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About me




I am a retired primary school teacher who has developed a passion for textiles and stitches.
I learnt to sew on my mother's treadle machine and I also enjoy knitting, especially aran designs. 
In March 2012 I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia in London and that was the beginning of my journey into experimenting with textiles and paint and machine stitches. 
I wanted to take part in a workshop with Gilda Baron but was too late so I bought her DVD then her book on embroidered landscapes and was 'hooked'. I made greeting cards for friends using some of her ideas. I then discovered Colouricious, a textile/artist website and have accumulated quite a few books from various textile  artists. I then decided to do a taster course in Machine Embroidery with SST. I found some amazing stitches on my old machine! As I was nearing the end of this course Anne Griffiths at Pocketmouse was starting a machine embroidery course based on City and Guilds work she had developed and enrolled. I am now on the second unit and loving experimenting with paint, dyes and fabrics.  Never having studied art this is a huge learning curve for me.
I went to the Kaffe Fassett exhibition this week and I loved the bright colours he uses in his work and his original knitting designs,very inspiring

3 comments:

  1. Hello Irene,

    I, too, am taking Anne's course only from British Columbia, Canada. Thank you for your positive comments in my post. Like you, I am retired and live on Vancouver Island.

    I just logged onto your Blog and find it very interesting. Your work is great And, it is a steep learning curve for me as well especially taking it from so far away. It is very helpful to see what others are doing for the units, somewhat like being in the classroom only without the people.

    I do envy your ability to actually see, meet and take courses directly from the artist. Like you I admire many textile artists and Gilda Baron is one of them. Another textile artist I really like is Beryl Taylor.

    If you would like to email me directly, my address is pagepamala@yahoo.ca.

    Kindest regards,
    Pamala

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  2. I will be in touch soon, I know exactly what you mean about missing being in a class and sharing ideas. Thank you for your kind comments.

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  3. I just discovered your blog and I love it. So many good ideas. I also love to sew and knit, altho right now my Singer machine is in need of a visit to the local machine fixer. I have a brand new Brother machine but cannot seem to get it working. The threading pictures are not helpful. First time a machine has me stumped. Again I really am inspired by your work.

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