I'm here...I'm happier than I can say to be back. It's been an amazing four weeks, wonderful and stressful too. Where have I been? We went to Portugal for two weeks, a long planned family holiday with our kids and their partners. The weather was mostly glorious, the family time pricele...

The most important things are now tucked safely in my suitcase, holiday stitching supplies. It's been quite a year (yes I know it's not over yet). I never imagined I would ever leave this house but it seems I will be doing just that four days after returning from my holiday. Our holiday has be...

Another finished piece for the pile. (I say pile, actually it's another piece to be fretted over and packed ready for the move). I made some oversized Suffolk puffs to finish this one along the right hand edge. I was tempted by dangly things, dangly things I haven't actually made myse...

This one is 'in progress', there is more to do and I have plans. The ruched strip has been cut from an old blouse, (not one of mine, a charity shop find). I've been thinking a lot lately about these little embroidered pieces I'm obsessed with making at the moment. I think I have mentioned ...

The ironing board was out this morning, not for the 'chore' stuff, the boring stuff but for 'stitch along' where we are making pockets and titivated sashes for a baby dress. (it's complicated and probably not what you are imagining) anyway...these images....taken after 'stitch along' stuff...

The blue beaded 'abacus' like edge is the newest work here. It would seem I am consumed, obesessed with all things paper when in reality the past few days and the coming days have been and will be more about edges on paper and cloth. This work has been shared on here before in various stag...

Another little glimpse for you of what's happening in 'stich along'. It may not seem much but the ribbons were added in class this week....it took a lot of thought and testing. (we didn't eat cake all day instead honestly) and besides.....we have other things going on too. The paper piece ...

You may remember this piece from last week. It's been added to, extended, layered. There are pockets appearing....those are inspired by my work in stitch along. Like I said the other day, one thing leads to another. It looks rather 'unkempt' in these images, like some poor ravaged rag do...

These pieces keep on coming, I have so many ideas inspired from this work and once I've created from those ideas more ideas pop up. It's never ending (in a good way) I must remember to refer back to this post next time I have a creative block, remind myself of the day when the ideas wouldn't...

I created this little piece as I had a need to create a channel through which I could thread a strip of linen tape, yes really. Ever since I finished this piece I haven't been able to get tape, channels, drawing up, gathering off my mind. There are two layers of lace here with the channel defi...

Paper, some of it easier to stitch on than others yet all unique in how they respond to embroidery. Some of this paper was machine stitched prior to hand stitch being added, prior to embellishment with beads, buttons and sequins. The large sheet is the next piece for this project. One of...

I am now able to show you a little of what's happening in class, in my 12 month stitch along class. We are in the very early stages of this year long programme, we're making pockets. The first two images here are of my second pocket which for now is minimally embellished. This one is layer u...

There are always scraps lying round here, scraps of paper, cloth, ribbon...my motto? never throw anything away. These little pieces are variouys scraps which have been gathered together and embellished with stitch, beads and ribbon. If you look at the first image where they are laid on a s...

A little break from paper yet still book related. It occured to me that Clara never got a pocket. She may still not get a pocket, she may get a sleeve instead. If you haven't got a clue who Clara is....Clara made her debut here during my 'stitching a story'' class where we embe...

My table this morning....an appraisal, a look, considering and being inspired to keep going with this body of work. This too, The early stages of an overlay...or is it a page? I haven't made my mind up yet. Paper laid over lace cloth, simple embellishment and a fragile edge. There have...

It's not final, my mind isn't completely made up yet but I'm toying with the idea of mounting my stitched white paper pieces on embroidered silk panels. This is the first part of playing, trying that idea out. I've embroidered along the top of a silk panel here, placed a piece of stitched ...

A little scrap of stitch or should I say several little scraps joined together and then stitched. This is my latest sample...of many. You've been seeing these forever, what can I say. I'm building a sample library, a resource. The white pieces have been getting a lot of thought these pas...

Embroidered white paper, a page. I'm still on my artist book path after yesterday. There are now several of these embroidered white pieces and I'm trying very hard to decide how to combine them into artist book form. There's no rush, I'll take my time. These pieces need something light as prot...

Remember the loose pages from yesterday? They aren't loose anymore....they are bound in this artist book. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with the cover. It may be that I play with that a little more. I'm going to sleep on it. My 12 month stitch along started a couple of days ago.......