The Surface Above and Beneath

This is the title of the Embroiderer's Guild Regional Day which this year is held in Norwich at the John Innes Centre on the 7th July. There will be trade stands and exhibitions by Michael Brennand-Wood and Linda Monk whose work on muslin paper I love so am looking forward to that.

They are running a competition and initially I wasn't going to enter but then had an idea so did a couple of experiments using shells and couching which I love. They are meant to represent the sea above and beneath, abstract of course which is my way of saying you can read into it what you like.

Had so much fun doing these that I went for a bigger which I'm going to enter and yes, it is supposed to be tatty at the edges with various threads hanging off.

In a couple of weeks I am going to be helping some of the ladies at the Hardingham Textile Group with machine embroidery and wanted to show them something suitable for all levels so thought we could make flower bowls. These will be on show at our exhibition at Hingham in September. We also have a couple of spaces for members if there is anyone near that is interested.

The petals are from cotton and silk and it is worked on spider tulle which I got from Minerva Crafts and Fabrics. I think it works better than the one below which is without the tulle.

Just in the process now of making a red one which is poppy like although think I need to dye some silk red and cut into more poppy shaped petals.

Endless Landscapes

Endless landscapes were invented around 1820 by a Frenchman Jean-Pierre Bres and John Clark of London took up this idea and created a series of 16 landscape cards with interchangeable views. His second series was produced in 1824 and is probably the source of the modern landscape made by Tobar Ltd.

Ann who runs Hardingham Textile Group decided that making endless landscapes in textile would be a good project for our exhibition which runs alongside the art group at Hingham church in September.

We all purchased the same size canvas and were given a set of colours and proportions which in theory should all match along the edge with everyone's so that when they were placed in a line in any order the colours will runs across from one to the other. Any design could be placed in the centre as long as the edges matched.

Initially I found this rather daunting as I had never done a landscape and had to root around my stash for colours that matched but once I got into it found it really fun and can't wait to do some more.

The initial layout of the fabric with the water made from layers of organza and Angelina fibres.

Made a tree from free machine embroidery on water soluble film and added some chain stitch to give depth.

Scrim added to the mountains for texture and some threads couched with some distant trees added with machine embroidery.

Added embellished wool and a few rocks made from organza stuffed with toy stuffing. Some hand stitching added.

The finished landscape with some hand stitching, cow parsley free machined onto organza and cut with a soldering iron and leaves made from ribbon.

All in all I am quite pleased with the final result and can't wait to do another which will be easier as I won't have to match it to anyone else's.