Hiatus

Have you noticed how, once there's a bit of a break in your blogging routine it gets harder and harder to start blogging again?  Just lately I have been finding it quicker and easier to throw a few words on Facebook and my poor blog has been sadly neglected.  I had so much to share with you and it's all still waiting patiently to be aired.

If you do connect with me on Facebook you will know that we have just had our annual pilgrimage to St Ives.  Two weeks of blissfully drinking in the wonderful light and colours and listening to the sea pound against the shore outside our rented flat. 

A certain lady who 'Loves Stitching Red' enjoying the view from our kitchen.

We saw Porthmeor Beach in all its moods including this early morning rainbow. 

We were even treated to a few sunsets

Following on from my workshop with Dionne Swift at Festival of Quilts I was excited to do some sketchbook work while we were away and I'm pleased to say I got quite a lot done.

These are collaged cottages made from waxed paper, newsprint and magazine paper.

 Inktense pencils above.

Background from my screen printing and squares from a collage project.

Collage inspired by St Ives.

Playing about with paint effects and masking tape resist.

I didn't have any acrylic paint with me other than white so I painted a base of vaguely cottage shapes in white acrylic and then added detail with Koh-i noor dye paints.

Our Sunday walk to Carbis Bay saw me picking up leaves which I collaged to a background of black tissue.  Once the piece had dried I pasted over torn coloured tissue papers.

Scavenging on the beach I found scraps of different tyre treads so printed with them.

The greaseproof paper I used as a pallette was torn up and applied to a painted background.

I had fun cutting out the alphabet from a magazine and filled in the background with Inktense pencils which I should probably add water to to bring out their strength of colour.  Can you spot the not-deliberate error?

Our visit to St Ives coincided with the annual September Festival and there was plenty going on in the town.

There was evidence of Yarn-bombing on the harbourside with Jo McIntosh's knitted bunting.  Jo held a joint exhibition  with Carolyn Saxby earlier in the year which sadly we missed.

This pretty little view is from Madeleine's Tea Room in the centre of St Ives.  If you ever go you must call in there and sample their delicious homemade cakes and cream teas.  

Various singing groups and Morris Dancers performed in the streets and you can see from their expressions how much effort they put in and how much fun they were having.

The RNLI opened up their station for a coffee morning and I found this view from inside the station fascinating. 

The surface of the lifeboat provided some interesting patterns.

I was also drawn to these markings on the bow of the lifeboat.  Maybe they'll appear in a future piece of work.  

Needless to say my eyes were open all the time for textures and patterns around us and I'llshow you some of those next time.  I'm going to be really busy for the next few days as I am going to th Knitting and Stitching Show on Saturday and then continuing down to Sussex for my beautiful stepdaughter's hen party!  We're going to Goodwood for their last race meeting of the season so if you're going be afraid, be very afraid! LOL

Opening Day Postcript

With many thanks to Ray at Stitchcraft I now have a photo of Wendy's sewing machine cover houses.

I think if I made one it would have to look like a Cornish cottage :o)

Opening Day!

Saturday dawned a beautiful sunny and warm day and I presented myself bright and fairly early at Stitchcraft Studio for their Opening Day event.  I hadn't really known what to take with me or what to expect but hoped the day would be well attended.

Kathryn and Christine had already hung some of my quilts on the wall behind my area. The second from the right is not mine but is by my friend Wendy Skinner who was also in attendance with some of her quilts and her beautiful sewing machine covers.

As there wasn't much hanging space I laid my journal quilts out on the table and invited people to pick them up if they wanted to.   My portraits of DH and I attracted a lot of attention and laughs, especially as my DH is quite well known locally from his years working at the hospital.

I took a range of work going right back to when I first started stitching and before I had ever thought of making anything with the word 'quilt' attached to it.  I felt quite delighted to have my name in 'lights' LOL

My companion in the studio (one of several workrooms at Stitchcraft) was Wendy Skinner who, amazingly, started me on this journey more years ago than we'd both care to remember when I joined her Painting for Pleasure group.  Both Wendy and I were kept busy all day with a constant stream of people popping in for a look at all the work and for a chat.  I am sorry to say that I don't have a photograph of Wendy's lovely sewing machine cover houses as I had a problem with my camera. but if you have Fabrications magazine from April/May 2012 her pattern is in there.

As we were somewhat trapped in the room with our quilts we didn't get to see any other proceedings in the lecture room and the shop but when we eventually emerged it was to find the shop had been hectic all day and the talk by Dawn Cameron-Dick had been well received. 

The shop looked wonderfully tempting now it was more fully equipped and I came home with a few Valdani threads.

I had hoped to show you how busy the venue was throughout the day but as I said, my camera let me down so the photos above have been kindly supplied by Christine's husband.  Take my word for it, the place was jumping!

To round off the day Kathryn and Christine asked me if I would consider leading one or two small workshops so I am going to give it some thought.  I get very anxious about standing up in front of people or trying to describe the procedures for making something but maybe I'll give it a go.

I mustn't forget to thank Heather and Joe for keeping us supplied with refreshments all day.

So, after all the excitement of the launch day I wish everyone at Stichcraft the very best of luck and success for the future.  I'll see you soon.

Stitchcraft Studio

In just seven days' time a new and exciting venture will open in Grantham and I for one can't wait!  We are going to get our very own quilting, patchwork and stitching centre!   Until now we have had to travel for shopping and workshops but very soon all this will be on our doorstep!  I've blogged about Stitchcraft before when I first went to meet the ladies who are starting it up but it's now looking much more like a shop and the workshop is already in use.

When I called in on Friday Sharon, above, was already  bringing everyone up to speed on the first workshop she is going to be teaching on basic patchwork.

The cafe is lovely and large and airy and is being cleared of its previous occupants to make way for lots of happy stitchers we hope.

Just one side of the shop with its stock of dyes and fabric paints ready stocked and fabrics beginning to fill the shelves.  I had a sneak preview and there are some beautiful, very tempting fabrics on display!

This is where I will be on Saturday morning (8 September), sharing my quilts and sketch/notebooks and talking to people about my journey towards textile art over the last 5 years.  My friend Wendy Skinner, who actually started me on the whole art journey back in 1988 (!) will also be showing her textile art.  Dawn Cameron Dick is giving a lecture entitled 'One Woman Quilt Show' and also a one hour quilting demonstration  so the place will be jumping.

If you live in the East Midlands (UK) or are anywhere near Grantham on Saturday come and give me some moral support and be in on the start of this new venture.  I have no affiliation but I do wish Kathryn, Christine, Sharon and all the tutors who have made a commitment to Stitchcraft the very best of luck and a long and happy stitching future in Grantham.  If you can't come on Saturday please spread the word. (Facebook page for Stitchcraft is here).  These are difficult days to be starting a new business but hopefully Stitchcraft will become a happy meeting place for local stitchers.

Workshops - Real and Cyber

One full day of my stay at the Festival of Quilts was taken up with a Masterclass run by the textile artist Dionne Swift.   The workshop was titled Developing Sketchbooks and we were assured that by the end of the day we would have a sketchbook full of design ideas to carry forward.  I have never been very good about maintaining a sketchbook and some of the beautifully attractive ones that we see around the internet make me feel I shouldn't start because I could never keep up something so beautiful. 

Dionne was true to her word and de-mystified the whole process to the point that I can't wait to make more at home.  I've started on a new one to take on our next holiday to St Ives with us and aim to fill it with the marks I see around St Ives while we're there.  My head is full of ideas for more books that I can return to again and again for inspiration.

It would be wrong of me to go through Dionne's process but I will share the book I came away with and a collage of some of its pages.

As you can see the book is already bursing at the seams!

These are just a few of the pages within the book.  You may be able to guess that we were eventually encouraged to use 'circles' as our theme.  I even worked in the book during the evening in my hotel room.  The insert from my ice cream tub was soon wrapped in scraps of fabric and glued to one of the pages.   These are small steps into keeping sketchbooks but I do feel this is one version that I will come back to.  I have lots of workbooks from when I was painting and books of notes, brainstorming scrawls, and stuck in flyers and souvenirs of exhibitions I've been to but this feels like a very lively form of sketchbooking.

In addition to the live workshop I have been working on an online Screen Printing workshop with Dionne this week.  It may seem strange to work on such a physical project from online instruction but I have found Dionne to be a very calming influence via video streaming and her teaching style is very clear with full supporting notes.  So what have I done so far?

I cut a freezer paper stencil from two commercial stencils I already had and printed through that.  I amde some mistakes with the thickness of the manutex paste and with properly loading the screen but I will know better when I print again.

The next task was to play with breakdown printing.  I worked from 3 screens.

This first one is done in the style of Kerr Grabowski with lots of found objects.  

This second one is just the dye paste and ghost images left on the screen after I had taken off the freezer paper stencil.

This final one is from Dionne's instructions and is on a home made screen made from a picture frame and net curtain.  It didn't have as much tension as the commercial frames but it did work quite well.

And the results.....

I quite like these ghostly images from the gingko screen.   They could make interesting backgrounds.

More interesting marks here although they are loaded in the wrong order.  They should go from pale to strong as the dye paste released more of the dye on the screen.

The three from 'Dionne's' screen made first with clear dye paste and then with coloured dye paste.  The top image shouldn't be blue at all, I couldn't get rid of the blue cast my camera gave it.  I am pretty certain the lack of tension in the screen meant that these prints are not as strong so I will do some more using a proper screen.

I have several more processes to try as part of this online workshop but I have already learned a lot about the thickness of the dye paste and the fabrics I used.  Next step is some overprinting with a different texture of mark.  

I got very excited by these prints on silk, even though some of the marks resulted from the cloth flapping over on itself when I moved it to the airer to dry, but, sadly they all but washed out when I rinsed everything.  I think that's because I batched the cloth in the airing cupboard and didn't steam the silk.  Oh well, better luck next time!

Going back to the Festival of Quilts I was delighted to get my quilt back on Thursday morning, most particularly because it had been well packed and survived the journey (Many thanks to the organisers for its safe return).  Pinned to the back of the quilt was the 'Comments' envelope which I opened with some trepidation as I had strayed into mixed media as much as art quilting.  

 I got mostly 'Good's' and some 'Excellent's' and good comments so I am a very happy bunny.  (Just wish I could read the last word in the Comments on the bottom sheet.  I'm going to try and make an early start on next year's entry so that this time I know what I'm doing before I fill the final form in!  Why don't you join me and have a go?  It's a wonderful feeling to see your quilt hanging up with everyone else's and believe me, beginners do very well.  The quilters are the Festival of Quilts and noone says yay or nay, all quilts entered are hung.  Have a go!  You know you want to!