Lmst

I think I managed forty minutes today. That will do. Most of the darkest colour done, I think. I will make adjustments at the end.

#OpusAnglicanum #Aethelflaed #AethelflaedEmbroidery #MedievalMoversAndShakers #SilkThread #SplitStitch

Close up of the embroidery of Aethelflaed on her horse. The darkest parts are now done in dark blue.

Making a start on Aethelflaed's horse. It's going to be a grey, so the shadows will be blue.

Of course they will!

It's probably been a month since I worked on her, so I need to build stamina again. Twenty minutes and I'm beginning to feel clumsy and make mistakes. Time to stop.

#Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #MedievalMoversAndShakers

Starting to put in the darkest colour on the horse's two front legs.

Second corner done, and I have shot my bolt for the day. There are decisions on the horizon and right now I don't want to make them.
Lunch and an afternoon off seems indicated!

#OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #Aethelflaed #MedievalMoversAndShakers #HandEmbroidery #ArtistLife
#TimeOffIsImportant

Lower left corner now filled in. You can see the horse's back foot, still unstitched.
What am I going to call that horse?

First corner stitched! The light has been poor and I haven't got to my frame in the morning for a couple of weeks. Finally back with Aethelflaed!

#OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #SplitStitch #MedievalMoversAndShakers #Aethelflaed

Close up of the lower left hand corner of a panel of opus anglicanum showing the first right angle filled in.

Tussocky grass around the pile of stone... It's good to make progress on this one - split stitch isn't quick!

#OpusAnglicanum #Aethelflaed #SilkThread

Close up of the grass, three shades of green, working around the pile of building stone in pinky orangey shades.

A pile of stone in place, ready to start mending the Walls of Chester. It may be that I need to add some dark details, but for now, I'm content that I've captured the confusion, and I had a concept of where the light is coming from, so all should be well.

#Aetheflaed #OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #SplitStitch #HandEmbroidery

Close up of the lilac, apricot and pink stitching of the blocks of stone. There is a band of tussocky grass and the start of the wall behind. And an unstitched front leg of a horse in the bottom right.

Starting on the tussocky grass... I think the idea is working, but maybe need to introduce the lighter colour quite soon.

#Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #MedievalMoversAndShakers #SilkThread #SplitStitch

Close up of the stitching showing the foot of the wall and the start of the grass, which has little up-reaching spurs of split stitch to suggest tussocks

Tied my first fly in a couple of months. That's a Gamakatsu S10-B in size 8. I really like this hook, but I struggle with the size 8 for some reason. Think I did it justice here, though. It's has got a natural "black" yarn body with a gold colored rib. The wing is deer hair. Tied it in hand (without a vise) using YLI 100 weight silk thread.

I caught one crappie on this fly and then promptly lost it in a tree. C'est la vie.

#flyfishing #flytying #fishing #deerhair #silkthread #wool #yarn #tenkara #crappie #hook

A fly fishing lure on a black backgroundn. The fly has a body of dark yarn with cold colored wire in sparse wraps. The wing of the fly is made from deer hair.

It suddenly occurred to me as I was working in Aethelflaed this morning that I should maybe consider the height of the wall. In terms of my imagination of the scene on the ground, as it were, the high wall on the left is not blocking her way.

But, visually, do I want it to look as though it might block her view?

Hmmm.

So the next time I sit down at my frame I will be tackling the ground, while that question bubbles away in the back of my mind.

#Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #DecisionsDecisions
#MedievalMoversAndShakers

Progress on the Aethelflaed embroidery. All but the top three levels of the wall are now in place.

Making more progress on Aethelflaed's Walls of Chester. I have to do this in the morning before the sun comes around and starts dazzling and casting shadows.

Er - on those days when the sun shines at all!

#MedievalMoversAndShakers #Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #SplitStitch

Close up of the split stitched stones of a wall. The outline of a horse's head can be seen at the right, and the fabric already has the outline for basket weave underside couching drawn on in yellow.

Progress on #Aethelflaed, for #InternationalWomensDay..

#OpusAnglicanum #HandEmbroidery #SilkThread #MedievalMoversAndShakers

Work in progress on the embroidery of Aethelflaed. She's shown riding from right to left, but so far I'm still working on the wall. She and her horse are not yet worked, apart from a section at the back of her gown .

I made some progress on Aethelflaed this morning, a few more blocks in the Walls to be rebuilt. The fairly close colour tones aren't as strong as Cheshire sandstone can be, but I keep telling my students that they are creating a new thing, not a dot-for-dot copy, and that a bit of colour tweakery is entirely justified. So I'd better remember to do that myself, hadn't I!
#Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #HandEmbroidery

Small section of the Aethelflaed embroidery, showing the Walls of Chester being rebuilt. I'm using close tones of pinky orangey colours with some greyish lilac, to try to make the walls settle back behind Aethelflaed and her horse (when I get them in!)

I spent the morning reinstating the portion of Chester's walls that runs behind Aethelflaed and her horse. The tones are paler and closer, so I hope the walls will settle back now.

#OpusAnglicanum #Aethelflaed #SilkThread #HandEmbroidery

Close up of the embroidery of Aethelflaed. The wall behind her has been reinstated with closer tones. I think that when the grass and the horse's tail are in, and the gold behind, it will work better than the previous version.

My heart is sinking a little here. Some time in the middle of the night last week, I thought that Aethelflaed's wall is all wrong and I need to either unpick or stitch over it, outline included.

Cheshire sandstone is hard to render in any medium, and I knew that before I started. But it's still causing me a bit of uncertainty, and I'm struggling to get started again.

#Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery #SilkThread

Close up of the start of work on Aethelflaed. The back panel of her dress and a few stones of the wall have been done.

Some experiments at blending colours of thread to calm down the colours.

My design for the panel of Aethelflaed. She's on horseback, about to start refortifying Chester.

So I now have more of the information I need to think about the walls...

What I don't have yet is a decision!

#DesignersDilemma #DecisionsDecisions #Aethelflaed #OpusAnglicanum #HandEmbroidery #MedievalMoversAndShakers #SilkThread

Partly stitched design of Aethelflaed on horseback before the walls of Chester. The back panel of her red dress is stitched, with a bright patterned border. The walls are in purpleish pinks to try to get the effect of red sandstone.
I am not entirely happy with the effect as yet.

Here is the quilt I just finished, titled 'Because She Changes', inspired by the monumental public sculpture 'She Changes', by Janet Echelman, in Matosinhos, Portugal.

Selvedge denim both sides
Vintage silk embroidery threads
Cotton sashiko threads
Red linen border

2m x 1.5m

Every stitch hand-sewn.

#sashiko
#SashikoQuilt
#silkThread
#quilt
#quilting
#QuiltingArt
#hitomezashi
#littleStabs
#Anémona
#JanetEchelman
#matosinhos
#porto
#PortoPortugal
#SheChanges
#embroidery
#BecauseSheChanges

A large quilt of blue denim with sashiko-style imagery. A background of white and blue lines, running in different directions in different parts of the quilt. The centre is four interlinked circles in shades of red and orange, from 70cm across to 20cm across. They are segmented (24ths) and some segments are filled with sashiko patterns. A different pattern in each segment. Above right of the circles is an area of pale purple/rose stitching resembling a whispy cloud. At top right there is a moon, 3/4 full, with 'realistic' surface details based on moon maps'. Near bottom right is an abstract pattern in pale blue representing mist. Bottom left is a series of classical sashiko waves in white. The quilt has a narrow red border

Here's the whole thing. It's 2 m by 1.5 m.

It's based on where we live, in Matosinhos, Porto.

The main theme is the massive public sculpture 'She Changes' by Janet Echelman. Other design aspects are waves, sky, night, clouds, moon, mist.

At the moment I'm calling it 'Because She Changes'.

#sashiko #SashikoQuilt #silkThread #quilt #quilting #QuiltingArt #hitomezashi #littleStabs #Anémona #JanetEchelman #matosinhos #porto #PortoPortugal

A view of She Changes, a massive installation by Janet Echelman. It looks like a huge circular net suspended against a late evening sky and the Atlantic Ocean, full of soft colours from dusky orange to a deep grey blue. There are layers of gentle soft clouds which have hints of purple in their depths

Big denim sashiko quilt cover. It is an abstracted design with four intersecting circles (reds and oranges) of diminishing (or increasing...) sizes in the centre which have segments full of different sashiko stitchwork, abstract purple whispy cloud forms above and right of these, a 3/4 white moon at top right, abstract pale grey-blue mist forms bottom right, White sashiko wave forms at bottom left ... and behind all are vertical and diagonal lines of pale blue and deep blue

I've been quiet but busily working on this sahiko quilt.

I'm yet to get good images, but here's where I am...

Yesterday and today I designed the final part, an abstracted mist pattern. We get a LOT of mist here.

I stitched it in vintage embroidery silk.

And with that, the front piece is DONE!

Sashiko means little stabs, and after all that stitching, my fingers know why.

#sashiko #SashikoQuilt #silkThread #quilt #quilting #QuiltingArt #hitomezashi #littleStabs

Blue denim fabric stitched with a LOT of sashiko in red - five different patterns radiating from a point off centre to the right, with some purple at bottom left

Part of a denim sashiko quilt cover in design phase. Diagonal pale blue and deep blue lines are overlaid with rough abstract curved forms in tailors chalk. Also visible are bobbins of thread and some round objects used to draw the curves

Blue denim fabric stitched with sashiko in pale blue and deep blue opposing diagonals. The design from the previous image is now stitched in a pale blue-grey silk. It is semi-circles connected by straight lines, making abstract unconnected shapes

Just a quick update on this quilting project.

I have finished all the major defining lines.

I ran out of the vintage deep blue thread, so had to improvise, and blended it into a soft purple-pink (top left) to represent a sunrise opposing the moon.

To come - #hitomezashi patterns in segments of each circle, detail to the waves (bottom left), make the moon waxing gibbous...

And sorry for the poorly stitched image! #PanoramaFail

#sashiko #SashikoQuilt #silkThread #quilt #quilting

A badly stitched composite image of a sashiko quilt front in progress.
It is on a 2m wide piece of denim.
There are white sashiko waves at bottom left (repeating curves), vertical deep blue lines above, sky blue diagonal (left to right) lines with 4 intersecting circles in red stitching overlaid. Above are deep blue diagonal (right to left) lines leading to a white circle (which will be a moon) at top right.
The main circles are each divided into 24 sections with varying off-centre intersection points.
There is fabric chalk in some segments, showing where detail will be added later.

Couldn't resist starting this quickly!

I have started with two vintage embroidery silk threads... and when they're gone that's it! I'm ...fairly... sure there will be enough to do the initial lines.

The waves (bottom left), circles (centre) and moon (upper right) will be with modern Yokota sashiko thread.

I'm also using Yokota needles.

My William Whitely scissors are looovely! A special treat when I made a previous 5m x 1.5m quilt.

#sashiko #SashikoQuilt #silkThread #quilt #quilting

#SilkThread

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