The Accidental Embroiderer

I think I’m in love....

...and I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I’ve wasted my whole life up to now, because I've never been to Venice before. I always thought I knew what Venice was like – there are so many paintings and photos and films that feature it. But believe me – NOTHING prepares you for the reality of the place. The scale of the city, the light and the way it changes, and of course the overwhelming beauty of everything you look at. If I had to choose just one defining quality of Venice (aside from the spectacular, ubiquitous beauty) it would be the human scale of the place. No buildings over 4 or 5 stories high, no advertising posters or billboards, and above all no cars. So the only noises you can hear in the streets are the echoes of human voices, human conversations, laughter, someone whistling in the next street.

The Lion of St Marks and me. The Lion is the one with the seagull – I’m the one with the hat

 

Oh well, this isn’t a travel blog and even if it were it would take me several years just to scratch the surface of what Venice has to offer. So – back to ordinary, everyday Aberdeenshire. Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to cope with the brown, withered end of winter by looking at how animals fit into this bleak landscape – in other words, playing around with ideas of camouflage. Here’s the first one in the series – a pheasant (female) in a field of long, dead grass.

The camouflaged pheasant

It didn’t quite turn out as I wanted: I think I should have put more embroidered grass in the background rather than depending so much on painted grass. But it’s good enough to go ahead with

The strange transparent fish

When I was researching scientific images that could be translated into embroidery, I ran across some fascinating photos of transparent fish. I just wish I knew how these creatures manage to “erase” their bodies so that light passes right through them. Here’s one of several that I picked up from the Internet (I think the photographer is Holger Knudsen)

A glass catfish

I can see several ways of using these fish in designs, but here’s the first one I’ve finished. It’s quite straightforward and uses overlapping layers of very thin fill stitching. It’s OK but there’s a lot more that could be done with this fascinating subject and I want to try it again later

Some stitched transparent fish

Now – I won’t be able to post for the next two weeks, because out of the blue my husband has suddenly decided that he wants to visit Venice, which means that next week we’re off to Italy. I’ve never been to Venice either so it will be a new experience for both of us

Another (very) old freebie

Back, finally, from a somewhat fraught trip to London. We arrived right into the middle of London Fashion Week, and all Covent Garden was full of lissom creatures wearing the most extraordinary clothes, followed through the streets by packs of photographers with huge cameras slung round their necks. I thought that London might be quiet in the middle of February, but no such luck - the streets were simply heaving with people, mostly tourists. I had hoped to have a look at the David Hockney exhibition, but even in the middle of the week there was a six-hour wait to get in, and there are limits to my enthusiasm for Hockney! So I consoled myself with visits to Tate Britain, Leighton House Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Queen’s Galleries and other old favorites

I arrived back home with a terrible cold, and there’s been no time to organise a new freebie, so here’s (yet) another one from the archives. It’s from a series I did a LONG time ago, with motifs “on point”: that is, diamond-shaped motifs. It’s a 4x4 inch (100mm x 100mm) hoop, and it’s embroidery only (no applique)

free vase of red flowers

The design (in .pes v.6) is here, and the worksheet is here