Creative Mending

 I went to put on one of my hand knitted jumpers and to my horror it had a hole in it, right in the front.  I realised the moths had been at it and it was too munched to darn.

Rather than throw it away or wear for gardening I decided to patch it!

I hunted for the left over wool and decided to knit a stripy patch to cover the hole.

Before I attached the patch I stabilised the hole from the back with some wool cloth stitched on the machine.

The patch was pressed and attached to the front to cover the hole with backstitch.

One new jumper with a creative repair!

Gourds

 I found these wonderful gourds in a florist shop and though that I must buy them!

They have been photographed and now I am drawing them. Their texture is wonderful and knobbly and just asking to be turned into stitch.

This is my first drawing using crayons.

Autumn Colours

 Because the  weather  has been reasonably dry and  warm for the time of year the autumn colours have been beautiful. These photographs were taken in my garden.

Some of the leaves are dropping now and leaving a crackly carpet on the ground.

Medieval Market

 On Sunday 19th October I helped at the Medieval market held at the Heron Corn Mill. Beetham. by demonstrating textile weaving.

This was the culmination of a Linen Project which had taken place at the mill over a few years. The project included the growing of flax and the various treatments needed to turn the flax into a thread which could be woven.

I had helped with the project by embroidering the plant madder on the linen cloth which produces a reddy -orange dye.

There were displays of all the things that could be done with linen.

Outside there were various medieval stalls and demonstrations of working with flax.

It was an interesting market with displays of linen work and despite the rain it was an enjoyable day.

Altered Books

 I found some interesting altered books on the internet. Fungi had been added to  the book, to make it look as if the book was  disintegrating with the fungi growing out of the book!

 The fungi on the internet were made with paper. I thought I would have a go at making the designs in textiles and my first try was the Amanita above. 

My completed altered book is below with an Amanita, bracket fungus, fairy cups and ink caps.

The next book I worked on was about Lichens and this I decorated with hand embroidered and crocheted Lichens as if they were taking over the book!

Fossils is the next book I am working on so Watch this space!

I have now finished the fossil book. I made some ammonites from soft sculpt and then attached them to painted pelmet vilene. I them embroidered around them.

I then used paper clay to make an impression of a plant fossil and finally a fish from lutradur

The Myth of Kente Cloth

 I became interested in Kente cloth after I saw a young man weaving the cloth on a horizontal strip loom. I was fascinated by the way he used his feet to apply tension. The cloth is linked to the Ashanti who now live in modern day Ghana in west Africa.

Kente cloth is so important that it even has its own myth and it was this story I decided to weave.

Two weavers went out into the forest and while there they found a beautiful spider's web full of patterns. They decided to take it home with them but it disintegrated as soon as they touched it.

Design for the forest

They went out the next day and searched for the spider's web and after a while they found it. This time the spider was present on the web and showed the weavers how to make the patterns. They took the knowledge of the patterns back with them and from that day on Kente cloth was always brightly coloured and made up of geometrical patterns.

weaving of geometrical patterns.

The colours and the patterns and are of great significance to the Ashanti and all mean something.

weaving of spider's body

completed spider with wrapped wire legs

weaving of lower half with wrapped vines

weaving of the geometrical patterns

left half of completed weaving

Completed weaving with spider and web.

close up of spider weaving web.