Nothing like colour to cheer the soul!

Nothing like a bit of colour to brighten up ones mood! I've also had my hair dyed a rather bright shade of auburn.....gorgeous. Because I've had a break from my textile art for the past six weeks while my daughter and grandson were visiting, I thought I'd cheer myself up by playing with all the scraps I had, no matter what the colour. This is the result....oh, and I've also added some dots and spots in white and dark grey paint.

This is the finished art quilt inspired by a moths wing that I showed a small part of a few weeks ago. Partly paper lamination, hand dyed fabric, and an old grey scarf, finished off with lots of free motion machine stitch.

Getting started again.

My Journal Quilt for September. I have called it September meanderings. It started out as scrap cloth for mopping up some silk paint, but I decided to fill in the white areas with yet more paint before free machine stitching the surface with a meandering pattern, including some text.

I have been very busy since the middle of August with family affairs. My daughter and grandson have been staying, they live in New Zealand, so it has been wonderful to have them here. They returned on Thursday,and I'm feeling very lost, and rather sad at present. However, we also became grandparents again on the 31st of August to another darling little grandson, and luckily he only lives a twenty minute drive away.

I can't remember if I've put this small quilt on here before or not, so apologies if I am repeating myself. This little quilt is also only about 10'x10', and is called 'An English Country Garden'. It vaguely resembles our garden, which is also quite small.

Festival of Quilts 2011, Birmingham NEC, UK.

My visit to the Festival of Quilts this year was for one day only, and what I normally manage to do in two, I had to cram into one! Exhausting! I think the flooring in the NEC must be concrete under that very thin excuse for carpet, because after a couple of hours, my legs and feet are just as heavy as lead, and It's as though I'm having to drag a sack of potatoes behind me. Anyway, enough of that, because I still thoroughly enjoyed my day, and it is always so inspiring to see so many wonderful quilts and pieces of textile art. There is always a wide range in quality of workmanship and design, but as time was short, I tried to limit my closer study of exhibits to work that really stood out and demanded my attention. I did take some photos, but the lighting was bad, and so the quality of most is disappointing.

The above three images are wall quilts made by The Tentmakers of Cairo. Sadly, it seems it is a disappearing trade in Egypt, where there are only about forty older stitchers left. The younger ones who are being trained, often drop out because the work is hard, slow and low paid. From what I could understand, these stitchers are mostly male, and I watched Mohamed Dendon and his brother, sitting crossed legged, stitching these wonderful quilts. I asked them how long it had taken to stitch the top one with the foliage and birds. About five months they said. It was priced at £550! Needless to say, they all had a red sticker on the price ticket.

Above are three images of the work of Dr. Mary Loyd Jones, Hon. D. Univ. Wales. http://www.marylloydjones.co.uk/ I just loved these cloths, they were huge, but very atmospheric, and full of energy. Mary was born in Ceredigion, and says of her work, "My aim is that my work should reflect my relationship with the land, an awareness of history, and the treasures of our literary and oral traditions. I search for devices that will enable me to create multilayered images. This has led to my involvement with the beginnings of language, early manmade marks and the Ogham and Bardic Alphabets."

Another young woman whose work really impressed me was Padmaja Krishnan. Unfortunately I couldn't photograph her work, and since returning home have found it difficult to find any really good web-sites relating to her work. She makes embroideries using the Kantha style of stitch, which is basically a very simple straight stitch, but her work is very beautiful, and full of the spirit of her culture, but with some modern influences. She also likes to use another technique called Boro, which is an old Japanese tradition of  making use of remnants, or rags. Some of these have been very densley stitched to create beautiful articles of clothing and wall hangings.

Yoshiko Katagirl also had some wonderful applique work. Most of her wall hangings were on a black background, which really allowed her jewel like glowing colours to shine out.:

Finally, but by no means least, was the work of Alice Fox. http://www.alicefox.co.uk/ and http://www.alicefox-textiles.blogspot.com/ Alice was a joint winner with Rose Wood for the Students Awards - Graduate Showcase. Her work had a simple honesty about it, but with an underlying complexity that excited my senses, and left me wanting to explore her techniques and ideas.

I apologise for the lack of 'visuals' in this post, but urge you to further explore the links I've given above. I'm sure you will find lots to feed your creative muse! Enjoy.

Moths Wings and Lobster Pots

A section from an art quilt that I'm working on. It isn't finished yet, so I'm only showing small areas to give a flavour of what it's all about. Again, this is inspired by a moths wing, and this time I've used the paper lamination technique. Below are two more images.

Finally, below is the finished article from a previous piece of work that I posted about in July. It was from a photo that I manipulated in photoshop that I took on Ferring beach. My daughter has taken a shine to it, so I've finished it off by quilting in some ripples and reflections, to make it appear as though the lobster pot, rope and pebbles are under water. Hope you still like it Emily!!

Harbour Lights for my August JQ

If you look back to my post of the 20th July, you will see a piece of breakdown printed fabric that I had also embellished with spots of acrylic paint. Well, I decided to use this for this months JQ, after taking some photos of reflected harbour lights in Goodwick, near Fishguard last week. My piece of fabric reminded me of the sea at dusk, so all I had to do was to add the effect of the lights on the water. This JQ also needed some text, one of the criteria for the four quiltlets from June to September. I just added the word 'Light', and hand stitched in pale yellow thread, and added some yellow wax crayon for highlights. To finish, I machine quilted the ripples in silver, two shades of blue. I have put a photo below of the inspiration for this piece, and as you can see, it's not a direct copy, more of an impression!

The harbour at dusk in Goodwick.

A bit of mixed media and photography!

 This is a bit of an experiment in mixed media, which started off as a black and white photocopy of a watercolour painting I did a couple of years ago. I folded the copy in half, and used the top half during a day spent with some friends from the KAIROS group I belong to. I didn't have a particular idea of what I was going to do, but just played around with odd bits of paper that I scrunched up, smoothed out, tore into rough leaf shapes and stitched onto the photocopy. I continued like this, also adding bits of sheer fabric, stitching or sticking the pieces down, and then drawing into some of them with a black pen and some crayons. Later, when I was at home, I decided to cover the whole sheet with some watery white paint. This gave the effect of a foggy day, and the leaf shapes took on the look of trees in the foreground. I cut up yet more bits of paper, this time in tall straight shapes to look a bit like buildings on the horizon.  I also added some scraps of lace which reminded me of clouds, and sketched a bit more with my black pen. It certainly isn't a great piece of art, but I enjoyed the spontaneous aspect of the process, and it was fun!

Finally, here are two photographs that I've taken with my phone! Just a point and shoot effort, but I'm very pleased with the results.

A few more creepy crawlies!

A few more additions to my small book of Fantasy Beetles! I don't know what is giving me more fun, the sketching and stitching of these weird creepy crawlies, or making up their names!

Above and below are two samples that I have altered with acrylic and fabric paint. The bottom one started out as a photograph I took of a lobster pot on the beach at Ferring, then manipulated in photoshop, printed onto some cotton fabric, then added the paint. The piece above was taken from a length of fabric that I had breakdown printed in a teal colour, and have also overpainted in acrylic/fabric paint. Not sure what I'm going to do next, but I'll post more pics when I've finished with them.

More Moths!

 I seem to have a bit of an insect theme going on at the moment, but I have to admit that I do find them really interesting, especially visually with their gorgeously subtle colours and markings. I've been looking at moths wings again, and the patterning on their wings is just so wonderful, I think I may be heading for a 'moth series'!!

This piece above is also partly inspired by some cloth that I snow dyed last winter. Well, we did have rather a lot of the stuff, so I thought I'd have a go. I have just used the one piece on this occasion, and I've relied on some lines sketched in with a water soluble crayon, the edges softened with a wet paintbrush, and then mainly free motion machine stitching with some hand stitch, (seeding) to finish.

Below are some closeups of different areas.

This and That!

A sneaky preview of a small portion of my entry for the EQA 'Circle of Friends' quilt that has been selected for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this August. I can't show it all, not until after the exhibition, but I was so thrilled to hear on Friday that my entry had been successful. Each country has 12 quilts selected, and each country has a different colour combination. The UK entries have to be in black and white, with up to 30% in any shade of blue. They also have to be a circular measuring between 8" and 12"(inches). The small area of black and blue fabric that you can see here I dyed myself, and the spiders are all free motion machine stitched.

These are drawings and paintings I've made of some fantasy beetles. I made up a small booklet from an  unwanted leaflet that I first painted with white gesso, and then folded into a concertina. I folded it once again, and stitched through all the layers to hold the book together, The photo above is the cover, (unfortunaely upside down),  but hopefully you can see what I mean. The remaining photos are of the pages that I've done so far, but I hope to complete them all very soon. Just a bit of fun really, but I do enjoy doodling, especially insects, and it's something to do when I'm waiting for the potatoes to cook, or when I have a few minutes to spare and don't want to twiddle my thumbs!

My Journal Quilt for July has been inspired partly by the 'Out of Australia' exhibition at The British Museum. I made some sketches while I was there of some of the wonderful baskets on display, and printed two of them onto some fabric. They are on the right. I also really enjoyed seeing the Aboriginal art, and felt that some of them could be the starting point for some handstitched textile art. I had a simple sketch in my book that I made in April on Ferring beach, and decided to translate it into a simple handstitched sample which is on the top left. The print from my sketch is underneath. I just love the way that the artists use such simple lines and marks to convey land/seascapes, and their surroundings.

Well, that's it for now folks, enjoy whatever it is that you like to do, and see you next time. Thanks for reading.

Small detail from a detail!!

I've been pondering for weeks about an idea for a quilt challenge that I want to take part in. I'm not sure if we are supposed to put them onto our blogs or websites until after the event, so for that reason I'm only showing a small part of it here. In fact, the whole quilt itself is inspired by a detail from a Moth's wing. I spent a few evenings looking at different images of British Moths, and sketching the shapes and details of the their intricate and fascinating markings. I also love the subtle colours, and managed to dig out some fabric that I had dyed in subtle shades of grey and blue grey. I haven't finished it yet either, but so far I'm feeling pleased with how it's coming along. I started it during my Independent Study Day with C2C on Friday, it is so much easier to lay out cloth and pattern pieces on a  large table, with plenty of space to be able to stand back and see the progress.

On a different note, I went along to Sandown on Saturday for the Quilt Championships, and spent a few very happy hours studying the different categories of quilts, and also browsing the vast selection of books and other goodies! As usual, I spent too much, but came home with some embroidery and machine threads, wadding, and two books. The Found Object in Textile Art by Cas Holmes, and connecting art to stitch by Sandra Meech. Both are absolutely full of inspirational ideas for textile artists, and I'm sure I will be using lots of the ideas from each of them. All I need now is MORE TIME!!!!

See you next time!

When in doubt, PLAY!!

 I've not been feeling very inspired lately, I'm really struggling with how to move forward, so decided to have a day of playing with my fabric paints instead!

I didn't want all the fuss of dyeing, I wasn't in the mood for all the effort involved in that, so just tore up a few small pieces of white cotton, and had some fun.

I spread the paint onto a flat plastic tray, and then made marks into it with a variety of objects. I used some of the cotton fabric dry, and some I dampened down. With the piece on the left here, I placed elastic bands down onto the paint first, and then pressed the fabric down on top. When it was dry, I used silk paint to fill in the white areas.

The photo above is one that I took last week by the River Mole near Leatherhead in Surrey. I'm rather pleased with this, and may try to feel inspired enough to make a small piece of textile art from it. If there were lilly pads on the water, it could almost pass as a Monet!