Derbyshire Textures

We had a slight change of plan last weekend and, instead of going to stay with my DSD (who had mixed up the dates for our visit), decided to spend a few days in the Peak District. I used to spend a lot of time in Derbyshire but hadn't been back for many years. We spent a lovely weekend in a rented cottage in the village of Taddington, just outside Buxton.

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The weekend was spent visiting one or two of the local towns and then on Sunday we had a lovely walk along Miller's Dale, one of the many beautiful Dales in the Peak District. While I concentrated on taking photos of textures my DH took the view shots and I have included a couple of links above to his blog. He will no doubt be including more photographs over the next day or two so I shall be lazy this time and suggest that you might like to look in at his blog for his story of the weekend.

Derbyshire Patterns

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This little plant was growing high on a wall at Cromford Mill and I was interested to see the flowers were forming the shape of a cross. It is probably only a chance view resulting from the angle I was looking at it from. Cromford Mill was the home of the first successful water powered cotton spinning mill built in 1771 by Richard Arkwright. The Mill has been rescued from dereliction and is in the process of development into a commercial and archival enterprise. Not least of the attractions here is Quiltessential patchwork shop!

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I think that these structures in the photograph above sluice gates, no longer in use. They are on the river that flows through Bakewell which we visited on Saturday. Their form seems quite architectural to me and I think they may well crop up in a piece of work in the future.

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These beautiful carvings are in the Parish church in Tideswell which is known as The Cathedral of the Peak. If you click on the photograph to enlarge it you will be able to see, not only the fine quality of the carving but also, a green man, which can be found in most churches, and a beautiful dragon. The wood carvings in Tideswell Church are very rich and detailed and are the work of a local man, Advent Hunstone who had previously been a stonemason. I would have photographed more of the carvings but I don't like using a flash in a church.

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I think these tiles are probably Victorian and I love the details in the edging tiles.

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Hopefully we will go back to /Derbyshire for a longer break another time.

Contemporary Quilt Group Journal Quilt

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I can't believe that I have again managed to finish my Journal Quilt on time! Unfortunately I still can't get the colours to show accurately as they are much richer in reality (more turquoise) but you can get the general idea. The photograph was taken in the conservatory this morning so the light was not perfect and accounts for a little shadow on the piece. I have added waves of stitching to secure the velvet where it had been cut through and a scattering of beads, and finished the edge with satin stitch. I am not worried by the fraying on the velvet as I feel this adds to the feeling of waves and spray.
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This quilt has been really enjoyable and has opened up lots of possibilities in my mind including working it on a larger scale.
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We have been away for a few days so I am still catching up so will be back in a day or three. I would like to thank you all for the lovely comments on my last post. It's wonderful to get such supportive comments when you're feeling a bit doubtful! :o)

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* I have uploaded a photo today (25 March) that is a bit closer to the actual colours.

Contemporary Quilt Group Journal Quilt

I was about to say that I can't remember where I got the idea from for my March Journal Quilt but I've just remembered that it was from the bathroom at our holiday cabin in Yorkshire last month! The loo rolls were stored in a metal canister with square holes cut out of it and that made me start thinking about reverse applique. I knew I had some velvet at home and have been wanting to do something with it for a while so I decided to work with velvet, sheers and nets.

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My first step was to play with the 12"x6" format in my workbook. I had already chosen my favourite turquoise and blues colour scheme so it wasn't much of a step to decide on a sea scheme!

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I started out looking at the simple cut out squares idea but that didn't inspire me a great deal so I then played about with the movement of waves and how I would arrange the areas to be cut through. You will see by my notes that I took some inspiration from Nellie's Needles but in the end I didn't actually use her freezer paper method for applying the design, preferring to work freestyle this time. Nellie's site is wonderful, full of colour and inspiration, go and have a look but, be warned, you could be there a while! Nellie is so generous with her knowledge and expertise. Thank you Nellie!

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A few years ago I did some work with exploring the movement of the sea and this sketch below finally helped me to sort out how I wanted the sewn lines to go.

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I decided on the arrangement of my layers and pinned and tacked everything together (no photo, sorry) ready for stitching. Earlier this week I made a practice sample and tried out the stitching and cutting through and then yesterday I grasped the nettle and started on the main piece. The cutting through was very hard on the hands, I have to say.

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This is not finished and the colour is way off, it should look much more green but I can't get the computer to give me the colours I need. Grrr! The next step, hopefully today, is to add some wave shaped stitching to secure some of the frayed edges. I won't be too fussy as I don't want it to look too tidy. Then, maybe, a few beads here and there to catch the light.

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All of this planned activity today depends on me having the energy to do it. I'm still in my PJs feeling sorry for myself as my lovely DH, who I have been married to 3 years today (Yay!!!) has generously shared his cold with me and I'm sneezing and sniffing for Britain! We're having a special dinner tonight to celebrate (his favourite, lamb shanks!) It will be all my own work - well I shall open the carton and pop it beautifully in the oven. Delia Smith I am not! A bottle of wine and probably a hot toddy to finish off - job done! Just hope I don't cough all night ;o)

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If I get my quilt finished I'll pop back later and show you. I have to keep in front on this project as April is going to be busy with a visit from my mummy!

PS Blogger is being a bit weird today, every time I try and correct any spelling errors it keeps eating my letters! OO-ER!

Sewing For Pleasure Show

As planned, I went on a coach trip to the Sewing For Pleasure Show at the NEC yesterday. It was a bit of an effort as I was still tired from Thursday but I'm glad I went. I decided to concentrate on the displays to start with as I often miss things going round the sales pitches.

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First port of call was the Quilters Guild "Out of the Shadows Into the Light" display which showed the winners and others from a competition in conjunction with Makower fabrics. I have to admit to being a bit surprised at the extent of the exhibit as I had been expecting something larger. I have to apologise to any of the exhibitors who mightlook in here if the colours in my photos are not true. The light was doing all sorts of weird things to my camera!
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This wonderful portrait below is the overall winner in the Stitch/Madeira Threads Embroidery Competition 2008. The theme for the competition was "Glimpses of China" and there were some amazing pieces, not least this handsome gentleman. Unfortuantely it was framed behind glass and the reflections were horrendous. I hope that clicking on the photo to enlarge it will show you some of the detail and the yarns used in the shirt.

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The work above is by Claire Phasuntia who works with reclaimed denim which she sometimes bleaches and dyes. Her work is far more dynamic than my photo suggests and includesstitching, weaving, print and collage and pulping denim fibres to make into handmade paper which she then refashions into wall art. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information on google for her at all!

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The dress above has been made from the cuffs of men's jackets. (sorry, My brain won't dredge up whether this is Claire's work or not).

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There was a whole area dedicated to Recycle, Reuse and Reclaim with a wide variety of interpretations.

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These extravagant costumes have all been made with recycled wire from television sets.

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These are recycled plastic carrier bags made into dresses.

Recycling

I rather liked these recycled found objects. These lovely utensils below have reused book images that remind me of my childhood.
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Do you remember the Hyperbolic Reef that everyone was talking about and which I blogged about last year? Well, there was a small sample on display at the SFP Show. If you click on the link to Rockpoolcandy.com you will be swept away by the gorgeous colours and variety there. I warn you, there are some mouthwatering yarns there too! Don't look if you suffer from yarn envy! The artist's name is inga hamilton.

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Aren't these little creatures gorgeous? I've copied the artist's statement for you to read. Googling Mary Moox I discovered that she is rumoured to make sock monkeys too!

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What Else?

So what else was there? Since 2007 the United Kingdom Hand Knitting Association and Simply Knitting Magazine have been collaborating on this project inspired by Shaun the Sheep. This wonderful PicKnit is the result and is a fantastic showcase of of people's skill and imagination.

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There was so much inspirational work at the Show but I have to single out Wendy Dolan's work which really resonanted with me.

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The image above is a card which I bought from her stand. It is a print of a textile of hers. Wendy works with layers of fabric, cotton, calico, scrim, to which she adds various textures, sand, acrylic flakes and which she then works into with machine embroidery and finally paints. It is the type of work that I am keen to explore and I would love to do a workshop with her one day.

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Needless to say shopping figured in the day! I didn't intend to shop much but I seem to have indulged in quite a bit of naughtiness! The ribbon hank is sari ribbon which I can see being used in lots of ways and which may figure in a Journal Quilt. I bought some supplies for silk paper making and a couple of stamps and embellishments for a couple of projects. It's a good job I save my £2 coins!

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I managed to meet up with Wendy from the MixedMediaATC_UK Yahoo group that I'm in and we had a nice chat, it's always good to put real faces to the names you swap with online, isn't it? All in all it was an interesting day with lots of inspiration and ended up with a nice snooze on the coach going home.

Pretty Post and Shopping

Where did the week go? I can't believe it's Friday already! And I can't even remember what I've been doing all week. Not much on the creating front except for a bit of embellishing to make a background for a piece I can't show yet.

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The postman did bring me a very pretty package from Gina and she had wrapped the contents up beautifully in some lovely Kaffe Fassett fabric and a delicate lacey edging which will be gratefully assimilated into my stash.
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Also enclosed were 2 postcards of part of Gina's work for the Prism exhibition.

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I have to admit to a little shopping this week.....

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These two gorgeous hanks of loveliness were actually bought in Whitby on our Yorkshire break a couple of weeks ago. The fabulous Fandango yarn is a Collinette handpainted cotton and I can see this incorporated into my long-planned seascape when I ever get round to working on it.

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The fabric above was bought on Thursday on a coach trip to Loughborough. I only went into Quorn Country Crafts to buy a lightbulb for my embellisher! Honest guv'! The Egyptian hieroglyphics jumped out at me as I've got an Egyptian inspired piece lurking in my brain and my friend forced me to buy the other three pieces. Honest! She did!! Buy 4 get one free! I had three and my friend had the other two. The blue spotty piece hiding at the bottom has got me very excited and is for a secret present for someone which I won't be able to show you for a little while, although I can't wait to make it so it shouldn't be too long.

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I am absolutely exhausted today after my trip to Loughborough yesterday so I've tried to have a quiet day, especially as I'm going to the Sewing For Pleasure Show at Birmingham NEC tomorrow. Fortunately I'm going on a coach so I won't have to drive. I think I'd be a liability on the road if I was driving. I'm going to be meeting up with one of the girls I swap with at MixedMedia ATC_UK Yahoo group. Wendy excels at altered and mixed media art and her blog is well worth a visit for its inspiration. Wendy and I havn't met up before so I'm looking forward to seeing her. By the way Wendy, I changed my blog photo so you can see me without the hat :-D

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I can now show you what I was working on a couple of weeks ago as it has reached its destination.

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I made this Under the Seascape for Becky in a one to one swap in exchange for the lovely Mr Lizard painting I received from Becky last week. I photographed it on a very bright day so it looks a bit washed out and it is actually square, not bowed as it looks in the photo. Becky is unfortunately in hospital at the moment so I hope you soon feel much better, Becky.

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My resolution for tomorrow at the Sewing Show is to concentrate on the exhibits and not too much shopping so come back next week and see if I've been good or very good!! lol Have a great weekend wherever you are in the world.

Saturday Playtime

Yesterday some friends and I got together for a playtime and had a great time. We used to meet once a month with a teacher but as she is no longer able to join us we decided to meet up on our own. We all have various skills and experience and I am very excited at the prospect of sharing a day's play and ideas.

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It may not seem very adventurous, but I decided to do some printing. I have been reading about printing with fruit and thought I would have a go, especially as I had a suitable wrinkly apple in the fridge. (Check out this blog for printing ideas - amended 11 March)

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These samples above are mostly from the apple which I cut across the middle to get the vaguely star shape you can see. The two very pale images were a huge surprise and came from my attempts to print with a half lemon. The lemon would not accept the acrylic paint at all! I could only get a very pale print. Even more surprising was the subsequent apple print for which I used the same piece of sponge to apply the paint that I had used for the lemon. The paint turned all lumpy and has given me a great texture. I can only think that the acid in the lemon has reacted with the paint.

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Somewhere else on the 'net I saw a recommendation for printing with jigsaw pieces so I tried that too. I sealed a piece of cardboard with PVA and then stuck some jigsaw pieces on and sealed the whole thing again with PVA. It hasn't stood up to the printing too well so I shall have to give it a few more coats of PVA.

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I really like the effects the jigsaw pieces give and there are also some really interesting negative shapes which I only noticed when my friend suggested I make some random sponge marks in the areas between the jigsaw shapes. I'm looking forward to having a play with this page in Photoshop.

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The next two photos are of string stamps I made the day before the workshop. The strings are stuck onto plastic sheeting which came from the x-ray department at the hospital (they had been thrown out). I wasn't sure the PVA would stick and it needed to be left till it was completely dry.

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This wavy kind of stamp is quite nice but I think I need to handle it quite lightly. I think I will make some more along these lines.

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I really like this squiggly stamp below. It has a lot of design potential and is made with string on the same plastic as the wavy one. The only disadvantage of the plastic is that it makes for a flat stamp and it is easy to catch the edge of the plastic on the paper.

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As well as the prints above I made separate prints into a small notebook that I will keep just for print samples and I also printed onto fabric with some fabric paints. That fabric is very much a work in progress which I will probably post here when I've done a bit more - that's if I can remember what I did by then!

Mr Lizard and Mile a Minute

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I belong to a Yahoo group called Mixed Media ATCUK which is run by Becky and around Christmas/New Year time Becky suggested a one-to-one swap between us. Although we didn't want to put any pressure on each other we did decide to aim for the end of February and I am delighted to have received Becky's artwork today. Meet Mr Lizard! Isn't he a striking chap? He reminds me of aboriginal drawings. I like the way the background echoes the shape and style of the lizard, too. My photo has a little flare for which I apologise, the light wasn't wonderful this afternoon. Thank you Becky! My piece is on its way to you so I will be able to show it here in a day or two. (Hmmmm! Did I remember to photograph it before I posted it? Good question!)

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I've had a busy week sewing-wise and I've completed the next two pages for the flower themed book page swap also at Mixed Media ATCUK. I don't know what possessed me, I actually got them finished in a day, not like me at all.

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I did find that I hadn't got a lot of fabrics with flowers and most of the ones I had were red, hence the red theme!

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I think these pages could be oriented any way up so the recipients will be able to decide for themselves. Some aspects look better than others.

Contemporary Quilt Group Journal Quilt

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I am a bit nervous of showing this Journal Quilt for the month of February as I have made a few mistakes with it. However, here it is, warts and all! I'm tempted to call it "What's the point?" or more accurately, "Missed the point"!

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I have used my own shibori and snow-resist dyed fabrics and started with half-square triangles. Unfortunately I haven't lined the diamonds up too well and the end result is a little bit wonky. The quilt is 12" x 6" and has been hand-stitched with seeding stitch. A friend at my local quilt group showed me how to line up the triangles which worked well enough for the vertical strips but didn't work so well when I joined the strips together. If I try this again I shall have to seek out some more advice. I should say that the whole piece has been hand sewn apart from the satin stitched edge.

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I had a "Doh!" moment today doing the satin stitch! I suddenly realised that I should set my sewing machine to the buttonhole stitch to get a close satin stitch! Wahay! Success! I told you I was on a learning curve :o)

Disintegration

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My DH hasn't noticed yet but, there are some unusual packages growing in our garden! It's all part of Seth's collaboration to explore disintegration. I think that I found out about it from a post on Jo Wholohan's blog. The idea is to place bundles of paper and other objects out into the elements and leave them to nature's best efforts. The bundles will be dismantled and photographed again on May 1 and I'm hoping that I will then be able to incorporate them into a collage.

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I have set up 3 packages of mixed papers, hand made papers, watercolour paper, punchinella, rusty objects including a flattened rusty tin can in the top piece, leaves, teabag paper, printed text, nappy liners, canvas and paper serviettes. The top piece also has a mopping up cloth from my studio that has fabric dye on it so we'll see if any of that runs.

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I have hung 2 of the pieces in shrubs in the garden and the third piece is lying among some plants in a belfast sink along with various rusty items. This third bundle is wrapped in a type of vilene fabric stiffener.

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I still have my catalogues in the garden for Maggie Grey's experiment but I think I should have split them up more so I may look for some more to vandalise and soak them in a bucket to speed the process.