Getting closer

 I have done some intermittent work on my small tapestry and it is getting closer to being finished. 

Only one more round of the labyrinth. 

Then I'll, hopefully, finish the outside in the coming week. 

Only another hour or two to finish off the warp ends, etc! Hmm, that sounds like 4 of 5 more hours, at a minimum, given the speed at which I am currently working. Not a quick process. But I will have completed it and that is a plus!

Slow progress - but it does't matter.

 It has been a while since I have posted - quite a while!!

I have been going along, slowly, with my tapestry. It is turning out to be much harder than I had anticipated - to say the least. 

It is only going to be about 20cm square but I have 14 bobbins on it at times. The design looks flowing but turns out to be very fiddly. Each bit of the lines of the labyrinth need to be done separately, sometimes only for short distances. Curved lines that look like they could be done with one bobbin can't! The curves depend on the nearby areas being done at the same time, it not being possible to weave over thin air. 

However, it is going along. I went away for a couple of nights and took the loom with me. I forgot to take the yarns!! But there was enough on the bobbins for me to put in several hours' worth of work, due to the fiddly nature of the weaving. Luckily, I have until February for it to be finished. 

The theme is Between the Lines - my idea is that you walk between the lines to meditate on the labyrinth. And don't take any notice of the bumps, irregularities and textures around you, just go with the flow. 

September 23

 I have just been told that I should have blogged today, it being 23/09/23! So here here it is.

I went to the opening of the Annual Members' Exhibition at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria (Australia) last night. It was a very  interesting evening. 

I am on the exhibition committee, so will have have a vested interest in it, of course. 

But it was a lovely evening with interesting speeches. And an amazing array of works. In fact, I have commented that the exhibition is becoming a bit too good for its own good, in my not so humble opinion  - not an opinion shared by all. I feel that the quality of work is so high that some people might be put off joining the guild as they might not feel as if they could keep up to the standard. 

However, there were a few works that might encourage people to take on membership because they could live up to the standard - mainly my two works. Not being modest here, I wanted to participate and did a couple of pieces that pleased me (one here) - no thought about how they would stand up to comparison with other members. 

I did my blackwork labyrinth piece - I feel as if I should have put in a statement about ignoring the lumps and bumps, the imperfections, just walk the Labyrinth (finger walk). I didn't - but it is how I feel about my imperfect work. I don't care that it has imperfections, it was an enjoyable and meditative time making it. No precise plan, as seems to be my thing at the moment. I just did pieces at different times, as they spoke to me. (The theme is Reflection - I think that walking a labyrinth is a time for that.)

I am currently working on a small tapestry (20cm square) and it is another piece that had a plan that I am not really following all that closely. (It is also based on a labyrinth theme. The outside of is going to be textured, the inside (hopefully) will be smoother.)

  I have found a whole lot of yarns that I bought to play around with, in my more experimental days, and I am trying to incorporate them (it is quite possible that I am returning to those experimental, not very precise, days). My weaving is not getting much attention at the moment as I have been involved in setting up the exhibition at the EGV but it is slowly growing. 

Not sure what I am doing!

 I have an idea for a small tapestry. 

There has been a call for entries for a theme: Between the Lines. 

I thought about it for a while, even started a mind map. Then I returned to my ideas of a labyrinth - walking between the lines. 

The size called for is quite small, 20cm square, at most. So I knew that my previous labryinth pieces (here) were too complicated for that design. I am now going to go for one base on a tree shape. I have drawn up a couple of cartoons (the term used for tapestry plans). I coloured them, thinking that I might go through the colour wheel, as I really love playing with colour blending. They are not as complicated as one I tried earlier!

Then I got out one of my tubs of yarns - the yellows and browns. So the colour plan is totally changed!! I am also influenced by the idea of the outside of the path being a bit rough/textured. 

This is what I have found. It has totally changed my plan. I think I will do what I have been finding helpful recently - go with the flow: have a basic idea and let it grow. So I am going to warp up the loom and start, then see what develops. Use the basic idea but don't worry about the colour plan. What could go wrong?

Oh, I have also decided to continue using the yellow warp - that really influences my designs as the moment. 

Putting away the thing that doesn't work

 Today is 22/5/22, so had to post. Lucky I have this things about dates to make me actually post!

I have been working in the idea of a Labyrinth. One of my online textile groups came up with a theme for a journal page - textile, of course. The theme is Place. 

I have been feeling rather overwhelmed by the world news -only the bad stuff gets reported and there sure is a lot of bad stuff! And we have been leading up to a Federal election. Lots of rather meaningless stuff being said, also mostly negative. So I thought a labyrinth might be a good place to be, trying to get away from it all and just find some peace. 

But my latest try is not pleasing me at all! I have decided to let that idea go, for the time being, and see what else I can come up with. 

However, the only ideas that are coming to me are still around that idea - just in different formats. 

I am thinking I should finish my larger tapestry sample (which isn't particularly large) and then see if I can apply some of the techniques from that to a woven labyrinth. It does mean that I will have to get to and actually weave! 

Another idea I have started is to do a blackwork labyrinth. As blackwork is to geometric, I have started on a more geometric design. I tried to draw it on the fabric using a soluble pen. As I sew, I find that my drawing is rather inaccurate!! I'll keep going but will have to make adjustments as I go, so that things line up properly. That might be a challenge. 

Both of these ideas are in the slow work category. Maybe that is what I need at the moment, to just slow down and try to appreciate the calmness - and that is before the labyrinth is made!!

Trying to start something new.

4/4/22 - that must be a significant number!!

I am trying to think of something to spark a new work. The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, Australia has a members' exhibition in October. I know that sounds quite a while away but, at the rate I am currently going, that is a doable time-line - I hope. 

The theme of the overall exhibition is Threading a Way - we still seem to be trying to find our way into the future, so many things are impacting our lives still. 

The Machine Embroidery Guidance group also has a theme of trees - it has been the theme since 2020, we keep getting interrupted by Covid!

I was browsing through some old work I had done and came across one that was based on a labyrinth. It wasn't all that good but it did make me think about the theme - trying to find a way. 

More browsing led me to some tree-shaped labyrinth pictures, mostly from Pinterest. So now I am hoping to kill two birds with one stone, try a tree-shaped finger labyrinth - or just make a wall-hanging. So far I am at the idea only stage - who knows what will eventuate? 

I am contemplating trying some of what I learnt from the Cas Holmes course I did last year, using her collage idea for the background. I am also contemplating doing a blackwork one!! That will necessitate starting soon - I am rather slow at hand stitching. I also found some notes from a course I did in 2011 and saw some twin needle work on the sewing machine that might work. So ideas are coming, alll a bit confusing really.

Inspiration

Thanks goodness for interesting dates! Otherwise, I might not post at all.
9/9/19.

So ... what have I been doing?
I have just finished a piece for a group that has the theme Mood. I didn't really know what to do. I had done a piece that was about struggling with life and seeing some way through the difficult times. I called it Light at the End of the Tunnel.

Then I thought I would do a more positive one. I looked up labyrinth image and came across a few that were interesting. I adapted one to use and have made a piece that is quite textured. I like texture - in case you hadn't noticed.

You have to follow the coloured path, not between the pieces, to get in and out. Most labyrinth patterns use the pattern to walk between, as in hedges, but this one you use the textured parts to run your finger over it and that takes you in and out.

Then I found one that I had a really strong reaction to - it was an enclosed maze. It made me feel very stressed!! No way out. Endless circling.

I may use it in a future work, or I may not. I will see how the Mood takes me.