work in progress..

gosh! video.

ha!

my work - exterior view

This is an exterior shot of a house I worked on and haven't had a chance to show yet. 

The pieces are subtly colourful on the inside, littered with crystals, sequins and so on.

From the outside, during the daytime they are barely noticeable and opaque.

At night, when lit, they have a more graphic effect from outside.

The 9 windows portray the trees from the street, sprawling across the house.

I will upload some more detailed images soon.

 in the meantime, more are on my website
photos courtesy of the rather fabulous gary wallis
my stitching assistant was mirek lucan

oh mister finch!

 

Ah.. I think we all know Mr Finch by now. So I'm not going to show you anything new here today, but I just fancied putting a few of his pics here in one place so I can look at them whenever I fancy.

Several years ago I got in touch with him about doing a lengthy interview. Then life took over and I didn't get around to it. Serves me right.

Since then.. well he's turned into the craft world's very own Mr Darcy.. instead of walking out of a lake with a dripping wet shirt clinging to his torso.. he has risen up the ranks to show us more and more of his mastery of needle and imagination. His work at times romantic, dark and brooding or playful and always technically sound and solid. Yes ladies, he knows what he's doing.. he has magic hands and he really understands how to handle a piece of fabric.

Whenever he adds a new image or passing fancy.. I see everyone's comments on facebook - an audible mexican wave - a giant collective gush (what would that be called, I wonder..) He is so loved.

So I won't waffle on about him.. I'll just put some pictures here, over which you may join me in a swoon if you so wish.

I took these images from his flickr account - 'ohmisterfinch' and from his website

'oh mister finch' indeed..

cayce zavaglia

I've known of Cayce Zavaglia's stitched portraits for a long time. I always thought of them as beautiful.. but then I saw these images of the back of them. for some reason, that heightened my affection for them. I was so moved by the honesty of the craftsmanship and the painterly effect it gives.

I like to see workmanship in pieces. In my own practice I always agree with clients - what will be a comfortable length for them, for the ends of threads on the back of the work. Some clients may be happy with an inch or others with at least two inches.. the pieces can be dense and almost hairy at times. For me it is a more intimate connection with the maker. Some people want to be reminded of that, others not.

But for some reason, when I see pieces left with the ends hanging down the front it doesn't necessarily have the same effect on me. Not always, just sometimes. Because it is part of a self-conscious, visual 'technique' it can change my feelings towards it. It's a very personal opinion and I haven't fully formed it yet.. but I thought I'd just share some amazing images with a badly formed thought.

For Cayce Zavaglia's website and incredible work please click here

- these pieces are in the 'editions' section

stains (embroidered)

It's been great to be back. Thank you so much anyone who's been in touch to welcome me back or stopped by to read my blog.

Currently I'm utterly immersed in stains. The beauty, the detail and the possibilities of them... and it seems from the positive reaction I've had that I'm not the only person finding them interesting. So I'm working on more and on the direction that I think they could move in and will post more when I get a chance as they have leapt forward somewhat since these shots.

Thank you again for the welcome. I will start blogging about other makers as soon as I am at a sensible point with my own work.

website

I have a new website, please feel free to visit and tell me what you think.

I'm also tweeting as lovelymisselvis but not sure how to put it on here.

I'm happy that my latest cutwork is on the website, along with some lesser known embroidery and will have more new embroidery to show soon. I'm not a giant publicist but I think the website is worth a mention.

Now I'll shut up about me. I've a few new blog entries lined up again which will start once my wonderful 4 yr old daughter returns to school and I have some time to think.

For some reason I seem to have lost the capacity to rearrange the order of images on here. If anyone happens to know if there have been any changes whilst I've been away, please let me know.