More shells

We had a lovely workshop with Nicky Dillerstone at S.e.a.t.a last Saturday. On a beautiful warm sunny day, it seemed appropriate working with shells and driftwood along with neutral coloured fabric and threads.

Nicky talked and showed us some of her work, before giving us free rein to help ourselves to some of her stash to add to our own, and make a start.

I was giddy with ideas, the others on our table reckoned I was like a kid who had had too much sugar in the sweet shop.

All these lovely fabrics and shells to choose from, where to begin? I’d narrowed things down a little before I left home, not taking very many shells, a few (!) pieces of sea glass, my precious sea marble, and some of the fine fabrics and threads I’d taken to Amanda J Clayton’s workshop a few weeks ago.

The squarish piece of driftwood (above) has been on the window-sill in Miles’ bedroom for several (!) years, and I finally thought I would use it. I even arranged a few shells on it. Then I saw the piece in Nicky’s box which I couldn’t resist (bottom left in the above photo).

I started tying the shell to the driftwood, wanting to leave the hole in the shell as a spyhole to show off the grain of the wood, but it was slipping around too much. Nicky had offered to drill holes in the shells for us, so I asked if she could drill it while still attached to the wood. She’d try. Yes. How many? Three, please. Where? There, there and there.

I didn’t want to use them to anchor it any more, but to thread net through …..

……. some pale gold organza, a bit fiddly ……

… but managed.

I then used a strip of some softened (washed?) canvas wrapped in the fine wire from a wine bottle threaded with beads. This wouldn’t go through the final hole properly so a few stitches held it in place.

Some tiny beads were strung on the netting with a Madeira metallic thread.

A tiny felt ball, the size of my little finger nail, has some of the same beads stitched to it, but it’s not finished yet.

I’ve gathered up the gold organza with a few rows of stitching, and used some more of the wire to anchor the shell better to the wood. This is as far as I’d got by the end of the day.

I asked Nicky to drill some more holes in another shell for me before we finished for the day. Drilling shell isn’t something I’ve done yet, but I’ll certainly have a go.

I’ve put in some blanket stitches and started some button hole stitch.

I’m just experimenting with it at the moment.

As always I came away from Nicky’s workshop inspired. Just thinking of her and her work is inspiring. Thank you, Nicky.

Old black and white photos

This week Nicky Dillerstone sent me back some old “photos”, from a community project that she did at 20-21 in Scunthorpe some years ago. We took along old family photos which Nicky printed on calico, we stitched into them and Nicky made them up into quilts to be part of an exhibition. The quilts have been dismantled, and the pieces returned to the stitchers.

The one above is of my mum and nanna, when I guess mum was about 7 or 8. Unfortunately there isn’t anybody left who can give me more details about any of the photos.

This one is mum again, aged 2 or 3, and it’s a professional, staged photo. I’m not sure if we all had to use red stitching to bring all the pieces together, but I think so.

This is a professional one of my dad aged about 4.

And this is my mum, I believe, with her paternal great grandmother and her baby cousin, or it could be the baby’s mum, mum’s auntie.

They reminded me that I have more photos printed on calico from another workshop that we did with Nicky shortly afterwards. These are not finished…… no deadline for them!

This bride is my great Auntie Vi with husband Uncle Tom, and on the right, my nanna as bridesmaid. Auntie Vi was 15 years younger than my great grandma. Somewhere, tucked away in an old exercise book, I have notes about the family history from Auntie Vi after reading “Roots” in the late 70’s; so that’s a rainy day project sometime.

My intention had been to embroider the roses and Uncle Tom’s buttonhole.

This again is Auntie Vi, looking very glamorous, which is not at all how I remember her. We usually saw her in her work clothes, gardening, in the huge garden that she managed on her own for many years after Uncle Tom died when I was quite tiny. There is one needle full of thread, but whether I can match it up with more I don’t know.

And this is a later one of her. As the vicar said of her at her funeral, that although she was no church goer she was a great character and everybody in the road knew her. Hers was the first funeral I went to that was more a celebration of her long life rather than doom and gloom. I vividly remember laughing at some tale the vicar told with tears rolling down my cheeks. Just looking at the photos of her makes me smile and brings back many happy memories.

What a difference a day makes

Lincolnshire coast

Monday and Tuesday this week were two of those glorious golden days we sometimes get in September. Rarely as warm as these, though. On Monday I decided I should make the most of it and lie in the hammock under the wisteria with a book, but by the time I finally got out there, it had cooled off too much to stay long.

On Tuesday morning I suggested we should go to the seaside and catch the last of the summer sun. Not the packed beaches of southern England, but the quiet beaches on the Lincolnshire coast.

All the same when we got there the car parking strip along the top of the beach was full, not many people on the beach and certainly well spaced out, not at all crowded. Lots of motorhomes and camper vans, as well as cars. We thought we wouldn’t even be able to park, one space as we’d driven down, but somebody went in to it as we reversed back up (no space to turn round). But we were lucky somebody pulled out leaving us a space.

After eating our picnic I went for a paddle. It was reading 29°C on the car thermometer, fairly breezy, but a warm wind, although the sea was pretty cold. No where near as warm as last year when I went for a swim a couple of miles up the coast. The tide was on it’s way out, and a fair pull so I only ventured up to my waist. It certainly cooled me down.

As I walked back up the beach I picked up a few pebbles and shells, mainly for their textures, patterns and colours. The smallest pairs of razor shells I’d ever seen, but the smallest ones I picked up were blown off my hand. I didn’t want sand in the camera so the photos are taken at home on a piece of fabric I batiked on a course sometime ago with Nicky Dillerstone. The lines were representative of breaking waves. And the blue on the left was the colour of the sky on Tuesday.

Interesting textures and patterns

Tiny shells, several with holes in so they could be stitched in to some future work.

We then pottered back up the coast on the coast road, stopping off a few times to look at places we’d not been to before. One was Theddlethorpe Dunes, a nature reserve with a couple of shortish walks, mainly on good paths. The buckthorn were laden with bright orange berries, stunning against the complimentary blue of the sky.

Sea Buckthorn

Cocoon amongst the berries, tiny caterpillars crawling about.

The path led to a walk along the edge of the marshes, lovely colours in the sunshine, but must look very bleak on a grey day. You can just see the sea on the horizon line.

Then back inland, where there were loads of dragon or damsel flies flitting about. I tried to photograph them but they rarely settle and when they do not for long enough to get closer and zoom in. This I took for the berries on the tree and have just by chance got one.

Dragon or damsel fly on the left.

We also stopped off at Saltfleet Haven just for a look. The track was full of deep potholes so a very cautious bumpy drive down. An old friend no longer with us used to have a tiny caravan nearby. The campsite seems to have been developed since we were last there, with cut grass and fishing ponds, the wind whipping the water so it didn’t look real. It looked stitched or smocked.

The water looked so textured it didn’t look real.

We then had a final stop at the playing field at Grainthorpe for a Bentley’s ice cream. The best rum and raisin that Colin has ever tasted, I had honey and ginger nut, one of the flavours for autumn. It’s so good we have it marked on the map book. It is sold in the deli by the church in Louth, and they get to various local shows normally. Well worth looking out for.

Very much the last of summer, I woke to rain and grey skies the next morning, and the temperature has dropped to 14ºC. We lit the fire last night.

Autumn has arrived as the photos I took in the garden this morning between showers testify. The colours have taken on an autumnal hue.

Aquilegia / Granny’s bonnet leaves

Dead leaves on the lichen covered root

The Wisteria leaves are falling

0.Apple leaves

The changing colours have prompted me to work on the Nicola Hume long and short stitch tulip, maybe a spring flower, but the colours are current! Part of the delay with this has been the threads have been ‘borrowed’ for something else, so instead of just picking up the wallet with everything ready to stitch, I’ve had to find the ‘right’ colours. It’s proved a bit of a challenge, it’s not my first attempt, but have finally made a decision, the ‘right’ light is likely to get worse over the autumn and winter not better, so go with it.

Long and short stitch

Autumn colours

Nearly there

One more stitching session should see it finished.