Sample Project 2013 - January

Ta dah! Here beginneth the SEVENTH year of my weekly sample projects!

This year I’ve got a John Muir Trust “Wild Nature Diary” to work with. Each week has a photo – wildlife, landscape, plants – which I’ll use as the inspiration for a little sample that I’ll stick on the facing page.

BUT, I’ve given myself permission to stray as far as I like from the photos, as I’m feeling the lack of hard lines, unnatural colours, man made patterns etc. after last year’s 52 samples from marine life.

If you’d like to see all my 2012 samples, just put Sample Project 2012 in the search box on this blog. 

So here’s the first batch for 2013.

 

Week 1: Ice crystals on tree branches

(Photo of robin in frosty tree)

Black and grey speckled chenille thread couched onto blue polycotton using spiky straight stitches in stranded cotton.

 

 

 

 

Week 2: Reeds in lochan

(Photo of Rannoch Moor)

Straight stitch in stranded cotton on poly “silk”.

 

 

 

 

Week 3: Snow shading

(Photo of mountain hare sheltering in snow hole)

Pale blue felt embellished onto white felt from the back.

 

 

 

 

Week 4: The Schiehallion Experiment

(Photo of Schiehallion mountain in snow)

The mountain was used in 1774 for an experiment to determine the mean density of the earth. Contour lines were devised to survey it.

Free machine embroidery, built in patterns, and hand stitch on cotton.  

 

Week 5: Red deer fur, contrast where neck meets shoulder

(Photo of red deer stag in snow)

Background of brown and rust felts embellished onto white felt. FME in several shades of brown.

Facing up to Facebook

I’ve resisted for a long time, but this week I’ve finally caved in and joined the dreaded Facebook.

Thanks to encouragement and advice from textile friends Jackie Cardy and Beverley Folkard, I now have my very own page at AnneHoneymanTextileArt.

There’s a link on the side of this blog too – please come and say hi!

So that’s yet another place to meet and share in cyberspace. Beats venturing out into the real world in weather like this, pretty as it is:    

Signs of Life

January is my least favourite month. The sun doesn’t even climb high enough to reach us over Rombalds Moor. But in the garden there ARE a few signs of life… I found witch hazel and Forsythia flowers, and hazel catkins. It’s snowing now though!  

Sample Project 2012 – December

Ta dah!  Sound of own trumpet being blown! This is the final instalment of my 2012 weekly sample project - textile titbits inspired by photos from the book “Underwater Eden, 365 Days” by Jeffrey L. Rotman.

Well at least I’ve completed something as intended this year!

 

Week 49: Many-Ribbed Hydomedusa

Navy felt base. Hand stitched fine wool thread overlaid with a fringe of textured yarn applied using the embellisher.

 

 

 

Week 50: Reef Table

Free machine embroidery on black cotton – cable stitch worked from the back with various thick threads on the bobbin (pearl cotton, Burmilana, Natesh).

 

 

 

 

Week 51: Triggerfish

White viscose fibres embellished onto pale blue felt, black felt silhouette of fish embellished on top.

 

 

 

Week 52: Sandy Lagoon, Jackson Reef

Background of beige felt embellished with scrim. French knots in various threads.

 

 

So that’s all folks… until the next one? I don’t suppose I’ll be able to resist doing this exercise again, for a seventh year – I’m addicted now. I’ve bought a 2013 Wild Nature Diary from The John Muir Trust, which has gorgeous (but scarily challenging) landscape and nature photos for each week. But can I really face it? Should l, is it healthy?! Watch this space…

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and creative 2013!