Celtic twists and turns

These patterns have fascinated me for a long time now. Typically, I find the accurate repetitive knots and braids hard but I do like scribbling, outlining and colouring in. And why not a bit of illuminated lettering, my style?

Illuminated letter. .

I found the example from the Celtic-style font I talked about a few posts back. Other letters do use the same motifs, but there are also some different ones. I printed it in outline form to save ink! Also gives the chance to colour in.

celtic doodling

I find Celtic knotwork etc fascinating and have taught myself to draw it using various methods several times over recent years. Then i forget how to do it and have to start all over again! A good website for anyone interested, with tutorials and a nice straightforward method can be found here. The trick is then to find a reasonable way of translating it all to fabric and stitch without having to be more accurate and painstaking than I can cope with.
Here are a few loosely Celtic freehand doodles anyway from a sketchbook:

The font with celtic knotwork additions I mentioned in the last post can be found here

Celtic inspirations

Trying to pursue what was a sort of new year resolve to blog more frequently I find I'm a bit short of photos. Looking back at my collection I found this Celtic design on a gravestone in the ruined part of the cathedral at Dunkeld, Perthshire. As if I didn't have enough projects mulling around in my brain, I have been doodling Celtic knotwork again lately. I have this great book by Val Campbell Harding, a great embroiderer who died last year, and Maggie Grey, Celtic Inspirations for Embroiderers. Also found a font recently that I downloaded to my pc which does capital letters with Celtic additions, but can't get it to work here. Will take some photos and post them with details of the font next time.