A Present of Family Significance and a new approach.

Here I am again and as promised here is the present that has been received by my very dear cousin in the North of England; this is where most of my family live. It was my mother who moved to the south when she married my Dad, he was very much a Londoner born and bred.

However the significance of this present as I mentioned above is that this represents the home my mother grew up in. Yes a proper Romany bow topped Wagon. My Grand dad was a true Romany you see. I don't mean new age travellers. We are talking about the early part of the last century. My Grandparents were born in the late 1800's Some people would feel ashamed of admitting these kind of roots. I am very proud of my heritage. My mother came through some very tough times, and survived two world wars and even worse the great depression. She taught me how to be a survivor and how to make do and mend. She taught me a lot of things that many today would be grateful to know. So yes, I am proud of being half Romany. Even though I grew up in a house that my mother fought hard to buy for herself. I will never forget my roots.

My cousin said she is so pleased with this, she has it on her wall amongst all the family photos, isn't that wonderful. The front of it sort of represents the idea of looking out from a wagon on to the view of a wagon itself. It took me many hours to make this, it is made from my own hand dyed and hand made felt and all of it is hand embroidered with a lot of hand painted variegated silk.

As usual click on the pictures for a closer view.

This next piece is a new approach for me. This is what I recognise as mixed media; for me anyway. First I made a clay circle, quite small. I made a series of small holes equally spaced around the edge; these can't be seen as the embroidery covers these well. The idea was to create a frame for this pendent so that it would hang nicely. The embroidery is a free hand design/stitch doodle; this is what I might call them in future. I feel that working with very fine silk in this manner is very pleasing. I am planning to make a series of these pendents in different colours; and maybe shapes too. who knows. Well that's it for now folks. Be back soon. Cheers and thanks for dropping by. Tricia x

Mandalas and Zendalas with stitch

Hi all, Well I said i would be back and a little sooner than usual too. Even though I have not been well, work on a small scale has been happening when I have felt well enough.

Mandalas

Remember this, well it is well and truly finished. I have decided not to add eyes to the fish, as I want to keep the abstract nature of the design. This is my own design based around the idea of the lotus flower/water lily. Being a Pisces it does have meaning for me; at least.

click on this and all the images below to get a close up

Zendalas

Now for the Zendalas, the first one I wasn't completely satisfied, I enjoyed the exploration but felt that either the back ground was too busy or the thread was a bit heavy; this meant that I tried to cram too much into the small space. by the way these are about the size of a coaster.

This next one I started to get the feel of what was possible I didn't like the design much but I have to believe that this is because it is not really a conscious design but a subconscious one. After all I am in effect taking my thread for a walk.

Then, I know I did look briefly at one of the pen doodles that I had made here, if you remember;

but I simplified it to some extent so it was still a subconscious doodle that I

turned into a design.

I do believe I had already learned the essentials of working in this way. Ok for some the work might still be too tight but perhaps that is just me. I am learning to free up my ideas around stitch. I am trying to acheive a series of samples with out worrying where the stitches go.

I am experimenting with the two things I love the most well three probably line, shape and colour which really translates into pattern. I think that is enough to be working with all at the same time.

Below is the one I really liked because I just filled in areas as I went along and literally didn't know where the original line was going to take me. I still found myself trying to have some control. I worked in the chain stitch first which you can see is more predominant and as I went along I decided almost instinctively to use the variegated thread to decide when i was going to change direction. A funny thing to do but it worked a little for me.

You see I have recently bought a job lot of very fine variegated threads and it will allow me to practice my passion to my hearts content until I have refined my techniques and then for special pieces i shall use my favourite variegated silk. I do still have some planning in all of this and then of course what will they become? Ah we'll have to wait and see.

So what do you all think. Do you love them or do you hate them. I know, I am a 60/70's girl and it shows. I can see the paisley creeping in at some point, lol.

I've got some more work that I've posted as a present but until it is received, I will not show it yet. Be back soon I hope. Thanks for dropping by. Cheers Tricia x

Creativity comes in many forms

Hi all,

I do have quite a lot of work that I am finishing but haven't photographed it yet.

However, I thought as I finally have mastered the art of downloading videos on here allbeit on the video bar ( I would have preferred to have had it in this post) I would like to share with you the video that my daughter took at my Grand daughter's big, big competition 2 years ago. Rebekah was only 11 years old at the time when she won her bronze medal for her country performing in an international competition in Glasgow competiting with global gymnasts including Russia.

She was the youngest ever to acheive a medal at this age. The only thing I would say is that it was a pity that the judges heads were in the way and that they had the best seats! lol. Still my daughter did get most of the best bits.

Now Acro gymnastics is short for Acrobatic Gymnastics. this is without a safety net, I might add. You can view the video in the video bar, just ignore the snooker, it's the first one on the bar and my Grand daughter is the smallest of the pair.

This photo here shows more of what she is capable of, Rebekah is the one in mid air and her partner is waiting to catch her; Thank goodness she always does! Touch wood!!!! It takes enormous trust to leap off of someones shoulders like this and do a backwards somersault. Still they do say that some children have no fear and as a toddler I can confirm that the back of my sofa was good practice for her future career. She now has a diploma in Gymnastics as well as the medal, not bad at that age don't you think? Well, I won't bore you anymore but do watch the video I know I am biased but I do think she is just so clever. Well as I say creativity comes in many forms and no one can tell me she hasn't mastered her art. Back soon Keep warm (if you are in the UK) Cheers Tricia