Machine Stitching

This week we had the next session of Textile Explorations.  You may remember that at the last session I used cold water paste to stick lots of fabric leftovers together.

In this session I cut the piece in half - mostly because the size it was made it awkward to use with the sewing machine!

On the left half I added foil.

On the other half I machined all over it with a preset stitch on my machine.

 

 

I cut the foiled piece into four pieces and put net over two of them and then machine stitched them.

I haven't decided what to do with these two pieces.

 

 

I cut two 10cm squares  from the right hand half after I'd machined it.

I didn't have enough of this piece to make 4 squares because of where I had chosen to cut out the above squares.  I decided to use the left over machined piece with some other leftover bits from the last session to make a long narrow piece which may become a scroll book.  The pieces are currently held in place by a small amount of Mistyfuse whilst I decide how I'm going to stitch it all together.

How would you stitch it?

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

A new adventure

Last week I was invited to show my work to a lovely group of ladies who make up the textile group Eclectica.  I have seen the group's work at various exhibitions over the last few years.  I thought that maybe now was the right time to apply to join them.

I was encouraged to take lots of work to show them.  I took them at their word and filled a suitcase.

The two display tables soon morphed into four!  I put my work together in groups.  This table had a variety of work that has no overall theme.

Here are my canal inspired textile pieces and sketchbooks.

Off now to another country!  And my work and sketchbooks based on Florida.

And no sharing of my work would be complete without Venice!

As I prepared to take all this work to the presentation, I realised that whatever the outcome it had been a useful exercise.  I have never put everything together like this before.   The sketchbooks usually live on shelves downstairs whilst the textile pieces are either piled on the spare bed or in bags for life in the same bedroom.

I found that after I stopped shaking that I enjoyed talking about my interests and my textile and mixed media work.

The day before I had been talking with a friend about how to be proud of your work without being prideful.  She sent me a link to a blog post by Ken Reid.

I like what Ken says: When you accomplish something and feel really good about it, that isn’t pride. It’s delight. 

Being proud of, or prideful about, your work means that you need everyone to know that you did it. Your delight is not in the work itself but in the recognition from others that you hope your work will bring. 

To have delight in your work is simply to enjoy it and be amazed that it came from your hands, or mind, or words, or what have you.

So whilst I am putting this blog post about my work out there, it's because I have found a delight in what I have done.  And yes I am amazed that I did it, especially the sketchbooks.

I'm also delighted to say that I have been invited to join Eclectica.

I'm excited to be starting a new journey with this group and will let you know how I am faring as the year goes on.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Planner mania

I feel that using this planner is like a mix of the journal I was keeping last year and the scrapbooking I did years ago.  I am finding it really enjoyable although somewhat time consuming.  But being creative is much better than scrolling Facebook and Instagram.

I showed you the setting up of my second planner in this post.  I am really using it as a journal rather than a planner.  And my diary/journal/planner featured in this post.

Today I am featuring my main planner/journal.

In last year's journal I put a photo in almost every week.  In this journal I decided I would use the last page of the month (which is supposed to be a Currently page for February), as a photo memory page for the month.

Here's the calendar pages for February.

This week's pages

And next week's pages in production.

I'm still watching lots of YouTube videos especially Planning With Bumble (MaryEllen) and Scrappy Wife (Elisa).

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice