Holiday Handstitching

As my workroom becomes a bedroom for visitors over the Christmas holiday I made sure I had some hand stitching to do while my machines were 'out of bounds'.

Thinking ahead to my exhibition next year, I machine felted up some squares that after the additon of hand stitching, I will make up in to cards for selling at the exhibition. Regular readers will notice they are part of my "rust" series.

I really enjoy hand embroidery and with the addition of a few beads, I'm really quite pleased with these little embroideries which I hope will sell well.

Inspired by an idea in Quilting Arts Gifts, I made this needlefelted box, again with idea of something to sell at the exhibition. It was a bit labout intensive so I'm not sure whether it will make it as a sale item.

Pre-Christmas Creating

A few weeks ago, while clearing the way to wrap up Christmas Presents I got way-laid by making a runner for the dining room table for use over the Christmas holiday.

I don't know what started it but once the idea was there, there was no stopping me and three hours later it was finished. The end result was just what I wanted and as it was all made from my stash, I felt good that it had cost nothing and there was now a little less fabric in my workroom.

My daughter has suggested one for Easter but somehow I don't think I will go that far!

And by the way, the presents were all wrapped up on time!

And now for something completely different

Regular readers will know that we spend much of our time in the better weather in our caravan at Pagham.

This is a place much loved by our grandchildren and is affectionately known as "Nanny Caraban". Earlier this year I started to make a quilt which will live in the caravan to be used by whoever is there but mainly Eloise, Hope and Samuel.

I really evolved from a collection of ideas based on a seaside theme. My intention was to hand quilt it through the long winter months but when it came to it - as is so often with me - once the quilt was pieced I really just wanted it finished.

Being forced to stay at home because of the snow was my chance to get it finished by machine quilting.

Taking advantage of a "Snow Day"

Well the snow has once again forced me to be housebound so I've had a chance to get some things finished and to get them posted.

My second completed piece for my exhibition is made from 'left over' pieces of the rusted fabric used for the panel I've previously posted. This panel of pieces was quilted and then stretched over a board before mounting it on some naturally dyed fabric I've had in my stash for some years. This in turn was stretched over a canvas board.

The copper 'buttons' are the ones I bought from Dale Rollerson at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally.

This next piece is squares and shapes cut from fabric I've used for a much larger piece (well large for me!) which is still 'work in progress' while I decide how I will quilt it.

The squares and pieces were stitched onto a double layered dyed background and backing and then washed to give it a frayed appearance. I have to admit I saw this idea done, probably much better, by Dinah Travis at the Hever Quilt show this year and as I had some work in my sketchbook that lended itself to this method I thought I'd give it a try.

Incidentally, this is the page from my sketchbook that inspired the quilt.

New work - Exhibition booked!

The first piece in my Rust series is finished! The hanging is strips of fabric which I dyed by wrapping around various rusted objects. An earlier post mentioned the problems I'd had with breaking needles as I tried to free machine quilt the piece. Most of the quilting was done without the feed down which meant it took much longer to quilt than I anticipated. I also planned the piece as a triptych but thankfully there was not enough fabric to go into three pieces! The pieces of rusted metal were cut from a strip of twisted metal that I found on Selsey beach which had been one of the metal pieces I used to rust the fabric. So glad to get one piece completely finished!

Another piece that is finished but still waits to be mounted when I've decided how to to do it. I find this the most difficult part - deciding how to present the finished work.

I rekindled my love of canvas work by felting some fibres around piece of canvas I had painted with some bronze fabric paint. I loved the stitching so much I might just have to do some more canvas work.

These last two pieces are experiments / work in progress .......

The first one was knitted using some yarn that I had needle felted different organza, sheers and chiffon to. It's quite thick so I don't think I will work into it any more so may well just make in into a bag.

The final piece was a piece of felt into which I cut slits and wove through silk, chiffon and scrim and then needle felted together. I think I will stitch it with running stitch - kantha style. I seem to be seeing Kantha work all over the place and it has taken my imagination. Will definitely have to do some.

And so to news of my forthcoming exhibition.

As I mentioned back in July, my friend Jo and I made some enquiries about a venue for an exhibition that we would like to hold next year. I had a call last week and it's booked!!! We're both excited, scared and slightly panic-struck all at the same time!! We've been meeting regularly each month over the last few months and the time we spend together is very rewarding and enriching for us both. It's so good to have a friend who can be supportive but push you creatively too.

The exhibition is at The Hawth theatre in Crawley, West Sussex from 21st November to 3rd December 2011. It might sound like a long way away but I have a feeling it will come round very quickly.

Knitting and Stiching Show

I spent a long and tiring but very enjoyable day at Alexandra Palace on Saturday with my friend Jo visiting the Knitting and Stitching Show.

It was, as always, a feast for the ardent crafter with so much to see and inspire. We felt a two day visit would have done it more justice. Of course there was the obligatory buying of 'goodies' ! I think I was quite restrained with just a little collection of rust themed fibre, threads and other metally bits.



I also saw these wonderful copper buttons which I bought from Dale Rollerson's Thread Studio. It was great to see Dale and introduce myself as it was her Embellish Stitch Enrich course that I took earlier this year. I was looking for some sort of embellishment to put on one of my rust pieces and these just fit the bill. They are already sewn in place and look great.


There were a few more purchases - mainly stock things like calico and buttons. I also bought some knitting yarn for my daughter. She had described something new she'd seen so I hope I;ve got the right stuff. She will no doubt enjoy playing with it regardless.

On Sunday we car booted and I purchased these lace bits for 50p - bargain! They have already been dyed orange and brown and will appear in a rust piece at some later date.

Long Absence - But more rust!

I am shocked to find that I did not post at all during September!

I have been very busy but too often in a place away from the computer so I've been unable to post. Here is a selection of photos which show some of the pieces I've been working on. They are all based on the rust theme I am currently exploring ready for the planned exhibition next year.

The first one started as needlefelted fibres and fabrics which were then covered with organza and felted again. I did a bit of heating before adding machine and hand embroidery and then heating a bit at the end.

This second piece has some Lutradur which had a rubbing of the rust surface I have been using printed on to it. The backing is acrylic felt so after machining I heated both surfaces to create the holes. The piece was finished with some clusters of beads.

The final piece for now is based on a piece I saw in a recent Quilting Arts by Morna Crites-Moore. I couldn't find any old woollen jumpers so I knitted some squares and felted them before cutting them up.

Each of these pieces still need to be mounted for presentation but I'm still thinking about just how I will do it!

I've also done some pieces with the fabric I "rusted" so I'll get some photos posted in a few days. I had great trauma while sewing the main piece as I lost count of the needles I broke. The tension on my machine also went mad and I found free machining very hard work. I suspect the rust had something to do with it as I've done normal stuff since and had no problems.

First "rust" creation complete!

A productive few days away have resulted in the first of my "rust" series.

This piece was inspired by the colours and texture of the sea wall at Pagham shown in the last post. The construction was based on some work of Jane LaFazio's shown in the last issue of Quilting Arts. I laid down some layers of wool fleece, sari silk and silk wste which I roughly needlefelted into a felt background. Then some scrim and organza was placed on top and needlefelted again before finally I needlefelted some lines of wool yarn to reflect the lines of the layers on the rusted piece and act as a guide for the hand stitching.

I then spent several glorious days hand stitching to add the texture I wanted.

Rust!

My obsession with rust continues! I seem to see rust everywhere I go, so much so that I really must get down to creating some art work with rust as the starting point.


At Pagham Harbour there is part of what must have been an attempt to secure the harbour wall and it has rusted beautifully, so much so that holes are appearing. Every time I see it the texture of the surface cries out for something to be done so I have started a sketchbook to collect together my ideas.



To give you an idea, here are some of the photos I've taken: