Still working on THAT quilt!

I'm nearly ready to start, honest. Here is my "design" back of the door where I have pinned up some samples. I've planned it all out, so just about to start cutting - gulp. It would have been quicker to build a new Olympic Stadium.

Meanwhile I tried a fabric painting experiment. Egyptian Cotton drawn on with a Sharpie pen and then coloured in with water soluble Derwent Inktense pencils. I painted over each section with as little water as possible to stop the colours bleeding. When it was dry I tested Derwent's claim the pencils become water proof by running the whole thing under the tap... and it worked. Lots of potential.

Next week I'm going on another workshop with Ruth Issett on fabric printing so I haved dyed a batch of mixed blues to work on.

I'll let you see what I've done with it next week.

I then realised I needed some more greens for my quilt, so rather than have another dyeing session I bought a lovely selection from  Maggi's hand dyed fabrics. They are greener than they look here.

I've also put together another set of little bird cards for my Etsy shop.

As I type I can hear the Midwife Toads bleeping in the garden. That must mean the evening temperature is warming up at last. Usually they are making a racket much earlier in the year. We were sort of hoping they wouldn't survive the long cold winter, but they are back!

Midwife toad, snapped a few years ago - noisy but cute, foreign invaders who've colonised my neighbourhood.

Hope all is right with you, and you are enjoying a bit of spring.

Jill

Catch up

First of all I would like to say hello to my new followers,  I seem to have gained some over the last month.  It would be lovely to hear what  you think. At this rate you will be bored to tears so I had better get on with it ... I haven't been idle, although I never seem to get anywhere. First of all I haven't given up writing my daily diary.

 Following an idea I picked up from a workshop I didn't attend at the NEC stitch show, I needle felted these moth brooches onto a pelmet vilene base, they're in my Etsy shop.

I have also stitched these needle cases for an Etsy customer, I hope she still wants them.

Meanwhile I am trying desperately to get to work on my final quilt for C&G which has to be based on appliqué work. I've been at it since the new year.  That is the good and bad point of working on-line, a flexible deadline means I have been able to accommodate family/health problems, but it also leaves me open to procrastination.  However I hope I am getting somewhere at last, thanks to lovely support from Linda Kemshall.  

I sent her this iPad drawing and the sketchbook pages exploring composition.

She liked this shape taken from a photograph of a gate at Luton Hoo Walled Garden. She and Laura also always say that anything you can draw in your sketchbook can be reproduced as a quilt...

I wasn't sure whether I had the skills to appliqué this shape. Lying in bed trying to sleep, thinking about quilting, as you do, it suddenly occurred to me to cut out the negative shapes, and appliqué them.

I made a double page spread in my sketchbook, using the cut outs and then made a larger version as a  quilted sampler.

I am hoping that my raw edge appliqué and sketchy free machine stitching will be an acceptable method for my final piece, as this reflects my style of drawing much more than beautifully sewn down pieces edged with satin stitch. I am really pleased with this little sample as I feel it is totally 'me'. I am aiming to use lots of rust stained fabric for the background.

There is still some planning and sampling to try out before I begin, so I really ought to get on with it, rather than writing this blog!!

April stretches ahead like a couple of blank pages, I wonder where I'll be when this is filled in.

Have a good week,

Jill

Great day out - rubbish photos

I went to the "Sewing for Pleasure/Fashion, Embroidery & Stitch/Hobby Crafts" show on Thursday. I have been up to Birmingham NEC by train a couple of times before with friends, but this time I went on my own. I was disproportionately anxious about catching the right train before I went, goodness know why, but of course everything went smoothy. I was at Milton Keynes station a good half an hour before my train was due, and it was blowing a freezing gale along the platform. 

I only gave the Hobby Craft section a quick walk through as I was more interested in the other areas. I did take my little camera, but of course didn't use it very much. What I was here for was supplies I couldn't easily get locally and of course an allowance for a few impulse purchases, no point in going unless you can indulge yourself a bit. 

It is always enlightening visiting the exhibitors' stands rather than the suppliers, and there is always a lot to learn, although I am not very good at taking it all in. I made a bee line for the Kemshalls' stand which was beautifully laid out. It was great to see so many of the quilts and cushions from their web site in real life. I also bought one of their packs of Madeira Lana thread, which I have never seen in a shop.

Bobby Britnell was busy demonstrating on the At Van Go stand. I gave than one a miss as I will be visiting the shop in a few weeks when I have a workshop with Ruth Issett, and a couple of weeks later another one with Bobby.

It is always great to bump into someone you know at these events and when I was photographing the Moor Threads stand, and this display of Bobby Britnell's work I realised that I had met Penny from the group at a AVG workshop.

I enjoyed all of this groups' work.

Other displays of interest were the Jane Austen costumes from a selection of TV and film adaptations of her books.  I couldn't resist a snap of Colin Firth's famous shirt.

Unfortunately he wasn't modelling it!

I then had to snap Jennifer Ehle's dress as she was Mr T's favourite. Can't believe it was 1995 when this  series of Pride and Prejudice was on TV.

So this is what I came home with...

some pretty space dyed fabrics, threads and felt...

...some printed tape, buttons and the Lana thread...

... and some stencils to use on my Gelli plate.

There were a few other bits and pieces - plain thread for dyeing and needles and so on. I know next week there will be something I wish I had got or a stand I had looked more closely at, but so it goes!

We woke to slushy snow this morning, so I am glad I chose to go to Birmingham on Thursday. Hope your weekend is not too bad and fingers crossed that spring will be here soon

Jill

Don't give a fig...

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been working on my City and Guilds Creative Quiltmaking course with Linda and Laura Kemshall.  I have now reached my last module and have to make another quilt, this time featuring appliqué work.  I'm not worried about that, but the overall design is my biggest challenge.
I am a figurative artist, I enjoy drawing details and know with perseverance I am a competent draughtswoman. However I want to use a more expressive language in my work, and I am often drawn to semi abstract pieces, so this is my challenge to myself. Part of my studies is to look at contemporary practitioners and here I have chosen two to look at. The first is Stephanie Redfern. She works in paper and fabric, and her pieces are more collage than appliqué. I find the way she treats her subject matter most appealing, especially her pieces based on the natural world. The elements, shapes of leaves, flowers, birds, insects are always recognisable, but she will break down their forms to the edge of abstraction, and her work reflects her energy and passion for her subject matter.

Sketchbook fig studies

The second artist I've looked at is Carol Taylor. She is an American quilt maker with a excellent reputation. You can read about her here on The Textile Blog. Her work is quilt different from Stephanie's as she works in a much more traditional way, but her work is also often abstract. Her Foliage Series uses beautiful leaf shapes and bright colours, always informed by nature, but abstracted.

So without going on any more,  this is what I have been doing. I am using photographs I took at Luton Hoo's Walled garden and glasshouses as my source material, and have been concentration on the fig tree. I have made a couple of collages, making use of the papers I printed with the Gelli plate and others from my stash.

"Three figs"

One of my many photographs.

My second collage, this time incorporating some tulle and organza.

I don't think either of these collages look like Stephanie's or Carol's work, but it has been a really excellent exercise for me, and hopefully a step on my creative path. It is a big step for me not to be too literal, and allow myself artistic license. It is always strange how you can turn a creative corner without even knowing you have got to a junction!

Gelli plate review

Last week I treated myself to a Gelli Arts printing plate. As I'm inexperienced in monoprinting I thought you might like to know how I got on.

The plate is made of a clear gel which is about 1/4 inch thick which is impregnated with a mineral oil.  It is recommended that you use acrylic paint as this cleans off the plate easily.

For my first session I used a mixture of cheap craft acrylics, and tubes of Daler & Rowney System 3 and W&N Galleria acrylics.  All of them performed well. In fact the craft paint was runnier and was easier to apply.

I used paper cut out masks and lifted the paint off the plate in several ways. Using bubble wrap, sequin waste, and by pressing on foam stamps, some of these were home made and others bought.

It was extremely easy to use. You just squeeze a little paint directly onto the plate and roll it out. I used newsprint to take a ghost print which removed most of the paint from the plate with pleasing results.  The plate cleaned really easily, even if the acrylic dried.

Above you can see a plate I made using foam stuck onto a piece of mount board off cut. .Top left I just 'inked' up a square of the gel plate and used the stamp to remove the paint.  I was then able to use the paint on the stamp to take a second print (top right) The bottom stamp was also made using paint I'd lifted from the plate.

Here are a couple more. The right hand one has been drawn into with a white corrector pen.

A couple more 'ghost prints'. Next time I shall use decent paper for this too, as these gave some really exciting results.

These figs were cut from a print made by combing the paint with a card cut with pinking shears. I then washed watercolour over the top. 

I must say the Gelli plate was very easy to use and clean - either with a baby wipe or by spraying it with water and wiping (You can put it under the tap)  It does need treating with respect as I guess it would be easy to damage it with sharp tools. If you just wanted to pull a few prints, it is easy to do without having to set up a big printing session.  I may sound like an advert, but I have read lots of rave reviews so I thought I would add mine.  There is lots of experimenting to do with getting the right quantity of paint on the surface etc, and I was inclined to overprint too heavily, but that is down to my skill not the plate. Hope you find this useful.

Jill

Egyptian Appliqué?

Mr T has this piece of appliqué on the back of the study door for over 20 years!! My husband acquired it when he was helping clear out a props cupboard at the school where he was teaching and rescued it from the bin.  He was told it had been used in a school play many years before that, and presumed one of the teachers had made it. We rather liked it and hung it on the door, which is where it has stayed.  As the door is usually open, I must say I don't notice it any more.

After watching a video about the Tentmakers of Chereh El-Kiamiah and thinking about doing a bit of research for my City and Guilds I thought I'd take a closer look at this piece.  I must say I had not appreciated the workmanship fully, although I remember thinking at the time we got it, that it was a pretty impressive piece of stitching.

I always thought it was sewn onto a piece of hessian, but taking a closer look it is more like coarse linen. It has no backing, but the edge is neatly bound.

The stitches are quite large, but the sections are intricately cut and all are hand turned appliqué with black thread  except for the eagles wings, and some other details which are stitched in white. Although most of the stitching is visible the detail  of the cutting is extraordinary. Some of the appliqué pieces now have holes in them.

I cannot believe that someone did just make this for a school play prop and wonder if it is an old tourist piece from Egypt. I also cannot believe that I have take so little notice of it up to now.

 I wonder what you think. Perhaps you've seen something like it before. I'd love to know.

Jill

A long week

Last weekend seems ages ago, and last Monday was beautifully mild. I even saw a Comma butterfly in the garden.  But it is freezing here again. The pond is solid ice and the birds are are squabbling over scraps in the garden. Here are a couple of pictures I took at Stockwood Discovery Centre last Monday.

The hens were in the "Dig for Victory" garden taking the opportunity to sun themselves.

I'm not sure what tree this was, but the buds were certainly striking.

Many hours this week have been taken up filling in my husband's "Limited Capability for Work" questionnaire.  As he has dysphasia as a result of a stroke 15 years ago, he has a very limited ability to read and write so I had to fill the form in for him. I had to explain the questions and phrase the answers for him. Not being able to fill the form in, of course does not mean you are unemployable. The assessment seems to be asking if the person is capable of doing some sort of work, and yes we could say that my husband could work, if there was a job that was specifically tailored to his special needs. He lost his benefit once before, and as a job seeker was seen by many people at the Job Centre. They finally concluded that there was not a job he could do and there was a not a course that suited his needs.  However this does not entitle you to benefit.  We went to appeal that time and won.  I do not think it will be the case now.  We can manage without his benefit until he is old enough for his state pension, so he won't have to go through all the rigmarole of attending the Job Centre and endless, pointless interviews and appointments. But there are many who could be in his situation who could not manage financially. No one wants to pay out to those who are fit for work, but the solution to this seems to be punishing.  He paid his way until his stroke, and we hoped that our National Insurance, was just that, insurance against loss of employment etc.  His case is more complex than I wish to share here, but you get the drift.  Just don't mention 'scroungers' to me, or you are likely to get your head bitten off.

Let's get back to more pleasant topics.  I have fulfilled my requirements for the appliqué Module of my City and Guilds so I will share my samples here.

Above - shadow appliqué 

Above - different top stitches.

Needle turned appliqué 

Different fabrics - the beetle is transfer dyed satin.

Bias strip appliqué  with contour stitching.

I'm not sure what to do with my appliqué samples yet.  Leave them as that, or use them in some way. But no pressure, a nice decision to have to make.

I have one more module to go, but I haven't looked at it yet.  I am taking a break this week as I have a two day workshop with Bobby Britnell at Art Van Go, called Drawing and Designing for Textiles. I am really looking forward to it and hopefully I will have something different to share with you next time.

Hope you have a good week.

Jill