Still here, still at it.

Thanks to all of you well wishers following my previous post:) We are all doing fine here. Just growing tired of the relentless cold and damp, and hoping that Summer starts soon!

It's still raining.
I'm still stitching this...


















I've sheared of the excess fabric around the edge of this central panel, ready for the next part of the process.

I'm aiming to have this piece finished by the end of next weekend (although, originally the plan was to try to get it done by the end of last month.)

HA! Lesson #1: Never underestimate the amount of work involved in stitching something like this by hand!

I would carry on working on it tomorrow, but I've just realized that I left my iron at the house in town!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Strange!

Strange things happen!

For example, all of a sudden I find myself fired up by things that would never have occurred to me previously, - right now it's vintage lace - It usually starts as a glimmer of an idea, something very simple, usually something visual that catches my attention, and I start googling around that initial idea for further images to feed from, and.. POW!... I find myself in a whole new realm, considering new possibilities.

Does that happen to you too?

Currently, Nilo and I are reading C.S Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" from the Narnia series. It just struck me that he had such a good point, about how we come to enter magical "places" (Narnia) by first entering the "everyday" (a wardrobe).

It's interesting, when you think about how much time so many of us - we who blog on cloth and other expressions of creativity - spend appreciating, reflecting upon, and even incorporating into our creativeness, those humble, everyday objects and occurances. And I continue to be blown away by all those who can work magic from it.

From the blog of Pia Jane Bijerk, entitled Enhance The Everyday - a blog that I follow whenever I have the time - I came across this link, introducing the work of Hannah Bertram. WOW! There are obvious references to historical patterns. I think my favorite pieces are those which, to me, have the appearance of vintage lace, and which feature in the series Now they are gone, I hold them. And for somereason these intricate installations also made me think of the shadows cast by plants, particularly at night, and how those are like lace, with their their forms and transparency. Hmmm... hold that thought (since I have no time to play with it at the moment!)

Another strange thing, I want you to meet my new friend. A very special little cat that I spotted running out of the garden of the house we rent in town last weekend. At first, I thought I was imagining it... but no, it's true, he has spots! I have no idea what he is, perhaps a domestic cat crossed with a Marguay? Whatever he is, and wherever he comes from, he sure is adorable! Have you ever seen anything like it?





















We're experiencing a cold front (if you can imagine that!) it rained and rained and the river in the village burst it's banks. This is how the day looked from the balcony of my house...



















The power went out for most of the day, which provided me with the shove I needed to get to work on another billion stitches on my latest piece (which, let's face it, is going to take me FOREVER to finish!)


















This is as far as I've got. Forgive the poor image, taken with the camera on my phone!

Small - and rather over ambitious - beginnings

Well, I'm back at the farm again for the weekend after a very crazy week at work. More tree planting and a day of driving - ok, of being driven - across the southern part of the country looking at plant nurseries, which is always interesting. I'm pleased to say that this morning my pattern drawings showed up. So, little by little, I am edging my way back into it all.

Today I started out just fiddling with white on white, and white on neutral. That's not a new idea, more like a reoccuring interest, and I will definately be coming back it at some point. This is what I came up with:























It's not quite there yet, but I rather like it. I'm going to let the idea rest with me for a while, and then see where it takes me.

But back to those patterns... I have a very good friend who's birthday is coming up at the end of October, and I've been wondering what to give him, and decided that I would stitch something for him. Because, certainly, nobody else is going to gift him with an embroidery piece! A few months ago he took over a new office space, (see image below). Black, white and green being his company logo colors.























And do you notice that white sofa on the right side of the image? Well, I decided to make a cushion cover to go on it. This is the beginning of it (I don't think he's ever read this blog)...






















In stark contrast to where my day started out, the design will be embroidered in white and green on a black background. And after 500 hours of running chain stitch with a single strand of embroidery cotton (I'm such a sucker for punishment!) this is how it's looking...


















And closer up, it looks like this...


















And I can't tell yet whether I'm happy with it or not. Think it could go either way. I think one of the reasons that I'm finding it hard to judge is because these are not colors I would ordinarily choose to work with. What d'ya think?

Months back, I had my mother-in-law - the amazing Mercedes Fernandez - work on the center panel for something (still haven't decided what), using the same base pattern, but in red, green and blue on a black background. This is how it finished up...























More like my colors!

What's interesting is to take this pattern, which was originally born out of an idea for something quite traditional and folksy, and see how, by just changing the color combination, it has a completely different feel. I've no idea if I'll be able to put in the hours to finish this new piece, given that I have a (more than!) full time job now. But I'll keep you posted.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Leafing into Spring: Part I

I have to start by saying a big thank you to my friends Arlee Barr and Jude Hill for plugging my blogs and my new adventure over at A Common Thread . Also to everyone who has already joined me there. Welcome! And don't forget to tell all of your friends :}

And... sheeeeeeeeeeee's off! A new idea. But this is all you're getting right now, because I have to get on with it... a sneak peak of what's on the work table today. I am busy busy here!



















Leafing Into Spring

Before I go... remember folks... there's very little that a serving spoon of Nutella can't fix! ;}



















Nilo. That's one happy child!

Being koi

Following on from this...

The Gavilana dyed cloth is in off of the line and ironed on a very hot setting.















First try at capturing the color results: The camera is reading off of the wood of my work table so the cloth is looking more muted in this shot than it actually is in real life.



















Second try to capture color results: I placed all of the cloth in a stack on a piece of white notebook paper to see if I could get the camera to read the color of the cloth on balance with the white of the paper. This image is more accurate. I'm going to have to come up with a good descriptive name for this dye, because the actual color rang is somewhere between tan, seaweed, moss, and goldenrod.

SHHHhhhh....Don't tell anyone, but I quite like it now ;]















Trying to stitch a Japenese koi fish into the shashiko-style pond. This is what I've managed after three earlier attempts. Still misssing fins and tail and watery swirls. Now I have to make lunch. But after that I'm going to move onto something else!

Natural Dyes: Gavilana

Yesterday, I did a short post(!) on experimenting using the leaves of the native plant "Gavilana", Neurolaena lobata (Asteraceae), and I wasn't very pleased with the color while it was in the pot. I left the whole lot stewing over night with the intention of putting it out in the sun for a few days. But I decided I'd go ahead and rinse the cloths this morning. So now I can share my results with you.















What's on line this morning.















Cotton weave and cotton and hemp cloth















Synthetic and peachskin cotton mix (?) and unbleached cotton.















Silk weave. Tie-dyed.















Damask type cotton (from an thrifted pillow case slip) with shibori effects.















Unbleached cotton and damask type cotton (from an thrifted pillow case slip) with shibori effect.

Ok, so I admit it, you were right! It was successful. Mostly! But your golden yellows have a fair hint of sea algae-green to them. I would like to find a way to moderate that and bring up the bluer tones. But it definately works! So, given the ease with which this plant grows here, I'd say we're in business ;}

Last night I stitched some more on this.















A shashiko-syled pond patch, stitched with 2 strands of cream colored DCM thread, on upcycled denim. Part of my next bag-ular creation.

New... Summer/Autumn 2010

In the past 24 hours I've been stitching and thinking... tearing, and cutting... stitching and thinking... blah, blah, blah.

Now, you get to have a very early sneak preview of what I'm working on for the bainbridge & houseberg lines for Summer/Autumn 2010.

That's right, Summer/Autumn! Because I think they go better together. As do Winter/Spring.















You recognize this, right? The little leaf stamped cloth, but now embroidered. Same-color-on-same-color, I love that, as I've mentioned in previous posts.

So, this is the value of play. When I started playing, I wasn't planning that the soft pale cloth, of still no name, would be anything. I was just doodling with stitches, fabric paint and recycled cotton cloth. But you know how, something miraculous happens... a little shift... a faint glimmer.... and if you can capture that, it all falls into place, unforced. That's what happened! Of course... there are many hours of sweat and tears involved, before one reaches that moment. ;}



















So I took it all apart again. Lost that Wheatear stitched bit, that was becoming so problematic for me, (but don't worry, I haven't thrown it away, it always pays to stash stuff like that for a rainy day). Last night, I started working with this gorgeous scrap of chocolate and natural, printed linen, of which there is hardly any, and so I've been saving for "something special".



















I think this is it! ❥ A chikankari and dessert inspired piece! ❥ I'm being serious! You never know where inspiration can fall from.

I can't tell you how happy I'm feeling today!

I also want to share this because I enjoyed finding it and I think you will too. And, to give a warm welcome to the blogging community to a special lady called Tao, who is an amazing chef, and a neighbor of mine, here on the Osa Peninsula. Happy blogging Tao! :)

Indie-pendant #0004 - "N'goa"

Here's the fruit of today's effort. In the end I decided to finish up the accent piece for my latest Indie-pendant, this design is called N'goa



















I'm considering keeping this one for myself. It's a nice size (5.5 x 5.5cm) and it feels good when it's on.

Whilst visiting the Pre-columbian gold museum(!) the last time I was in San Jose, I found and fell in love with this...















... and decided that I would use the color combination myself. Simple inspiration!

You can some of my other Indie-pendant designs here.

Rough and (almost) ready

I've continued to work on the "catcher" cloth (bag) over christmas and am pleased... and a little surprised by... where that took me. The front panel is done, all hand stitched, and uses only reclaimed cloth. Now I just need to complete the body construction and add straps. I love that this piece has no straight lines and is so rough and ready.