News / Life
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Apr 12, 2013
What a difference a day makes…
Read more →Well this is embarrassing. Ten days since my last post. Pfft. First of all lets deal with this here silk ribcage, which will go into the Midsummer Collection and which I completed on Wednesday. Then I gots some explaining to do. I filled in the rest of the shape with my fine fine machine weight silk, chose a couple of other warmer shades for the spine and added some french knot spiny processes and (you probably can’t see this but) some subtle shading lines on the under edge of each rib. Then I spent some time outlining the ribs in...
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Apr 02, 2013
Ribcage Redux
Read more →So I realise I’ve not been keeping up my one-new-design-a-week typical blogging schedule this last 2 weeks ish. This is not only because of the wonderful and long longed for distractions of things like this picture – the honestly really real life beach covered in snow and topped with azure sky scene at the (almost) bottom of my street WHERE I NOW LIVE. Sigh. It’s also not only because of distractions like Ice Cream Sundaes (yes capitalised because they are Sundaes of God-like status in my house), a soothing balm-slash-reward enjoyed slightly too frequently since moving to the seaside (FYI...
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Feb 28, 2013
I’m back! I’m alive!
Read more →This is the street where I now live! Could it be any cuter?? I mean, PALMTREES!! Unfortunately my flat still looks like this: But ooo, look at the sunshine! Makes my old house look like a hole. Under a stone. At night. It’s so sunny! The cats settled in eventually too: Seriously though it has been a stressful time. To the MAX. I know it’s supposed to be and everything, and we weren’t just moving we were relocating, and I know this is totes the realisation of a dream I’ve had for more than 16 years BUT, I turned into...
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Jan 30, 2013
I have to tell you something…
Read more →Consider this post a preemptive strike; an anticipatory explanation if you like, as to why my Facebook updates and blog posts *may* become slightly sporadic, as my embroidery time is interrupted. I don’t really blog about my personal life, I’m just not that into documenting ME, but sometimes life and work become inextricably entangled and so exposition is necessary. And I also suspect it brings us closer, oh invisible readers of mine. Let me explain and begin at the beginning: Some of you may remember that back in November 2011 me and the mister (for these decisions can never take...
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Dec 21, 2012
Winter Solstice – Out with the old and in with the new.
Read more →As I look out of my window I see not the world descending into fire and brimstone, not do I see rogue planets crashing into us. Not even alien saviours or horsemen of the apocalypse. Just rain. The world has not literally ended. However, in my house on the winter solstice, I always like to remember what, in my book, this time of year is really all about. What our actual ancestors in this country did to mark this time of year (although midwinter rites are practiced all over the world in every country), and where many many Christmas traditions...
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Dec 14, 2012
My life’s work…
Read more →Well, not my whole life, but the last 2 year’s worth of embroidery work all in one place! I just added an archive page to my website which you can view here which is a pictorial list of all my embroidery work in chronological order, starting with the latest. Longtime readers of my blog may recognise this as a version of the Gallery page I used to have at my wordpress blog, which I have now deleted, to keep everything in one place. All the photos link to the blog post where I explain how I made the piece. It’s...
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Dec 06, 2012
Shopping, Silk and Disastrous Accidents
Read more →I realise I’m late to the party on this one as the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate was last month, but it’s just been swans swans swans, slip, fall, break wrist, feel like crap. Yep that’s right. I slipped on some invisible ice on Monday and cracked my radial styloid dontcha know. Kind of the most annoying thing an embroiderer/massage therapist could do. Except no small mercy it was my left wrist not my right and now I have my spiffy purple cast on (and there it will stay for SIX WEEKS), my fingers still have full movement so...
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Nov 28, 2012
VIP Commission: I have invented Embroiderers Yoga.
Read more →Well. This is the MOST intense amount of embroidery I’ve ever taken on and it’s the very tight deadline to get it to my finishers (as in, professional stretching and framing rather than anyone finishing my embroidery, obv) that’s the real challenge. Originally it was going to be the 12th, then it became the 3rd. Sigh. So it requires some serious hours at the coalface. I’ve written before about all the different stages it takes to complete an embroidery to professional standards, and you have seen the preparation that goes into the canvas before needle even meets thread. But I...
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Nov 02, 2012
Halloween at Mother Eagle Towers
Read more →Hope you had a great Halloween! Can’t believe it’s over already! Credit to my mister for his pumpkin-pimpin’ super skillz. You can see more pics on my Facebook page.
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Oct 31, 2012
Warning: This Cake May Give You Nightmares.
Read more →Inspired by our trip last week to Highgate Cemetary, and as part of our usual annual festivities, we decided instead of boring old cupcakes, I’d make a whole cake this year. I did have a flash of inspiration watching the Great British Bake Off to make a Haunted Gingerbread House, but decided against something quite so ambitious as a first attempt, uninitiated as we are in the art of gingerbread architecture. Alway up for a challenge and hungry to show off (there I said it, it’s sad but true – we’re all about the Facebook thumbs up) we decided to...