Couching samples

Couching is an embroidery technique in which you lay yarn or other materials across the surface of a ground fabric, then fasten it in place with small stitches.

The possibilities are endless when you start thinking about incorporating this technique in your work and wat kind of thread, cord, objects you can attach to it in this way!

This is the sampler I made for a workshop led by Hanny Newton (she has the most wonderful contemporary approach to goldwork embroidery!) : 

This is my take on a workshop led by Alice Fox  (an artist who works with found, gathered and grown materials) :

 

Anne of Green Gables

Jo March, Lizzie Bennett, Anne Shirley,.... I like these fierce girls with their seeking souls.

Some time ago, I bought this very fun book "Literary yarns, crochet projects inspired by classic books", partly because there is an  Anne of Green Gables pattern in it. I just knew I had to crochet it. So here she is, my Anne with an "e", love her!

I am not so very good at amigurumi, not so very fond of it either because I find it a little hard on my hands and wrists. But, as always , happy with my new friend!

(There is also a Sherlock Holmes, who screams to come to life in crochet!)

Connect

A cardboard base, stains of ecoline paint, like an archipelago in their formation, punctured holes that form curved lines and shapes (connecting the 'isles'), some stitching through them. The word 'connect' is stitched in large letters with a thin white thread over the whole length of the piece. Finally, the work is finished (as in classic sewing practice, connecting the different media used here unto a whole) with a biais ribbon. 

Photobroderie

Via a Textile Artist.org workshop I learned a great deal about photobroderie from the photographer Liz Jeary.

I stitched on my own photographs and used simple back stitch lines, matching the thread colours with the ones on the photo.

Lots of interesting ideas emerge from a workshop like this!