Then I stumbled upon her again in this post of Lark Crafts blog. It turns out she is one of 30 featured artists in the book PUSH Paper: 30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Paper Art which is one of the first two books published in the new gallery series PUSH from Lark Crafts. This video gives a good idea of her work, but it is worth looking at her website to see the static images too.

The second book in the new series is PUSH Stichery is curated by Jamie Chalmers – aka Mr. X Stitch. My niece introduced me to his blog Mr X Stitch earlier this year. This post on the Lark Crafts blog gives you a good taste of the goodies each book offers. Two books worth putting on your wish list. I’m adding them to mine!

I’ve not read in the rules anywhere that you can’t blog about your sketchbook so there may be more to follow.

At the other end of the scale you can knit your own souvenir of the upcoming royal wedding in the UK. This rather bizarre idea was featured on the Daily Mail website today. You can even add your own customized guests to the wedding party. If you feel inspired you can buy the book of patterns here. I can’t say I’m really tempted.

I have some talented friends here in Schmitten, who keep me regularly supplied with hand made straw stars and bobbin lace stars, angels and bells. I have had a go at making the straw stars. They are quite fiddly to make, but not particularly hard. I would love to be able to make the bobbin lace ornaments, but I just don’t have the time to be getting involved in anything else just now. So I am pleased that I have generous friends who are happy to part with their pieces.

Here are a few photos I’ve just taken of them hanging on the tree.

The friend, who gives me a straw star each year, originally comes from what was the DDR. She was really pleased when she discovered that you could buy the straw ready prepared for making the Christmas ornaments in the “west”. She had previously collected the straw from the fields after the harvest, ironed it flat and then split it in half before she could start making the stars. If that isn’t a labour of love?

We only visited 3 of the museums before getting tired feet and exhibit overload. We went to the museum of applied art where we saw some amazingly old and beautiful wooden cupboards and chests of drawers, including this 18th century example, where the tumbling blocks marquetry caught my eye.

Next stop was the museum of world cultures which is quite small, but also has an impressive collection of objects including some wonderful textiles. Unfortunately it was too dark to get any good photos of those, but these neat masks in the education department did photograph well.

And in case you were wondering what they are made of, here’s the answer:

Kitchen sieves!

Final stop was the museum of communication where there was a live band playing with people dancing. There was an interesting exhibition of faked digital images, some of which were really very good. It was very popular though and quite crowded. In fact we even had to queue up to leave the museum!

We’ve had the first warm weekend of the year, so it was quite pleasant walking around Frankfurt at night. Considering that fact that we had frost 3 nights in a row in the week it was quite a change.

It’s been quite a week of culture, because on Wednesday evening we went on a guided tour around the Uwe Lausen exhibition too. You can’t help wondering whether he would be much better known if he had lived a bit longer than 31 years.

There is an interesting article in the ArtMag from the Deutsche Bank. You can also see some of her artwork on the same page. You can listen to a short video of her talking about her work here.

More of her work is shown on the Saatchi Gallery website. Included are some quite provoking collages on found medical illustration paper.

And finally if that hasn’t been enough here is her homepage on ArtNet.

In the gallery there was a link to the website of Fine Cell Work. It is certainly worth a visit. There is some very fine needlework displayed there. If you are looking for a gift for someone who appreciates handwork you might well find one there. The testimonials are positive. I have to admit to being tempted by the needlepoint and tapestry kits. There are some lovely designs.

Sneaky Amazon of course recommended more books to buy and I couldn’t resist this one by Claire Schaeffer. When I’ve finished by C&G course I am hoping to find time to do some more dressmaking. I’ve taken 2 tailoring classes in the past so not all of the techniques in this book are new to me, but it is an excellent guide to couture sewing techniques and there are plenty of new tips and techniques to justify the purchase. You also get an interesting glimpse into the workings of the ateliers of the Haute Couture.

And finally if Haute Couture and tailoring interest you, you might like to take a look at the English Cut blog by bespoke savile row tailor Thomas Mahon. Not one of my regular reads, but one I return to at infrequent intervals.