Giving a talk, being part of an exhibition and finishing things

Giving a talk - table full of items to show

A few days after my last post here, I was at Pinfold giving a talk. Since around half of the group had heard me talk about my quilts already, I decided to bring along a wide range of the other bits and pieces I mess around with. You can see a selection of quilts hiding in the quilted bags sitting on the floor. The table holds books and embroideries I have made over the years, a few three dimensional items too - my fish and a couple of teddies. I think it went well. The variety and quantity seemed to surprise people.

Making print blocks

Since the talk, I have been steadily working towards getting items completed for the Pinfold exhibition which took place on Saturday. You can see a few photos of the exhibition here. I have been a member of this group for some months now, but this is the first time I have been able to exhibit with them. The first piece of work being my journal quilts. I had the final four to complete.

The first thing I needed to do was to make some print blocks.

Completed print blocks

Then, after preparing four pieces with a blue gelliplate print, I got the printing done. Different shades of green. The added squares needed to be orange.

Overprinting a gelliplate print

After leaving these pieces to dry, it was time to get on with the free machine embroidery. I really enjoy doing this, using my bright lamps to augment the light from the machine itself.

Free machine work

You can just see the orange squares which have been bondawebbed in place towards the back of this photo.

Completed journal quilts on show

I managed to get the final four JQs finished in time for the exhibition. Here they are, hanging in place. They are in date order with the top line being January, February, March and April. The middle layer are May, June, July and August. The bottom layer has September, October, November and December. These are held together with safety pins, so I really need to sort out whether to permanently link these together.

Display of Whispers challenge books.

This lovely table shows the collection of Pinfold Chinese Whisper Challenge books. My book is right at the very back with my journal detailing the challenge being the orange book beside it.

African quilt peeking around the corner - beautiful challenge quilts by Pinfold members

Pinfold is a group of very talented textile artists. I feel myself very lucky to be part of their group and am learning a lot by taking part in their challenges and being able to chat to the members about the techniques they like to use.

Giving a talk, being part of an exhibition and finishing things

Giving a talk - table full of items to show

A few days after my last post here, I was at Pinfold giving a talk. Since around half of the group had heard me talk about my quilts already, I decided to bring along a wide range of the other bits and pieces I mess around with. You can see a selection of quilts hiding in the quilted bags sitting on the floor. The table holds books and embroideries I have made over the years, a few three dimensional items too - my fish and a couple of teddies. I think it went well. The variety and quantity seemed to surprise people.

Making print blocks

Since the talk, I have been steadily working towards getting items completed for the Pinfold exhibition which took place on Saturday. You can see a few photos of the exhibition here. I have been a member of this group for some months now, but this is the first time I have been able to exhibit with them. The first piece of work being my journal quilts. I had the final four to complete.

The first thing I needed to do was to make some print blocks.

Completed print blocks

Then, after preparing four pieces with a blue gelliplate print, I got the printing done. Different shades of green. The added squares needed to be orange.

Overprinting a gelliplate print

After leaving these pieces to dry, it was time to get on with the free machine embroidery. I really enjoy doing this, using my bright lamps to augment the light from the machine itself.

Free machine work

You can just see the orange squares which have been bondawebbed in place towards the back of this photo.

Completed journal quilts on show

I managed to get the final four JQs finished in time for the exhibition. Here they are, hanging in place. They are in date order with the top line being January, February, March and April. The middle layer are May, June, July and August. The bottom layer has September, October, November and December. These are held together with safety pins, so I really need to sort out whether to permanently link these together.

Display of Whispers challenge books.

This lovely table shows the collection of Pinfold Chinese Whisper Challenge books. My book is right at the very back with my journal detailing the challenge being the orange book beside it.

African quilt peeking around the corner - beautiful challenge quilts by Pinfold members

Pinfold is a group of very talented textile artists. I feel myself very lucky to be part of their group and am learning a lot by taking part in their challenges and being able to chat to the members about the techniques they like to use.

Learning Goldwork and quilting.

Colour challenge fabrics

A couple of weeks ago I got the next stage of the NWCQ Colour Challenge under way. Everyone taking part brought in a metre of fabric which was then split between all nineteen of us. To make this work, each metre was split up into twenty pieces, with the owner of each metre getting two twentieths of their fabric back along with one twentieth of everyone else's. This is my collection. A really exciting collection since at the last meeting we were all asked to choose one of the selected three colours and to bring one metre of that colour to the latest meeting. Well, we had a lot of fun writing the names of colours onto bits of paper, putting these into a box and then drawing out three at random. The colours chosen? Jade, grass green and elephant grey. The idea for this challenge came from a description of a similar challenge organised by Edwina MacKinnon at a Regional Day for The Quilters' Guild. 

I am so looking forward to what everyone makes with their fabric. The choice has been left completely open. It should be really interesting. The deadline for finished items is the January meeting. I shall keep my own plans to myself until then.......

felt workshop piece

The 25th September saw me heading off for a Felt workshop with Viv Netherwood. She was showing us how to make landscapes using felt. A really interesting workshop. My finished felt is above- not very interesting at the moment. I still have the stitching to do.

stitching sketch for felt

This is the sketch I made at the workshop as a plan for my piece. It is based on a photograph I took some years ago when I went on a hot air balloon ride. The photo has been manipulated to turn it into a black and white image. I wanted to have a go at a monochromatic picture for a change.

original photo

I've chosen a small section of the photo and moved things around slightly. I'll have to wait to stitch it until the African quilt is complete. I need to get that done before the talk I am giving next week. Did I tell you how good I was at prevaricating?

learning goldwork

Last Monday saw me learning Goldwork. It is something I have never tried before. This was my version of a star at the end of that day. The workshop was given by the very talented Sarah, who runs a company called "Golden Hinde" with her mother.

Africa quilt - top

The African quilt is nearly finished now. Just the rest of the stitching around the outer borders. I really enjoyed stitching the face images. You can see that I need to get a lot of tidying up done before that talk. A long session getting rid of all the fibres on the black fabric is required too. I didn't realise just how attractive to bits this black fabric is......... hmmm. Must remember that in future.

Africa quilt - the back

Oh yes, I actually finished the Goldwork star this afternoon. My next problem will be to decide which way up to mount it. The piece is sewn onto a blue silk dupion.

finished goldwork piece

Newly dyed dress

The last few days haven't seen a lot of stitching - I finished putting the pieces together on this dress which was started several months ago as an experiment. You can see my last post which mentioned the dress here. I must now get started on the rest of this project. However, it will have to wait until the African Crosses Quilt gets quilted. I must get this one out of the way. It has been stalled for rather too long as I prevaricated over getting all the stitching completed around each of the appliqued pieces.

African Quilt - pinned ready to quilt

Finally ready to quilt this one. It has been hanging around for far too long. I need to get it done before a talk I am giving next month. The dress will also need to be completed by then too......

African Quilt - ideas for quilting

For the quilt, I decided to revisit a design I played with some years ago. It is based on photos of a rather beautiful carved head which my daughter brought back with her from Tanzania. She wouldn't part with the head, so I took photos and completed a couple of embroideries based on it. I'm going back to the original photo for my quilting design. Must get this finished ready to start work on the quilt itself.

Recent reading matter

My head has not really been on quilting recently. I am keen on getting some dressmaking done this autumn. Not sure how I shall fit this all in, but I am going to try.

Exhibition visited in Macclesfield

On Friday, I found myself in Macclesfield. Whilst there, I visited this exhibition. There are some really interesting pieces on show here, and in the cafe area I found a series of delightful 3D bird sculptures in a mixture of felt and wire with some driftwood. They were made by Alison Rose. I am lucky enough to have gained a place on the workshop she is doing in October. We will be making birds. Such fun!

Exhibition visited in Stockport

Yesterday I travelled to Stockport and whilst there went to this exhibition in the Art Gallery. If you look at the top layer of images of the work on display, especially the image which is third from the left. In this image, on the bottom right corner is a design which should look rather familiar. Yes, it is the very same Tuareg cross which I used as the basis for the applique motifs on my African quilt. This image is of a piece made by Magie Relph where she has used her collection of crosses.

An interesting exhibition by Etcetera. I really enjoyed the wide variety of work on show.

After looking at all this wonderful work I really ought to get on and make something.

Plans for sewing projects

1.2m of a cotton/elastane mix.

It has been rather a busy couple of weeks since I last posted here, including hanging an exhibition and visiting family. Sadly little sewing has been done, although I have managed some knitting.

The fabric shown above was a small piece found in a shop near my daughter's house. It was an offcut which I hope will be big enough for a nice top.

In a local charity shop I found this rather nice Tunic. It has a buttoned opening and is a wraparound. I think it may be a piece of vintage clothing from Gap. Apart from the label you can see at the neck, there is no other labelling.

Tunic front

Made from a nice firm denim, it has applique flowers from various shades of denim fabric. Sadly, it is too small to fit me, although it was labelled as my size in the shop.

Tunic back

I really like the shape and also the cuff detail, so have decided to try and take a pattern from the tunic itself. I could then make something similar in my own size.

Tunic cuff detail

The cuff detail is quite interesting, and could be easily imitated. I think I would prefer to have a roomier sleeve since the thinner sleeves on the tunic itself would be rather limiting for anyone trying to stitch or knit whilst wearing it.

Printing, quilting and completing bits and pieces.

block, stencil, thermofax and gelliplate prints

I had a lot of fun with the MEG group on Friday when I organised a print workshop for them. We played with my gelliplate, stencils, home made blocks and wooden blocks, my thermofax screens too. I took in all three of my print boards and a couple of easels to make an extra table. 

The photo above shows the collection of prints I managed to achieve during the day. It will be interesting to see the collection of prints made by the rest of the group. It was a really friendly session with not a lot of chat, since everyone was concentrating on whatever they were working on. Thanks everyone.

House 1 - now finished.

Butterfly block now complete.

As you can see, I have been finishing things off over the past few days. The first of the house blocks is now quilted and bound. I think I just need to add a bugle bead for the door handle.

The butterfly block doesn't quite feel finished. I think it needs some more stitching, but will have to wait until I decide exactly what is required. A few butterflies would be nice.

knitted waistcoat under way.

I also got started with the knitted waistcoat. I do love the way the pattern grows under my fingers. Yes, that is a small pocket. I shall be adding the edging at a later stage. It seems to have been missed out of the pattern, but is shown quite clearly in the photograph. It shouldn't be a problem to recreate.

Stitching , knitting and plans

My silk/cotton blouse found in a charity shop

 This lovely blouse was a lucky find earlier this year in a charity shop. I haven't worn it yet since I need to remake the sleeves. They are double layered and hang badly. My plan is to take the sleeves apart and to turn the inside layer into a cuff for the bottom of what should be a full elbow length sleeve. It shouldn't take long to achieve, but there seem to be rather a lot of other things that need to be finished first....... Gardening and cleaning my car currently head the list.

The back detail

This next item is one of those that I really need to get finished before too long. It is a set of pieces to make a butterfly block. A challenge from one of the groups I belong to - Alsager Creative Stitchers. It was a project that was the theme of their July meeting. Since I couldn't attend, I was given the block to finish at home.

On Saturday I went along to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. Such fun to meet up with friends again. There are some people I only seem to meet at the Festival. It is always a fascinating experience visiting the show, seeing so many amazing quilts, meeting friends, making new friends. So much to see and do. So many ideas beginning to develop.

This was most of my haul. There is some fabric which I cannot show here since it will become part of the NWCQ challenge which I am leading. I'll explain all about that another time since it should be a lot of fun. 

I've only shown one of my bundles of fabric from Empress Mills. I bought two. These are invaluable for my dyeing and printing. They are made up of a beautiful, tight woven cotton which is a joy to sew into. You can see some of the pieces drying on my washing line. My two bundles, when washed occupied all but half of one side. That last bit was used by a gorgeous piece of jersey found on a really interesting stand at the show. I bought the pattern there too. 

The Steam a Seam was free, as was a reel of cotton from Mettler. Being pink, it might not see any use for a while, but is bound to come in useful.The beautiful little zipped bag was won on the Tombola. It was made by Helen Butcher and will be used to house my new collection of quilt clips. You can see them peeping out at the top of the photo. I have one set of red and another of blue. I bought some more of the cotton sheets for my inkjet printer. I ran out recently, just when I really needed some more.....

Apart from some items for printing and dyeing, and thread too, there is a set of "Do it yourself markers" which I am looking forward to playing with. Apparently I should be able to use these to soak up colour, using them like a marker pen. I do like new toys.....

I managed to finish my cardigan, adding the buttons this afternoon. Why did I finish this on a really hot day so that I really don't fancy trying it on? I started this particular cardigan some months ago, abandoning it at one stage when I needed to get on with other projects. It is a pattern by Martin Storey for Jaeger, printed back in 2004. The design is called Lucille.

Ah well. I treated myself to some really nice yarn today whilst I was in the Wool Shop. It is a dangerous place to visit, especially when buying buttons armed with a collection of patterns. This is a soft Acrylic/ Bamboo mix. The pattern is from a Jaeger pattern book which is over ten years old. I've always loved this waistcoat pattern, so it will be nice to start this later.