider myself to be a Dyer first and foremost. If asked 'what do you do' I always say 'I dye'. Of course, that could be for the impact, as it often raises a shocked glance as the 'y' isn't apparent in speech! I then go on to say that I'm an Artist who works in fabric and thread. I used to say that I worked in textiles. However, that seems to conjure up pictures of sheets and tea towels to the uninitiated, and I most definitely DON'T work in those!

Thinking along all these lines made me want to create something that harked back to my roots. Here is the result



This was made during our holiday. Fortunately I had an embellisher with me, and each layer was made using a different technique. There is also some hand-dyed fine viscose felt there, and some of the layers were made using an embellisher roll. It was good to make something from start to finish while still in the area. From first sketch to finished piece took about 3 days, but I certainly wasn't working all the time. It made me realise just how much I love creating, and how rarely I am able to fully indulge these days. However, dyeing is creative too, and I do LOVE mixing colour. Don't forget that you can see some to the colours I create on the website and also on Etsy.

April Take It Further

It has been a very busy month. We have travelled the country, and it is only 10th May! Our travels are not yet over, later this week we head for Ledbury to both sell and teach a workshop, but first there are also selling venues at Urchfont and another workshop at Grayshott where we will be making a pair of boots on the embellisher. After Ledbury we travel further north and west to Dolgellau for our spring break. It is to be extra special this year as our little grandson is bringing his mummy and daddy to visit for a few days. I'm sure there will be photographs to load when we come home.

At last I am finding time to load a corner of the Take it Further sample for April. I said that I would combine and old and new technique, and this shows an ideal example of that.




The background has been created on the embellisher - the new technique - and for the 'old' I decided to use stitches from the first session of my City and Guilds course which dates back nearly 20 years. I hope you like it. I have used a Sassa Lynne Serendipity Perle 5 for the stitching

I have resisted looking at any reference to the May inspiration until I was able to do this. I'm off to have a look now, no doubt it will be my holiday project. And I don't think I told you about the wonderful 2 days we had in Cornwall teaching the embellisher. I'll have to remember to do that soon

Taking things Further

At last I can give some thought to the take it further challenge for April .

'How do you see change?'

Change is all around us, all the time. It is impossible to shut ourselves away and ignore it. From birth to death our circumstances change almost daily. Maybe these are imperceptible at the time, but in retrospect they are there. We love to watch babies grow and develop. Each tiny change is a mark of growth and a small step nearer to final independence. The seasons change, and with them the scenery and the way we face the world. How much easier it is to face a day of sunshine than a day full of grey skies and rain. Here in the UK, and I think in other parts of the world too, we have had to face a spring of strange and uncertain weather - climate change has certainly made itself felt.

I think I am going to approach this from the point of view of changing techniques. I haven't fully decided, but I am probably going to use a new technique and combine it with one from my past. Let's see what happens. I could always change my mind ...

Oh, and watch out, I think I have three posts 'coming on' today - and that certainly is a change!

February Take it Further Challenge

I'm still working on this, but very nearly there. I'm wondering what is in store for March. No doubt several of you can already tell me, but I'm avoiding looking until this is finished.

No pictures today, I shouldn't really be on the computer!

TIF or TIF?

We arrived back from Textiles in Focus late last night. It was an excellent show with lots to see, very good exhibitions, and an interesting selection of workshops. I taught a couple of hand-stitching workshops using water-soluble paper and you can see the sample here.



The flower was made from scrim and then applied. The next step is to spray the finished piece with metallic paint. It is too cold to do that today, the paint will probably freeze as it leaves the can, so I'll post another picture when it's finished. This is a technique that I love, and creates surfaces that can be put to a number of uses - including book covers and box tops.

It wasn't until I thought about this post that I remembered our abbreviation for Textiles in Focus is TIF. I could so easily be confused with the Take It Further Challenge!

February TIF Part 2

This is just a bit of preliminary playing along with my original thoughts. There's still a lot to do.

Take It Further:: February

True to her word Sharon posted the February challenge earlier this month. I have been thinking about it, even whilst finishing that of January

My family memories of the past are extremely good. This has been a real blessing recently as I have been able to reminisce with my mother about all sorts of things. My earliest memory is being taken for a ride in my pushchair while staying with my grandparents in Brecon, S Wales. As my brother wasn't yet born (I wouldn't have been in the pushchair if he had)and my mother wasn't even pregnant with him yet (her pregnancy meant she could no longer travel) I must have been younger than two.

I certainly don't want to commemorate that, however. I have been thinking a lot about babies, though, prompted I'm sure by recent visits from our newest grandchild. I have had two pregnancies and both my children were born in the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital in Aldershot. Although this was a military hospital (it was closed a while ago) it was also open to civilians, and that's how I came to be there! Shortly before my daughter was born an IRA bomb was detonated close by. This meant that there was much security in place, and some roads in Aldershot were closed (and have never been reopened). This is not something I would like to dwell upon or commemorate either. My son, however, was born 4 years later in much more relaxed circumstances, and in the middle of a heatwave. To tie it all together I've decided that that's what I'll consider for my Take it Further Challenge for February. The heatwave!

Is anyone visiting Textiles in Focus next week? We'll be there so come and say 'Hi'.

Take It Further January

Well, it's finished. The colours are much closer in reality, but here is the initial design




And here is the finished piece.



I'm surprised that the stitches aren't more in evidence in the finished piece. I have layered scrim over a layer made on the embellisher, The scrim has been pulled into a textured layer. I'm quite pleased with it and enjoyed doing it - even though it is blue!

Busy, busy, busy

January has been out busiest ever. Although we are now into February we are still sorting ourselves out after our visits here there and everywhere! I also have to prepare for teaching at Grayshott on Wednesday and for a weekend at Missenden Abbey starting on Friday. Both are on the Embellisher, so I know they will be fun and that everyone will go home with lots of pieces.

It's during times like this that I miss having times to create as much as I would like. I still haven't quite finished my take it further challenge, but that is well on its way, and it should be finished by the weekend. The new challenge for February is already up, and I know what I will be doing for that, however, I won't share that here until the other is completed. Part of the delay has been caused by having to use every available surface for sorting. Wednesday of next weeks sees us heading off towards Cambridge for the annual Textiles in Focus in Cottenham. This is a lovely show, and it will be good to meet up again with friends and customers that we see regularly. I've been dyeing more of the Embellisher Rolls, we sold out of our stock over last weekend, and have been packing orders for these and other goods at the same time.

The above should have been scattered with photos and scans, but uploading isn't going to happen now, it would appear. I'll post this now and update the pictures later when things seem to be working better.

January Blue Take it Further Challenge

Well it isn't often that I am up with the 'trends', but it seems as though I may be this year! Here is an interesting item about blue.

Trying to Take it Further!

Gosh, this is hard. I didn't realise that I was such a coward!

I don't make New Year Resolutions. However, I have decided that this year I must work on making myself more vulnerable. It is going to be a question of small steps, and I will apply them to the Challenge as it progresses.

How will I start? I have decided to choose a colour scheme that I wouldn't normally use. I'm not sure what I will use yet, but that seems to be a step in the right direction.

Thanks to those of you that have left positive comments. It's an exciting start to the year, isn't it?