Month: September 2024

September

Immediately on writing today’s title I’ve given myself an Earth Wind and Fire ear worm (🎶 …ba-dee-ya, say do you remember, ba-dee-ya, dancin’ in September… 🎶) and now you have it too, I hope.

Aaanyway. It flew by, as usual.

September 2024, daily stitching

I really like the variety of shapes on this year’s template. Originally it was meant to look like an aerial view of fields, but it’s probably turned out to be a bit too colourful for that. If anyone has restricted themselves to a brown/green palette throughout, they might be having more luck with the realism. I still like it as it is though.

September, detail
September, detail

I’ve used a variety of thicker yarns and threads for the borders (field boundaries, I call them) – mostly cotton and silk boucle, plus a few scraps of textured yarns that I’ve found in the threads box. For the one below, I used some viscose hollow ribbon (from Oliver Twists fibres) stuffed with yarn. It’s fairly easy to thread yarn through the hollow centre with a big blunt needle or a small safety pin. Once it’s stuffed, you can ruche the ribbon up a bit and it creates a lovely ruffled effect.

hollow viscose ribbon

My favourite this month is probably this one, worked without any kind of plan, just meandering backstitch stems and detached chain stitch leaves, in hand-dyed silk perle 12:

The other side is a little quieter than the front, which is true for most of us, I think.

the back of September

October tomorrow… and before we know it, it will be the end of another year. If you’re starting to think about (whisper it) Christmas there are threads available here.

October ahead

I’m starting to think about next year’s template and so far am drawing a complete blank. I’ve enjoyed making the previous three, as a scroll, a cloth book, and a large cloth. I may well return to the long thin format as I really like the continuous stretch of days, long like a year, but I’ll give it some more thought.

Priority this week is to try and find someone who can fix our boiler because currently we have No Heating. Good job we have plenty of knitwear and quilts.

Flowers

In my last post I mentioned the online course I was doing with Suzanne Allard, and that bright florals weren’t really my thing. Figurative painting – as in proper ‘doing a painting’ of an object, like an artist – isn’t really my thing either, for that matter. I’m usually happier with needle and thread and abstract marks.

And then I said to myself, who doesn’t like flowers? I had a go at some flowers with collage, which I find more approachable than painting. What I like about collage is that you can take some shapes and colours and move them around on the page before committing to anything permanent.

collaged flowers, mixed media

Like I said, flowers aren’t my thing, bright colours aren’t my thing, etc etc. And what do you know, I quite like it.

flower collage, mixed media

What are sketchbooks for if not to try stuff and have some fun?

I had a little go at painting leaves with a watercolour sword brush. Definitely need more practice with that, but it’s a really lovely brush.

watercolour with sword brush

And I really like the way the scrap of paper forming the centre of one of these flowers just happens to have the word ‘blooming’ on it.

blooming

My desk is looking a little chaotic, but I am having some serious fun here.

paper everywhere
watercolour with Faber Castell Pitt pen

If you’ve ordered threads and/or fabrics (thank you), they’re on their way. Rummaging in the stationery cupboard, walking to the post office, and playing in a sketchbook or three have brought me to a very happy place indeed this week.

Respite

It’s been a difficult few weeks and I needed a couple of days down time, so I’ve taken refuge in some no-pressure sketchbook work.

coloured pencil on acrylic/ink background

I’ve just started Suzanne Allard’s online course 31 Bright and Fun Sketchbook Paintings. I really like Suzanne’s calm and confident teaching style, and I also like seeing how other artists approach their work. The bright florals are not completely my thing but there are plenty of inspiring ideas and techniques to try, and it’s nice to sit back and watch someone else talk you through their approach to their art. And there’s always something new to learn.

My own sketchbook pages are nothing like the ones in the course, but I’ve been trying some of the layering techniques just for the fun of it.

sketchbook page
pen and Inktense crayon on acrylic ink background

Without really meaning to, I often find that my sketchbook pages are full of marks that could feasibly become stitches. Not really surprising, given that drawn marks are mainly dots and lines.

One of the things I’ve discovered is that I no longer enjoy using acrylic paints. The ecological aspect has bothered me for some time (as in acrylic=plastic) but having had a little play with them again I find that I really don’t like the slightly plasticky sheen.

sketchbook page background, gesso/acrylic

Layering or mixing acrylics with gesso makes them less shiny/glossy/plasticky. In the spirit of using what I’ve got, I’ll probably use my existing supply and then not replace them.

I do, however, like acrylic inks – also plastic, but I’m guessing not quite so bad as the paint. I like the inks because they behave like watercolour but they’re not water-soluble once they’re dry so you can easily go over them with other media without disturbing the base layer.

sketchbook background page: gesso and acrylic ink

The problem I have with layered backgrounds is that I end up really liking the base layer as it is and I don’t really want to add anything else on top of it. I’ve therefore ended up with a sketchbook full of nice backgrounds, which is also fine I guess.

I’ve had a little tinker in the watercolour sketchbooks as well.

watercolour mini-sketches

I used low-tack masking tape to divide an A4 page into postcard-sized areas. The marks on the top two were made by dipping a stick in walnut ink and drawing on wet paint.

I’m resolving to make more time for this as it’s something I really enjoy, and besides all work and no play etc. Wishing you an equally playful and creative weekend.

Shop policy update

I’m still up to my ears in thread but in the meantime I’d like to share my newly-updated shop policies, in the interests of clarity and consistency. These apply exclusively to customers outside the UK, so if you live in the UK most of this post won’t apply to you, and you can happily skip forward to the picture at the end.

If you are overseas (that is, not resident in the UK), please take the time to read the following:

When completing the checkout, please ensure that you pick the correct country from the drop-down menu. Any orders where the address and country do not correspond (for example, a US address with UK as the country) will be cancelled and refunded and you will need to place your order again. Choosing UK, when you don’t live in the UK, will cause the automated checkout to apply UK shipping rates, and this is insufficient to cover posting overseas. You must pay the correct shipping rate for your country. In most cases, the ‘everywhere else’ shipping option covers USA, Canada, Australia and mainland Europe; shipping costs to these destinations are almost identical. It costs the same to post one small item (e.g. a thread skein) as it does to post several, so the more you buy, the more cost-effective the postage charges become. If you are in any doubt about the postage costs, please contact me before completing the checkout.

Your purchase may be subject to additional customs charges depending on your location. You can use online import tax calculators to estimate what the additional import charges will be before you buy. Please be aware that I have no control at all over how much you will be charged in import duties; it is your responsibility to find out before making a purchase.

Your customs office may occasionally open and inspect your parcel before delivering it to you. While I appreciate that this can be disappointing (because they usually don’t repackage your parcel as attractively as I did in the first place) please understand that I have no control over this.

When paying by card, please try and remember your purchase when your bank statement arrives. The amount will look different because of the currency conversion. If you initiate a dispute with your bank because you don’t recognise the amount, I then have to prove to your bank that you did make the purchase, and I am charged a non-refundable fee even when the purchase was genuine. Please contact me before initiating a dispute if you are in any doubt about your purchase.

And there we are. I hope that’s clear without being unnecessarily heavy-handed.

In the meantime, we have this (among many other delights) to look forward to:

‘Randoms’ thread collections

It will be done when it’s done (actually it will be done when our bathroom’s done, as I still have to paint the ceiling again). It’s been a very busy few weeks.