Exploring colours and rhythms in embroidery

One of my favourite parts of the show in Harrogate was the Embroiderers Guild section which we only discovered by chance, and late in the day. This year I know I’ll be looking for it much earlier and as we have more time at the show this time round I think I’ll be able to make that work, and still see everything there is to see.

But anyway, this gallery was the Embroiderers Guild Challenge for its members, asking them to dig deep and explore ‘colour’ and ‘rhythm’ and it made for a bright and interesting gallery. I’m sharing my favourites which I keenly snapped in this post - but in my keenness and awe I don’t appear to have snapped the creators for any of these, so this post also comes with apologies to those creators. I will pay better attention at the show this year!

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

EMBROIDERERS GUILD MEMBER CHALLENGE - COLOUR AND RHYTHM

They’re all amazing, and I’d be hard pressed to choose just one as my favourite piece - but I’m keen to know which one(s) caught your eye?

Dark side of the bloom

* I was invited to this year’s Gardeners’ World Live preview and provided with a pair of tickets for the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This is a garden for music lovers, and was designed by Antony Massie who admitted to once being ‘a moody teenager with smudged eyeliner, a guitar in hard and dreams of becoming a global rock star, not a gardener.” He also said that his 18 year old self on hearing that he’d fall in love with plants would probably turn up the volume, and laugh.

But his younger self’s loss is our gain as this garden is fabulous, using deep purples and moody foliage (and at least one of those was another band wasn’t it?) and a winding path in the shape of a bass clef are more nods to the music the designer loves.

His garden reimagines the pace he might have designed as an aspiring rock star - dark, dramatic and full of creative energy. Enjoy!

Isn’t it a delightful space?

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for once again inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was another great show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Beautiful buttons at the Newark Wool Show

I’ve shared my purchases from the Newark Wool Show, which I was pleased mostly were on the list I’d mentally made before the show, even taking more wool with me (for colour matching purposes) than I bought at the show! A first I’m sure, and not one that I will repeat too often, there was so much nice wooly-ness there that while it’s good it’s coming back next year, it will also be quite dangerous and I need to up my wool game in the meantime.

That aside one of the stalls that I spent a fair time perusing but not making any purchases at (well yet anyway) was Jo Hunter’s Wearable Art. I was mesmerised by the buttons, and no doubt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice - but without a project needing buttons anywhere near in sight I took a few pictures to remind myself of their beauty, and resolved to match them to a not yet started project.

They’re not cheap - and nor should they be as each is handcrafted, but I was (and still am) seriously in love with Jo’s polymer clay buttons - and it’s true, each one really is a mini piece of art, don’t you agree?