Sheila Smith's workshop

 

I've got tired of the nursery rhymes, I'm finding the blue challenge giving me the blues so I've taken a risk and left it till December, just hope I do get back to finishing it.  I have definitely decided not to take part in next years JP challenge, I think I'm a bit saturated and need to do something else.

 

Talking of something else, I took Sheila Smith's Stitch & Felt workshop held by our local EG a couple of Saturdays ago.  I really enjoyed the day, Sheila was very helpful and full of enthusiasm.  I took a few photos

 

Sheila is in the middle in the blue checked shirt and these are my friends from the EG who shared the day.  We were quite prolific between us and surprised at how different each piece came out.

 

 

 Mine is the purple piece in the middlie, I was a bit enthusiastic with my felting and shrunk the tops a bit more than I had intended, it should be the same size as the other pieces, but I liked it.

The purple flowers were arrived at by binding marbles into the prefelt, tying them tightly then finishing off the felting. After which the marbles were cut out leaving a flower shape. I made felt balls to go in the middle of the flowers to create centres for them.

This one is a bit bigger, the orangey green one in the middle.  I've started to do some hand stitching into the piece.  I'll take a photo when I've completed it.   The raised areas here are pieces of felt laid onto a prefelt with chiffon laid over the top, stitched round the shapes and then felted.

Here is the same piece before it dried and before I started to put stitch onto it.

Journal Page for November

I am really struggling with the blue challenge and still not sure whether I will do the challene in 2013.  I know I am supposed to do one a month but if I don't get these blue ones finished I will give up and then I'd hate myself later.  So Novembers blue JP is based, once again, on the origins of a nursery rhyme.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.

The rhyme is about Queen Mary's persecution of Protestants, she executed over 300 in her short reign.  The silver bells and cockleshells refer to instruments of torture, silver bells were thumbscrews and cockleshells - well they crushed an intimate male body part.   The Maiden was a crude guillotine later refined to cut cleanly.  Her garden grew expotentially as the graveyards expanded to take the bodies of Protestants cut down in their prime.

And now for my interpretation:

Journal Pages Sept and Oct

I've found the restricted colour challenge for blue a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.  I like to work to a theme, that way I'm likely to actually finish the series, this blue section is based on Nursery Rhymes.  I've been reading about the origins of some of our English nursery rhymes and how they are linked to important historical events.  My JP's therefore reflect the origins rather than the more popular childhood versions.  The majority of nursery rhymes, mainly passed on by word of mouth, fall into two sections 'subversive' and 'teaching'.  They may be more sections but the majority of songs fall into these two.

Nursery Rhymes such as Monday's Child is Fair of Face,  One, Two Buckle my shoe, As I was going to St Ives teach numbers, days of the week, logic puzzles etc.  Boys and Girls come out to Play refers to the time of child labour and the only time they had to play was at night.  However if they played they ran the risk of being too tired to work and therefore earn money. This is summed up in the last line of the rhyme

 "Those who would eat must work - tis true."

My September journal page is not truly a nursery rhyme but the earliest 'subversive rhyme' recorded.  It is associated with the itinerant preacher John Ball who used it to incite the 'Peasants Revolt" in 1381 against their feudal lords. 

September JP - When Adam delved and Eve Span.

My October Journal page is "Ring a Ring a Roses" and most people would know that the 'ring a roses' refers to the rosy red rash in the shape of a ring of the Bubonic plague.  Although there was a great plague in the 1300's this rhyme goes back to 1665 when the Great Plague hit London.

Ring a Ring of Roses

A Pocket full of Posies

Atishoo Atishoo

We all fall down

I've used hand dyed fabric and lace for both journal pages together with printed fabric, ribbon and hand stitching.  The background for the Ring a Roses page was spray dyed over a piece of lace curtain.



Chunky Book Page

The final page of the Chunky Book swap has arrived.   This one is from Carol Jamieson and is based on the first couple of lines of  Tennyson's "Lady of Shallot".  Carol has used hand painted fabric with hand and machine stitching.  I like it a lot.

And this is the card she sent with it, is'nt it gorgeous.

After all the rain we've had the sun came out and as Buster was in rather a grumpy mood we decided to cheer him up and take him to the seaside as a treat.   He was in a much better mood when we got home as well as being tired out.

As soon as he sees a camera he either turns his back or puts his head down, guess which one he decided to do today.

There was hardly a soul on the beach just the odd pensioner like us and their dog.



We decided to walk along the beach from Redcar to Maske then back along the sand dunes.  This is Maske.