At the beginning of July, I was lucky enough to be able to attend one of Trish Burr's London classes. Trish designed this piece especially for the UK classes because the Nuthatch is native to the UK. I would recommend taking a class with Trish if you get the opportunity. She provides very clear explanations of the techniques and lovely kits. I particularly like the way she explains how her approach to needle painting is evolving.
This was my first completely silk shaded piece of embroidery. I have done smaller amounts of silk shading on previous pieces but my results always seemed a bit crowded and clumsy. I was a bit nervous attending this workshop because I thought I might be aiming a bit high. But what a surprise it actually looks like a bird! Trish's choice of colours really helps of course and the steps are broken down clearly.
It's always interesting to meet other embroiderers at workshops. Over lunch I was talked to lady who had been retired for 20 years about how her list of UFOs had continued to increase (quite dramatically) since she had retired. She has come to the conclusion she will never finish all of her UFOs and she just enjoys working on them. I have completer/finisher tendencies or to put it another way, I like to tick boxes. I also find myself thinking about the next piece of embroidery which means I get stressed about finishing the current piece. Recently I followed the Here and Now Meditation guide on My Yoga TV which is all about being present in the current moment. The conversation I had with the retired lady reminds me that I need to enjoy what I'm doing when I'm doing it, in the here and now. Actually finishing something is just a bonus. I think you can tell I enjoyed embroidering the Nuthatch.
