Kitty+Stitch

2 cushions

2012-01-01T16:02:00.001Z

2 cushions, a photo by KittyStitch on Flickr.

Only a year late! Pondering my fabric, trimming and size choice for next pair.

Seeing out the old year with an old project

2011-12-31T23:35:00.002Z

Just finishing a 2 year old UFO. Personal circumstances at the time meant that I didn't have the heart to finish it. I came across it whilst tidying my studio a few days ago - all it needed was ends sewn in, blocking, sewing up and some buttons added. Now there is a new addition in my street who would welcome this to snuggle in to - and it is time for me to move on to the New Year and the future.
Happy New Year - hope 2012 has good things in store for everyone.

Purse handbag mini-wallet organiser/organizer thingie

2011-12-31T09:54:00.042Z

I think I am perpetually confused in spelling and terminology thanks to being British but working for an American Corporation (where we spell things with a "zee") and reading lots of lovely US sewing blogs.

First I wanted a little organiser for my very small handbag which, during the week resides in my laptop bag but resides in a larger leather "proper" handbag at the weekend. (hmmm should that translate as "I wanted a little organizer from my very small purse which, during the week resides in my laptop bag but resides in a larger leather purse at the weekend"?)

Sometimes I need to travel even lighter and just travel with something that holds a few cards and takes a few notes. Of course this means in UK English I would need a small purse, however, is this correct as it wouldn't contain any coins? It would more resemble a wallet (which is more the kind of thing a man would carry - men NEVER have purses). Oh I don't know - it is something that stops my various credit and loyalty cards getting all mixed up in a pouch and keeps my banknotes from getting mixed up with my receipts, with pretensions towards being a wallet.

Off. To. Get. A. Life.

Re-use Fabric Swatch Coasters

2011-12-30T16:39:00.003Z

The coasters in my living room are starting to look a little worn, so I decided to whip up a set of quick fabric ones. I still had the original fabric swatches from when I was deciding on what curtain fabric to buy. Free fabric + half an hour = almost free coasters!

7months, 7 hours, 70 minutes

2011-12-29T13:37:00.000Z

7 months to procrastinate.

7 hours to rediscover horizontal surfaces in my sewing studio.

70 minutes to make.

This is similar to the one I made rather more promptly as part of a gift last March. This time the Kindle cover is for me (I bought a Kindle for myself last May - hence 7 months). I chose the fabrics after perusing my fabric stash and found I had enough of this Japanese print left over from a bag kit. Lining from a fabric I got from my Grandma's fabric stash (via my Mum's).

Again a simpler version (no patchwork, no quilting) from this tutorial on Elizabeth's Whimsies.

All but the parsnips

2011-12-25T12:55:00.000Z

All our Christmas meal veggies are from the allotment. Except for the parsnips, which we couldn't be bothered to phaff with. Happy Christmas!

Recycling a few ideas for a sustainable Christmas desk

2011-12-23T13:53:00.001Z

That's it! I'm finished.

What I folded last Christmas

2011-12-16T18:00:00.005Z

Last Christmas I finally decided that this was the year I was going to implement an idea I had had for a few years. A year or two previously I had tried it in another cubicle but I was sitting with bah humbugs. This particular year I was with more amenable people. This was the year of the origami decorations:

Magazine Christmas Trees

I went for coffee one day and when I came back two more had sprang up!

Honestly, of all the things I did this was the most infectious.

Five pointed star - but first you need to fold yourself a regular pentagon.

This is not strictly origami, possibly more kirigami. 3D Snowflake.

Further origami Christmas ornaments: A simple ornament, via the origami resource center.

(oh yeah - we won some very tasty "fruit juice" which was appreciated in the last scrum of the year)

Iconic Celebration

2011-07-18T22:11:00.000+01:00

Heat treated organza on fabric fragments with machine and hand embroidery

This my entry for the "Art in the Park" competition at IBM Hursley as part of the IBM Centennial Celebrations. This was open to past and present employees and families. I won first prize! I present it here to show those who don't have access to the first floor of the house where it is currently displayed (or for those who, like me really don't have the time to trek that far).

I took the idea of fireworks as a form of celebration and brought it together with a selection of the icons of progress which IBM has been using to celebrate some of the many things the company has achieved over the last 100 years.

Just in case....

2011-06-13T22:30:00.000+01:00

...the post comes after you leave for your exams......

and to all those other people mired in the exam season.

Paper dresses

2011-06-13T00:03:00.001+01:00

I was reminded of these:

when I saw this post by Diana Trout on these awesome Italian paper dresses.

I don't think I have shared this before but in my sketchbook I produced this, following an exercise suggested by Sandra Meech:

An authentic blog post

2011-05-28T22:26:00.002+01:00

Somebody decided to post to my blog and email my entire contact list this evening. Now in the process of clearing things up. In doing so just blogging the following to showing you this is the real me, last weekends mini-project for P & R's wedding:

This is another Kanzashi flower - this time with pointy petals - for which I got the instructions from Diane Gilleland's Kanzashi in Bloom: 20 Simple Fold-And-Sew Projects to Wear and Give. This time I kept it simpler with a single flower and simple grey button to match the dress I was wearing, the fabric was extracted from my Mother's fabric stash (previously my Grandmother's). Apart from some feathers and a cheapie plastic Alice band from the supermarket this was an almost no cost project.

Cake SOS and a bit of ribbon

2011-04-12T23:22:00.001+01:00

I am not one of life's natural cake decorators. Personally I think cake is at is best au naturel but thought I would have a go at creating something celebratory (its a work thingy) with a bit of fondant. The cake inside tasted fab (thanks to the pointers from my sister K). But that ribbon & those fondant stars hid some very dodgy cake coverage. Still it at least spoke to my inner child - I love an opportunity to play with my food!

Birthday girl

2011-04-05T19:13:00.000+01:00

Remember back in January I did a little origami? Well, I thought it was time one of my pieces was a little less headless and homeless and put together this little greeting card. The hair was stamped with a little home carved stamp and the details added in freehand with a pigment drawing pen. By now this little girl should be with a 9 year old Birthday Girl, after giving her the vouchers tucked away behind her. Happy Birthday L!

Fascinating adventures with my glue gun

2011-04-03T20:17:00.001+01:00

The big reveal! I was attending the wedding of 2 friends this weekend and fancied adding to my outfit in the traditional English way with a bit of head gear. I decided against the hat - my hair does not recover well from hat hair syndrome. I was considering buying one, but a combination of leaving it a little too late and a small voice in my head (G's) saying "make one, make one). So here it is.

I am pretty pleased with the result - especially as I did not spend a lot on materials. I only splashed out on the feathers and the hair band I attached it to. The rest was all in my stash. The kanzashi flowers were made from silk scraps which I already had. (To make the Kanzashi flowers check out Diane Gilleland's Kanzashi in Bloom: 20 Simple Fold-And-Sew Projects to Wear and Give there is also blog and flickr group of other readers Kanzashi creations). The loops were simple tubes sewn from blue silk, turned with my ever faithful rouleau loop turner and then threaded with offcuts of thin polyester boning. After a frenzy of gluing with the aid of my glue gun and other supporting fabric and bead glues - this was the finished result.

Sneak peak

2011-04-01T14:50:00.001+01:00

Just showing my work in progress. Now taking a rest from my glue gun and off to the Post Office.

A little more birthday sewing

2011-03-26T12:43:00.000Z

As previously mentioned someone recently had a special birthday and for this a Kindle was purchased as a present for him, from my sisters and me. It was ordered, duly arrived but all sealed up so I couldn't measure it up, it was my intention to make a simple cover so it was protected straight out of the box. Luckily there are plenty of tutorials out there and I found this one as useful guide for the measurements required for the Kindle. As you can see I stopped short of patchwork and quilting, using some offcuts of denim, Liberty print cotton and quilt wadding to make lovely cover, sparing a few pounds. It fitted perfectly!

Birthday Peacock

2011-03-25T18:33:00.024Z

The burnt doodling of the other day was followed by a more planned piece of stitching for a birthday card for a very important gentleman with a very important birthday. I returned to themes of some of my more recent work (if you call 2009 recent), previous studies and combined free machine embroidery with the application of a soldering iron. As with my other work in this style I restricted my choice of stitches to stem stitch and straight stitch. There was a slight cheat in that satin stitch made an appearance due to straight stitch also being known as single satin stitch, which when stitched together makes satin stitch (who'd of thought?). Of course, the straight stitch became small enough in the top part of the piece to be considered seed stitching.

I only used 3 different threads for this piece as well, a Madeira 40 metallic for the machine embroidery, a Madeira 12 metallic either doubled or single and a hand dyed 2 ply silk for the hand sewing. The fabrics used either came from some old sewing projects of mine (pre leaving home ones), a couple of shoe projects and an interesting table melting experience (how I miss those days).

Back to basics

2011-03-24T12:27:00.001Z

I have finally made a return to hand stitching - I find myself needing the occupation for my hands. This is meant to be stress free - so I have gone back over old textile samples with a view to adding a little more stitch. I found this soldered sample from a few years back, a little leftover metallic thread and got to doodling: fly stitch, french knots, bullion knot, seeding, running, open chain, ladder stitch whatever took my fancy. I was originally thinking of chopping the finished piece up further and make note cards from it, it may become a book cover. But, no stress, the process is more important than the result in this case.

Hinamatsuri

2011-03-03T19:23:00.014Z

Today is the Japanese Doll Festival or Girl's Day. I made these paper dolls a few weeks ago from a kit I had, but there are instructions about for similar dolls. These dolls are sitting down, and these are super skinny (but would also make cute bookmarks).

Time goes by

2011-02-25T22:17:00.001Z

Recently, whilst purchasing a birthday present I treated myself to some tasty beads and other bits to make this watch. It has been worn quite a lot recently and has seen double duty as a timepiece and worry beads.

Yep, I broke it whilst fiddling with it absent mindedly whilst updating a chart mid-afternoon at work. Funnily enough my colleagues knew exactly what had happened without looking round. My apologies for being a bit rattly for the past week - I will return to the ever reliable Baby-G next week. Though I'm off to the local craft emporium to get more thing stretchy beading elastic this weekend.

A little extra heart

2011-02-15T22:53:00.000Z

I needed a little gift bag to hold some extra beads for a birthday bracelet. So designed and stitched this little heart shaped pouch.

Which then gathered into a leaf

or a flower bud depending from which view you looked at it.

Valentine Breakfast

2011-02-14T07:00:00.001Z

This was more of a Sunday breakfast exercise. Too much to do first thing on a workday. Rustled these up for my beloved in anticipation of Valentines night steak and chocolate pudding. Anyway, will be grateful to be where I am today rather than where I was a year ago.

Birthday Brooches & Keepers

2011-02-04T20:51:00.000Z

A few presents for a recent birthday. First a brooch made with some lovely Aizome Chiyogami Washi*

Something to keep the above in and along with the recipients collection of brooches, a brooch keeper.

It is a variation on this brooch keeper from Buttontree Lane (or it could always be used as an extra large needle case!).

*
Aizome - Indigo dye
Chiyogami - "Chiyo" thousand generation, "gami" paper
Washi - "Wa" Japanese, "shi" paper

Xīnnián Kuàilè

2011-02-03T22:09:00.010Z

Before I forget:

This little rabbit has got a magnet instead of a brooch back so that it will be adorning my fridge, rather than my lapel.

A little get together

2011-02-02T19:33:00.000Z

A little more origami jewellery has been made but this time I wasn't solo. G & X were my willing ~~victims~~ pupils and came along last week and created their own origami brooches (left & right above, the ones in the centre were my sample pieces).

Burns Night Bear

2011-01-25T18:26:00.000Z

The Bear Maker has been at it again and last month Bear got a new outfit as a birthday present of a new sweater, tartan troosers and Tam O'Shanter. As he was caught up with Christmas festivities he decided to keep his new outfit for a special occasion - and what better time than Burns Night. Though I think he would also look quite natty on the golf course too. The outfit came with a special Doggerel provided by the bear maker:

Doggerel for a Bear

Here is a present for one's birthday bear

two new kits for him to wear.

(The first was requested by his mistress

to make him look like Father Christmas.)

Apply to his face and secure with elastic;

the change to his face will be fantastic.

The second outfit will change the bear

into an ursine with look of a laird.

The kit should be fine for Hogmanay

and see him through to New Year's Day

for striding out across the moor,

or playing golf and shouting "fore".

But, whatever he decides to do

his sartorial elegance will be on view.

Personally I think that is ace* but if you prefer I'll leave you with a link to the Bard's words.

(*Mum's poems written whilst tootling down the A21 always did my sister proud.)

Origami Jewellery

2011-01-24T20:39:00.002Z

I should have been making curtains but instead decided to investigate one of my Christmas presents more thoroughly. Origami Jewellery by Ayako Brodek.Most of this has been completed whilst chilling out at the end of the day in front of the TV. I started with this brooch:

I then decided to go from something relatively easy rated piece to something more difficult, this pine cone bead necklace:

This proved to be more repetitive than difficult. This balloon bead necklace proved to be more fiddly:

Finally, this brooch was quicker to make, though required a little bit more judgement:

I had most of the supplies in my large stash of stuff, but found a supplier of lovely washi paper in the UK at Roze flowers. The book mentioned using a one part epoxy resin glue, after some researching on the internet I found one brand to use is E6000 glue. This also appears to be the jewellery makers glue of choice so got this and the bead caps for the balloon necklace on Ebay, but found that the seller had their own online store at madcowbeads.com.

p.s. the glue is kinda smelly and is probably not a good idea to be used round kiddiwinks

What I sewed for Christmas

2011-01-03T21:36:00.000Z

Just a quick post Christmas report on a few things I put together for the present splurge that occurred.

Somebody really, really, really wanted vouchers (honest!), so I thought it would be nice to have a little holder for them:

I thought the little holder needed a little bag to go with it.

This was created using my overlocker - it took more time to cut out than it did to sew. As I was having fun on it I whipped up a couple of these for my sister.

As I had the fabric out I returned to the sewing machine and made another pair of oven gloves, this time for G.

(Unfortunately I forgot to photograph Mr. T's awesome apron - if I do say so myself)

I then went into production overdrive and made these ever useful* box bags - which contained an emergency "Pub in a Bag" kit for Dads and BiLs stuck in the house with too many kids. (Although swap the beer for a miniature bottle of Gin and a slimline tonic, the pork scratchings for some olives and you have an emergency "Bar in a Bag" for the Mums and Sisters)

*useful because they take CDs (some people still use and accumulate them), gadgets, cables and random bits and bobs.

I may have sewn some voile panels for a bay window but they are not that interesting, nor are they easy to photograph. I will leave you with a revisit to a more interesting "net curtain"

That is the end of the end of holidays report.

A summer wrap in winter

2010-11-24T20:09:00.000Z

I had an old copy of Sew Hip and had been meaning to try out the Möbius wrap project.

Whilst shopping I couldn't resist the rich jewel tones of the Kaffe Fassett so "whipped" this up last weekend. I didn't have quite enough strips to make the longer length I wanted so augmented with toning fabric from my local fabric shop. Happily they had a few bolts of Kaffe Fassett prints in the shop which fitted in just fine.

This is me using it as a scarf - the main way I have been wearing it.

If the cold weather carries on for much longer though I may have to consider swapping it for one of my velvet creations, but now I come to think of it maybe its time for a new velvet wrap......

I know what I said...

2010-11-22T18:40:00.002Z

...but if you are mentioning the-x-word and looking for things to do with little hands before you-know-when-mas then you shouldn't miss this online magazine

I might use my not so little hands for some of the projects....

Non-Christmas sewing

2010-11-21T17:31:00.000Z

In purchasing something Christmas related the other day, I got sidetracked by a yummy strip roll pack of Kaffe Fassett fabrics in jewel tones on the same site. So instead of stirring things up for Christmas* this weekend I have pootled about making something for myself. Its not quite finished yet but here is a sneak peek:

Just realised I am talking about Christmas - which is a bit early for me. Now I am not going to mention it until well after the first week of December.
(*pudding & mincemeat already made - last year!)

A lovely Handm@de day

2010-11-14T23:09:00.000Z

Yesterday, I finally did something I have been meaning to do - go to a Handm@de craft fair. I am so lucky to be near the one in Winchester and it was great to see such a range of designer/makers.

I had been a long time admirer of Turned Light's beautiful lampwork beads and pendants and was delighted to get to chat to Kathryn and purchase some of her wares. I conceded that I was never going to get around to making something for someone(who should have had been given something for her birthday years ago) so paid a visit to Raspberry.

I was really impressed with some of the lovely silver jewellery for sale, from both Daiychain Jewellery and Quercus Silver. One of the most original vendors who I will need to visit in the New Year (once I have bought the right dress) is Soobird - who makes the most amazing and inventive fascinators. Other people exhibiting who caught my eye were Smashing Chintz, Esther Coombs, Glowbox, Grey Duckling & Lucy Gilchrist.

Some pre-Christmas gift sewing

2010-11-10T22:36:00.000Z

October is, I realise now, a dress rehearsal for Christmas. 7 birthdays.....
This year there were one or two gifts that I could not find in the shops - oven gloves to coordinate with a Birthday girl's new kitchen:

A beanbag at a price I was prepared to pay (58 quid for a bean bag! - for that amount you could buy a proper chair!!!)

For the oven gloves I adapted a pattern from this handy book which is a lot better than its predecessor which did not live up to its name (make != embellish). The bean bag was a slightly adapted version of this pattern, instead of the velcro closing I inserted an overlapped zip.

Some needed sunshine

2010-11-05T18:49:00.002Z

This week I needed a bit of sunshine in my life. So I bought myself some flowers:

and made (& shared) a large chocolate cake:

Weekend working and catch up

2010-09-26T22:58:00.000+01:00

A little collage

2010-09-19T23:52:00.001+01:00

The fun of cutting up an incredibly snotty English magazine and playing with my new (wish I knew they cheaper from Amazon) Inktense pencils.

A weekend texture worksheet

2010-09-19T22:53:00.000+01:00

Aquaman and his stylish fish hat

2010-09-17T23:08:00.000+01:00

Well it is at least falls into the silly bracket.

Feather in his cap

2010-09-17T17:15:00.000+01:00

It is unbelievably relaxing just doodling on things like this and then colouring them in. Colouring in is forever not just for Childhood.

Ubirdies

2010-09-16T19:09:00.000+01:00

Time to get Silly

2010-09-14T19:26:00.003+01:00

Chicken Tonight

Test worksheet for the Art of Silliness 2 workshop with Carla Sonheim.

Pen & paper tangling

2010-07-04T22:24:00.000+01:00

This was a bit more than doodling - I started off with pencil outlines and a bit of guidance after reading this post over at Pin Tangle and following one of the links provided.

I think this is a slightly more organised version of my doodling from the other day.

A trial mandala

2010-07-03T22:15:00.004+01:00

Created with the aid of a set of compasses and some inspiration from Daisy Yellow.

Drawing

2010-07-02T21:50:00.002+01:00

Drawing has, for some reason, eluded me for some time, some would say it has always done so and that I am a doodler. The time came for me to start again - and if my first efforts are more doodling (with a little direction) then so be it.

My intention here was to just fill the page with pattern and doodle, to reacquaint myself with pen and paper.

A Quartet of Spectacle Cases

2010-07-01T22:00:00.001+01:00

At first appearances these seem a little bit of frippery - I needed all of these:

a case for old trusty I got married in them 6 years ago sunglasses
a case for my car/sporty sunglasses
a case for my replacement but not quite the same sunglasses
a case for M's glasses when he wants to pack light for a long bike ride and I don't want him swiping my glasses case case

The fancy case took a few nights of hand sewing in front of the TV. The other 3 were overlocker experiments, one of which involved the piping foot.

A trio of pin cushions

2010-06-07T19:53:00.051+01:00

I return to stitching with a little bit of procrastination - pincushion construction. I justified my endeavours with the reasoning that ever since my oversized pincushion went to the sofa heaven in the sky and that new one (leather) could no longer be classed as such, that I needed alternative means to park my pins and needles. Although I already had a few pincushions (one here and one from this forthcoming book) they have already got permanent places on the ironing board and next to my sewing machine.

This big one is the pincushion caddy from Seams to Me by Anna Marie Horner (Craft magazine had this as a pattern podcast a while back) this is also handy for keeping various bits in one place instead of half scattered under aforementioned sofa.

The next, medium sized one I made after catching the tutorial over at CraftyPod. Perfect excuse to make more use of my Clover yo-yo maker.

The last and littlest one and now, I find, the most useful of all is this pointer finger pincushion. I find it best placed on the pointer finger on my non-sewing hand.

2 skirt weekend

2010-03-08T18:31:00.001Z

Returning to work meant having a look at my wardrobe. Trousers are still not comfortable, and one of the key skirts I have been wearing is a little - shall we say - short. As I was up for a little more gentle pottering I treated myself to a new Clothkits skirt kit. The kit I had been hankering after for a while from as long ago as last summer, but I was not considering wardrobe additions then. Luckily they were still selling the kit and at the nice price it was previously.

With my first ever skirt kit from this company I had the skirt received, cut and sewn in an evening, but this time I paused. I was not happy with the rather dull white lining they had provided. So a short trip to John Lewis' fabric department to find an alternative cotton lawn. If had been up to it I would have launched myself up the loft ladder to look at my own fabric stash but those kind of acrobatics are currently out. I found a fairly tame pink which I thought would work well - which I show below with the cute but relevant facing.

Whilst in the fabric department I found some stretch denim and bought double the amount I ended up requiring to make a more work length appropriate denim skirt. This I designed myself by taking the previous skirt as a base and adding pockets and top-stitching whilst jettisoning the lining.

3 week recovery

2010-03-07T18:54:00.000Z

I have spent the last few weeks signed off work with a week's leave to finish (and was grateful for I needed more time off). The first week I spent sleeping and in front of the TV. I read a few books on creativity and documented my week by making a doll for each day of the week. The doll template which I styled to be a slimmer and taller version of me I got from the book that I found most fun to flick through Mixed Mania by Cheryl Prater and Debbi Crane.

Notice the lack of jeans - trouser wearing that week (and even now) was not the most comfortable option. As a habitual trouser/jean wearing girl it was stretching my wardrobe to find enough skirts to wear, but the addition of a comfy dress helped. Two of the skirts - the red one, and the patched one - were skirts I had made previously, one from a Clothkits kit and another by appliquéing some of my mono-printed patches on to one I had derived from the former skirt.

Thankful

2010-02-16T17:13:00.000Z

Today I woke up thankful for:

the NHS
waking up in my own bed
a good nights sleep
less pain
the person next to me

I am now nestled in my cosy kitchen sipping peppermint tea and listening to Johnny Cash and watching someone else do chores.

Luckily I had completed my postcards for iHanna's postcard swap and popped them in the post before the last 48 hours occurred.

The sent postcards can be seen in more detail from my Flickr set, unfortunately they aren't the best photos as I only had my camera phone to hand. Check out the rest of the swap pool.

Some winter walking

2010-01-09T10:02:00.000Z

At the beginning of the week in between some of the snow we had in South Wales M and I branched out together for a wonderful (and in the latter half) challenging walk along part of the West Pembrokeshire coast, a circular around the Angle Peninsular.

The full photostream can be viewed from here.

New Years in Wales

2010-01-08T09:06:00.000Z

M and I went away for the New Years along with G & Mr. T, X & S. We all stayed in a comfortable cottage in Wisemans Bridge in Pembrokeshire. Despite it being a little chilly, it was sunny and we were able to get out and about a bit.

We started the New Year with a barbecue

and some fireworks.

I watched a few hundred ~~nutters~~ people go for a New Year swim

and then for a New Year's stroll around Kilgetty. It started of sunny and ended up snowy:

There has been snow about ever since! We had a little cycle to Tenby on slightly icy roads

Lit a few balloons:

Went for a really long walk:

(more on that in another post) and ate a lovely fish supper in nearby Saundersfoot. We thought we saw a little few wisps in the sky....

Then woke up on our penultimate day to this:

We then considered our options whilst checking the weather forecast and realised that even our little corner of Hampshire (last to get snow, first to thaw) was going to blanketed. So we struck camp and made our way home.

Some Christmas sewing

2010-01-07T13:25:00.002Z

I saw just enough of somebody's Handmade Christmas to see them create a stitch and flip stocking before I turned it off thinking "I can do better (and cheaper)" and went off to my fabric compost in its nice colour sorted bags and came up with these babies just in time to be filled for Christmas. One for me and one for him. Can you guess which one is mine?

Brrrrr! Birthday Bear

2009-12-02T13:34:00.000Z

Another Birthday and another wonderful outfit for my Birthday Bear. Just in time for the frosty weather.

Crisis of conscience

2009-11-23T19:10:00.015Z

I have next Friday booked off from work. Do I go to my Contemporary Textile Workshop, the last session of which I did not enjoy and which I have done zero work for. Or stay home and get stuck in with my new (early-but I'm not complaining) birthday books?

Peacocks travel best in pairs

2009-09-26T22:04:00.003+01:00

Where Flowers grow there is hope

2009-09-25T22:04:00.003+01:00

Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all

2009-09-24T22:06:00.017+01:00

This is based on one of the photos I have snapped on one of my many cycling adventures. Again this is derived from a well known phrase which is derived from the Tennyson poem In Memoriam:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

This summer had a loss and when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself I would think the situation was hopeless and that it had all been for nothing. This was not the case and I know that at least I had had a chance and that it can happen again. Referring back to the previous work Life is Risky - it is better to try than not to try at all.

Proverbially English II

2009-09-21T22:01:00.006+01:00

Many hands make light work.

All good things come to an end.

Proverbially English I

2009-09-20T21:58:00.043+01:00

These are like old friends to me now - I first conceived of them when participating in a postcard swap based on the colour spectrum. I added a further theme by using proverbs as my inspiration. As some of these postcards were going to far off places (one went as far as Australia) I decided that the proverbs, where possible were English. Further to that I found the proverbs I chose helped me think about my creative process. When I created the postcards I made a twin - so I had record of what I had done and a connection to the card that had sent overseas.

Mighty Oaks from little acorns grow. This proverb was chosen to remind myself that its okay to start with something small even if it is just a small seed. Presented with the horror of a blank canvas and no ideas. Just one small idea can be played with, thought about and enlarged upon. Ideas can also be like magnets attracting further ideas until you find a large project on your hands. If you're really lucky a finished piece.

A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner. I think I have learnt the most when something in my work has gone wrong or hasn't turned out as expected. Even if it is to never do that again!

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine. A devotee of the leaving it to the last minute movement I still recognise the wisdom of such advice. As a school girl I did leave some key essays to the very last day before handing in but I always got away with it. Unfortunately paint has to be given time to dry, fingers can only sew so fast and take so much punishment (especially as I never bother with a thimble).

Life is Risky

2009-09-14T21:56:00.035+01:00

The title was taken from a quote from a video that M was watching as part of his counselling skills course work. The man who said it is Carl Rogers one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research : "Life is risky. To take the responsibility for being the person you would like to be.....". This year I have taken some risks they have all borne some fruit some of it welcome, some of it not so welcome. The unexpected outcomes have not been happy times but I do think I have come out stronger and I am more aware of silver linings in situations which I may not have wished for. You can look at things in a negative way but you can also recognise the good.

This piece can be viewed in two different aspects - the view shown above represents the idea of growing and blossoming, the view shown below represents the idea of falling and tumbling.

Tread Softly

2009-09-13T21:54:00.004+01:00

This refers to the last line of the Yeats poem "He wishes for the cloths of heaven". I was introduced to this poem when I was at college. Studying for a computer science degree didn't mean a lot poetry study but a friend of mine gave me a copy of it when we graduated. Since then my dreams have changed considerably.

By the way

2009-09-06T21:26:00.002+01:00

I think its about time I started the online exhibition!

I have an interest in proverbs and sayings since my earliest childhood. I remember my paternal grandmother quote the odd proverb and there were many times where my mother would quote her own grandmother. A proverb is also known as a nayword or byword and is a simple and popularly known saying expressing a known truth or basic rule. Aristotle considered proverbs a survival of an older wisdom. The word proverb comes from the Latin translation of the Greek word paroemia. Oimos was the ancient Greek word for road or way. So I chose to call this first piece "By the way".

This piece is the first I did using this technique. It is typical of my style of working colour and heavy hand stitching. The hand stitches used are running, seeding and woven circles. I have used a combination of natural and synthetic fabrics, some of the pieces used in the background are hand dyed or painted.

My First Exhibition

2009-09-01T23:06:00.004+01:00

Last weekend started off busy as I was putting the finishing touches to this:

My first solo exhibtion! It is part of the larger county wide exhibition organised by Hampshire Libraries: New Artists in Libraries. This year the spotlight is on textiles so encouraged by Mr. Happy (now also known as my Exhibition Manager) and C, I appeared in front of a selection panel in April and was selected to show my work in Havant. The exhibition runs from now until the end of September.

I received the brochure in the post a few days ago and found that amongst some others our artist biographies have been missed out so just our pictures and no infomation is shown. So I include it here:

"Kitty Redwood

I have stitched, painted, dyed and embellished textiles since my teenage years, using the medium of textiles to express my creative side whilst studying and working in another discipline. I have taken this further by completing a City & Guilds course in Design and Embroidery at Eastleigh College.

Currently, I am finding inspiration in folklore and cultural references, in particular the work presented here explores the use of traditional contemporary proverbs and quotes to convey life experiences in a layered language. Colour plays an important part in my work, using my own hand dyed fabric and threads to achieve vibrancy and texture."

I appreciate some of my regular readers won't be able to make it over to Havant, so I have decided to have a little bit of a mini online exhibition during the month of September. Also some people may have made their way over here after seeing my work so I will talk a little bit about the background of my exhibition pieces as well as peek inside my studio.

Hinton Ampner

2009-08-31T22:35:00.004+01:00

The August Bank Holiday in the UK always seems to me to be the last day of summer (even if we might get an Indian Summer) - the next Bank Holiday will be in December. So after a certain amount of hard work over the weekend (more about that tomorrow) we went on a little excursion out into Hampshire.

Although I have lived in the area for many years now I have never gone Hinton Ampner so suggested it as our destination. We set off late morning when it was still dull and slightly drizzly, by the time we got there there was plenty of blue in the sky and the sun was making a welcome appearance. We parked and locked our transport (which deserves a post all of its own) and headed of to snaffle sandwiches and tea.

We had a nice amble through the gardens and I pottered about taking snaps of bits of the garden - various statues and ornaments and admired the topiary.
Lots of potential for shape play!

A long summer

2009-08-30T18:00:00.002+01:00

It has been over 2 months since my last post. A number of reasons were involved, most of them resulted in me being very tired. And then a bit emotional. I'm not going to explain or apologise (reminding me of my college friend American mother's saying - "Never complain, never explain" - or something approximating it). Instead I will concentrate on saying a big thank you to the many people who have been a shoulder to cry on, given their support or just understood.

More recently I have picked myself up and have got back into the studio and also out and about. Which means I have plenty to retrospectively blog about. A few more blog posts this month - catch up with you tomorrow.

Cup 25/06/09

2009-06-25T21:18:00.001+01:00

Cup 25/06/09

Yesterday's cup of the day was a cardboard cup of South West Trains coffee as I had a trip to London.

Cup 23/06/09

2009-06-23T21:34:00.001+01:00

Cup 23/06/09

not-so-conveniently left at home today.

Cup 22/06/09

2009-06-22T22:22:00.000+01:00

Cup 22/06/09

Yellow paste paper stamped with the end of a cotton reel.

Cup 19/06/09

2009-06-19T18:22:00.000+01:00

Cup 19/06/09

Morphing from orange to yellow with a little monoprinting on acetate.

Cup 18/06/09

2009-06-18T18:06:00.000+01:00

Cup 17/06/09

2009-06-17T20:05:00.000+01:00

Cup 16/06/09

2009-06-16T20:22:00.000+01:00

Cup 15/06/09

2009-06-15T20:01:00.002+01:00

Wedding doodles

2009-06-12T19:57:00.001+01:00

I interrupt the colour spectrum with a few wedding doodles in celebration of my SiL's wedding tomorrow.

Cup 11/06/09

2009-06-11T19:01:00.000+01:00

Cup 10/06/09

2009-06-10T19:03:00.000+01:00

Cup 09/06/09

2009-06-09T19:03:00.001+01:00

I think I am berry addicted at the moment. This strawberry cover is apt as the cup contains a strawberry and blueberry smoothie for my post-cycling breakfast.

Cup 08/06/09

2009-06-08T19:48:00.001+01:00

This week I am moving into the red. The texture here was created using a natural sponge.

Cup 05/06/09

2009-06-05T19:39:00.002+01:00

A not entirely successfully experiment trying to blend 2 colour pastes into each other with the comb, whilst creating paste grain papers. The pink/red is a little too puce.

Cup 04/06/09

2009-06-04T19:36:00.002+01:00

This picture of blackcurrant fool sprinkled with contrasting green pistachios caught my eye. This seasons blackcurrants just need to ripen before I can do something similar - I don't think I've cut the recipe up....

Cup 03/06/09

2009-06-03T18:33:00.002+01:00

This is cut from an craft paper bag. The kind you get in art and craft shops, made out of paper used for printing synthetic fabric. The offcuts could be used to print on synthetic fabric at home by iron over the bag, print side down on a piece of synthetic fabric. Results vary.

Cup 02/06/09

2009-06-02T18:30:00.003+01:00

Unfortunately the texture cannot be clearly seen here. I used some old face scrub/buff - which has always been a better art tool than it ever was as a bathroom accessory. Although the texture isn't clear here I was trying to acheive something that reminded me of the chive flowers currently in bloom in my garden.

Cup 01/06/09

2009-06-01T18:20:00.002+01:00

I am looking at colour and for some reason starting with purple - this is the week of predominantly purple. Continuing with the letter 'P' I am looking at some of old design techniques - so paste grain papers. I found some wallpaper paste and mixed that up with some acrylic and cast about for some pattern making tools. I found I had an old tile grout spreader to comb through the wet paste.

Cup 29/05/09

2009-05-29T17:18:00.000+01:00

...and that should be the last of doodle-a-day-may....

Cup 28/05/09

2009-05-28T18:32:00.000+01:00

Cup 27/05/09

2009-05-27T20:58:00.001+01:00

Just cycling

Cup 26/05/09

2009-05-26T19:55:00.001+01:00

Cup 21/05/09

2009-05-21T18:59:00.001+01:00

Cup 20/05/09

2009-05-20T18:54:00.001+01:00

Cup 19/05/09

2009-05-19T18:44:00.001+01:00

Cup 18/05/09

2009-05-18T18:35:00.003+01:00

Back on the bicycle today after no cycling during April (well that sounds better than a break of 7 weeks). A mixed fruit smoothie and a bran muffin is my breakfast, although I need to investigate a recipe which isn't quite so sugary. The ride in was noticeably warmer - this has been the first ride this year where I did not arrive at work with frozen toes.

Cup 15/05/09

2009-05-15T18:26:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the lariness of this - I was doodleling and colouring it in yesterday evening whilst watching (I am ashamed to confess) the 2nd semi-final of the Eurovision song contest. Which may explain the brashness of it. There were some good entries and some not so good ones as well as some plain bizarre. If you saw it too you would understand me when I say "Green gimp". In case you feel you have missed out you will be able to see what I mean on Saturday night as despite the bizarreness (to these Western European eyes anyway) the song was okay and qualified for the final. I may or may not catch it, apparently the German entry has Dita Von Teese performing along side (and we have the Andrew Lloyd Webber, hmmmmm) and France has gone for class this year in the form of the sublime Patricia Kass. I am a big fan of France ever since the genius of last years entry (now sadly better known as the song playing during the Renault Megane ad) - Sebastian woz robbed. (So were Turkey)

Cup 14/05/09

2009-05-14T18:38:00.001+01:00

Cup 13/05/09

2009-05-13T18:36:00.001+01:00

Cup 12/05/09

2009-05-12T18:40:00.001+01:00

Cup 12/05/09

Stupid birds

2009-05-11T21:47:00.000+01:00

Cup 08/05/09

2009-05-08T18:09:00.001+01:00

Cup 07/05/09

2009-05-07T18:25:00.004+01:00

Time for a close up:-

Cup 06/05/09

2009-05-06T19:06:00.000+01:00

Cup 06/05/09