Author: Katy

The author packs light

7 August, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Due to some hand luggage space restrictions (cloth nappies are too precious to be trusted to the hold), I find myself on holiday without any hand work.

One could argue that the idea of having the time to do anything with travelling companions of four (and three quarters) and four months old was sheer folly, but I remain an optimist.

The lack of my usual pursuits has left me free to mull over the next step in the Ark Project, cook with unfamiliar ingredients and relive the more unusual parts of my childhood.*

I’m not sure I want to make a habit of travelling without needlework, but I find myself Pinning an awful lot of art journals at the moment, so perhaps I’ll exchange pins for pens next time.

*I was such a voracious reader that I would make regular, if half-hearted, attempts at The New England Journal of Medicine. It turned out to stand me in good stead when it came to Pilates coursework, but I think I really only liked the cover.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Blast Off

31 July, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

Here’s the ark curtain I’ve been agonising over for a year.

Sometimes large pieces take a long time because of the time it takes to physically complete them, and sometimes it’s the existential crisis that takes the time. This piece was particularly hard-fought, and took lots of both.

The initial design fell together really quickly, and the applique went very easily. I decided to see what it looked like at that point in the ark, even though it felt unresolved.

I wanted to combine elements which reflected the community’s place within the Scottish and Jewish artistic landscape. There are nods to trade union and suffragette banners as well as elements of the Scottish Arts and Crafts movements.

The skeleton of it was right, but it needed more texture and movement.

I was particularly pleased with the banner, the silk is gorgeously papery in feel, and lets me give a feeling of flutter into the text, but that contrasted with the flatness of the tree.

I stitched things, I picked them out again. I added hundreds of seed stitches to the French knots in the etrogim (yellow things like monster lemons). I pondered quilting techniques, tone on tone embroidery, trapunto, and finally did a little tentative leaf embroidery.

I stood back, I looked up close. I hung it on a door, I laid it on the floor. I took photos in black and white, and in colour. I haunted Pinterest, I copied Art Nouveau drawings, paintings and furniture. Finally, I decided on the only sure thing and applied an Arbitrary Deadline, Little Lion’s baby blessing.

I think it’s worked in the end. At any rate, I now have a template to base the other pieces on, so hopefully I’ve paid my debt to my muse in advance.

Ark design and construction: Sorell

Metalwork design: Lauren Fox

10, 9, 8, 7, 6

24 July, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

This piece has been a year in the making.

It will form part of the ark furnishings for the Liberal Jewish community in Edinburgh. This includes a curtain for the ark, a mantle for the Torah scrolls and a tablecloth to be put under the Torah scrolls when they’re out of the ark. This is the everyday set, there will also be a set for the High Holy Days.

I unveiled a preview of the curtain in September, but I wasn’t happy with the lack of detail, so I took it back and worked on it some more.

Having held onto it for so long, I’m a little apprehensive about letting it out into the wide world for good.

Part of my apprehension comes from the fact that this is the first of six pieces, three of which have to maintain some sort of consistent style over what is likely to be a fairly significant period of time.

However at the moment, I’m pretty happy with it. There’s a point in quilting where a piece ceases to be the sum of it’s pieced parts and becomes a quilt. I got a little frisson of that yesterday when I put the lining into the curtain. All of a sudden it was more finished than unfinished, and it gave me a definite push towards the last few stitches.

After a year of moving through my hands, I thought it needed a wash (plus there was the water-soluble glue I experimented with), but there was a little fear as the blue silk was still a bit runny.

But the pre-wash fairies were on my side, and it all came out unscathed.

I even got a little sunshine to dry it in. Being a particularly paranoid person, I popped a towel over it on the line, just in case of bird strike or (more likely) a little rain.

I’m afraid that due to a hungry baby and other delays this is a two part post. I’ll unveil the final piece next week, but you can see the evolution of the design in previous posts.

How Do You Know When To Stop?

17 July, 2015 / Katy / 1 Comment

Do you struggle against the overwhelming desire to add one more strawberry to your pavlova, causing a near-fatal whipped cream slide?

Perhaps you just make one tap too many as you perfect the nose of your latest humano-leonine sculpture.

If you are drowning beneath symphony manuscripts or tarrying in front of nearly finished canvases, Misericordia Ltd can offer you the perfect solution.

For a practically trivial consideration we will post you an Arbitrary Deadline in plain, unmarked packaging.

Simply apply your Arbitrary Deadline (it is acid free and water soluble) to the medium of your choice and await developments*.

*Misericordia Ltd cannot guarantee results when product is not used according to the instructions. Common mistakes include spreading product too thinly or failing to allow product to dry completely. Please note that AD is not for human consumption. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Moderate or Good, Occasionally Poor

10 July, 2015 / Katy / 3 Comments

I’m wafting gently through the weeks at the moment.

The weather is nothing special, I’m in the middle of two medium to large projects that I can’t really show at the moment, and my companions are mostly silent (but good company).

It’s quite soothing, but the odd day of excitement (Dragon’s school induction!) takes me rather by surprise and I end up needing half a day staring out the window to get over it.

I’m still picking away at things, even if it is in slow motion.

Art Tatin: Magna Carta (An Embroidery)

25 June, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Just when I think I’m getting a bit jaded about stitching and art in general, something comes along that makes me squiggle in my seat with joy.

This project by Cornelia Parker to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta is particularly pleasing, so I thought you might want to have a wee look.

Not only is it a beautiful example of the translation from digital to analogue, but I am particularly impressed by who she asked to stitch certain words (I’ll let you discover them in the film).

There seem to be a few large-scale collaborative embroideries and I’m gutted that I haven’t been able to participate in them (yet). If you’re in London, and you get a chance to see it, please tell me what you think!

N+S Wedding Commission

5 June, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

I got just about the perfect email the other week.

It was from a lady that had seen my work at Out of the Blue Arts Market in December and talked to me about her sister’s wedding. She wanted me to make a piece based on the wedding invitation, and was very organised in sending me some photos of the invitation to look at.

It was nice to be able to work directly from something the couple had designed themselves, and being the font geek I am, I had to modify one of the fonts to match the rather unusual Western/Art Nouveau font used on the invitation (even though the really interesting letters don’t appear in the hoop text).

I also got to use a new 20cm sized hoop, which is nice and big for pieces with a lot of detail or that need some space around different elements.

I want to start to tweak my craft fair stands to show more of the commissioning process. Given the other constraints on my time, I need to start to concentrate on that part of my work. Do you think I should recreate the mess on the table next to my side of the sofa?

Thread and Heather

23 May, 2015 / Katy / 1 Comment

One of my resolutions for this year was to get my work seen by more people in person.

It may surprise you, but it seems that not everyone impulse purchases embroideries!

I was thrilled to learn that a new shop was opening near me, called Thread and Heather, selling handmade craft and supplies. I am particularly pleased that they’re stocking embroidery thread, because I hate trekking into town to get it and sometimes ordering online seems like an awful faff for just one skein.

Unfortunately, I missed the opening, but the photos of the shop look great, and I’m looking forward to stopping by this weekend.

If you’re too far away from Edinburgh to peruse in person, you can check them out on their website or on Facebook.

Happy Growing… Up

7 May, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

It’s my birthday today!

In addition to treating myself to a trip to the cinema (thank goodness for The Big Scream) and a promise to eat quite a lot of cake, I thought I ought to start a new tradition of doing stuff for other people, since I’m trying be a little more minimalist in my possessions.

I’ve decided to invest my age in Lend with Care, who provide micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. It feels like a nice parallel to my own entrepreneurial adventures, and you get to learn about the individuals who receive the loans.

A little closer to home, and very near my heart, is something I want to ask you to do for me. There is a high school near us, which will soon be moving to larger premises.

It’s a beautiful building, and there is a bid from Out of the Blue Arts and Education Trust which, among other things, runs one of my favourite arts markets at the Drill Hall in Leith, to turn the school into artist studios, a teaching space, cafe and affordable housing. What could be better?

Unfortunately, there is a counter offer which will turn the school into flats, and given the way planning is going in Edinburgh at the moment, we need all the help we can get to encourage the council to reconsider the Out of the Blue bid.

So please, gentle reader, if you love me at all, will you read all about it here and consider signing the petition?

Are we nearly there yet?

1 May, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

I like to think of myself as adaptable, open to change and unflappable.

But I’m really not.

I absolutely appreciate the fact that we can use the in law’s flat as a bolthole while we have work done (and the amount of grime on even the parts of the flat as far away from the bathroom as possible is truly stunning), but I want to go home!

I’ve got some exciting news coming up in the next week or so, but in the meantime I’m trying to maintain my good humour with the aid of a gorgeous view over the Meadows and the odd tea party.