Woke up at 5.10am - tried, but can't get back to sleep. Got up at 5.55am, made some breakfast and came in to do some work.
Won't be able to start machine up, too noisy, so I'll do some digitisation while everybody's sleeping.
I'm really conscious that I won't be here all weekend - long-standing committment to go to Girvan with Shaun and his pal for the festival. Really, I need a wee break anyway, but wish it was a different weekend.
Just had a message from Blane (lecturer) saying that I only need to hand in all my digital stuff and my samples and sketchbook next Friday, so that's taken a bit of pressure off. Although, I still have to keep at it to finish sewing this big piece. I need some time to finish off my other artworks for the show.
Off to digitise before the kids wake up!
May
xx
Thursday, 28 April 2011
12 hours done - so far...
Ok - that's me been sewing constantly for 12 hours now and the latest picture is the progress I've made today. I'll probably go back into my room and sew some more after I've had something to eat.
May
xx
Getting Like a House on Fire!
Well, after an extremely slow start today, I'm beginning to think this tree will be finished very soon. The parts left to sew are all the thinner branches. The longest process of them will be getting them lined up to be as seamless as possible - don't want anybody to notice (without scrutinising very closely) where one hoop stopped and another hoop started.
Hopefully I'll get it done today/tomorrow and then I can start with the other pictures. Can't wait!
May
xx
Hopefully I'll get it done today/tomorrow and then I can start with the other pictures. Can't wait!
May
xx
First Root finished
Well, that's the first part of the roots finished - on to part 2...
BTW it is now 11.40am - it has taken since 6.45am - 5 hours to sew one piece!
May
xx
BTW it is now 11.40am - it has taken since 6.45am - 5 hours to sew one piece!
May
xx
Photo of Tree
Just uploaded a photo of the WIP.
This is a pretty terrible photo of the tree to date. Just to illustrate the extra sewing below the trunk.
It looks pretty small in this photo, but from left to right across the central branch actually measures around 2ft, or 60cm. Hard to visualise in this picture.
More soon...
May
This is a pretty terrible photo of the tree to date. Just to illustrate the extra sewing below the trunk.
It looks pretty small in this photo, but from left to right across the central branch actually measures around 2ft, or 60cm. Hard to visualise in this picture.
More soon...
May
The Tree!
Well, I've managed to begin the sewing of the tree at last. It's a mammoth task. Just an example is, this morning, it took me from 6.45am till 7.45am and then after I got Shaun out to school, from 8.45am till now - 9.24am JUST TO HOOP THE FABRIC IN THE RIGHT PLACE! 1.75 hours just to line the pattern up to the last portion.
While I was typing this, I just noticed that the pattern for the roots, was actually around 1mm too low - so I've just had to stop the machine (after it sewed 3934 stitches) and realign it so it matches up to the top part of the trunk. It will now take this small portion of the tree (part of the roots) 85 minutes just to sew - barring thread breaks and other wee minor setbacks.
I've actually already sewed 5 other parts of the tree up till now - and all of them were as difficult as each other to place and line up.
The most difficult so far was the branch around the bottom of the work "Flourish". Because it is so close to the motto, I had to watch it carefully to make sure it wouldn't sew over the top of the wording. Well, it did! 3 times I had to stop the machine and make adjustments to the pattern in the software and try to pick up where it had left off. A row of stitches actually sewed over the top of the "h" and a bit of the branch just clipped the bottom of the "F". By this time it was too late to do anything about it, so I had to add a bit of gold to the top of the branch so that it looks as if the "F" was sewed after the branch.
Ahh, the joys!
The main thing is that I'm not as apprehensive about sewing the tree any more. There are stitches that have to be unpicked - although this is not because of anything I did with the patterns. A strange thing happened yesterday morning.
I set the trunk of the tree off to sew - and made the mistake of going and leaving it to attend a meeting at Shaun's school about his future - either at school or college - at 9am.
When I came back around 11am, the machine had actually lost its calibration mid pattern and was sewing the trunk about 3 inches below where it should have been! Fortunately, a thread broke and it didn't actually finish sewing the pattern.
I Haven't a clue how this happened, or why it happened, but it left me with another headache! It took me the whole of the rest of the day (till after 9pm) to try and recover from this. I still have a large portion of sewing on the fabric that shouldn't be there, but hopefully the roots of the tree will cover it up - if not, out comes the stitch-picker! :-(
Anyway, I'm off now to check my roots...
May xx
While I was typing this, I just noticed that the pattern for the roots, was actually around 1mm too low - so I've just had to stop the machine (after it sewed 3934 stitches) and realign it so it matches up to the top part of the trunk. It will now take this small portion of the tree (part of the roots) 85 minutes just to sew - barring thread breaks and other wee minor setbacks.
I've actually already sewed 5 other parts of the tree up till now - and all of them were as difficult as each other to place and line up.
The most difficult so far was the branch around the bottom of the work "Flourish". Because it is so close to the motto, I had to watch it carefully to make sure it wouldn't sew over the top of the wording. Well, it did! 3 times I had to stop the machine and make adjustments to the pattern in the software and try to pick up where it had left off. A row of stitches actually sewed over the top of the "h" and a bit of the branch just clipped the bottom of the "F". By this time it was too late to do anything about it, so I had to add a bit of gold to the top of the branch so that it looks as if the "F" was sewed after the branch.
Ahh, the joys!
The main thing is that I'm not as apprehensive about sewing the tree any more. There are stitches that have to be unpicked - although this is not because of anything I did with the patterns. A strange thing happened yesterday morning.
I set the trunk of the tree off to sew - and made the mistake of going and leaving it to attend a meeting at Shaun's school about his future - either at school or college - at 9am.
When I came back around 11am, the machine had actually lost its calibration mid pattern and was sewing the trunk about 3 inches below where it should have been! Fortunately, a thread broke and it didn't actually finish sewing the pattern.
I Haven't a clue how this happened, or why it happened, but it left me with another headache! It took me the whole of the rest of the day (till after 9pm) to try and recover from this. I still have a large portion of sewing on the fabric that shouldn't be there, but hopefully the roots of the tree will cover it up - if not, out comes the stitch-picker! :-(
Anyway, I'm off now to check my roots...
May xx
Sunday, 24 April 2011
OK - think I've finally decided on a design for my "shoe tree".
I have spent DAYS trawling for ideas for the shoe tree element in my wall-hanging. I've eventually gone back to my original design and am now trying it out on fabric to make sure I can line up all the branches on the main piece.
Keep your fingers (and toes) crossed!
Bye for now!
May
Keep your fingers (and toes) crossed!
Bye for now!
May
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Got the border to sew!
I'm so happy tonight - I finally managed to sew a complete side of the border I'm using for my wall-hanging. It is quite footery trying to line up the design when you have to multi-hoop, but thanks to my new super duper 'Mighty Hoop' [I'm not employed by them ;)] I've done it!
This means I can now start planning out sewing all the different elements of my work and begin the actual stitching onto the final fabric.
Off to learn some more Flash website stuff - it's all go, go, go!
May
This means I can now start planning out sewing all the different elements of my work and begin the actual stitching onto the final fabric.
Off to learn some more Flash website stuff - it's all go, go, go!
May
Monday, 11 April 2011
Just starting off...
Hi - I'm just beginning this blog to accompany my Graduate Show in the Lighthouse Gallery in Glasgow. I'll be posting pictures of my designs as I go along. I am producing a large embroidered wall-hanging based on Glasgow humour with a nod to The Glasgow Four - who I've been studying as part of my research project.
See you soon!
May
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