Ideas.

After our trip to Manchester last week I was quite excited by an idea I had to use the new modern buildings such as this one to stitch shapes into felt.
By the time I'd added different colours to the backgrounds it was all a bit lumpy for stitching which is a shame becasue I love the 'Jetsons' look of some of them. If you know Manchester you might understand.
So I went back to my other project. Did I say I've decided to make lots of these and join them somehow into a bigger piece.
It will be predominantly greeny -blue.
I photographed this late afternoon ..isn't it wonderful to have a bit of slanting sunlight?


This bit below is not for the main piece. I think I might make it into a brooch.
I'm footling about on these and really I should be making more of my other brooches for shops.


So anyway...while I was stitching I had what I initially thought was a bright idea for a little blog game about ......


I even made an extra page on my blog for it.
This is what I was thinking about...we make our blog posts and spell check and get rid of untidiness and then click publish.
We only see each others' beautifully edited font of choice but wouldn't it be nice to use our own handwriting?

I thought it might be fun to have one day next week where everyone who wants to will do a complete post about handwriting, in handwriting.


Of course you'd have to upload it as a picture either scanned or macro shot and make sure its big enough to read.
I thought if you want to take part, you could leave a comment here with a link to your blog and I would make a new page on my blog with a complete list of links.
But then I wondered if it might be viewed with caution ..maybe scope for someone to forge your writing..of course you won't add your signature, that would be foolish.

Crossings out and spelling mistakes would be allowed.
Let me know what you think.
If we get more than 20 willing we'll do it.

Back to the drawing board.

These are pictures of some of the 'drawing' I have been doing with my sewing machine on the pre-felts I made in the post before last.



I started with an illuminated 'a', its about the size of the palm of my hand.

Then I went on to do three more blue-green oval/leaf/almost fishy shapes.

When I put them together they make me think I'd like to do a full hanging composed of these.

But I can't stick to those colours forever, and had a go at at a couple of the pastel felt shapes I prepared.
There's a fishy one..

and there's not-a-fishy one

but when I put them next to each other they both looked a bit 'marine'.

In other areas I have failed again quite miserably. Remember this?
Well I've done it again.
The other night as I was nodding off to sleep I had a vague recollection that someone had given me some bulbs at Christmas; that, yes I had planted them and put them in a cold dark place, but rather like the squirrel who lost his nuts..I couldn't remember where, or who.
I searched the surrounding areas of possibility and finally remembered the coal shed.
Too late.

And I've just burnt the felt group cake for tomorrow.
'Sigh' I wish I was a bit more like the Delicious Miss Dahl.
But I'd have to say 'fyeed' and cyikking' and really...I.. can't.


Can't make another cake because we are having a meal for my youngest son's 25th Birthday.
I can't believe it.

..and now for something COMPLETELY different.

On a cold and wet Easter Saturday we set off over the moors to the little industrial town of Bacup, where, on the main road out the other side of town, nowhere in particular, we found what we were looking for.
A small band of rather unathletic looking men in strange costumes, in two rows along the road, bending forward with their hands cupped behond their ears.
A doleful queue of musicians walked between them playing their silver instruments , a repetitive uncomplicated tune and the dancing began.

We, with a handful of other followers walked behind them . Cars continued to fly up and down the road and the serious dancers polka-ed along the road clicking the wooden discs on their waists, wrists and knees in a ritual that happens only every Easter Saturday, and only in this town.
After a carefully choreographed few miles, where the first lots of dancers overtook the band, then the band overtook them and the second team followed up, we came to a house with a bit of spare land in front. The big black bag with the garlands was passed round and the second dance, to a different and slightly jollier tune, began.
By this time there were a couple of dozen followers and now a film camera crew or two, and the safety stewards had their work cut out keeping everyone tucked in off the road.

The strange procession moved on , stopping here and there to do the full dance.
Down cobbled streets of terraced houses and through a modern housing estate.
All the time, the band kept to their slow and steady striding pace and the 'Nutters' Danced on.
By the time we got to the fire station there was a large crowd of followers.
They danced right into the centre of town and in the pub, in the square, in the Social club and on.
The Britannia Coconut Dancers.
Locally known as the Bacup Nutters.
I first came to watch this in 1975. It was snowing then, but apart from that..it was exactly the same . (Oh I was thin then so not quite)

We came again around 1990 when our boys were young.
And if you look at you tube you will see the videos from all the other years are exactly the same as the one I was trying to upload but failed.
This is the one that tells the whole repetitive, solemn, mesmerising story of the day.








These are not Morris Men, nor are they 'Folkies' but men who have done it for years. (I overheard there was one in his 35th year)
There are no explanations. Even they don't know why they do it but they do it and everyone in Bacup knows they do it and is proud of it.
The black faces have no racial connotations but are a crude and readily available disguise.
This is tradition!
Makes me proud to be British!
(I think)

Changing my spots.

If you've been here before you will know that I am very fond of blue and green perhaps with a bit of orange, and in the last post I was trying to capture the colours of lichen and stone so murky greys were on the cards.

My second feltmaking session was to prepare patterns as 'randomly' as I could for future embroideries so I started with my favourite colours. Prefelts cut up and refelted onto a backgound.

Can you see the letter 'a' there on one of them? Perhaps this will become an 'illuminated' initial.


Then I got distracted.

My 'For the Girls' Cornishware mugs bore a striking resemblance to the colours in my big bag of new wool tops.
So a major production of plain felts in these colours just had to be made for my new brooches. Of course it all began with blues and greens again
and then I moved onto the pinks and lilacs .
I was saying in my last post how difficult it is to plan what you are going to want in your felt palette. It has to be made before you need it so its as well to have lotsof shades of felt and pre felts. So I now have my selection of new spring colours.
These little old plates that belonged to my Mother in Law and the freesias and tulips I bought for myself make up my 'Mood Board'.
I cut up some of the prefelts and re assembled and re felted them


so I've got some pastel patterns to stitch into later.

Although I love these sherbert-dolly mixture-jelly bean- blancmange clear colours, I'm kicking myself for not making some textured pieces with other fibres added, because I can't help but see them as shop bought 'craft' felt, which has its place, but to me is as bland as white wonderloaf.
I prefer my felt to be the 'rustic wholemeal'
Its drying and my legs are aching from standing up all day.

I can't wait to get stitching .


But I had to clean the house today.
You wouldn't recognise it.
We are having a visitor or three.
Shopping tomorrow, and decorating the Church after the Good Friday service so I can go to Bacup on Saturday Morning to see something very bizarre. It only happens on Easter Saturday. Its a few years since I was there.

Then back for the Saturday evening Easter Vigil, and cooking a big family lunch on Sunday.

Have a Happy and Peaceful Easter.

The Lighter Side

(This post was going to be a major rant but as its a craft blog I decided to post the rant on My Other Blog to get it out of my system. My other blog started life as a practice blog but has gradually developed a life of its own if you're interested. I shall try to confine my non-textile related posts to that other side. )

The next picture is vaguely related to the rant as I took it on the walk I mention.
My little point and shoot Canon Ixus amazes me at times.
I love the colours in this lichen.



This afternoon I have been making felt. It has been suggested that I make pieces of felt to sell on ETSY. What do you think? What would anyone be prepared to pay? Of course, there would be pinks and reds and patterns, but for today it was shades of grey and though I say it myself they just got better and better.



I have, lately been experiencing a freezing up when confronted with colours and materials and trying to plan things. It was the same before I started today.
I want to make a piece of work reflecting the feelings I had in Ireland and am afraid of failing.
So far this felt is a good start but I am still a bit fearful of disappointment in my own efforts.
This one has silk fibres in it.


I am much more at ease when confronted with some marks already made on felt.
I can do 'free style' embroidery.
I thought I'd try some brooches more like the abstracts in the post before last.


Even these require a certain amount of mark making prior to stitching.


When I did the odd shapes in the last post I used felt with random patterns on it. Thye were a good guide and took me to places I hadn't planned.



Planning those 'random' patterns is another story.



When I came home on Sunday I found this dried hydrangea blowing around in the garden.
I was pleased how nice it looked in this green bottle, also found some time ago in my garden.


Hope you like it too.

Me again

She says she's got nothing to blog about so I'm just dictating a few bits of news.
Well, I've hardly seen her since the last post.
She's been up and down to the post office with those peculiar things she showed .
Only one left now and she won't let me sit on it.
She's been messing about with sparkly fibres for a day teaching, but they both went out for her friends 60th the night before that.
Then she actually managed to get up before I got hungry on Tuesday morning and went off to teach with umpteen bags of lovely comfy looking woolly stuff.
When she came home she didn't even go to sleep like she last time..but got changed and went out with him and his laptop for him to give a talk.

She's spent ages on this thing this week saying she's 'catching up with Google reader, over 700 things'. I say she should reply and leave some more comments but she just buries her head in her hands and says'too many too many'.

She's running around like I would be if I got the cream (Huh..fat chance) telling every one she's the Wingham Wool Featured artist of the month.

She was jumping up and down on Saturday when she got a note to say she was mentioned...well...her blog was mentioned..or will be..in Maggie Greys article in Workbox .

Well this'll put paid to that when they realise she has to get the cat to write it.


She's going to be busy listing some funny shapes on etsy now.

Not Celtic

So I've been to Ireland, been surrounded by soft grey stones and silver sea, so you'd think , wouldn't you , that my work might reflect that?
I sat down at my sewing machine with a bit of patterned felt which I'd used as a sample piece in a class before I went.
I just wanted to limber up, to exercise my stitch muscle.
But it turned into a full blown routine.
Number one:

Number two:


Getting larger -Number three:

and finally: Number four:


Don't ask me....

I have no idea...

have you?

Could you please enlighten me?

I don't know what to do about them.

But they made me smile.

At about 6 inches long, too big for brooches (but you may think differently)too small for wall hangings.
But such fun.


(Well whatever they are number1 and 4 are sold !)