I have been in and out of my house today like a fiddlers elbow. An early start at the hospital for me, then giving Kezzy the hurry up, to get her to her physio appointment on time, then had to deliver something to Nickie, all in the pouring rain! I hope the weather improves by the weekend as Kezzy is camping with the Air Cadets.
I have not managed to get any stitching done as I have started making up the kits for my workshop at Textiles in Focus on Sunday. All the components are nearly ready for packing which I hope to achieve tomorrow.
As it is school holidays, it means I have time to experiment in the kitchen. As it is Shrove Tuesday, I decided to have ago at making American pancakes for a change- brings back memories of when I first moved to Essex from Hertfordshire.
Hubby left a few for Rhodri!I found these necklaces in Primark yesterday reduced to £1, just had to buy them for the beads.This is how many beads came off just one of them.

Textiles in Focus

What a great day I have had. The workshop went well and everyone seemed to enjoy it,(inspite of the sleepless nights, I woke up at 3.30 this am and thought of ANOTHER 5 things I needed to add to my bags for 'just in case!) and as you can see from the slide show, they did some wonderful work. It was good to see so many variations of the postcard.Thank you ladies for being such a great class! As I was demonstrating I gave the ladies plenty of options so that they could do their own thing. After a quick lunch in the sunshine Nickie and I had to do some stewarding, Nickie was on the Fen Edge Textiles stall and I manned Mary Sleigh's while she gave her lecture. Of course any day out isn't complete without spending some money. I bought the Lizzie Houghton book on felt, and some odds and ends from Art Van Go. Sharon Osbourne was busy demonstrating throughout the day and Sleaford Embroiderer's were exhibiting their work as well. Oh, and I just had to buy a tiny little notebook from the Fibrefusion stall! It's a good job it is nearly pay day!

You Tube

This is the very plain and unexciting Fedora hat I bought from a fancy dress shop for Saturday. (A Blues Brother's hat, love that film)

Last night as I mentioned in my previous post, my OH attacked it with some fabric paint for me. As I had done my C & G in patchwork and quilting, it seemed the obvious choice to have a patchwork coloured hat. I am all set now for Textiles in Focus.

Tonight, after I gave it a second coat of paint, I asked him very nicely, to put on some 'stitch lines' for me.

I mentioned in a post that my brother was going after a job on the Great Barrier Reef, here is the link if you want to see his video:-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri1WZpAF6sQ

It is only 59 seconds long.

Only 2 days until the closing date for applications.

Card for Embroiderer's Guild

At our Embroiderer's Guild on Monday we were all asked to take a blank white card. The idea being, that all members of every Guild will make a card that can be sold on the Embroiderer's Guild book stall at shows like Ally Pally. I thought it would be a chance for me to refresh my memory of what I am teaching on Saturday, but this time I have done it in a different colour- Think I prefer the green! I have also tidied up my play room, it was such a mess as I have gone from project to project without having a proper tidy. I will be making a mess tonight though, as Nickie is coming round and we are decorating hats for Saturday to wear at Cottenham.

Bargains.

Today started with a 'quick dash' to Basildon to get the bits I needed for the workshop I am teaching at Cottenham on Saturday. I needed some disposable gloves so popped into the Pound shop where I found these games, just waiting to be attacked with alcohol inks etc. I bought 2 of each, just in case! There are 100 letters in the crossword game-bargain!!!!!!

It was then on to Barleylands and Craft Arena, to get threads, paint and craft vilene.(Sarah Lawerence is doing a workshop there in May)

In between having my oldest daughter pop in for coffee (its one of the things I love about being on school holiday is getting to see my grandchildren more often) taking younger daughter to the beauty salon, cooking the evening meal, addressing and posting off the Embroiderer's Guild Contact magazines, I have been preparing the kits for Saturday. Because I am running out of space in my playroom, I had to make them up on my bed. (I will have to stop buying the bargains- no, on second thoughts, I just need more shelves.)

This is what my class are making on Saturday, a mixed media postcard.

Cottenham

It was off to Cottenham today for a Regional committee meeting for the Embroiderer's Guild. Also at the meeting was fellow blogger Gina, (knitting another pair of socks in the lunch break)and Sue Cranwell who gave a talk to our group the other month (December). Nickie and I had to take our bits for Textiles In Focus as we wont be there until the Saturday. I finished my entry for the McMillan fund raiser, we were asked to donate a piece of textile with the title 'Spring'.
I have gone 'outside the box' and used the Native Indian figure of Kokopelli. A lot of legends surround this figure. He is said to carry seeds of all the plants and flowers of the world in his bag that he carries on his back and he scatters them every Spring, while playing tunes on his instrument. His flute is said to be heard on the Spring breeze, driving away the cold harsh winters as he heralds in the Spring. Childless couples
would pray to Kokopelli for the gift of offspring. I could go on, I love doing background research when starting a project.

The background is the cotton wool fabric I made the other day, and has had all the stamped spirals reworked in chain stitch., with the occasional star sewn in as well.



The figure was F.M.S, and his
'feathered ' headdress is made from sheers.
Eyelets punched, and I used buttonhole stitch and 'thonging' to attach it to the board.

Kokopelli was embossed onto metal shim and made into arrowheads. These were made into dangles with a selection of beads, shrink plastic tags and feathers.
Since getting back from my meeting, I have another piece of cotton wool fabric 'cooking', so that I can make a similar one for the Chelmsford E.G exhibition and then my colleague at work can have it.

Ouchh!!!!!!!!

I have started stitching my 'Spring' entry for Cottenham-Textiles in Focus, my fingers are quite sore,(not helped when I accidentally machine stitched through my index finger!) I hope to post photo's tomorrow night,(of my work, not my finger) as I need to get on with it, if I am to get it finished by Saturday!

Yesterday I popped to Craft Arena to get some Hemmingworth threads that I needed, bought them and two books, Quilting Arts and some Dynaflo. IF we get snowed in(fingers crossed) I shall have plenty to read. (no affiliation to Craft Arena, just love going there!)
Today at long last, I have finished my dangly, it has taken so long because I have not been happy with the beading along the edge of my pyramid. I have stitched the medallions on a different angles to give all round interest.











I am now about to start thinking and planning something for Textiles in Focus based on Spring- I haven't got long!!!!!

A busy Sunday!

Here is the picture of my A.T.C taken yesterday in DAYLIGHT, as you can see it is a much better photo. I really enjoyed making this one, and when I have time I shall make another one for myself to keep as a record.(Based on my visit to Borough Market in London,)

I have also finished another broach, just got to sew on the pin bar.

I started making these broaches yesterday at Fen Edge Textiles, metal hearts that I made Friday night, F.M.S. stitched onto layered silk and felt. I only beaded one as it was then time to pack up to come home.I then cut them out last night, I think I prefer it unbeaded now! I need to stitch on the backs and pin bars, a job for my tea breaks this week. Might try and do these in other colour ways. These are to go on our stall at Textiles in Focus to help raise funds for our exhibition in June. I hope they sell!

Today I popped to Craft Arena to get some more metal for me to stitch with and some silver lame for one of the girls in the group. I have been getting ready as well for tomorrow nights Embroiderer's Guild meeting, which is a members night. I have made my cake (and nearly burnt it!) found some prizes for the game we are going to do, and just need to finish my sample, which I can't show on the blog until after the meeting.

Fen Edge Textiles

Nickie and I have an early start when we have to go to Cambridge for our Fen Edge Textile meeting, and though it was raining and windy in Essex, as soon as we got to the border of Cambridge the sun came out!
We had a busy day sorting out the final details for Textiles in Focus. Nickie and I are both teaching a 2 hour workshops, AND we have got people who have signed up - a bit scary!!!! I need to go through my notes as it is such a long time since I made my sample and got it o.k'd I need to refresh my memory. The books Nickie and I have been making for the sales table were approved by the group. Everyone got out their A.T.C.'s they have been making for the swap, and they will now be going back to the other group and we will get ours back they have made for us in our March meeting. The rest of the time that was left was looking at our website that Ann has made for us (she has done a really excellent job) and making more items for the sales table. I started making some broaches, I can't post any images as the computer is refusing to upload tonight, so will try again tomorrow. I was also able to take another photo of my A.T.C. in daylight, based on Borough Market's fish stall, so much better than the one I took the other evening. So I will try and post this one as well tomorrow.
Here is the link for Fen Edge Textiles in case you are interested-
http://www.fenedgetextiles.co.uk/

Textiles in Focus

Just thought I would post this link for the Textiles in Focus event that is happening in February at Cottenham. The website went live today. I shall be there on the Saturday spending money with the traders and enjoying the exhibitions.
http://www.textilesinfocus.com/