Bordering

I managed to spend a little time this weekend working on my Bordering project which should be ready for exhibition in April or May of next year.  There are several of us working on different aspects of the theme Bordering.  It is set around 12 places in the Scottish borders.  This piece which is now finished is based on a visit to St Abbs - a very pretty little working fishing village.  

The detail shows how shells with natural holes in them have been beaded into the piece.  The piece also includes silk waste couched in with cotton, cotton fabric, scrim and beads.  The outer border is beaded all  the way round too. 

I am now working on  a piece for the town of Wigtown.  Wigtown though a small town has a book festival each year which is growing in size and importance so I am going to try to do a mixed media piece.  This is one of my 'sketches' for it.  I usually do a fair bit of rough work before deciding on the final piece.  For this project I am working in different media and all the pieces will be different sizes and shapes.

Travelling from Aberdeen to the Borders yesterday was a real pleasure since I was on the bus and not driving.  The entire country is white with great mounds of snow at the sides of the roads.  It has made travelling difficult but I do think we should enjoy it while it is here.  I have  been keeping up with the weather at home by following Freida Oxenham's blog.  You can find a link at the side of this post.  Not only does Freida do beautiful stitch work she is also a very good photographer.  Have a look if you don't already follow her blog. 

Well with almost no Christmas shopping done and only 20 days to go I have abandoned all hope of doing any further seasonal projects before the holidays but intend to spend a good deal of time during Christmas and New Year catching up with stitching .   Keep warm