Hello Stranger!

 Well first I must wish you all a very Happy New Year and then next I have to apologise for being absent from my blog for such a long time! Lots of stuff has been happening and so I think this blog better be a catch up first and foremost.
Brain artwork: Well the two images above show the neurone weaving I have been working on, it is still in the experimental stage but it is opening up lots of ideas.

Workshops for adults with learning difficulties: Below are some images showing the exhibition of the work they had created with myself and a couple of other artists over the term.

The following photos show the display of the work I had led....

Here are the woven baskets made from plastic milk bottles and rags, name plates made from papier mache and string,

 above are the tissue paper bowls we made based on a theme of either fire or water and to the left are our mexican god's eyes.
(We also made some gorgeous sewn picture frames that I may have shown in an earlier post but unfortunately I don't seem to be able to find a photo of them in the exhibition)



Then I must show you the homemade gifts I gave for Christmas this year. I was really inspired by my friend Nicola at Halfpenny Home Haberdashery, she showed me how to do freehand embroidery on my sewing machine and this is what it led to......

This apron I made for a chicken loving friend,

this one was for my Dad.......

I was particularly pleased with myself when I managed to do the knife and fork so convincingly even though it was only small. The last apron was for a friend and showed her house and animals.

It was also a friends birthday just before Christmas and so I made her a knitting needle roll.....

....as you can see I added all the important details in life- coffee and cake, wool and her pet cat Ruby. Finally the jumper I knitted for my eldest niece.

I hope you are enjoying the New Year, I am concentrating on keeping warm at the moment but it is beautiful outside in the snow..

...I'll try not to leave it so long before my next blog.

Weaving workshops

Last wednesday I ran a workshop for adults with learning difficulties on behalf of Suffolk Artlink at the Bridge Project, Sudbury. We were doing weaving and these are the squares the group made in there 2 hour taster session. They were really proud of what they achieved- as you'll see one of the students wouldn't even put hers down to have the photo taken so she held hers instead.....

 This morning I've been working with the Optua group in Stowmarket doing a similar taster session for Suffolk Artlink here are their finished pieces.....

............Well done to everyone who took part.

Brains, neurones and textiles

I have been continuing with my work based on brains, here are a couple of the latest pieces I've made. I like the idea of the neurons spilling out at the edge where the brain isn't sealed but I'm a little disappointed with the end result in shape - this may be says more about the state of my brain than I intended!!

This one is all embroidered but I haven't finished it yet there may be words around it too but I'm not sure. 
I visited the Wellcome Trust brain exhibition last week it was fascinating and inspiring, had to buy the book - too relevant to leave behind!

New Small Commission Completed

You may remember the flower pictures I made last year based on the work of Carl Linnaeus, well a friend of mine liked them enough to commission me to make a set of three for her, based on flowers that had some special relevance for her. I have finished them now after a few months of working on them. Each picture contains at least one knitted flower and an applique flower, embroideries of the formation of pistil and stamens for the given flower and the name of the group that they belong to within the Linnaean order plus the description he gave of that family. Here are some closer shots of the pieces individually.

The Sweet pea,

the Forget-me-not

and finally the Poppy

I hope she is happy with them!

Thoughtful Lace?!

This is my latest brain based idea, I have been embroidering neurones onto dissolvable fabric. I decided to make a fairly small trial piece incase once it was washed I ended up with just a jumble of loose threads. But with some trepidation I did wash the fabric away and .......

.....Wow, it worked. As neurones don't touch each other but have synapses between them that electrochemical reactions jump across, I decided to make the joins between each one in a small amount of electric blue. Exciting stuff.

Think Brain

You remember in my last blog I mentioned my crocheted neurone (brain cell) well here it is again, photographed on the desk in my studio, and below are some photo's of the paper cuts I have been working on......

The pieces are sheets of paper with all that you can see in dark blue cut out with a scalpel. The image below may help to make this clearer....

......you can see my tea and coffee stuff on my desk through the gaps.

Here are some wonderful illustrations of neurones in an old copy of Greys Anatomy. 


Well what do you think? Why does no-one comment these days? Engage your neurones and think of something to say, please.


Finally I collected these in the garden today and thought they deserved a photo, I particularly like their vein-like pattern....

New Year Catch-up!

Hello all, well first I have to apologise for being so out of touch for ages and not blogging since November!- very remiss of me. So lets catch up on what has been going on.

CHRISTMAS- hope you all had a good one, it already seems ages ago but here are some of the numerous items I made for gifts this time. Above are; one of the half-a-dozen felt holly wreaths I made, a pair of hand knitted long ribbed socks and the four angels I made for my two nieces and my two girls ( they have clay limbs and head with soft bodies ). Below is a felt cuckoo clock that I made for a friend who collects real ones.

RURAL COLLUSIONS UPDATE- I went before christmas to take some more photo's of the work at Thornham ( sadly the festivities took over and I didn't manage to get to Lackford). Things are getting a lovely "incorporated" look about them now.

As you can see the moss carpet (third and fourth photo down) and the leaves (fifth photo down) are becoming so well absorbed by nature it's hard to tell they are even there! Oops the photo of the last remaining tree vein is on its side but you get the idea.


WORK IN THE STUDIO- I began working on some new ideas at the back end of last year that I haven't yet shown you (the blue pod like pieces at the top are also new).......

 Watch this space for more news of new work. I am about to start making more work based on the brain-   you may have spotted the crocheted neurone above! I promise it won't be so long before my next blog x J