So I managed a shop update today and listed the handkerchief wall hanging (amongst other things) you see at the top of the post. Really it is my favourite so far and I would love to keep it for myself. My Nanny (by Nanny I mean ‘Grandmother’, not the Mary Poppins kind) was fond of the old adage ‘cold hands, warm heart’, she used this expression often, whenever we complained that our digits were freezing, she also had a store of more acerbic sayings in her verbal arsenal, my favourite being “mutton dressed as lamb!”. Nanny would use this phrase to describe women, usually just a little younger than herself, who had obviously made a bit of an effort with their appearance. The last thing my Nanny would do before leaving the house was look in the mirror, pat her hair, dab her face with a little powder (I distinctly remember the smell of her powder puff) and apply lipstick, she had a wicked ‘mirror face’. I am cast in a similar mould to Hilda May Tulett, you wouldn’t catch me out and about without my slap & I suck my cheeks in when I check my reflection! Inspiration for another wall hanging, oh for sure- thank you Nanny.

It would have been nice to insert a picture of my Nanny and Grandad here. When I left my mother’s house under a big black cloud 22 years ago I took very few family photos with me. I have one photograph of myself as a baby, one as a toddler, one of my mother when she was much younger and a wonderful image of my Grandparents looking super sharp in the 1960s. A couple of my brother and sister too. These precious images have disappeared somewhere inside this house. I have looked but to no avail, I am hoping that they will turn up in the huge spring clean I have planned for next month. Sigh.

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week, really I owe the thanks for this synaptic kick start to another, you know who you are! Not *over* thinking which has so often in the past lead to inertia, the beginnings of an awareness, increased consciousness, less lazy work, maybe a story. I have been learning in public this past year, unaware that this is what I have been doing, there will be developments I know.

And, compromising all of the above, I lazily listed some lavender sachets today too, they are nice and pretty, smell good, keep the moths away, that’s it! A question of economics, another path of obsessive rumination, related of course to the above. Yes, they had to go, destined as gifts I think.

To take the taste away, below is a clip from Béla Tarr’s film Werckmeister Harmonies (Ishi was almost named Béla, I confess for Lugosi as well as Tarr!). If you haven’t seen this film rush to do so, it is one of my favourites, it repays the viewer a thousand times, the antithesis of lazy, a dialogue, an engagement. Be patient and you will see, I hope.

Oh, and I am behind with emails again, that old tune I’m afraid. Coming soon good people, you also know who you are!
XXX

The little piece above has made its way into the shop at last. Said shop is looking sparse, perhaps a touch sad, a case of what you see is what you get. I am happily working away on some exciting projects to come, meditative stitching, thinking, evaluating, then hot headed, verging on the riotous. Funny but I remember feeling a little like this when I gave up smoking in my early thirties, oh and I loved to smoke, it was hard, I felt itchy as if a wolf were trying to break through my skin. Did I ever tell you how much I love Jacobean revenge tragedy with its malcontents, floridity, extremity, yup lycanthropy occasionally too. I don’t know but have a feeling that some new work is gelling, many and varied fragments are moving together, revisiting texts, pieces of poetry. This is a good space to be in right now.

Well, these guys are still hanging around (I do love me a bad pun) over at Renegade Handmade, I am pretty sure they will be making their way back to me soon so if you want to snap one up you will have to be quick! In other news I managed my first full day off the junk, oh, not that kind, I mean biscuits and chocolate and over processed food. I have picked up a pretty awful comfort food habit of late and I am determined to put an end to it now, I’m just fed up with feeling tired and irritable, not to mention blubbery. While we are on the subject of food you must pop over to Nicole’s for a thoughtful post on this very issue.

Time to own up to another recently acquired habit, perhaps fetish is a better word. I just can’t help myself, I *need* to collect hankies, Adam thinks I have gone insane, he just doesn’t get it. We are not supposed to be spending money, some heavy duty saving going on around here, but I couldn’t help it, I spent $8 on this, that’s nearly £5 with postage, yikes!

So, the In Stitches Embroidery Showcase opens tonight at Renegade Handmade in Chicago. I wish I could be there to marvel at all of the wonderful artwork in person. The work of many of my stitching idols will be on display, including the wonderful and lovely Jessica Marquez aka Miniature Rhino. Jessica is pretty much the reason I began to try my hand at embroidery, her work is always such an inspiration, full of beauty, and oh, that neat, super-crisp stitching. Thanks Jessica! I have fallen hard for the work of Jennifer Porter, who goes by the name of Porterness. Scarily good! Check out some samples of the amazing work on display above, or even better, if you are in the area, get yourself down to Renegade Handmade. I still haven’t had a chance to get the images of my submissions out of the camera but you can see some pretty awful scans here. I have been sewing like a demon today to get some work ready for Supervente, neglecting husband, son, friends, siblings and email. Paris reporting will have to wait a little longer too, I have some exciting news to share when the time is right, it is good to be so busy, but why do I always leave things to the last minute?

I am extremely excited (if not hyperventilating with surprise and joy!) to announce that I have been invited to take part in a show at Renegade Handmade’s Spotlight Gallery in Chicago. The exhibition opens on the 20th of November and runs throughout the holiday period, Jenny Hart will be making an in-store appearance on the opening weekend. I have such a lot of work to do over the next week, we are facing postal strikes here and I want to be sure to get my work off in plenty of time. I will be unveiling some new pieces at the show and there will be old favourites too. I haven’t heard who else will be taking part so, if you know, send me a little bird with the information!

I love sharing new pieces of work with you, especially experiments. Last weekend I finished a wall hanging that I had been planning to make for a while, I am happy with the way it turned out and even happier that it combines my new found passion for embroidery with a well established love of typography.

Side by side, my embroidered version with the original page layout from Grafik magazine. I began to embroider each individual letter in the body text but they were just too small (especially as I need new glasses), so I settled upon indicating the type and I think it works just as well.

I have a head full of projects, more wall hangings based upon my own layouts and something more ambitious, but yes, lots more embroidery! Discovering that I can do back stitch has probably been the missing link for me this year, something so small and simple and yet it has opened up so many new possibilities. Making and creating has become such an essential part of me, sanity saving, truly. I heard this week that my exhibition in Wales has been postponed until next year, the public/Arts Council funded gallery is being refurbished, so dates have changed. This kind of news usually throws me and gets the paranoia germs a buzz, but I felt the possibilities of the situation instead. More time to learn and develop and create some interesting work. Hooray for craft sanity!

A little side note, I was thrilled to see the Lou Lou & Oscar banner featured in Artful Blogging magazine.

I was even more thrilled when Margie emailed me to say she had picked up a copy of the magazine and seen Lou Lou the wolf and Oscar the bird looking up at her from the pages. This is a good opportunity to shower praise and kisses upon Adam who designed the logo and banner, really Lou Lou & Oscar wouldn’t work without him.