Ollie Owl

I was struggling to think of what to Blog about this week, because I haven't really been doing all that much lately. I managed to start writing something while sitting in the carwash after work, but it wasn't really going anywhere...

So I arrived home from work with a clean car, but no real ideas for this week's post. And because it was Friday, I decided to chill out for a while before setting my mind to doing anything at all.  So there I was, just dozing off on the sofa, when there was an almighty knock at the door. And there is a foreign gentleman with a parcel for me. I am pretty certain that he wasn't British, cos he seemed to think I was called Douglas.  *shrug*

It's immediately apparent that the parcel is from Australia, which can only mean that it is from Kerry, and I had a vague recollection that she had said that there was some crochet cotton to be sent to me.  After opening the box, I have to say that it made my day. Perfect start to the weekend - now I just needed to decide what I'm going to make with all of this new "stuff"!

In amongst the cotton was a bunch of hooks, ranging from very very small to fairly big. And a little magazine from Spotlight (my favorite ever Australian shop!) with a little selection of knitting and crochet patterns. Now I'll never do the knitting, cos I just don't enjoy it, but there was two crochet patterns that caught my eye.

The first one is a lovely cardie for a toddler. Might well give that one a go sometime. I've got some pink cotton that would work well. Mind, I can't help but remember the last cardie I attempted... Grace did say Isaac had worn it, but I'm not so sure that she wasn't just trying to make me feel better, because there was certainly no way she managed to get the hood up! :-)

The second pattern that I liked from the magazine was a little toy owl. Looked simple enough, basic Amigurumi with a flat piece across the top to make ears and nose. I gave it a go Friday night while watching Pitch Black. What do you think? Meet Ollie Owl!

He was very easy to make, and used up some bits of wool, which was great.  I changed it slightly, and used massive pompoms for pupils instead of flat circles.  I like that it makes the eyes more owl-like, and gives it a much more fun character.

I left him sitting on the mantleshelf for a week, and every day when I came home I looked at him and thought that there was something I didn't  quite like.  Maybe the head piece was the wrong size?  Or the wrong pattern.  I quite liked the colour, but something wasn't right.

So this weekend I took the headpiece off again, and remade it.  The same colour, but perhaps a little smaller.  This time I made it as continuous square, so that I could chose the size as I went along.  

I like it a little more, now, with the smaller piece it doesn't look like I've just attached a huge square to the top of it's head for no particular reason!  The problem now, however, is that the "beak" is actually above the eyes.  Which looks like no owl I've ever seen!

The answer is probably that the whole headpiece needs rethinking.  That the shape is completely wrong, and no matter what I do with a square, it'll never be right.  If I was to continue to try to correct this, I would need to redesign the whole piece...  Maybe I will, one day!

St Cuthbert's Isle

After finishing the cross, I also had another piece in mind just for the exhibition, which was simply on the theme of Lindisfarne, and so could have touched on the Gospels, the history, the religion, the castle... Anything, really!

With such a wide variety  to choose from, I thought about techniques before picture on this one. I had really enjoyed doing the Dunstanburgh piece last year, so I looked back at that. It's a lovely technique to use, but it's not very precise. With that in mind, it's best used on landscape, to colour the general background before embroidering the focal point.

So, next step was to decide on a photo to use. I went back over the photos taken on Holy Island last year, and chose one taken from St Cuthbert Isle, looking across to the mainland.

The reverse picture would be this one, looking back to Holy Island, and the ruins of the Priory. An amazingly peaceful place, which has seen some horrific moments in its history, it is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

So, I spent ages on the background to this one, because with a technique like this where you are only embroidering a small focal point, you need to be sure that the background is right. So I layered the foundation, and added the colour, so that it was all perfect.  Sprayed a bit of water over it all to wet the natural glue in the raw silk, carefully placed the baking parchment over the top, and ironed.

At this point you need to iron the fabric that you have just created until it's dry, then peel off the baking parchment. I'm sure you can imagine how upset I was when all of my carefully arranged colour peeled right off, stuck fast to the baking parchment! Upset, stressed, and not a little darned annoyed!

By the time I had managed to carefully remove the colour from the parchment and rearrange it on the background, and vainly try to make the darned thing stick where it should, it was no longer quite as perfect as I was sure it had been, but in all honesty it probably didn't look anywhere near as bad as I'd thought when I looked at it again the next day!

So, fabric finally completed, I set about deciding what needed to be stitched.  I find with this technique that less is always best, and so I decided that all it needed was the cross itself, plus some small detail of rocks, flowers and grass around the base.  I had deliberately not put any colour in the center of the design, because I wanted the whole of the cross to be stitched. That was the biggest job, of course, and was done entirely in long and short stitch in varying shades of dark gray, green, and white.

The details around the bottom of the cross are meant to show the lush grass and wildflowers growing around the area, among the rocks and delves of the island. These were done in raised cup stitch for the rocks, colonial knots for the flowers, and long stitch for the grasses.

Please remember folks, that if you choose to visit Holy Island you check out the tides! The Island can only be reached by a causeway, and only at low tide. If you try to drive across at the wrong time, you will get stuck, and you will be charged for your rescue! The crossing times are clearly shown at both sides of the causeway, plus all around the Island, on the Internet, and in every pub and shop along that whole stretch of coast. If you do get stuck, you have no one to blame but yourself :-)

Having said all of that, it's perfect for a day out if you are in the area. If you go across as soon as it is safe, there is more than enough time for a walk around the village, a visit to the castle, exploring the ruins of the Priory, and taking the time to enjoy the peace. And don't forget to watch out for the hermit crabs as you plodge through the rock pools on your way to St Cuthbert Isle.

Celtic Cross

Once again, it's been months since I managed to find the time to Blog.  What with Ferg and Helen getting married, work, and just general stuff, I've been rather busy. So, I've got myself one of those little tablet thingys, and off I go on catch up!

OK, so the last thing I blog'd about was the embroidery of Bede. Since then, I've done another two embroideries for the Guild's exhibition in Durham Cathedral.

Bede was created for the Saints of the North competition, but there was another competition running alongside that one, called Knots and Crosses. Obviously, this screamed Celtic, but where to find the perfect cross to recreate?

I'd been looking around for a while, but hadn't found anything. Then I saw a photo I really liked, which was posted to a Facebook group called Northumberland. It's a good place to find some very good photos. I'd love to show you all the particular photo than inspired this, but despite my asking the photographer if I could print the photo and use as a starting point, he never did answer me (which seemed a little rude!)

I used his photo anyway just to get the general shape of the Celtic work, but wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to stitch it. It seemed fairly obvious from the start that it would look best done on a grid, as opposed to free stitched, so I drew it out onto graph paper. I was still no further forward as to stitch technique, until I glanced at my bookshelf and noticed a book I'd forgotten I'd bought on canvas work. Another excellent Barter Books buy!

So in the end it became a canvas work piece. I stitched the cross and the stem on separate pieces, using a variety of stitches. The Celtic knot work in the center of the cross is couched handmade cord, and the piece in the center of the stem is woven.

Once the stitching was completed, I found another problem, however. I now had two pieces of work that somehow needed to be attached, and no idea how I was going to do it!

A chance conversation with Lesley one day ended with us wandering into a fabric shop. She had not seen any of the work, and only had my rough description of colours to go on, but her idea was to back it (somehow) onto a purple velvet. I found the perfect fabric, cut out the already stitched cross pieces and attached with a simple blanket stitch in black.

The finished cross looked very ecclesiastical once stretched and pinned. I didn't win any prizes for it, but once it was on display in the exhibition I was approached to sell. :-)

It's not that I haven't been doing anything...

...it's just that most of it, I can't share yet!

It's been two months since I last posted, and I promise that I have not been idle!  It's simply that the things I have completed I've been unable to share for one reason or another.  But now that I HAVE something I can share, I feel the urge again!

Since I posted last I have helped Helen make her wedding invites (which was a lot of stitching!) and which she still hasn't sent out (yes, Helen, nagging again!  hehehe).  So I can't really share those, and even if I could I forgot to take a photo of the finished article, so I need to wait til mine arrives in the post.  If I'm getting one, after all the nagging I'm doing...  hmmm....!

I've also created an item that I was very pleased with and would love to share, but as I need to make another one for someone else, I don't want to spoil the surprise by posting photos here.  I really should get on with the other one, but I got side-tracked by the Venerable Bede.

For anyone who doesn't come from the North East of England, or has absolutely no interest in ancient history, Bede was a monk in the Wearmouth/Jarrow monastery in the eight century.  As well as being a deeply religious man, he was also a scholar and a scientist.  It was he who figured out how the tides worked, for a start, which in turn helped him to work out how to do the precise calculation which helps us (to this day) to figure out when Easter will be every year.  Pretty impressive don't'cha think?

Anyway, how did an ancient Northumbrian monk lure me away from my work?  Well, the Embroiderer's Guild are running their usual competitions this year, and one of them is entitled "Saints of the North".  Bede certainly comes under that heading, and I just so happened to have taken a picture of a statue/sculpture of him while I was on Holy Island last May.  The statue is situated inside of the ruined Priory (English Heritage site) and is a lovely piece of work.  I got a few shots of it, just because I liked it, and this one in particular screamed out at me as usable in some way: -

So with some careful tracing to make a template, which really wasn't easy, I stitched the detail of the statue in different thicknesses of black thread, added a simple line border and a Celtic-style "B", and here he is...

Oh, and in addition to Bede, I've also done another little critter, who is in need of a name, please?  He was created during lunch breaks at work, and so far I don't have an idea what he's called.  As usual, he was created from little bits of left-over wool.  Soon, instead of having boxes of left over wool all over the house I'm going to have critters all over the house instead...!

Crochet’d Critters

Since re-learning how to crochet at college a few years ago, I’ve started to carry odd bits of wool around, with a crochet hook or two.  It’s amazing what you can make with a few odd bits, and some time.  And time doesn’t need to be hours and hours (although it can be) – just a couple of lunch breaks or bus journeys can be long enough.

Take these ones.  Little Angels.  The first one of these was made sitting on Ferg’s sofa in the summer while he talked at me.  I had no particular plans in mind when I began this one, but I’d only taken a ball of white wool with me, so I was pretty limited - which makes it more interesting!  Since then I’ve made a few more, and sold one.  Could be a good idea to make more in time for selling next Christmas…

Then at the other end of the spectrum, there’s this one, which should be instantly recognisable to everyone.  Meet Dalek Cliff.  Made from a pattern I found on the internet (credit where it’s due - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dalek-amigurumi) and it took quite a while, but was well worth it.  I quite fancy making my own Dalek army, so there may be more of these on the way this year!

And somewhere in the middle are these ones… 

Lola the Dancer was born on the train from Hartlepool to London last year, while I was on the way to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the 360 Theatre in Kensington Palace Gardens.  The show was excellent, by the way!  But again, she’s just a few oddments of wool and a few hours where I had nothing to do. 

In the same way, Octie was born on the way BACK from London that weekend.

The latest one, however, is Yorkie.  He’s named Yorkie, because I began him in on a car trip to York last weekend.  Most of his body was done on the way to and from York, and I was quite taken with where he was going, so I finished him off that weekend instead of leaving him half done for a few weeks.

 There’s a debate ongoing about Yorkie, however.  My brother tells me that he needs a mouth, whereas I disagree, and think he’s fine just the way he is.  So far after a bit of a vote at work it’s three for and three against, and one sitting on the fence.  What does everyone else think?  Shall I leave alone, or stitch him a mouth?

Art War!

Happy New Year!

I don’t normally go in for the whole New Year’s Resolution thingie, but this year I had a few things in mind…  Not the usual lose weight (I’m happy the way I am) or go to the gym (why make a promise you won’t keep?) or cut down on chocolate (not likely!); Instead, I thought it would be a good idea to give myself some artistic motivation.  So this year I decided that I would like to aim to make something new, and share it here, every single week.

Then I was talking to Alice last night, and she’s pretty much in the same boat as me, artistically.  So she decided to declare Artistic War, and I’m perfectly happy to accept the challenge!   

And to kick it off...  this one might be cheating slightly (snigger) but here’s one I did earlier this week!

Last May, while I had visitors from Australia, I spent a week in a caravan in Northumberland showing them why I’m so in love with this beautiful country I live in.  We visited Alnwick (a must, not just for the castle, but for Barter Books!) and while we were browsing in the castle shop Chris started a conversation with an artist in residence.  Darryn is a photographer and framer, and his work is stunning (see www.wildnorthumberland.com), and he’s also a very friendly bloke who is happy to share his local knowledge.  When he asked where I was planning on taking my Aussies that week, I answered with the obvious… the Scottish border, Lindisfarne, Cragside, Bamburgh… and he advised me to take the time to check out Craster.  So that’s where we headed the very next day.

And found a ruined castle.

Well obviously, when I say "found", it's not like it was lost.  It's pretty damned big for a start, so I don't think anyone mislaid it.  And it's VERY distinctive too.  This shot doesn't really show the scale of it all that well, but if you walk through the keep, and turn to the right, and walk til you come to the wall, you're right on the sea at the top of some stunning cliffs. 

It was a beautiful hot, clear day, and this is just one of the hundreds of photos taken by the five of us who were there this day, of Dunstanburgh Castle.  Both Craster and Dunstanburgh are well worth a visit, anytime you’re travelling along the A1 in Northumberland.  The five of us fell in love with this place, and we all rate this the very best day in an amazing week.

So I’ve had the photos on my laptop for quite a while now, with the intention of doing “something” with them.  And over the Christmas break I finally got started.  In my last post, I mentioned a workshop I did with Pat Ashton-Smith, and I refused to show the finished article.  Well, I went back to that technique, and gave it another go…

These two pictures are of the same piece of work, just taken in different lighting.  Because they show up different detail on the work, I decided to post both.  The piece itself is only about 3 inches square, and is made from raw silk with embroidered detail. 

Getting the colour into the fabric is rather imprecise, but worth persevering with, as you can create whole landscapes with it, which just need a bit of stitching to make into complete pieces.  And best of all, the fabric is sturdy enough to go through the sewing machine. 

All At Sea

Wow, I knew I hadn’t blogged in a while, but a whole year???  So much for my original plan to make sure I did something every week!

College has been over for quite some time now, so I can’t use that as an excuse any more.  For anyone who doesn’t already know, I pulled a Distinction out of the bag, despite a very poor last year.  I’m still not entirely sure what happened in that last year, except that I never really did find a direction.  In fact, when I looked back at everything I’d done for my final year in September, I still haven’t found it now.

But anyway, I’ve put last year away, and finally started looking at something new.  I’ve got a few things rolling around in my mind, but there’s one piece in particular that I’ve just finished that I wanted to share.

Due to college commitments over the last few years, I’ve not managed to get myself to any Embroiderer’s Guild workshops for far too long.  October’s workshop was being run by Pat Ashton-Smith, and I’ve always enjoyed her workshops so I went along to do some Layered Landscapes.

No, I’m not going to show you the finished article from the workshop, mainly because it’s NOT finished.  I loved the technique but I don’t like the piece, so it’s in the UFO box now and will probably stay there for a while!  However, I know that Pat runs workshops for two people in Allendale, and it seemed like the perfect Christmas present for Helen…  So I arranged with Pat for the two of us to go to Allendale for the day to make a mermaid doll.

We managed to get the majority of the work done in the day, with only decoration (hair and such) to finish afterwards.  Pat usually runs the mermaid workshop as a two day course, but with a little tweaking (such as painted faces instead of sculpting) we managed to do it in one.

So, say “Hi” to Shani the Mermaid.  (The pictures aren’t great, but I’ve had no decent sunlight to work with since she was finished)

For anyone interested in any of Pat’s workshops, please see her website – www.patashton-smith.co.uk.  It’s always a wonderful day, and anyone enjoying crafty fun will have just that.  And she also provides tea and biscuits!