Front Garden 2018

My front garden had really matured in the two years since it was built, and this year has been a brilliant year for my roses. The rampler over the garage is a Pauls Himalaya Musk.

We have eaten eight artichokes this year from these plants.  There are still a few to mature.

Persian Eyes bought at the Hampton Court Flower show one year.

Capability Brown Embroidery

I am a member of Newbury Embroiderers Guild, and we were asked to take part in an exhibition to celebrate the 300 year anniversary of Capability Brown. Our guild was paired with Blenheim Palace and we took a trip there last summer to form some ideas and take some photographs.

My piece of work was inspired by one of the small bridges that spanned the Great Lake.  I liked the way the lines of the bridge contrasted with the softness of the surrounding foliage, and decided to study the bridge from three different viewpoints. The piece is approximately A2 in size.

Although I did take a great many photographs on the trip, I was more inspired with those taken by my friend Gail who kindly shared hers with our group.  Thank you Gail!

My piece of work was constructed of papers, various fabric, wool, ribbon, photo transfer and paint with machine and hand embroidery.  The exhibition starts on February 13th and runs until the 2nd May 2016

Mushrooms

I found these sweet mushrooms growing out of a tree stump in the garden.

 

Garden Clearance

I have not had a lot of time to sew in the last couple of weeks because we had a family friend to stay  over to help cut down and clear some of our wilderness.  After four days of hard work we have achieved a lot but still have a great deal to do.   The bonfire was burning continiously but we still have a mountain to burn.  We do now have a good log pile for the log burner we hope to buy soon.

We found this beautiful birds nest.

The area near the vegetable garden is now becoming more open but most of these trees still need to come down.

I have started to reclaim my sleeper steps which were hidden with weeds and nettles but cannot go further until the trees have been cropped.

 Half of the old wall had already fallen down and the rest is now exposed.  We will use it hopefully as part of the foundations of our new garage (We need planning first!).

 

The hazel trees have been cropped and will be removed when the digger comes to dig out the foundations for our new kitchen and patio.

Textart07 Textile Group

I  belong to a textile group called Textart07 which was formed  in 2007 by a group of sewers who had attended a City and Guild Machine Embroidery course with Sandra Hardy.  Over the years some people have moved away and new people have joined us and we now have a membership of 13 people.  We keep  to a low number so that we have enough table space when we meet up, which is every other Tuesday from 9.30 to 4.00 pm at Chievely Village  Hall in Berkshire. 

 During most meetings we work on our own projects, but we sometimes also set ourselves challenges and  hold mini workshop, taught mainly by other members of the group.  Two years ago we held our first exhibition and we are currently planning another one for next September.

One of our little challenges one Christmas was a pin cushion which we swapped with each other. The one I made was this mouse.

Another challenge we ran consisted of each member contributing some fabric or other sewable material, which were then devided into equal packs.  We were presented with a pack and also a small canvas frame on which our piece had to be mounted in some way.  This was my piece of work and my pack of materials. I often use both machine and hand embroidery in my work.

When we held our exhibition two years ago we all made a piece of work as part of a central exhibit with the title of "Shades of....". My subject was "Shades of Time" and was inspired by my younger sisters wedding.

Hand Made Books

One of the items which I designed last year and hope to make more of in the future is decorated notebooks or journals.  The covers are made with fabrics, paper and other materials such as lace, with added embroidery.  The pages are made of different types and weights of paper some of which have stamps, paint and other various marks on them. The papers have torn edges giving the books a shabby chic look.

There is a light theme for each book which could be taken as just decoration or used as a starting point and added to.

Even when using the same theme, each book is totally unique as I use what ever I have to hand and often what I have been working on.  The allium book used as an example is for sale in my Folksy shop and results from a body of work on that theme.  There are more Allium pieces to see in the gallery section, on my website at www. mariannemohandes.com.

Roses

This has been my most fantastic year for roses ever.

My Beautiful Snowdrops

Despite the terrible weather my snowdrops have been amazing. They are all over the garden and the nearby woods.