Dear Emma Designs

The past few weeks have been about appreciating the normality of everyday life and the pleasure of simple friendships. I’ve been busy with life stuff, busy in the workshop and having happy times with friends and family but overshadowing all of this is the fact that my treasured friend, Amanda has died. It’s been and still is hard to accept that I’ll never see her again and with this comes a lot of sadness.

So, whilst I will write more about Amanda in the coming weeks for now I’m going tell you about the lovely, gentle and happier things that I have been doing since my last post.

How do you feel about a polar bear? Here’s Erik by Sarah Peel of Coolcrafting. Amanda kindly gifted me this workshop as her plans had changed and she was no longer to attend herself. Whilst (I thought) felted animals were not my thing, I soon realised that Sarah has very cunningly created a family of irresistible creatures for total beginners to be very proud of. So, after a gorgeous day of slow stitching to the background of gentle chat I came away with a near finished polar bear ready to re-gift back to Amanda as a way of saying thank you. Sadly this wasn’t to be.

You may not think it, but believe me when I say you need a polar bear in your life so here’s the link. https://www.coolcrafting.co.uk/product/erik-eriksen-a-polar-bear/

He may not have a tail (I forgot that bit) and his arms a bit too close to his neck but isn’t he just a cutie. If you want to see his dandy outfit you’ll have to wait until the end of this post.

OK, lets take a short interlude to admire my foxgloves…..so gorgeous.

The most perfect pocket for a bee.

I’ve been so lucky to have taught at two really special sewing groups in the past few weeks. This group started as a few people gathered around a kitchen table but very quickly extended to requiring a proper venue and a committee. It’s held at a community centre which offers some really essential services to lots of local people. They didn’t know it at the time but I almost canceled this class as Amanda had just died 3 days prior and I wasn’t sure that I could manage it. Their kindness to one another, gentle teasing and support carried me through and made me smile. Even when a birthday cake was served and was so sticky it had to be almost wiped onto the plate. Yes, it was was delicious.

Next was Pendle Stitchers, a group formed in a similar way and who now have a waiting list. It was great to see such a variety of men and women and all ages having a go at free-motion machine embroidery. As we only had a couple of hours, I showed them how to make a little house and tree picture. You may notice that one cheeky (fella) person somehow managed to pass off my work as his own in this photo.

June is always a quite months for orders but it gives me a chance to catch up with making stock for Christmas events. There’s nothing nicer than discovering a box of stock that you’ve squirreled away.

Alongside my orders I’ve been busy working on a new kit idea. It’s almost finished and by the next time I write I will have pushed it over the finishing line. Here’s a few cryptic photos.

OK, I know you’re really wanting to see Erik in his completed outfit so here he is.

Erik is wearing cotton barrel leg trousers, a boiled wool vest in jade with hand embroidered leaf detail and Japanese silk handkerchief, a cherry-red duffle coat (toggles still be be added) and a snazzy scarf made from scrap of fabric found in my bin. I’m feeling a pair of wire spectacles and jaunty Baker Boy cap may be in order

So on that happy note I’ll say bye for now.

Take care.

x

There’s nothing like a warm spell to remind you that you quite like ice-cream, Aldi’s Titan Ice Cream bars to be exact. I daren’t even think about how many I’ve worked my way through over the past few weeks. Aside the ice-cream obsession I have actually been deep in creativity – designing a new product.

When I’m designing I rarely use pen and paper or paints to plan out a design. I empty my vast amount of fabric onto the floor, sit among it and search for colours, textures and print. Like many of my fellow sewers we hold a mental catologue of every scrap of fabric we own and are usually able to put our hands on it fairly rapidly. I lay the pieces of fabric out, over-lap, twist and manipulate them until I start to see a collection coming together. The palet of colours before me will then determine what colours and patterns come next. Whereas many people I teach struggle with colour combination and texture, I find this stage the easiest.

Saying that, I sometimes need a little help. A colour wheel is really useful to refer to. Mine is always close by in case I get a little stuck.

I’d love to tell you all about my new design, but until I’m 100% happy with it, I’ll just show you a few snippets. Sorry. There are lots of teeny, tiny windows, curtains and chimney pots to cut out and position using tweezers. From time to time I do question my vocation but then I’m reminded that I was always a natural at the popular 80’s game ‘Operation.’ I could have been World Champion

There have been quite a number of fabric bowl orders this week. I absolutely love this base colour – it’s sort of a burnt orange colour and is the perfect background colour for blues and pinks. I’ve really enjoyed working with these colours.

Top Tip. When creating your scene, always apply an adhesive (Bond-a web etc) to all your tiny pieces of fabric otherwise your needle will detach them. It’s very annoying when this happens. Perhaps next time, I will take you through a step-by-step guide to doing this.

In my garden the ferns, foxgloves, poppies and cornflowers are popping up. Cornflower blue is THE most gorgeous blue and the petals are just wild!

Trying to replicate this flower in fabric and stitch is pretty challenging. Yes, the petals were a nightmare to cut out (and not the best shade of blue). Very little free-motion here, more hand stitching. Perhaps one to remake in the future.

Away from the workshop I’ve been up to a few nice things.

To mark the start of Bradford City Of Culture celebrations, we were lucky enough to see the most special open air concert by a para orchestra with their artistic director Charles Hazelwood. It was a sunrise event so pulling on my running gear (yes, my running buddy had organised a 12 mile route to include a once around Ilkley Moor) at 03:45 was a shock to the system. We were convinced that there would just a handful of people, perhaps a milkman and a disgruntled paperboy. We were wrong. At least a few hundred people had made their way (up a very steep hill) and onto the moor to see and hear this special event. Nestled in a natural amphitheater we stood in awe of these amazing musicians. It really was magical.

Have you ever wanted to climb a waterfall when there’s no water in it? Gordale Scar in Malham (where scenes from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows was filmed) is usually a very impressive 12m high waterfall but as it was all but a trickle we made the challenging scramble up the first section. Great fun without injury. Here are a few photos of our run back to Kirby Malham. So lucky to live in the Yorkshire Dales.

One other interesting project that I’m involved in is for a local ecology company. Last year I spent the summer helping them to relocate hundreds of sloe worms and common lizards from an area of land to be built on. This year it’s bat surveys where I get to use an echometre and night vision equipment. Last week I saw up close, a common pipistrelle. How incredible that they use echolocation to find a midge and eat it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this snippet of life inside and outside of the workshop. Next up Foxgloves but you’ll have to wait for that. Take care and eat all the ice-cream. xxx

I know you don’t want to hear this but I’m going to tell you anyway. I’ll say it quickly. It’s only199daysuntilChristmas. So for me this means keeping one eye on day-to-day orders and the other on, yes, Christmas stock; and its fair to say that already I’m ‘robined out’. Stitching robins and holly berries whilst the sun is baking hot outside, well, it’s just not right. Yesterday I jumped ship and took a half hour breather through my garden, up the banking and to the railway embankment.  Here’s a quick tour for you.

                  Leave the garden                                                 Wade through the den

                         Exit the den  …                                                     … and past the Ole Boot

                                                  Haul myself up the banking                            Nearly there

             An old train carriage in sight …                             … and on the embankment.

It’s only a couple of weeks since I last showed you the flowers that had started to appear along the railway embankment. Here’s a little of what’s been happening since.

                 Birdsfoot Trefoil                                                Red Campion and Broome

                   Tortoiseshell butterfly                                          Buttercup and cricket (?)

                      Wild strawberries….                                                   …and raspberries

                                     Purple Tuffed Vetch                                    Clover

                                     Budding up                                                   Oxeye Daisy

                                                                    Germander Speedwell

                              Ready to seed                                                           Tick tock

                           Common Mouse Ear                                                   Ribwort Plantain

                       Hawthorne blossom

                                      Ladybird                                                          Poppy

                                    Lapwing                                                               Nest on the flash

                          Neat fly tipping (!)                                    Ground covering of wild strawberries

     Ferns popping up in the den                                Over the fallen tree

                                Back through the den …                                            ….and into the garden

                 Workshop in view                                          Railway salvage in use in our garden

                        This weeks specimens…                                             ….and back to work (argh!!)

Mr Dear Emma smiles as he roots around in my carrier bag of findings. Yes, to some they may look like weeds but for those of us who like a good poke about in the undergrowth with a stick, a trample through boggy fields or lay in hiding for hours at the prospect of even a glimpse of some wildlife, these “weeds” mark the start of a pretty special time of year.

I live in a station house on the edge of a disused railway line. Aside from the “train enthusiasts” (we have steam trains that pass through), clutching their huge booms and fancy cameras that descend on us twice a week, the disused part of the railway line is uninteresting to most but to me and a handful of others, its a bit of a secret paradise.

Cabin fever was setting in so I took myself off for a breath of fresh air and a poke about. I was only away for 15 minutes or so but it was enough time to blow away the cobwebs.

Wild strawberry plants line the gravel track that runs parallel to the line. Nestled amongst an abandoned Royal Mail carriage grow primrose, cowslip and broom.

Above – Broom and Germander Speedwell

In total (and to my untrained eye) I counted eight varieties of wild fruit or flowers which included Germander Speedwell, Common Broom, Scotch Broom, Meadow Buttercup, Purple Tufted Vetch, Wild Strawberry, Bluebell and Forget-me-not.

So, Mr Dear Emma, not bad for a bag of weeds.

Working alone for most of the day can be great for production.  9.15 in the workshop and I’m fully prepped (night before), fingers at the ready and the machines are co-operating and I press ‘play’ on the DVD. I work fast. I’m completely absorbed in what I’m doing and it’s only my growling stomach that reminds me that I need a break.  These golden bubbles of time are very satisfying and here is an example of what this time looks like.

Dragonfly brooches.

I’ve made these brooches for sometime and reserched their shape from pictures and drawings, never having actually studied them in real life.  However, a trip this year to France offered me a great opportunity to watch and photograph them.

Still and quiet.  A magical moment for me.

This particular one was happy to be photgraphed and here he is.

Above. This shot was pure fluke. No idea how I took this.

Dragonfly brooches are fiddly and time consuming to make and  require a lot of stitch work on their wings. However, this effort is well worth it.

Here are a few photos of the process (in a nut shell)

a. The template is designed and the various components i.e. wings & body cut of of fabric.

b. These are then bonded to a stiffened cotton and the stitch work begins using freehand machine embroidery, various cottons and a lot of patience (a full dictionary of swear words is also essential). This is the most time consuming stage and one where if I’m not fully focused can end badly, often involving my fore finger and a fast moving needle! (Blood isn’t an attractive colour on a dragonfly wing).

c. Sequins stitched on and ready to be cut out.

d. Once cut out they are then bonded to felt and left overnight to dry.Brooch bars are then stitched on and finally into their boxes and sent on their way.

 On a good day I can make 20 brooches but after that I’m desperate to get out of the workshop for a change of scene and a smell of fresh air.

It’s easy to see why dragonflies are a bit special and despite the brooches being a chore to make, the end result is worth it. 

Sometimes I struggle to say goodbye.