Taciturn 29 and Tempestuous 30

Okay, I'll admit I have now looked at a dictionary to carry on with the T alliterations for the title of the posts.  Anything to save me from using tap dancing or torrid as the title!

Tactile 27 and tempting 28

I've now almost caught up on my initial plan of making a piece a day for 37 days.  I obviously need blocks of time to make then rather than trying to fit one a day in.  I seem to get into a bit of a rhythm. 

27 was made using fabric patterned by rubbing a paving slab.  The marks on the green were made by rubbing directly onto the fabric, where as I used transfer crayons on the yellow-y felt.  The marbled black was shop bought. 

The fabric on the left hand side of no.28 was also patterned by rubbing and the right hand side is made of lots of little off-cuts of earlier pieces, which I then stitched over with grey to pull it together.  It isn't exactly clear from the initial photo what this surface is - I think it was a crumbling wall as it had lots of different shades of grey and lines on it.

Tired 26

The 'tired' refers to me rather than the work, I hope!  Richard has kindly taken the little monsters to his parents for the weekend so I can get as much work done as possible.  This is fabulous for my work, but the house seems incredibly quiet.  I am used to being here on my own during the day, but I don't think I've ever spent a night here without at least a child asleep upstairs.  It is rather strange.  However, I am enjoying the space to make the work without interruptions for two whole days.  Suddenly reaching 37 seems tantalisingly close, even with dealing with the laundry and other work too.  I even managed to do some exercise today!

Tarmac-ed 24 and top 25

Yes, I'm already beginning to struggle to find suitable adjectives starting with T, but I haven't given up yet, nor have I consulted the dictionary.  Maybe if I had, these would be less lame!  Anyway no.24 is a bit of a landmark as it is the first of the series made entirely without using any stitch.  Bizarrely I often find works look better photographed than they do in real life.  However, this is definitely not the case with this one.  It is more subtle and the tarmac T is acceptable because it is based on a photo of the road surface.

For no.25, it was back to stitch and trying to recreate the patterns in different ways.  I used programmed stitches on my Pfaff again, but this time I played with the settings, making them totally different from the picture on the machine to get the effect I wanted.

Tremendous 23

Taxing 21 and terrible 22

At last the rain has stopped for long enough to allow the pavement to dry and so I was able to make a rubbing of the pavement to texture some fabric.  This was used for no.21, then as the base colour wasn't quite right, I used an old toothbrush and some fabric paint to make it a bit greyer. It has started raining again, so no more rubbing today.  I did stock up a bit, using fabric crayons directly onto the fabric.  As well as the paving slabs, I discovered that the window ledge gave quite a good mark too.

The less said about no.22 at the moment the better.  My only redeeming thought is that I can always change it after the exhibition has opened when I have more time!  Of course, it may grow on me...

Terrific 20, thanks to John le Carré

To improve the naming of these posts, I thought I would use alliterations (at least that is what I think it is called - our English lessons at school didn't really go this far). This seemed like a good idea, until I realised that every piece from now on will have a number starting with a T - from 20 to the final one 37!  So let's see how long I can last at this.
As I am trying not to buy anything new to make these pieces (to save money and because I don't have time to get to the shops), I am having to be a little bit inventive.  I ran out of black thread before I started this one and grey fabric is getting limited! The black thread on this one was passed on to me from my cousin's mother-in-law, along with loads more.  They are great, but a little elderly, so the black thread keeps snapping.  I like the effect the breaks give, but it meant the piece took ages to make, especially as I used a fancy stitch on my Pfaff machine rather than a basic satin stitch.  I'm sure no one will notice - but I know!  Hence the bizarre reference to John le Carré.  Radio 4 is dramatising all of his Smiley books at the moment and during this piece I listened to all three hours of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Sometimes I really enjoy John le Carré novels and have been reading quite a few recently, but other times I just get bored by the tedium of spying.  I suppose it is more like reality, but I obviously too used to fast paced thrillers and want action, just like our seven year old still wants pictures in books rather than only words, to make life more exciting.

Eighteen and nineteen

This is beginning to remind me of Janet Evanovich's novels where each one has a play on a number as a title.  However she 'cheats' and gets readers to offer suggestions for the name of the next book.  Will try and think of a more imaginative title for number 20!

Sixteen and seventeen

Been on a bit of a roll today.  Here are the next two.  I'm not very happy with the top one, but if I'm making 37 of them, I can't adore all of them equally.  Maybe if I have enough time I will revisit it....!  However, not got time now as I have to get to the nursery to get the monsters before it closes and they call social services.

the next three (13, 14 and 15)

I'm sure you don't need to know the number of these pieces, but this is the only way I am going to be able to keep track of them.  I've had to reassess how to make them, as I wanted to be posting number 24 today.  I was being to panic, behind a calm exterior of course, but yesterday morning in the hairdresser, I worked out my new timetable and so far, I'm back on track.  I've realised that I can't make them in the evening most days as I am too tired and hungry to think after the monsters are put away in their rooms for the night.  Also, the light is just not good enough to select the colours as I am using a rather subtle colour palette.

I've got the next one ready to go, but it was too wet this weekend to go and do a rubbing of the paving slab outside to get some texture other than adding stitch.  The last one here took hours and hours this morning and I will need to find some quicker ways.

no 12 of 37

On a bit of a roll today - that's me achieved three and photographed them all! The builders in the field next door were giving me funny looks as I stood by the French windows in our bedroom looking at the ground to photograph them! It's a great place to photograph as the carpet is boringly neutral and there is bags of light and relatively few toys/games/children's books to clear out the way to take the pictures.

For those of you interested in the techniques, this is hand dyed fabric, with free machine stitching in four different shades, with a made silver braid couched on top. Sorry if you're not that excited by the stitching technical details, but for many people who stitch, it is the first thing they are interested in rather than the design or concept or colours. They want to know 'how'.

10 and 11

These two are both made from images of linoleum tiles.  The bottom one (no.10) is hand dyed felt and cotton, using a programmed stitch on my Pfaff to attach the whitish cotton. The top one uses commercial cotton with netting and free machining.

Helensburgh Quilters and no 9

I'm continuing with the excuses as to why I am so behind - today is the 19th and so I should be adding number 19, not number 9!  So the excuses since the last post are:

• gave a talk to Helensburgh Quilters on Thursday night.  I had to write the talk, get the images sorted and most importantly make sure the technology worked.  Don't you hate it when the speaker can't operate their basic projector?  I always think it is unprofessional.  Well, I've changed my mind.  I had it all set up, it all worked until I began my talk.  When I took the cover off the projector lamp, it was all blue and it didn't change.  Luckily it was a small group, so in the end, I just turned the laptop round so they could view the pictures on it.  They were very sweet about it and a very welcoming group.  It was worth the fear of getting stuck in snow to reach them!
• I was away with old friends from uni all weekend
• I had lots of pages of Popular Patchwork to proof
• On top of this, I've had yet another migraine.  Arrgh

Of course, excuses don't get the pieces made and I've got to get through them somehow.  The drawings are coming on (I'm up to 16 of them), but I need to keep making.  Hopefully this week will be migraine free.
This one is hand dyed felt, with added fabric paint and couched threads on top.

Safety pin down the toilet conundrum

At the bottom of our toilet there seems to be an open safety pin.  I must have dropped it there by mistake.  This leads to a dilemma.  Do I just leave it there and hope for the best?  Or will I just spend the day worrying about it making a hole in the pipe further down the system?  Do I pretend it is not there and when DH notices it, I blame it on one of the little monsters and let him be the one to fish it out?  Or do I just do the right thing, roll up my sleeve, take a deep breath and remove it?  I'm not sure - what should I do?

No 8

I'm losing track of time, but as I think today is the 13th, it means I'm still five behind where I wanted to be.  I'm trying to make them with what I have in the studio, as I really don't have time to go and look for appropriate materials in shops.  This is helped by the fact I hand dyed lots of cotton and silk and felt in approximately the right colours whilst I was up in Dundee.  I knew I would want to do something like this at some point.  However, the grey for these cobblestones had me stumped.  I ended up using a shot cotton (black and white) from Oakshott and then used a midnight blue fabric paint over the top.
Number nine is under way, but I need to try and climb over the mess on my studio floor to reach my cupboard to see if I have any silver foil.  That may take a few days!  Maybe I should make a resolution to tidy up my studio once I have finished this project.  However, I'm not sure that it will happen as I am sure to get distracted by something more interesting instead.

No 7

Obviously I'm on a bit of a role at the moment!  Here is the next one.  It is from a photo of part of a door and lino in the background.  The door was very worn and had lots of scratches and marks on it.

Nos. 5 and 6

No I haven't given up (yet) on my goal of 37 pieces by the 6th of February.  Here are numbers 5 and 6.  They were finished on Sunday, but too late to photograph in decent light and with tidying, washing and swimming lessons yesterday, I forgot to do them then.

This one has all over stitching apart from on the white, using my lovely Pfaff machine which arrived back on Friday.  Hurrah!  Sad to say, but I had really been missing it.  The built in walking foot makes sewing layers much easier.

Number six is much simpler.  I'm glad I'm putting these on the blog, because it is helping me keep count.  Lots more in progress, between photo, drawing and stitching.

Today - number 4

Today's effort.  These first four have been relatively straight forward for me to make.  However, part of me is a little worried that is because the ideas for making them in fabric have been with me for a while.  So it may get harder.. Only three behind on the first week.  I'm hoping to make it up at the weekend, but the children may make it a bit harder.

Number 3 of 37

This one was finished yesterday and I've just realised it is upside down.  However, in the gallery you will be walking around them, so which way up they are meant to be is irrelevant.

37 steps to madness

When I was asked to do a solo exhibition at The Changing Room in Stirling, I was delighted.  It is a lovely gallery with two rooms.  However, my 37 steps piece only fills one of them.  I do have other work I could show, but I wanted something to tie in.  It has been on my mind ever since Emma asked me in November, but mentally I was thinking I would start on it in the new year.  The 1st of January arrived and I had a brainwave.  I would make 37 small pieces to be placed on the floor like the snapshots I took every 37 steps.  Each of these pieces would be based on one of the snapshots.  Rather than make them photo shaped, I decided to make them 6 x 12in, roughly a large foot size (not my foot size as I take a tiny size 3!).  I calculated there were exactly 37 days until 6 February, which is when I would need to have everything ready to be installed, so that means I have to make one a day.  Oh.  What a challenge to set myself, as of course, I have nothing better to do, except look after the monsters, enjoy the snow, do my normal subbing for Popular Patchwork, write those articles that need to be written, write and give a talk to Helensburgh Quilters.... so I decided in my normal madness to go for it.  Will I make it?  Who knows.  Here are the first two, made on the 4th - yes I'm already behind!