CTArts | Tapestry and Cross-stitching

Tapestry Weaving, Rugs, Embroidery and Cross-stitching

Large stitching is what I do. I haven't the patience or the eye sight to do the tiny stuff so, like a big kid, I went back to binca work that you introduce girls (and now boys) to for some quiet down time on a Friday afternoon like in the old days.

Gill Pawson, another lover of fabric, threads and handicrafts introduced me to heavy tapestry and then, in 2012, we attended a tapestry weaving course in Orkney where we used all kinds of natural threads, woven on a frame by hand.

I have strung Ken's frame again, waiting for winter evenings by the fire and watching films to make more, playing with colour and movement and the scenes of our life around Settle.

After a Fine Ladies' Holiday in Istanbul in 2014, I was taken with seeing a lady on the pavement doing Persian and Turkish carpets. In sign language, we shared our love of weaving and she showed me how to do a Turkish knot. Years later, in the Covid Lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, I practised it and have mixed weaving, embroidery and rug making projects to show for it. Then, staying in Berwick on Tweed I was introduced to a book on the development of tribal rugs over time and loved the colours and patterns of kilim work which I have enjoyed incorporating into some weavings.

Time-passing tapestry in leftovers 1979 This was done in Holme House cottage, damp and cold opposite Rishworth School where we lived in between houses for 6 months: pre children, lots of cats and me giving up teaching the first time round.		Silver Wedding Anniversary 1999 This was designed by me to incorporate both sides of the family, showing all members of it. Work it out, family, you are all there.

Family Cross-stitch Cushion Using Auntie Cath's silks she gave me decades ago, I designed this with each square in the middle to represent a member of both families and special places or events we like. Tucked away inside is a little book that shows who belongs to which square and their characteristics. Very personal. This won second place at 2014 Langcliffe Show in the cross-stitch category!		Mum's Saying Bookmark This saying or the equivalent - 'This too shall pass' was always said by Mum to be used in bad and good times as a comfort or warning against complacency. I always thought it was her own and then I thought I would Google it. I find it is a well used and ancient Persian saying, even perhaps going back to Soloman and has been used by the great and the good over the millenia in speeches and battle cries!

More bookmarks Any excuse to use my hands and use up bits.		Heavy Tapestry This is the only one I have done in this heavy stitching taught me by Gill Pawson. It is very satisfying to be able to fill in the space with rough but unusual stitching, just held by hand. This, too, won a second in the 2014 Langcliffe Show in the 'any other handicraft item' section.

Orkney Tapestry Weaving We and the Pawsons had a week in Orkney in 2012. Gill and I spent 6 hours a day, cricking our backs and necks learning how to do tapestry weaving in a tiny house while the men and dog braved the rain. I took to doing this, finished this sampler as if a standing Orkney stone and started the next one there.		Scottish Scene in Tapestry Weaving This is the one I started in Orkney and finished at home, much admired and winning a first in the 2014 Giggleswick Show in the section titled, 'Any item done by a lady over 60'. Ah, well, it was my first first.

Waves This is a little practice at doing waves that eventually ended up looking a bit Scottish too. It hangs on the door of the bathroom.		The Yorkshire Dales Tapestry Weaving Having done blues and greys, I wanted to do a colourful one. Ken had made Gill and me a large square frame for weaving so I did this one to capture elements of the Yorkshire Dales. I backed it and stitched words to say what was shown and then gave it to Babs to remind her in NZ what we are doing here.

Tisha and Duncan's Stickle Tarn Tapestry Tisha asked me to do her a blues and greys tapestry. This is my largest project so far. We have a watercolour of Stickle Tarn where we all went for a swim in a glorious summer with the children so I took the central part and reproduced the scene for them for their Silver Wedding Anniversary. It graces their study, framed.		Castlebergh Dreaming with Fig Working on the large frame, I wanted to use colour and flowing movement again which developed into a picture of me cuddling Fig and us dreaming of flying over Castlebergh and a most wonderful full moon in August. I am most pleased with the result.

Live Life, Love Life This was a holiday project on Mull to practise figures and letters. It developed into Rosie and her love of diving with the family depicted as stick figures on the horizon. She loved it and it is displayed in her home.		From Cassini On the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon, iconic photos of space were on line. I loved the one of our planet as Cassini passed Saturn.

The Pale Blue Dot As Voyager left our solar systen, it turned and took a picture of us that Carl Sagan called The Pale Blue Dot, signifying this seemingly insignificant but so significant place of ours we call Home. Sarah referred to it in her speech at her wedding to Rob and so I sent her this.		Barbados 2020 We came back from Barbados just as lockdown was about to start in March 2020. What a holiday for me to remember and commit to a long project. The sun shows my thoughts as the months progressed.

Woodland One way of doing pictures with many verticals is to do them sideways to avoid gaps between colours. So this woodland was copied from my manual as an exercise with additions of a window view and Fig and me jumping for joy (easy to do sideways).		'This Too Will Pass' again As second go at doing a picture sideways to create verticals developed into another representation of 'Mum's' saying for life. Here, the good and bad of life are merged by colour and events. Fig and I are again jumping between the two states.

Kilim Rug On researching rug making I came across the ancient weaving of Kilim rugs across much of the world and copied this pattern in a book from Hilary.		Covid Rug Sampler A background of a sampler of weaving went wrong in the centre so I decided to try out my first turkish knots and Covid around.

Persian Rug On the strength of mastering the knots, I attempted a more complicated pattern to some good learning for my Opus Magnus Rug.		Persian Rug back The back of a Turkish and Persian knot of shows a pleasing pattern too.

Ella and RumTum Ella loves the rug making I have done, we designed one together of her and her best friend, big in her eyes.		Rishworth and Rugs Tapestries are getting bigger as I become more proficient at the creating and learning more about rugs of the world. This tapestry was made as a celebration of our time living at Rishworth with its reservoirs, dams, farmland, moorland and 'the gentle hum of the M62' as Rebecca once put it. All the cars we owned while there can be seen on their way from Huddersfield to Manchester. The borders are a celebration of me learning of kilim and Turkish rug making and the movement of these ancient patterns as the people moved across the world.

2 Castle Hill Tapestry This, my largest project at 115cm x 70cm, is a culmination of so many parts of my learning of large stiches, dissolvable fabric machine work, embroidery, tapestry weaving and felting fig leaves out of Fig's fur!		Dad's Kidderminster Pile Rug Just before we were married in 1974, Philip's Grandma died and left us £100 - a month's wage of mine!. Dad had just started his new job in a Kidderminster Carpet Mill as Chief Buyer and suggested we bought our first carpet from them... and we did. We took it with us to 5 more houses, I loved it for so many reasons but on moving to Rishworth decided to let it go. It will still be in the top room in the big Halifax house. I learnt how to do Turkish pile rugs from a lady on the street in Instanbul and here is my recreation of that lovely traditional wool carpet Dad was so proud of.

St John's Methodist Tapestry Being inspired by The Grand Scottish Tapestry now permanently displayed in, of all places, Galashiels, I responded to a call to contribute a panel for the Wearside Museum's Tapestry of Methodism to celebrate its development in Settle since 1777. It was well received by them at St John's and I am waiting now for it to be ready to be included in the permanent exhibition in the restored Methodist Chapel in the village in Wearside called St John's Village! I am proud to have contributed this.		Fig's Walks Embroidery After our little Fig died, age 16, in 2022 I made a photo book of our favourite things with her and decided to do a celebratory hanging to practise tight embroidery stitches before tackling the Settle Methodist Tapestry. I planned it as a kind of map denoting our wonderful life here with her on our walks, her head outlined amongst the landscape. A labour of love.

Fig's Walks back Just in case I forget the details, they are here.