Trying out blackwork embroidery

So when I was doing my quilt there was a bit of embroidery involved, which I don't really have much experience in but I really enjoyed it and I've seen a lot of super inspiring work from embroidery artists on the internet.

I mean, how stunning is this work by Chloe Giordano. 

James picked up on this and he got me this book for Christmas. There are a load of great projects but one style that I really liked was the the blackwork, very stylised, geometric patterns usually done with black thread on white linen. 

 The book had a load of different patterns and stitches, and as I didn't have a project in mind but did want to get stuck in I decided to do a sampler-sort-of-thing to test the different patterns. 

I sewed a basic grid pattern onto some white aida fabric - 6 squares by 4 squares - and tried a different stitch in each square. 





I love this sampler - I sort of want to frame it! Blackwork is so tidy and orderly. I really want to figure out a way to use this in another project - I feel like maybe something architectural or abstract? I'm working on it. 

Catching up on Christmas crafts

It's Easter Sunday and after my my last mammoth post on finishing my quilt I figured I needed to catch up on some of the other stuff I have done since. 

It feels a bit untimely but oh well. 

This past Christmas was the first one that James and I spent on our own. Aside from the initial panic of having to do a Christmas dinner, which turned out awesome in the end, it was really great to have total freedom to do what we wanted when we wanted. 

We got up unpleasantly early to get our lamb shoulder in the slow cooker. 

We more or less followed this recipe - I stuck the shoulder with anchovies, garlic and rosemary and it turned out really great, the gravy was especially good. 

We rewarded ourselves for our early start with some bucks fizz with freshly squeezed orange juice and champagne. 

Check out our vintage juicer - I love it. 









This was our Christmas tree - bigger again than last year but due to all the felt ornaments I made last year it was pretty full. 

It did need some bigger ornaments though so I took some inspiration from a xmas decoration given to me by a friend a few years ago. 


These hearts were quick, easy and I really liked how they turned out, they looked great on the tree too. 

I cut out 2 heart shapes from some felt, used a basic backstitch to embroider a snowflake in a contrasting colour with embroidery floss on one of the hearts, used another colour for a blanket stitch to sew the hearts together, leaving a small hole to stuff the ornament so its a little plump, and then blanket stitched the hole closed.

I finished then up with some floss as a hanging loop adding a few sequins for decoration. I'll be making more of these for sure. 

 

Peacock papercut - prints and cards now in shop...

This post has been a long time coming... and another thing that was on my fast-depleting list of things to do for the bank holiday...

A while ago I posted here and here about a papercut I was doing featuring a white peacock. 





I loved how this turned out, especially as it's a departure from the traditional black-on-white approach. 

I decided to have the image reproduced on greeting cards and art prints and I think they turned out great!





The cards are A6 and come with a brown craft envelope and cellophane sleeve:

They are blank on the inside and have a nice weight to them and matte finish which works really well with the design. 

I've already sent a few to friends and family and had a great response so I'm really happy with these.



Next up were the art prints. I had these done as giclee prints on hahnemuhle photo rag paper, which I have used for printing my art before. I think the quality of the print and paper are just lovely. 

I had these done in A5 and A4 and although I love both, the A4 is really striking and looks amazing with the fine detail of the image. 

I'm glad to finally get these out and into the shop.  

Link to the cards is here and the prints, A5 is here and A4, here. 

Thanks for looking!

White peacock papercutting

It's been a while since my last post but I have been getting stuck into the new supplies and new projects...I haven't *quite* finished the Hamsa papercut, so more to follow on that soon.

I have gone back so some of my roots though in one of my recent projects. When I started papercutting, years ago, my main source of inspiration was the East African art movement, Tinga Tinga and peacocks were one of my preferred subjects. I haven't done any in a while and in this I wanted to do a very traditional papercutting piece, in white. 


I started out with a sketch in my sketchbook to plan it out. This was then transferred to white cartridge paper and then I started the cutting process. After a lot of the maps and more graphic work I have done recently this is one of the more organic and detailed pieces I have done in a while..which was a fun challenge.

This next bit was fun. I wanted to test out different options for the background for the final papercut - I didn't even want to wait until I was done with the cutting. 

I was torn about the choices. My boyfriend was really keen on the first one, the raspberry. Whereas I was keen on the one below, the dark purple, which I thought showed up the design better with contrast... 
It was a tough choice, and annoyingly, the wretched winter gloom hasn't done the pictures any favours - what would you vote for?  

Final choice to follow...I have further plans for the finished piece so stay tuned. In the meantime, here is the final, unmounted piece:

I'm pretty happy with the final result. 

When I told my Mum I was doing a white peacock she reminded me of an albino peacock we met on a family trip in the 1980's to Mt Kenya Safari Club. Apparently our family turned up with me, aged 3 or something only to find out that there was no kids allowed! 

We were hours away from home in Nairobi and my parents made a good enough case that I was such a well behaved child that no one would complain - which worked. 

I remember pictures of me and this white peacock that my parents took in the grounds of the hotel. 

It's nice to think that maybe that was a subconscious inspiration for this piece (Hi Mum!)