Embroidery Threads

Yesterday I discovered that Sharon B, who writes my favourite Stitch Directory, was teaching an embroidery course through Joggles.

Despite being half way through already, enrolments were still open, so I took the plunge and booked myself on. So far, it looks fantastic - loads of great instructions going from design to stitch.

The first activity involves working in monochrome - all white/cream threads - to focus on design and texture. I knew I didn't have many suitable threads, so decided to find all the heaps of cottons I have stashed around the house, and tidy them, so that I can pick up some more.

Having found all my stashes, I had:


Including a lot of blues and greens:


And almost no blacks and whites:


I tidied these away into my two Gold Concept boxes:

Drawing

I've been doing quite a lot of crafting recently, knitting and trying to allow myself to relax more.

I have a lot of ideas for projects, embroidery particularly, in my head, but because I am not a very good artist, I struggle to get them down in a form where I'd be able to execute them. To that end, I've been trying to do more drawing. I've been using the poses on Pose Maniacs*, set to 90 seconds, and drawing the people as displayed. This is my first foray into life drawing, and I am pleased with the results. They're not perfect, but they look like people:



I'm intending on doing more drawing, then hopefully both being able to produce my own ideas, and going to a life drawing class to further my skills.

*The site displays a massive range of male and female figures in many poses, some quite challenging. They're displayed as muscular forms, rather than naked flesh, so should probably be safe for most workplaces. I've certainly been drawing from them on my lunch hour!