Image from Joggles.com

I made a last minute decision to sign up for Sharon Boggon’s Studio Journals: A Designer’s Workhorse course through Joggles. It’s a course I’ve been meaning to take for a couple of years. It’s about using a journal to ‘catch your design ideas’ with a view to designing fiber projects – so embroidery and quilting. I have the list of the materials needed so will head out to the art shop on Saturday morning – first item on the list a journal

I’ve done a couple of other courses with Sharon before and have really enjoyed them. I have found it difficult to keep up though – I think the first one I had to stop the sewing part way through after hurting my wrist and I followed it up with a second course not long after recovering..

I’m going to have to make time this time to get the most out of it! Which will be a challenge for me! Especially with my new addiction to Springwatch and hopefully a house move this summer.. (still sitting with fingers crossed waiting for our buyer to have her mortgage approved).

I was at our local pub last night, The Earl Ferrers, it’s a fab local with a real community spirit. Last night we had a lavender bag workshop for us instead of our usual stitch and bitch session.

One of my neighbours is a costume designer and had a host of different materials and trimmings for us to play with. Please excuse the sewing on this – the lighting in the pub, the beer and the lateness of the hour did me no favours!! (the embroidery in the centre is cut from a lovely piece of embroidered silk – not my own work!)

I’ve had to hold off on this post until my Father-in-law’s birthday present was delivered!

Richard is both a big Schubert fan and difficult to buy for so this year we decided that an embroidery of Schubert was a good option.

I took this image:

Traced the outline and simplified the detail a little. I used split stitch for most of the design and fly stitch to shape the curly stitches on the hair. I’ve run the picture by a few of my musical friends and they assure me that it is a recognisable likeness! What do you think??

When Duncan visited Seattle recently, he stayed with a Search Marketing associate of his, CEO of SEOmoz – Rand Fishkin and his wife Geraldine.

While he was there they visited Archie McPhee a store who’s tag line is ’slightly less disappointing than other companies!’ The store sells Yodelling Pickles – I can’t wait to go visit myself at some point! Geraldine bought a jar of fake eyeballs.. which I wish Duncan had photographed! Not least because we decided that it would make the perfect thank you card!

The photo’s not great, but the iris is done using buttonhole stitch, the pupil a french knot and the red blood-shotness is fly stitch.

Since making my own eyeballs I found some kits over at Creative Kismet who would have thought there’d be so much call for embroidered eyeballs!