If You See A Tree In The Post

Now I think you may find many trees in my blog posts but have you seen one in the post?

I found out my embroidery work which was featured in the Sew Somerset magazine has gone missing in the post.

It turns out it was mailed out from the States at the beginning of July and has not been seen since.

It's this work here http://kaylacoo.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html scroll down to June 8th.

So if by any chance you may see it, slim I know.........

We put so much faith in our postal service and there is always a risk that it reaches the wrong destination.

I think it's unlikely I will see it again, I wonder if it ever made it across the Atlantic or not?

I posted my Nieces Birthday card early because of the postal strike, due at the end of this week here in the UK.

I do hope they can resolve this dispute soon, as so many small business sellers will find it crippling.

I'm busy sewing lots of flowers at the moment, for a friends Christmas sale in aid of Cancer research, so I best get back to my petals.

Silver Tree & More Threads

I must be slightly mad, I spend entire days just threading up sewing machines and then I come home and do the same!

As the art & design technician I spend a lot of time helping students, by showing them how to set up the machines and how best they can use them.

So I'm surrounded by threads at work and at home, obsessed I am!

These are a few of the smaller stitched pieces I have been working on, including a commission of a silver tree for Carolyn over at http://love-stitching-red.blogspot.com/.

Luckily she likes it!

I must say thank you to Linda who cheered me up, she sent me some fun handmade book marks from her give away.She makes very pretty jewellery too, you can find out more from her blog

http://aefondkis.blogspot.com/

Recently I found out that a friend of mine has a relative who stitches and she has a blog too, a small world!

You can see Ruth's embroidery work on her blog here http://rutholearytextileart.blogspot.com/

Ruth uses some very beautiful traditional embroidery techniques including goldwork and applique.

Thanks again for your lovely comments and now it's time for me to sort out school lunch boxes!

The Knitting & Stitching Show 2009

I spent Thursday at the Knitting & Stitching show and I loved it !

The textile art was incredible, such a diverse range of different stitching styles and materials.

I find it inspiring talking to the textile artists who must have spent so much time getting ready for this show.

I enjoyed looking at the work of Tom Lundberg who's detailed fine stitching created rhythmical patterns.

His work is small, many just pocket size which are inspired by the symbolic intensity of badges and stitched emblems.

Then I found Alice Kettles stand with embroidery and clay pieces.

Alice's stitched pieces flowed from cloth to ceramics, her work combined with the ceramicists Helen Felcey in Place Settings and Alex Mc Erlain in Conversation Pieces.

Her stitched hangings in pure white, a departure from her usual colourful embroidered paintings ,but still undeniably showing her distinctive style.

My favourite was the one depicting many drawn urns and pots, stitched freely as quick sketches.

I will save more artist's for another blog post.

I was not sure if I could take pictures and I don't really feel I should have them on my blog without the artists permission.

So just the entrance to share with you and my pictures on the Stitch Magazine stand.

Hope you have a great time if your going and I'm sure you will be itching to stitch!

Trees For The Gallery

I had a phone call at the beginning of the week requesting more of my brooches for the gallery in Leamington so I have been busy making these.

They wanted them as extra stock for Christmas.

This has given me an incentive to get some more work completed.

Next week I'm planning a visit to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, first time I have been to the London show in years!

I'm so looking forward to seeing all the amazing art textiles in one place and I'm hoping to take photo's to share with you.

Then of course there is all the different varieties of fibers and threads, I can be overwhelmed by the choice and the book stalls full of textile books, which I know will tempt me.

I have been working with year 8 students this week in textiles and we were experimenting with batik.

This is a sample I made to illustrate the technique, we had great fun creating patterns and they will then use their samples to decorate masks.

Another busy week, so I'm looking forward to a rest at the weekend, but it will include some sewing!

I must say before I go, thank you very much for all your kind comments.x

Embroiderers Guild Magazine Stitch

This week has been full of lows and highs in that order.

My husband had to go through redundancy again, second time this year!

Using threads is always my therapy, I can immerse myself in my own little thread world and it's a good way to de-stress.

So I made my little red tree brooch out of an old black wool jumper,which I felted and then the bright orange tree on some scraps of hand dyed wool blanket.

On Wednesday I had a very kind email from a flickr friend saying they had seen my work in Stitch Magazine.

I had such a shock when I saw my work on the front cover!

You will find four of my embroideries, which I made especially for Stitch, based on the seasons, in the middle of the magazine.

So a much better end to the week after such a rubbish start and lets hope there will be an end to this recession soon.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.x

Threads & Sketches

Well it's taken me quite a while to get on the computer as we have been so busy since we got back from our holidays.

Look at my messy desk again!

The vintage embroidery I found in a small shop in Bude.

I could not resist it, it's so beautifully stitched, I had to give it a home amongst my threads.

As promised a couple of quick sketches I made on holiday which I may paint and then progress to thread and fiber.

So lots to keep me busy again and I still have new items to add to etsy!

Hope you have a good week.x

Summer Sketch

A page from my sketch book, a hot day in France.

My oil pastels were almost melting into the page!

Cornwall was quite a contrast, the weather cool and showery, but we had a lovely time.

The rugged coastline was inspiring the shapes, colours and dramatic skies.

I will post Cornwall sketches in the next few days and more French ones too.

This week it will be back to the school routine and I wonder how I ever manage to get anything done!