Blooms and blossoms

Workshop today with Miriam Gillam a beautiful lady who works with fabric and stitch. She interprets her inspiration with machine and hand embroidery, nature inspired pieces including corsets and 3D sculptural objects. The focus of the workshop was to develop ways to turn an image into a piece of work. We did word storming, mind mapping, sketching or drawing and colour matching. We made mood boards inspired by the 'blooms' of choice some from images in the Georgia O'Keefe, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington-Smith Making Modernism exhibition at QGA. We planned varieties of ways the marks could be interpreted in stitch for our individual images. Then to end on a peaceful note we use tissue paper to make a collage of the image.

Traveller

Getting away from Margaret Olley, I found this little traveller made when I was sampling for Little Red . Added some extra bits as I ponder her inclusion in something else or to leave it as is. She is slowly going, seeking, moving on. She knows the value of not being trapped by possessions. The heavy weight of them as they shudder and fill the air in a home with their energy. Too much drags you down especially if the material possessions do not bring joy or are useful....or so the saying goes .

Houses on the Tweed

I have been working on this little piece with Margaret Olley in mind. The houses depict the houses along the Tweed River where Margaret lived as a child. Scraps and joined with a raw edge appliqué . Today I went to the Embroiderers Guild Mothers Day Fair and purchased some beautiful vintage lace.  Several tiny bits of lace were perfect to add to this piece in special small detail.

'Thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirit of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes'
e.e. cummings

Solar dying

I have been inspired to try solar dying with flowers. Some coreopsis in one bottle with a circle of silk to make a moon or a sun. The other jar contained dried black beans . In this jar I put a piece of broderie anglaise and a scrap of silk. This is the black bean result a beautiful purpley bluey pink.