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.
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Kusano Lily - Finale - leaves and waterfalls
New blog posts - Kusano Lily Finale - Events of this year have gone from very high to very low and at one point I thought I would never finish this piece and, at the very lowest, never pick up a needle again.
Written on 27th October 2013
Kusano Lily - Episode 3 The Lily
My first stitches on this piece (after the outlining) were on the lily. It was all worked in a 2-1T. As the thread supplied by Kusano Sensei has less suga than the JEC thread I'm used to the twist was a little thinner. I thought it would take ages to fill it in.
Written on 19th October 2013
Kusano Lily - episode 2
Nejiribana-spiralling flower designs - new blog post - Kusano Lily Episode 2 - stitching with katayori, yes, katayori. Kusano sensei calls this katsura-yori. This one is a 4-1T, it's made in the same way as normal but with 10 suga per thread it turns out a little thinner than normal.
Written on 21st September 2013
Kusano San Class - Lily
New blog post: In the deep mountains, a beautiful river is flowing. Here a white lilly is flowering in solitude, a strong image of the force of life - Kusano san class
Written on 16th September 2013
Jenny Orchard
It is with great sadness that I have to tell you of the death of one of my stitching friends, Jenny Orchard, after loosing her battle with cancer this week.
Written on 29th August 2013
Kusano san Class June 2013
New blog post - I would like to dedicate this post to my friends and to Pat Hopper my first tutor on my journey for Japanese embroidery. Very sadly Pat passed away a few weeks ago after a short illness. She would have loved the week we spent with Kusano sensei and all the new things we learned.
Written on 17th August 2013
Kusano San Design - part 4
Next week is going to be very exciting, to meet Kusano sensei and see all the lovely work she is bringing will be a wonderful experience. Our group has completed 9 versions of the flower circle to show her (including a very special beaded version), I hope she will be pleased by our efforts.
Written on 23rd June 2013
Kusano San Design - part 3
New blog post - When I give talks and presentations this technique fascinates my audiences. As I mostly do talks for embroiderers they are always interesting in learning new techniques
Written on 18th June 2013
Kusano San Design - part 2
Part 2 of the flower circle. I've broken these posts up to cover similar techniques I used within the same post, it means they are slightly out of sequence but I think it makes more sense this way. In this post, sumi-e and sagara nui.
Written on 12th June 2013
Kusano San Design
New blog post - In a post over on the Japanese Embroidery blog I spoke of a visit to Edinburgh for the exhibition of Shizuka Kusano San's work. What I didn't mention was that we came away with one of her designs very similar to the flower circle below.
Written on 9th June 2013
To boldly stitch where no one has stitched before
New blog post - Embroidery Master Kikuaki Ueda says - Thread is a creature. It is breathing. Therefore, it is possible to make something by talking to threads.
Written on 2nd June 2013