| Date | Activity or Chapter – Module 1 | Time |
| 19/03/2013- 23/03/2013 | Signed onto Distant Stitch Embroidery Course Level 3. Downloaded course books Bought pieces of basic equipment Started to look for inspirational pictures of stars Downloaded pictures of star galaxies from National Geographic website Drew star shapes based on patchwork designs --------------------------------------------------------------- Purchases: A4 pad – 2e Compass – 5e Gold pen, black pen, black card, printer paper – 8e | 5 hours 15e |
| 24/03 to 30/03 | Downloaded star fish pictures Set up my blog – ‘sewing wright’ and sent test blog to Sian Began colour wheels and colour mixing Made templates of different star shapes Cut out star shapes from templates and arranged some designs on A4 card. |
| Purchases | Amazon Book order. Design Sources for pattern Designing Worksheets | |
| Health and Safety | Organised a dedicated workspace with area for working safely and storing my equipment | |
| 31/03 to 06/04 | Daughter, partner and grandson here for Easter | |
| 07/ to 13/4 | Painted second colour wheel for tints Decided on colours for painted papers Emerald, turquoise, coral and orange reds Could not get inks here in Portugal so will use my extensive collection of water colours Washed four sheets of heavy cartridge paper with each of my chosen colours Very vibrant selection Sponged four more sheets with same colours Made a stamp from a starfish fridge magnet and stamped some designs using acrylic paint Made more star stamps with erasers Prepared four boards for wet in wet water colour wash papers Made a colour chart, noting the mixes, for my chosen scheme | 10 + hours |
| Purchases | Acrylic paints 16e Erasers to make into stamps. 8e | 24e |
| Health and Safety | Organised my paints, brushes, craft knives, pens and pencils etc into clear polythene ice cream containers so I can stack them, store them safely and find them easily | |
| 14/04 to 20/04 | Prepared 4x coloured papers Decided to use A4 size for all my design sheets/pages because they will be easy to store in ring binders. Made 5x work book pages for Chapter 1 showing the images that inspired me. Star galaxies, star fish, patchwork designs and traditional Mediterranean tiles Made some Crochet some star shapes Cannot find scanner here so I photographed my design sheets for the blog. Posted images to blog Cut some make up sponges into shapes for printing more stars designs Sponged designs onto my coloured papers | 12 hours |
| Purchases | Sheets of A4 coloured card x5. Total 5e | 5e |
| 21/04 to 27/04 | Used paint roller to make more coloured papers Sent blog for Chapter1 Printed different star shapes onto my papers using various combinations of my chosen colours Cut star shapes from my coloured papers and arranged in various patterns on another paper. Took photos of work to date Started on Blog for Chapter 2 | 9 hours |
| Purchases | Plastic sleeves for keeping work 3e 3 acrylic paints 6e Large ring binder file to store work 4e | 13e |
| 28/04 to 04/05 | Cut more star shapes and arranged more cut paper designs on plan coloured papers Photographed designs Posted designs to my blog Finished chapter 2 and sent blog to Sian | 8 hours |
| 05/05 to 11/05 | Made more painted papers for Chapter 3 Worked on Design sheet A Designed symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns, counter change and positive/negative Photographed completed work | 9 hours |
| Purchases | Pad of A6 paper | 3e |
| 12/05 to 18/05 | Continued with Design sheet A and B Made templates for repeat and border patterns Copied star shape onto t-shirt fabric and distorted shape in an embroidery hoop Worked on linked designs and new for old Worked on designs for Work Sheet C Photographed finished designs Posted above to Blog | 8 hours |
| 19/05 to 25/05 | Started Chapter 4 Cut lots of black paper squares to cut into shapes Made 6 different design sheets with my black cut squares Cut coloured squares from my papers Experimented with layered designs from coloured squares Worked on symmetrical and asymmetrical designs and positive and negative shapes with coloured squares Painted lots more coloured papers because I ran out | 10 hours |
| Purchases | Fabric medium 4e Fabric paints and dyes 16e | 20e |
| 26/05 to 01/06 | Started on Chapter 5 Tore up old sheet to use for my fabric samples Experimented with fabric dyes and paints in my chosen colours Finished more cut paper, layered, coloured designs Photographed cut paper designs for Chapter 4 blog Chapter 6 - Made some bonded fabric samples using my cut paper designs for inspiration | 11 hours |
| 02/06 to 08/06 | Decorated some of my dyed fabrics with printed patterns Made 2 bonded samples with fabric bits Dyed more fabrics Finished Chapter 4 blog Photographed work from chapters 5 and chapter 6 to date Husband took photo of me working for my blog Chapter 7 and Sewed my first reversed appliqué stitched, layered sample | 12 hours |
| 07/06 to 15/06 | Dyed and printed more fabric for next samples using my colours Chapter7 Started 2nd stitched sample with 3 layers Planned 3rd sample in turquoise and bronze fabrics took photos and posted worked to blog | 7hours |
| 16/06 to 22/06 | Packing and travelling back to UK in motor home from Portugal | |
| 23/06 to 29/o6 | Stitched 3rd sample, I like this sample it has a log cabin patchwork basis Planned and worked on 4th, 5th, and 6th layered and stitched samples for Chapter 7 Took photos and posted worked to blog | 10 hours |
| Purchases | C and H Fabrics in Winchester Fabrics and threads | 23e |
| 30/06 to 06/07 | Finished samples for Chapter 7 Began more complex samples for Chapter 8 Travelled to Farncombe Summer School | 7 hours |
| 07/o7 to 13/07 | Summer School learnt so much, very pleased I went Revised two samples after talking to Sian in my Tutorial | |
| Purchases | Van Art various bits for course work 12 pounds | 14e |
| 14/07 to 20/7 | Chapter 8 - sewed more complex samples using padding, layers, beading, hand and machine stitching Took photos and posted worked to blog | 8 hours |
| Purchases | Vilene, bond-a-web, felt and beads | 15e |
| 21/07 to 27/07 | Began Chapter 9 on reverse appliqué Tried traditional method with turned under edges. Very challenging sample Contemporary method – sewed two samples one positive and one negative design with three layers and using fabrics I dyed and printed Edges not turned under | 7 hours |
| 28/07 to 3/08 | Worked on getting blog up to date Taking photographs Made two more complicated samples, four layers, some layers not complete, lots of cutting back and fraying Gives multi coloured effect | 9 hours |
| 04/08 to 10/8 | Chapter 10 Chenille Worked two chenille samples. One with machined stripes and one with a cross shape Posted information onto my blog | 8 hours |
| Health and safety | Decided to leave the ‘melting’ section because I feel my work space is too cramped for safe use of a soldering iron | |
| 11/09 to 17/09 | Chapter 11 Growth and disintegration and Resolved Sample Paper experiments: First thoughts Folded paper squares, cut, tore, scrunched, hole punched the squares to demonstrate disintegration Covered Card squares with magazine pages and then machine stitched. Then wetted and rubbed out areas Posted photographs and notes to blog | 9 hours |
| 18/08 to 24/08 | Second thoughts: Painted 4 star shapes ready to disintegrate Chose complicated star shape and cut it up into a series of smaller shapes. Each cut produced a different shape Used my four painted stars to cut, tear, punch and scrape holes to show disintegration Took photographs and posted to blog along with notes | 7 hours |
| 24/08 to 31/08 | Third thoughts: Cut squares of muslin and frayed to disintegrate them Fourth thoughts: Cut a number of fabric star shapes from coloured fabric and bonded them to a neutral background. Used a variety of stitches and frayed fabric bits to demonstrate different ways to disintegrate the stars or make them appear to disappear Took photographs and posted text and pictures to blog | 8 hours |
| 01/09 to 07/09 | Chapter 12: Painted some coloured papers and cut some positive and negative stars in a variety of sizes Arranged the stars on the papers to show disintegration and disappearance. Browsed through all my previous work in the Module and selected images to use/inspire my resolved samples Took photographs Dyed and printed a range of fabrics to use in my resolved samples Used cottons, Vilene and felt Started on designs for a resolved sample Have 2/3 ideas to develop | 10 hours |
| 08/09 to 14/09 | Made three Composite Sheets of my work to date Worked on two resolved samples, I have decided to complete two samples both using my dyed and printed fabrics. Sample one:- has a star theme with a spiral stars diminishing in size. It has three layers, cut away shapes, reverse appliqué, fraying , hand stitching to show/indicate disintegration Sample two:- has a random patchwork background , stars in the ‘sky’ and imaginary plants, trees and clouds. I am using techniques from this module in this sample | 10 hours |
| 05/09 to 21/09 | Continued working on resolved samples. Sian is away until October 7th so will need to wait for feedback. | 7 hours |
| 22/09 to 28/09 | Worked on the studies of three artists | 2 hours |
