Some stitching and some book marks.

 I have been progressing the conversation with the stitching of the brick wall. In small increments!

I took the test piece of linen and transferred the marks back here. I then gathered the threads I had selected and started doing some small split back stitching as outlines of the stones in the wall.

It was interesting that after doing these 6 stones I felt I knew enough to stop testing and begin stitching the length of linen. I determined from the test that the two main colours were going to be the darker grey and lighter brown; with only occasional use of the lighter grey and the darker, rustier brown. 

I think that will make for a coherent look and a little bit of interest here and there. Also the lighter grey pretty much disappears, and the darker rustier brown just dominates too much (plus there aren't many stones in the wall that are that colour).

As ever I just like gathering all the bits together and looking at them!

Packing up is underway - here are all the prepped reels and the linen ready for taking back to Australia.

As I was tidying up my art table in preparation for leaving, I came across a heap of scrap white paper and thought it might be perfect for some book marks. So off I went and cut it into strips and did a few whimsical flower bookmarks.

You can never have too many bookmarks!

Preparing to stitch

 I have begun my conversation with the piece of linen I am working on for my friend who died. 

One of our best ever conversations was sitting with our backs against the stone wall of the cottage, in the sunshine, blethering this way and that. So I am trying to reflect that conversation and I am really not sure  I'll ever be able to do it justice.

At the moment I am very much in the testing and trialling stage. It might take a while to figure out how to do this I think.

But I have begun.

The circular nature of women friends feels strong at the moment. Here at the cottage I have this set of embroidery threads tied onto their card with symbols for whichever pattern they were intended for. These are one of my best friends' mother's threads, and she gave them to me after her mum died - about 20 years ago, and I have used the intermittently. I was very happy that I could pick them up and maybe use some of them for this wee project.

I printed off some photos of the wall and checked if there were threads that might match. I found four and thought that was a good start.

I then set about trying to recreate the wall for stitching.  Because the fabric is so narrow I am not sure how well this will work. But off I go!

I transferred fairly accurate shapes of the stones and the pointing on the wall to my book; then onto a strip of tracing paper.

And then checked to see what it might look like on the linen.

Barry walked in and knew exactly what it was as the moment he saw it. I remain a tad hesitant.

I then used a removable marker to draw onto a test bit of fabric. And that's as far as I got.

The proof will be in the pudding once I start stitching I think.

There is no way I can fill all of the stones in with stitches unless I want this to take forever, so I will have to see if I can somehow 'sketch' them in, or slightly fill them, or indicatively fill them. We shall see!

In the meantime, before we had Sunday's beautiful blue sky, we had some seriously wicked weather. Sometimes even that weather is beautiful...

The quiet power of stitching

 I have begun a small project. It is in its infancy, and I have been focussed on doing things like finding cotton reels! Cutting up linen! Thinking about what on earth I am trying to do! Working out how many cotton reels and linen! Assessing how I could make it work! When would I need to do it by!

And in a way, that has all been fine. Since the death of our dear friend I have been unsettled, unmoored and unfocussed.

However, I know that making helps me. That it is soothing; that it is calming. Making helps my mind float in a focussed manner, and making with my hands lifts my mood.

Our time has been a bit scattered with trips south to help, and to attend funerals. Trips with visitors and more visitors to prepare for.  None of which have been conducive to embedding myself in something.

But I found some time on Thursday to sit with some stitching.

A friend here had gifted me this book and I have been reading it at Biblio mornings, soaking up the bits that matter and the things that resonate. And it reminded me I could just go sit and stitch.

And so I began working on a length of linen a friend had returned to me. Simple attachment of linen to linen.

 And simple stitches made with vintage wool naturally hand dyed by a friend of hers and over the next few days something began to emerge.

However, with some shortbread in the oven preparing for visitors as I type, I have completed the length of the linen and it feels so good. Not the accomplishment or the achievement, but the actual recovery from stress I feel. The recalibration and realignment that settled upon me. Physically I am better for having sat and stitched.

And here is another length of linen. I had shared the idea of the project with my friend who died and she had enthusiastically agreed to come play with me. That was not to be, so I am trying now to include her in the work somehow. 

This linen strip was soaked in the sea water from our beach (she was a wild swimmer and loved a dip in the sea) and then wrapped around a few rusty pieces we had here, trying to get the softest hints of marks.

It is a beginning. 

It is a return.

Tinkering is me

 I have come to accept, and even embrace, the notion that a lot of my creative time here is about tinkering. Or pottering. Or feutering as the Scots could say.

I used to worry that I was being flighty, unsettled, noncommittal or the like. Now I think I can celebrate that I find moments for creativity in most days, take them and make the most of them.

I am beginning an online course (which B purchased for me back in 2023); I am pondering the making of more Conversations with Women Friends work in a couple of directions. I have begun making more pebble forms to take back to Maleny and finish. I am cataloguing images for another piece of work. And so it goes.

I think I am re-framing towards "I am pushing work forward on several different fronts". Sounds impressive!

Pebble forms in the making...

I cut and soldered twelve small pebble forms.

Looking to solder them into stacked pebble earrings on my return to Maleny. I have to wait to get back to Maleny in order to put them through the rolling mill and flatten them, before soldering them together. No rolling mill here in the garden shed workshop!

They get quite discoloured with the soldering flame, so it was back to making some home made pickle to clean them. Each and every time I get delighted when it works!

Part of me is now wondering how things would go if I actually took six of the forms and tried to hammer them flat (rather than wait to roll them smooth through the mill).  I image that textured stacked pebbles might also look good? We shall see if the notion sticks.

In other tinkering I found myself searching for wooden cotton reels. I found a set on eBay and went to purchase them, only to learn that this seller was still an auction seller! It took me back twenty years I reckon where sometimes Barry and I would sit on our computers as the last seconds ticked down and tried to make the bids faster than whoever else wanted the thing we wanted. And we never ever won.

I thought to myself I am not doing that again. I made a reasonable bid and left it. Then After the auction closed I remembered to go and have look and lo and behold I had won. I was chuffed!

I received 20 reels on Saturday. Here are 11 of them.

Their arrival was a real cause for celebration as the delivery company that was being used can be somewhat hmmmm problematic up here? They have been know to wait up to 6 weeks until they have a big enough load to head out west and I worried I may never see them...

These 11 are all unique. All different and I was just so excited to see that. And perfect for what I am hoping to do! The other 9 have double sod these so I have separated them out and will se how I go.

And then there was foraging - we went on a bramble ramble...

And for some reason or another I have got this itch to bake focaccia (never have I baked focaccia) and I simply had to scratch it. Done. But this has only made me want to bake more and I now have three more recipes to try.

We had a stare out with these sheep on an afternoon walk.

And today is a washing day - and as they say a good drying day!

I Hit a Wall on show

On Friday B and I headed off to the big smoke (Brisbane) on the train (for 50c each way!) to see an exhibition called Dearly Departed, at the State Library of Queensland.  The Library has put together an exhibition around death, dying, loss and grief and has sources lot son fascinating items from heir collection; the original layout maps of cemeteries, stonemasons tools, journals of nurses and doctors; and all many of things related to how we mark death and the grieving process.

I was thrilled to learn that my artist' book I Hit a Wall  had been selected to go on show alongside so many other precious items.

I have written about its progress before (plenty of link backs in that previous link) but here are the words that accompany it in the collection (but which are not display in the exhibition):

I hit a wall 
2024

After the year that was 2020 I regretted not creating any work that spoke of, or to, the pandemic.
In 2021 I thought I would pay attention and just note down key events.
My Dad had gifted me a number of my mother’s handkerchiefs and I thought to embroider a journal of sorts onto them.
I began by writing down events in my own handwriting, transferring them onto a hankie, and then hand embroidering my handwriting.
I had no idea what 2021 would hold and that in fact, it would be busier than 2020 had been.

Each month I would capture events, and start stitching.
It took all my creative time to try and keep up with policy shifts; quarantine; border closures; contact tracing; gatherings; social distancing; access to vaccines; short sharp lockdowns…
It was exhausting.
I persisted.  
But then.

There was too much. I was too tired of it all.  I felt numb and overwhelmed. I felt weary.
I transferred the month of August onto the hankie but couldn’t start stitching. So much happened in that month that I had to do the criss-cross writing so often seen in old correspondence where the written lines went in two directions. I felt it would never end.
And I submitted to a sense of overwhelmedness and simply stopped.  

I hit a wall.

Leaving this artists’ book partially completed represents us all at the tail end of that year. I had thought I might pick it up and complete it, but I haven’t been able to.  Like everybody I probably just want to park those times, not re-visit them in detail.

Reading the handkerchief pages of this book, I am amazed to recall the daily drama we dealt with.

But I hit a wall and have now simply tacked the pages together and it is complete just as it is…

31cm(h) x 31cm(w) x 1cm(d) closed; 31cm(h) x 62cm(w) x 1cm(d) open.

Cotton handkerchiefs and embroidery thread, Pilot Frixion pen

There were different themes across the exhibition, and my work was part of the Pandemics, epidemics and quarantine.

There is an interesting virtual tour of the exhibition for those who can't get to Brisbane, and here is a screen shot of my work on display.

Back to the book itself, August was the month that defeated me - so much happened and I felt overwhelmed by the thought of trying to capture it all, let alone sew it all.

And by October, I had nothing.

This remains a book that I am proud of, and that has a special place in my heart and in my mind. They were such difficult times, and with this book, we remember them.

Next steps for a book & pebbles!

 I am pushing a couple of things forward at the same time - the wee book for Narratives, and the second Book of Silences. Both are in fact pretty big projects; but the deadlines for both are only a few weeks away for me (given we have plans to return to Scotland. I say plans, because as we have all observed, the planet is a risky place right now).

So the stitching is happening on the pages of the Nest book. I am varying the placement and length of lines of stitching, but have decided on three lines of stitching for each. 

One thing I am missing from the larger public studio space is the light for photographing things. I used to put things on the concrete floor, in an area without direct light and the colours were always pretty true. I am yet to find my happy place for photographs here at home, but over time I hope I will. I think this last photo is the truest to the colour of the pages.

So that work continues, and I have also added some of my calligraphic pebbles to the shop. I was trying hard to work out a way for people to select their own word and I had a few tricks up my sleeve; but without adding 26 letters of the alphabet as items and have people choose 1 x P + 2 x E + 1 x A = 1 x C to create PEACE I couldn't make it work. I thought having 26 items on top of other things in there (like jewellery and book-ets) would just make it look way too messy and be a bit too fussy for folk. So I selected a few phrases and words and priced them; and offer folk the opportunity to email me with requests.

I did work out how to let folk choose if they wanted upper case or lower case so that felt like a win!

The pebbles are $2.00 each; and if any locals want to buy them, there is no postage.  Well depending on how I go manipulating the website, there might be postage, but it will be swiftly refunded!

So many things...