finished the cushion at last!

It took me ages to finish this because of getting used to the new machine.  I must say it wasn't easy because I find it hard to control the speed with the foot pedal (must get some bigger feet), so I'm trying to do intricate patterns going at 100mph or zero mph, I can't seem to get anything in between.

I enjoyed squashing the feather cushion into the finished thing and at last seeing the result....

Machine embroidery workshop with Lara Sparks

On Saturday I went to a freehand embroidery workshop.  It was run by Lara Sparks who makes lovely cushions and lampshades and sells them at the Shoreham Gallery.  I learnt lots and enjoyed having a go at techniques I'd never tried before but was held up by lots of problems with my machine.

Here are a couple of photo's of the other lady's at work and one of Lara's designs - it's hard to believe that this is all sewn on a machine.  On her web site you can see how she adds applique and colours to embellish the pictures.  www.larasparks-embroidery.co.uk
I'll add some photo's of my wobbly efforts soon.

Just finished

Another wall hanging just finished.

This is 56cm square and includes some lovely big scallop shells I found washed up on the beach after a big storm.  The colours weren't very nice so I used some metallic paint to brighten them up.
The glass is irridescent sky blue and the swirls in the middle representing waves started out as wooden coasters!

New Mirror

It's been going well in the Gallery,  I've sold more than I expected and have lots of ideas for more to make.  I've also enjoyed working in the shop and meeting the customers.

Here is a mirror I've just finished which I'll put on display next.  It is made with black and red iridescent glass which is lovely but hard to do justice to in a photo.  It looks a bit wonky  here but that's only because I've photographed it at a slight angle to avoid my reflection and then cropped it - I wasn't drunk when making it!

Go with the flow

It's been a busy month because of being at the Gallery for three days - I've enjoyed meeting the customer and the other artists.

As well as making some smaller items I've also spent a while on this peace called 'Flow'.  It's made mostly with things I've found on the beach with a few other sparkly bits thrown in!  I hope it will be on display at the Gallery this week.

Installed

Some of my work was displayed in the gallery last Thursday and by Monday three small things had been sold!  That's a great start and has inspired me to quickly get on with producing some more things to put in before Christmas.

I have to work for a couple of days 'shadowing' other members to be shown  the ropes then I'll be  running the shop myself for one day every three weeks after that.

It's great to have an outlet for selling as otherwise it's hard to justify making even more but my home is looking rather bare now  so I have two excuses to get busy again!   I had started laying out a design on a massive semi-circular piece of wood but as this  would probably fill one whole wall at the gallery and I don't think that would be allowed, I've dismantled it and am using the materials on a much more manageable sized base.

Shoreham Gallery

I've been given a space at the Shoreham Gallery to display and hopefully sell my mosaics, beach art and cards.  It's a really nice shop run by a co-operative of artists and makers who share the costs and work in running it.  I'm looking forward to joining them and getting to know some other local crafty people and feel quite excited about it.  The standard of work is very high so I hope I can make my display match!

You can see their web site at http://www.shorehamgallery.co.uk

The house number mosaic is on the wall and each time I've been free to go and photograph it it's been raining.  Hopefully soon...