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.