Talking & listening to threads
Welcome to my blog. I will be posting about the progress of new works and generally letting you know what I'm up to.
Pictures of completed pieces and extra photos of new work can be found in the Image Gallery.
I am posting less on here these days but on-going progress is being shared via Instagram, use the QR code below for my page.
Experiments in flat silver
On my last post for the Five Fans design I mentioned I'd been trying flat silver with varying degrees of success. We don't often use this type of thread in traditional Japanese embroidery and when we do it's generally in a small area or as an accent. Of course I decided to be different and wanted a foundation of flat silver.
Written on 4th June 2015
Grape leaves
It's been a while since I visited this piece but I need to get back to it as I've got too many pieces on the go. I try to have only two pieces on frames at one time but at the moment there are three.
Written on 13th May 2015
Uchiwa Iris
One of the uchiwa fans on my Five Fans design is a small iris. I had intended to work this in a cream silk thread, again using the weaving silks. This was my first attempt - horrid - what was I doing! Well I was rushing, that's what, the angles are wrong, the spacing is all over the place and turned out I didn't like the colour either. Yuk.
Written on 26th April 2015
Five Fans
Though it's been a bit quiet on the blog for the past few weeks, things have been going on behind the scenes. Slow progress is being made on the module 8 fuzzy effect piece, I've been to class, and I've started work on a new design (well not quite new, the design was done a couple of years ago).
Written on 13th April 2015
Harikuyo - Fesitval of Broken Needles
Today, 8th February is Harikuyo the Festival of Broken Needles. It's the day when needlewomen and men of all diciplines taken their broken and damaged needles to the temple to lay them to rest and to give thanks for their work over the year.
Written on 8th February 2015
More leaves
From blob to leaf. I'd put the foundation in for this leaf ages ago, when I went back to put in the veins I was confused by the shape, it didn't look like any of the other leaves, it just looked like a blob.
Written on 23rd January 2015
Grapes and leaves - an update
I've been a sporadic blogger at best for the last few months with nothing much happening on the stitching front. I've done bits and pieces but nothing for any length of time. Saturday just gone was one of our JE day classes and although I take my embroidery with me I'm concentrating on the students so I don't usually get much done. This weekend however, due to the weather here in Manchester, there was only one student so I did get some stitching done.
Written on 19th January 2015
Grapes and Leaves
A few weeks ago I saw this beautiful obi on Ichiroya, I was very tempted to buy it but decided against it in the end. It wasn't too expensive but I'd just treated myself to a full set of Kusano sensei silks so I was trying to be sensible!
Written on 16th November 2014
Lots more knots
Well the last few weeks have been full of lots of tears, lots of remembering, and lots of what do we do now. After some time away from the frame I did get back to some stitching and progress has been made on some pieces.
Written on 17th September 2014
Very Sad News
It is with the deepest sadness that I have to tell you of the loss of one of our stitching family, Sue Noble. Sue passed away on 25th August after a very short but hard fought battle with cancer.
Written on 25th August 2014
Progress on Shell Box
Time for an update on the Shell Box design. I got quite a long way with this until it came to a grinding holt in the heat last couple of weeks. You may notice that I've changed the copyright text on the photos.
Written on 2nd August 2014