Oh! I appear to have bought yet more books. Nevermind.

 

Couldn't resist this trio, picked up in the same charity shop.  I was never a Harry Potter fan - I'd already aged out of childrens and YA fiction well before they were published - but I love J.K. Rowling's Strike novels.  While 'The Casual Vacancy' isn't one of that series, I still think there's a pretty good chance I'll enjoy it.  Simon Schama's 'Rough Crossings' won't be the cheeriest of reads, covering as it does slavery and the American War of Independence, but it never does any harm to educate yourself about world history, does it?  The other book - 'Fair Fight' - looks intriguing.  Set in the Victorian Age and featuring a woman pugilist.  The blurb on the cover promises the novel will take you 'from a filthy brothel to the finest houses in town, from the world of street-fighters to the world of champions.  Alive with the smells and the sounds of the streets, it is a raucous, intoxicating tale of courage, reinvention and fighting your way to the top'.  That's got to be worth a try, and anyway I'm a sucker for a handsome hardback and this book's in mint condition.  

It's been the most beautiful day here in West Yorkshire.  Blue sky and sunshine.  The trees are still full of blossom, including this beautiful apple blossom.  Such delicate shades of pink, so pretty.

I've been gardening - sorting out various ceramic planters, potting up strawberry plants and deadheading tulips - and also nipped down to the allotment for a while, to pull up weeds and keep things reasonably tidy.  Back home I got the urge to work on a quilt I began months and months ago.  Maybe over a year?  Anyway, it's going to be similar to an earlier one I made, which you can see in the photo below.  

Ages ago I came across some video interviews with a quilter called Chris English, and this scrappy quilt was inspired by his work. 

I love it.  The zingy colours. The scrappy make-do-and-mend zero waste approach of using odds and ends of wildly different shapes and patterns. 

In fact, I liked making and using the quilt so much I decided to make a second one.  But that project, despite getting off to a good start, had floundered and been put aside.  However, today out my work-in-progress came, and I went through what I'd done so far.  

I've got a number of blocks in various stages of completion.  Let me run through how I make this style of quilt.  I gather up several small scraps of fabric in a particular colour and sew them together to make a six inch square.  I back each pieced square with a square of white or cream cotton, attaching the cotton by sewing a running stitch around each individual scrap.  This should make the finished quilt more durable.

Four of these six inch pieced squares are sewn together to make a large block, then when I've got enough of the large blocks they get sewn together until I've reached whatever size patchwork top I want.  After that, it's a matter of making a 'quilt sandwich' - adding wadding, backing material and a scrappy binding.  

I thought I'd add extra interest by including these upcycled vintage tablecloths and traycloths, all bought from charity shops.  They're backed with iron-on interfacing, and I've appliqued a bird on to one of them.  

I also embroidered a couple of bees, and might dot a few more of these around the quilt.  I've still got lots more to do with this scrappy quilt, but it feels good to have re-started it.  Progress may not be speedy, but there's a lot of enjoyment in slow stitching and it's not as if I'm working to a deadline.  I can simply please myself!

Three embroidered birds, three triangle dangles, a tin full of beads and an Etsy shop

 

I'm in a mood to tidy things up.  It's not often that mood strikes me, so I better make the most of it.  But more of that in a moment.  I'll start off with these embroidered birds.  I'd already made the blue tit, and followed that with a robin.  Now, there's a second robin.  I reckon the first was a more pleasing shape than the second robin.  Plumper and with more character.  But either way I'm fairly happy with how these turned out.  I'm thinking of the robins in terms of Christmas tree decorations, but are they Christmassy enough, do you think?  

Sorry to drop the 'C' word in there, by the way.  It seems absurd to think about the festive season when we're not even into summer, but sometimes ideas pop into your head and you just have to go with them.  The other absurdly-timed idea involved a post on Ann Wood's website.  She wrote a blog post about making fabric triangles she called tetra charms.  The link's here if you want to take a peek.  Hers are stitched from natural materials.  I had the thought that they'd be a great way to use up tiny scraps of silk.  Those precious fragments that're too nice to toss aside, but not large enough for most projects.  

I used silk scraps that're strengthened with iron-on interfacing, and decorated with a few beads and sequins.  Rather than tetra charms I'm calling these silk triangle dangles.  Again, I see these as Christmas decorations, and they'd look so pretty hanging from the tree.  Here they are with gold or silver metallic thread for hanging loops.  

I might make a few more.  I think this could be addictive! Tassels could be added or beads strung on to the hanging loops.  They could be embroidered on to as well, so there are lots of options.  

After showing you my recent 'makes' I thought I'd share my tidying up too.  Because anyone who crafts knows it's a constant battle against a rising tide of creative clutter.  There's no point throwing things away as the minute you do, you'll need it, even if you've not used the damn thing for decades!  So it's a question of storage and organisation.  I've got loads of beads, some from broken-up necklaces and bracelets, others bought new, and had them stored in three old biscuit/confectionery tins.  But that was getting irritating.  Finding any particular size or colour of beads mean sifting through hundreds of beads and often not finding what's needed.  A matter of 'not seeing the wood for the trees'.  So I decided to have a sort-out.  

I'm not finished yet, but I've begun grouping beads into types, using a couple of these plastic storage boxes.  I only bought two as I'm not keen on buying plastic, and I didn't want to acquire lots until I was sure they were the right design for my needs.  But it appears these boxes are ideal, so I may need to buy more.  

Seeing the beads set out like this really makes me appreciate more what I've got.  Clumped together in a tin with everything else their prettiness and distinctiveness was lost amongst the jumbled mess. 

I did buy two necklaces from the charity shop the other day.  Couldn't resist 'em, so they'll be taken apart and sorted into neat compartments too.   

As well as beads, I've also been organising my embroidery threads.  A while ago I bought a massive bundle of threads off Amazon, and I've been gradually winding those skeins on to spools.  

I wanted to have these arranged in a way that'd enable me to see what colours I'd got at a glance.  But my thread box is full and I couldn't squeeze any more in.  So I unearthed a plastic A4 sized box that'd previously had cardstock in it.  I cut out lengths of card to make dividers, and into that box my surplus threads went.  

The washi tapes are temporarily in there until the box is full up.  I love the rainbow of colours, and doesn't seeing these threads make you itch to get stitching with them?  

I'm using some of the red thread to slow-stitch this, which is going to end up as another triangular coin purse.  Speaking of slow-stitching, can I make a shameless plug for my Etsy shop?  

There's a fabric scrap pack that'd be handy for a slow-stitcher in need of more blues.  Also, a bundle of sari and boho style fabric scraps, great for making boho style beads.  Plus a few patchwork creations and some journal ephemera.  The Etsy shop can be found via this link, and it'd be great if you took a look.  

Okay, I need to get back to my tidying up and organising, though I think I'm due a cuppa first. There's always time for tea!  

The Leeds Tapestry - continued

I'm finally getting around to blogging part two of the Leeds Tapestry.  (See previous post if you're not sure what I'm blathering on about.)  First of all, here's the 'Leeds in Bloom' panel, which features stunning embroidery of flowers and leaves.  It seems that when ideas were sought about what themes individual panels ought to cover, the natural world was a popular choice.  The Yorkshire branch of the Embroiderers' Guild were eager to get involved, but progress was slow as funding needed to be raised and sponsors weren't quick to put their hands in their pockets.  Below is the best shot I could get of the full panel.  

The Queen's Hotel is at the centre of it, and could you imagine embroidering all of those windows?  It would've sent me round the bend!  My dodgy photography doesn't capture the way the panel's designed - you have Kirkstall Abbey at the base, shown in springtime.  Queen's Hotel in summer, the Tropical House & Rose Garden in autumn, and at the top Harewood House in winter.  The flowers and foliage throughout the panel take you through the seasons, so you have everything from sunflowers to catkins, ivy leaves, honesty seeds and winter ferns, nasturtiums, holly leaves, dandelions and primroses.  

It can't be overestimated how many hours would've been put into stitching all these tiny individual leaves and petals.  

On the right of the photo above you might be able to make out the catkins, made by a lady called Freda Copley.  One of the joys of the book we were given is that you can identify who sewed what.  

The shiny dragonfly is listed as being made by Anna McL Dabbs.  

Note the bridal couple surrounded by ivy leaves.  Let's hope the marriage has survived as long as the tapestry! 

An owl nestles among acorns and oak leaves, again made by Freda Copley.  This next panel I'll show you is one that'll appeal to anyone who loves to collect vintage needlework supplies.  

This is the appropriately named 'Pins and Needles' panel, and yet again there's a wealth of detail to gaze at.  

The background for the whole panel has lighter fabrics at the top, with their connotations to domesticity and the feminine realm of needlework, then heavier fabrics nearer the bottom.  Their association being with industry and having a more masculine feel to them.  

Can you make out the meticulous display of Maderia Threads by Ann Kirk?  It's noted that this took her 27 hours to sew.  The teasel was made by M.T. Sanders.  

The intricate construction of that lace doily, and all those pretty pearl buttons.  

Anyone else old enough to remember C&A?  The clothes were never that glamorous, were they?  

I did take several more photos, but they weren't that clear, partly the problem of photographing things under glass.  So if your appetite's been whetted by seeing these, I'd suggest googling Leeds Tapestry and finding out more about it, including all of the 16 panels.  

Hope that's been of interest to you, and perhaps your town or city has its own textile art representing it?  Feel free to share!  












 

The Leeds Tapestry

Today's post will be one of two, maybe three on the Leeds Tapestry.  What's that?  Well, I didn't know either until recently, and I know more about it now due to an event on Wednesday.  First things first, it's not a tapestry.  In the same way the Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery, so is the Leeds Tapestry.  It's a textile work made in sixteen panels, and they're about 2 and a half metres by 1 and a half metres, all framed and under glass.  (You can just about make out a panel in the photo above.  No idea why there's a CID sign too!)  The panels took hundreds of volunteers ten years to complete, and were a labour of love, the initial idea coming from artist Kate Russell who must've despaired that it'd ever get finished.  Made between 1992 and 2002, this was assembled before our online saturated days, before everyone could be instantly messaged on their mobile, or log on to Facebook and Instagram to catch up on everyone else's progress.  Hundreds of volunteers meant letters being written and sent by post  Meant newsletters being printed out and posted too.  It meant groups of stitchers coming together in person, instead of virtual groups.  This all cost money, and local businesses were approached for funding and persuaded to throw in some cash.  The embroiderers weren't all experienced, so it was newbies and gifted sewists working alongside.  To be honest, it's mind boggling the sixteen panels ever got completed and the whole textile work assembled.  Okay, let's start looking at the Leeds Tapestry by showing you where it's based - Leeds Art Gallery - a beautiful building in itself.  

Leeds Art Gallery was established in 1888, and is home to some of the most beautiful Victorian tiled floors and walls you'll see for a good long while.  As well as wonderful stonework.  

There're the usual gallery spaces you'd find anywhere in the art world - all blank white walls - but here in this part of the building you get glimpses of how elaborate the original Victorian visitors would've seen it to be.  I love this view looking down from a staircase on to a lower floor.  

Everywhere you look are patterns that could inspire any textile artist or printmaker.  

If you like patchwork or needlepoint, there's inspiration in the colours and shapes of these tiles.  

Patterns everywhere! 

The art gallery building also houses the art library, and it has these lovely carved pillars throughout.  I'd signed up for the Tapestry Tour out of curiosity, knowing nothing about it, and was surprised to find there were only two of us on the tour!  Could've been embarrassing as there were three members of staff, but it turned out to be very relaxed and certainly much easier to ask questions than if we were in a crowd.  The sixteen panels are displayed in an area off the library.  To be honest I don't think they're done justice in what's quite a stark white corridor, very much off the beaten track as far as visitors are concerned who keep to the main gallery spaces.  

This is the cover of a full-colour 144 page book myself and the other woman on the tour were each given which - bearing in the mind the ticket price was only £4 - was outstanding value!  It details the individual panels and explains that each has a theme.  The first we looked at was the panel about Law & Order.  

'Pro Rege Et Lege' means 'For King and the Law' and the sheep's fleece hanging below it represents the wool trade's historic importance to the city and wider region.  These, along with the owls, make up the city's coat of arms, and what you can't appreciate from my dodgy camerawork is that the plump owls are made  using stumpwork.  Beneath the coat of arms are various buildings associated with Law & Order, and at the base of the panel - bottom right - is a dour, grey interpretation of a prison cell and a sorrowful prisoner feeling the full effects of the law he's broken.  

Below is another great example of stumpwork.  (The image taken from the book.)  Love the gent on the left who's clearly fed up with whole legal process.  Or maybe he's just having a snooze.  

The next panel is entitled 'Arts for All' and I apologise for my not-very-good photo.  

The individual stitched pieces are all sewn on to a gorgeous blue patchwork backing.  It can be better appreciated in this book page below.  

The idea behind the panel's overall design was that it'd represent a kind of pin board.  On it would be arranged images of artworks in the gallery, as if you were pinning postcards up of appealing things you'd seen on your visit.  

There's an Atkinson Grimshaw stitched version of his painting of Leeds at night with the buildings illuminated, as well as this cheerful cat from a Roman mosaic.  

There's so much I could've photographed on this Arts for All panel, I'll have to go back for another look.  

Some of the stitching was exquisite, so tiny you could hardly see the individual stitch marks.  My eyesight certainly wouldn't manage that.  

The next panel I'll talk about is 'A Picture of Health' which features some extraordinarily skilled embroidery.  

I mean, that stitched heart!  

Apart from anything else, this is a kind of mini time capsule of healthcare in the '90s.  Everyday scenes from the health service, like helping an elderly lady with her walking frame or pushing someone in a wheelchair.  

I think I'll end this blog post here, and there'll be more of the Leeds Tapestry panels tomorrow.  The Leeds in Bloom one was probably my favourite, and you're in for a treat if you like embroidery as the sewing on that is amazing.  Bye for now, and do wander back if you'd like to see more.