One Day Sale and a Prize

My new year has got off to a good start.  First of all an unexpected trip down to Peterborough yesterday with my blogging friend Wendy Snape to visit our friends at Art and Stitch for their winter sale day.

We couldn't believe the queue when we walked through the door but everyone was having a lovely time choosing their fabrics and catching up with friends not seen for a few weeks.

Somehow these lovelies came home with me.  The snowflakey fabric at the top was only £2.50 a metre so I bought it for backing and the batiks were all 40% off.   I'm sure I'll find a use for them but please, somone remind me, I'm supposed to be using up my stash this year.

Before Christmas I entered a prize draw on the blog of a local painter and was delighted when my name was chosen to receive one of her paintings.   The painter in question is Haidee-Jo Summers and she has a wonderful lively way of painting.  She had a particularly successful year last year when she was selected by the BBC to paint a view of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant from the Millenium Bridge in London.  As you may remember Pageant Day was a torrential day and Haidee did well to continue with her task while other artist's were beaten by the wet conditions. I've included a video of Haidee painting the previous weekend in kinder conditions.

In addition Haidee was selected as the Artist of the Year for 2012 by the Society For All Artists.  Then, in December, Haidee-Jo attended the Art Event evening of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and her portrait painted there was selected by the members as the best painting of the evening painted by a non-member.  You can view the painting  and read about the evening here.  I think Haidee's painting is beautiful and full of the warmth and character of the sitter.

Well, I did say that I won a prize from Haidee so I should get on and show you what arrived today.

You can see I won the star prize!  The painting was very well wrapped against the ravages of Royal Mail.

Inside was this pretty parcel.

 

This is the lovely little painting I've won and I love it!  I know the exact place where this was painted as it is quite close to where I live and I know that it was painted en-plein air which makes it all the more special as I appreciate that Haidee braved the elements to achieve it and that has added to the quality of the atmosphere she describes.  Haidee's blog about the painting experience is here.  I can feel the lumps and bumps in the ground and the greying atmosphere as the fog descended.

You can probably tell that I very much like Haidee-Jo's work.  I have met her just once many years ago when I was still painting but had lost track of her until recently.  Her blog is well worth browsing if you like her style of painting and her subjects are very varied.  Thank you Haidee very much for my lovely painting.  It is tempting me to get my own pochade box out and brush off the cobwebs!

Embroidery Exhibition

You wait for weeks for a blog post and then 2 come along together!  Today I've been down to Art & Stitch in Peterborough to see an exhibition by Peterborough Embroiderers Guild celebrating their 25th birthday.  The exhibition contained a wide variety of work, all of it to a very high standard and very inspiring.  I only had my point and shoot camera with me so my photos area bit fuzzy but I hope they give you an idea of the exhibition.

Er Zullen Altijd Wel Soldaten Zijn (There Will Always be Soldiers) Elaine Harburn.  This moving piece features transferred photos of a family of World War One soldiers embellished with found objects.  I liked the added layer of sheer fabric strips.

Memory Box by Kate Isaacs.  This beautiful box is made of old lace, doillies and fabrics from a scarp box, enhanced wit stitch, all with memories of the past.

This beautiful altered book and the one below is by Lin Oxley.  Fabulous work!

A Warm Glow by Pamela McDonald above started life as a vessel but soon became a lamp.  The following three pieces are also by Pamela and combine to form 'Time Passes'.  You can read about it in more detail on her blog where she also has more images of the exhibition.  Scroll down through a few recent posts so you don't miss anything.  You won't be disappointed.

Above is 'Sylvia's Workbox' also by Pamela McDonald.  I was mesmerised by this beautiful subtly coloured piece.  It is a tribute to a multi-talented friend whose workbox Pamela inherited.  There is so much detail in it you could look at it for hours and not see it all.  It is in a canvas and I think is about 24" square.  What a wonderful way to honour the life of a creative soul.

I think this beautiful altered book above is another by Lin Oxley.  The book is by Catherine Cookson in case you wondered.  All that central detail is pages rolled over on themselves.  The colour is a bit off but hopefully you get the idea.  

Paula Mason made this piece above to celebrate a very busy Summer 2012. 
 

These 24 pieces arose from a Toltec challenge whereby the same pattern could be interpreted in any materials.  There are some lovely interpretations.

If you live in the Peterborough area there is still time to visit the exhibition which finishes on Sunday 14 October.  There is much more to see than the few glimpses I have shown here and there is the added bonus of shopping in Art & Stitch!

Free Machine Embroidery

I've had a great day today down at Art and Stitch in Peterborough.  Gina Ferrari led a workshop exploring the basics of free machine embroidery.  While I've done several machine embroidery workshops I was keen to work with Gina again as she is a very calm tutor and inspires confidence.   Before I went to Peterborough today I watched Gina's DVD "Creative Free Machinery Embroidery" which she made with Colouricious. I was really glad I did as it put me in a good position to benefit fully from today.  

The aim today was to slow things down (not literally as far as the stitching was concerned) and concentrate on excercises involving only straight stitch.  

My main efforts working on different patterns within in a grid, after having played with some very basic (more basic than this!) scribbles to settle into controlling my machine and tension. 

The next step was to work on a 'colouring in' exercise which took a while but was a lot of fun!

I was so pleased with my effort I even signed it! lol  It's about 4" x 3" (10 x7.5 cms)

With the remainder of the time (in my case not that much of it) we made flowers and leaves which again was fun and I can see lots of uses for these,

The leaves are made of paper stitched onto felt.

The atmosphere all day was one of fun and enthusiasm and there were some great results considering most of us were fairly novice (as in havn't practised enough before!) at FME

Don't you love Sally's dragonfly and mushroom?

I don't know who did the owl but I love him!

 

Sorry I can't attribute any of these properly but everyone did really well.

Of course, a workshop at Art and Stitch wouldn't be complete without lots of cups of tea and coffee and a little treat to keep the day moving:

Raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes. Oh my!

I need to catch up on another workshop I did last weekend with Hilary Beattie (no wonder I'm shattered!) so I'll try  and get that on here in the next couple of days.

Catching up with friends and an English Country Garden

For longer than I care to remember I have been promising to go and see the lovely ladies at Art and Stitch in Peterborough but never seem to have managed it with everything that was going on last year.  Happily today, on a beautiful sunny winter's day, I gathered my sewing things and hopped on a train for the short journey to Peterborough. 

Since I last went Angela and Pam who run Art and Stitch had moved premises in a bid to confuse me but their efforts were in vain and I tracked them down.  I was greeted with a very warm welcome and a cup of tea!  What more could you want?

The main shop includes the workshop area and as you can see is a wonderful space to work in.  (The blinds were closed against the brightness of the sun during the morning as it was blinding the ladies).

This is the view from the other end of the room.  Thursday is social sewing day and it certainly was a very sociable experience.  The ladies made me very welcome and I am going to try and go on a bit more regular basis if I can - at least more regularly than once a year!  

I took some hand sewing with me and made really good progress.  I am going to add some kantha style stitching to the background and will probably finish the edge with satin stitch.

This piece is 8" square and is on a theme of the English Country Garden.  As you can probably tell it is made with some beautiful embroideries from cushion covers and doillies that I found in Grace's house.  It seemed sacrilege to cut them up but then again they will only sit in a drawer otherwise and I don't think Grace would object too much if she was alive.  She always encouraged me in all my arting and probably knew her textiles would take on new identities once I got near them lol.  I have to admit to this being inspired by the work of Susan Lenz whose blog I have followed for a number of years and who I have met when she came to Nottingham.  Susan does a lot of work with re-purposed textiles and has made some beautiful pieces with textiles like these including 'Anonymous'. 

If I can get this piece finished and in the post over the weekend it may become part of a larger exhibition piece with the Contemporary Quilt Group at the Quilt Museum in York later this year.  Nothing like leaving things to the last minute!

If you live anywhere within reach of Peterborough I can heartily recommend Art and Stitch for shopping, classes in all sorts of stitch related topics, friendly people to chat to and a warm welcome, not to mention some raucous laughter!

All topped off by a sunny train ride home.

Peterborough Open Studios Weekend

This weekend and next artists in Peterborough are opening their doors to share their work and their creative spaces with the public.  There are 26 venues taking part and, in many cases, several artists are sharing each venue.  Today Wendy took me and another friend Roz for a tour round some of the studios.  We had a short list of 4 that we hoped to visit but ended up adding in another that we saw advertised and which turned out to be a real prize.

First port of call was Art & Stitch (venue 16) where I have been for workshops and which as ever was buzzing with people chatting and learning.  The artists displaying their work were Angela Watson, Sarah Payne and Pam Pardoe.  I was pleased to be able to see Angela's poppy wall hanging which she featured on her blog recently and which she is justifiably proud of.  Angela, it's so much more lovely in real life!

Sarah was busy teaching a beading class when we arrived but she had plenty of her work on display and also, even more delightful, her sketchbooks were available to browse through.  Don't you just love looking through other people's sketchbooks?  It's fascinating to see how artists work through some of the potential problems before they start working or explore an idea to see where it will take them.  (Note to self, make better use of your own sketchbooks, like, use one!!!)

This is a very small sample of the work Sarah had on display.  You may be able to see that Sarah has been inspired by the glorious colours and patterns of the artist Hundertwasser. Sarah is a vibrant and enthusiastic artist and her work encompasses textiles, quilting and beading.  One of these days I am going to get round to doing a beading class with her at Art & Stitch!

Pam Pardoe is a skilled quilter and many of her quilts were on display both inside and outside Art & Stitch but, for my sins, I didn't take any photos of them.  Apologies Pam!

Tearing ourselves away from the lively atmosphere at Art and Stitch we got sidetracked into Pondskippercrafts  which is on the same industrial estate.  They specialise in items for the paper crafter and card maker but they carry things that can equally be used in mixed media and sketchbook-making and their prices were very competitive.

Next stop on our tour was venue 4 which featured the work of Sue Shields, a painter and printer who doesn't seem to have an internet presence, Carol Burnett who makes beautiful beaded jewellery inspired by the coast.  Her pieces were beautifully displayed on pebbles and beach finds and added to the atmosphere of the rooms which displayed Sue's beautiful paintings and linocuts, no photos I'm afraid :o( Also on display was pottery by Lindsey Wisniewski, also no internet presence.

While we were at venue 4 we picked up a flyer for another venue that we had missed and which offered cream teas in the garden! What a fantastic venue this was!  The work on display was beautiful restful paintings by Julie Reid who had also designed the beautiful garden, Kathryn Moore who was showing her woven wall hangings, shawls and bags and Ann Bellamy who makes wonderful jewellery including brooches from glass fragments and beads.  I was very tempted!  Julie Reid is also a garden designer and her garden was a very special place, so much so that we sat a spell and had a cream tea!!

Suitable refreshed, and spurred on by sat-nav we moved on to venue 8 in the home of Kay Hall, a lovely textile and mosaic artist.  Also here was Nadine Gereson who works in silver jewellery.

This wonderfully sculpted shrub greeted us at the door.  We thought maybe it was a laurel.

Do go and take a look at Kay's website, she has some beautiful work displayed there and you can see that her textiles and mosaics inform each other.  

Kay also had a delightful garden that she allowed us to wander in.  Both hers and Julie's showed the flair of an artist at work , and had lots of quirky bits and pieces to keep you interested and inspired, small strings of mirrors spinning in the wind, rusty bits, small stone figures hiding in the borders, wooden toadstools, windchimes with different tones, mosaic tables and pots.  

 This gorgeous bark was on a pine tree (cupressus?) in Kay's garden.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see the depth of colour and the textures.  I don't think I would have expected to see this colour bark on a cypress tree. 

Our last port of call was Venue 13, The Cavell Centre, which had a wide selection of work from local artists across Cambridgeshire. (Unfortunately they did not have the bowls on display that feature in the publicity for PAOS). Needless to say by the time we had walked round the centre we were tiring and ready for home.  You still have time to visit the Peterborough Open Studios either this weekend or next weekend and judging by the work we saw today it is well worth a visit if you live near enough.

A little shopping and meeting friends

I thought I should show you the little bit of shopping I did in Nottingham when I met Guzzisue. Sue took me to The Bead Shop just off the City Square and, what do you know? They were having a sale! Yay! I didn't go too mad but I did buy some of this unusual paper which, as you can see, has a lovely crinkly texture and which I'm sure I will be able to stitch. I bought a metre of each colour at only 70p each, not bad eh? I can see some of it as a foreground in a seascape.

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As usual I couldn't resist turquoise and bought this bead selection and some lovely charms to keep me busy.

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Now for today! Look who I met up with!

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The very lovely and talented Gina Ferrari (on the left) and the very friendly Angela of Art and Stitch. Gina was demonstrating for Art and Stitch at their official opening day and had brought along a lot of her works and sketchbooks, including the famous Sainsbury's carrier bag dress. It was interesting to see the preparatory work that Gina had done before producing the final pieces. Other people's workbooks are always fascinating, aren't they?

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Unfortunately we arrived too late to see the dress being modelled by a young student.

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Not only was it lovely to see Gina again but we were also able to ask questions and be shown Gina's methods so we had quick lessons in machining on metal (as seen on Gina's blog this week), machining with heavier weight threads in the bobbin, working with tyvek, machining on tapestry canvas and tassel making (very useful if you're thinking of doing a bit of belly dancing!).

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The ladies at Art and Stitch were very welcoming and Angela's lovely husband, Neil, sporting a very sassy waistcoat, was on hand to tidy up ;o) (sorry Neil!). I have signed up to do a Machine Embroidery workshop at Art and Stitch with Gina in June and Neil has even offered to provide transport for me from the station. How's that for service? Now, if I can just remember what photograph it was I said I would send to Gina it will have been a perfect day!........... What was that? Shopping? Nooooooo, I didn't do any shopping!!