Stitchy Wednesday at the art gallery

On a chilly Wednesday I trekked over to Leeds art gallery for another once a month session of something stitchy. This time we were making - well, I'm not sure what you'd call them - but they involved lots of beads and sequins.

About a dozen of us gathered in the Drawing Room, which was looking very festive with its mini Christmas tree and carols playing in the background. The sessions are always themed around an exhibit or artist at the gallery itself or another local gallery/museum. This time it was about an artist that'd been exhibiting at the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. Igshaan Adams wasn't a name I knew, but he's a South African artist and makes tapestries and textile based structures. According to Wikipedia, 'Adams creates large-scale tapestries, wall and floor installations made of plastic, fabric, textile and other everyday materials such as washcloths and garden fencing.' His work is informed by his childhood, family and the community he was raised in.

We were given a metal ring, like a bangle, and were to decorate it using whatever we chose among the bits & pieces spread out on the tables. Adams has created pieces using lots of beads, so our creations would be part Igshaan Adams inspired and part Christmas mini wreaths!

What's always fun to see is how different people interpret a theme. Look at the variation in textile pieces/mini wreaths that we made.

Some of them look like sea creatures. Others are more like dream catchers.

This was mine. I went for a frosty blue and silver theme, and seem to have thrown half of Claire's Accessories stock at it, haven't I? Making this reminded me of the beaded stars I've made in the past. Wire stars with beads strung on thinner wire wound around them.

Pretty, don't you think?

Speaking of pretty, the tree's up. I might've used an excessive number of baubles. And frosted apples. Glittery stars. Birds with gaudy feathers. Plus there's a vintage angel at the top of the tree, a sequinned unicorn just below her, a sparkly reindeer nearby ...

Hope your week's going well, and you've not already demolished all the Christmas chocolates and mince pies. You haven't ... have you?

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Taking a blog break ...

Hello! And goodbye, at least for now. The blog's on hold for a little while as I'm easing myself into 2026 gradually. I'm still stitching and reading and enjoying life with Badger the cat. Even though he treats my sofa like a giant scratching post!

Badger!

Here's Badger, looking like the little cutie-pie he is. He's settled in so well, is absurdly affectionate and eats anything and everything I put in his food bowl. The only fault I can find is that he likes to sharpen his claws on the side of my sofa. This is despite having two scratching posts, one of which is part of a cat tower that's taller than I am! I may have to try trimming his claws, but I don't know how Badger will react to that. Anyway, expect to see more photos of him, so sorry in advance for any of you who aren't feline fans. Apart from gazing in admiration at the cat I've continued to experiment with embroidery. I really can't decide whether this mainly pink piece of stitching is something I like or just a dog's dinner of a mess. This is another embroidery I've been stitching. Frankly, at the moment it looks like it should be lobbed straight into the bin. I'd painted with a mix of watercolour pa...

Final post for 2025 (I think. I mean, unless anything amazingly wonderful happens that I can't keep to myself any longer ...)

The days are marching by at record speed, and I've finally - possibly - bought all the presents I need to buy and written all the Christmas cards I need to send. I decided not to put up a full-sized tree this year as I'm convinced Badger the cat would simply view it as a climbing frame, and I'd find it toppled on a daily basis. Instead, there's a small green tree, and a simple white twiggy one that has lots of vintage baubles dangling from it. To be honest, I prefer the twiggy one, so the green tree might be permanently retired from now on. I've not gone crazy with the decorations, but there are various strings of fairy lights that look so pretty when they're lit. I have - between internet shopping and baking mince pies - made a little fishy pin cushion, decorated with seed stitches, French knots, chain stitch and stem stitch. I'm on the look-out for grey tweedy material to make another fish as I think that'd look better than plain ...

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