Exhibition up and running

Lack of any post for the last few months is due to frantic working to get things ready for the exhibition!

I have promised myself in future I will future that I will sleeve/mount/frame and label all piece of work as I go to avoid weeks of boring stuff leading up to an exhibition.

We decided a while ago to go under the name of "Thread and Shutter" as we are two textiles artists and a photographer. We have a logo which incorporates the LX symbol Jo and I were always keen on as this exhibition is part of our 60th birthday celebrations.

We are all very pleased with the look of the displays and all the planning that went into the arrangements definitely paid off as it was all up in just under four hours without too much heart ache. Comments so far have been very good and positive with some people making a return visit. We have a 'private view' on Monday for invited family and friends which was a very enjoyable evening, topped off for me by news that I have sold a hanging and some smaller items. To say I was gob-smacked would be an understatement!

Journal Quilts - June, July and August

Rather late getting these completed but they are now uploaded on the CQGB site.

The first one, for June, is part of a series I've been doing based on Arts and Crafts Movement and in particular the use of tulips. I've done a much larger version that is similar. Most of the fabric I dyed myself. The quilts for June - September must include some text so I simply free machined "Tulips" along the bottom.

The July quilt was inspired by the roadside flowers that have been in abundance this year. I kept wanting to get out of the car and photograph them but there was never a safe place to do so! This was a development of the postcard swap I did earlier in the month and I am much happier with the way this quilt turned out.

I printed the background with the names of various wildflowers and then added some dyed scrim which I loosely needlefelted to the background. Machine stitching was added, some it cable stitched with perle cotton on the bobbin. Hand embroidered stitched were added together with snips of silk, beads and buttons.

Finally the August quilt was inspired by a photograph taken of Hope and Eloise, my grand daughters, playing in the sea during their holiday with us.

I seem to take several photos of them taken from the backview looking out to sea and feel there might be more creations to come based on the same idea.

The sea was strips of organza and net bonded to a blue background and the pebbled beach was printed with bubble wrap. Both were machine quilted before the image was applied, stitching from the reverse and cutting back the fabric to the stitch line. The required text "On the seashore" is free quilted in quilt lines of the sea.

Postcard Swap

One thing I did over the summer was organise a postcard swap with some friends. I was 'volunteered' to do it and chose the theme "A Day Out" which I thought was quite wide and would suit everyone.

I wanted to try out a method Angie Hughes used in her book "Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint". It starts with calico soaked in PVA glue and adding lace and paper for further texture. Machine stitches were then added in slanting lines to create the feeling of grasses moving, and finally the whole thing was painted with acrylic.

I have been amazed at the roadside flowers this year - there have been so many you can't fail to have see them and be inspired. I added snippets of lace and fabric as well as hand embroidery before making them into fabric postcards.

I'm not totally happy with the results and as I only posted them yesterday, I haven't had any feedback from the recipients. I think the painting is a bit too heavy and I should have varied the colour a bit .

I've since done a Journal Quilt based on the same idea which I will post when I have had my sort out.

Far too long with no posting

Well the summer seems to be over now. We've just got back from Brighton and it was all we could do to see our way what with the spray from the road and the mist from the hills.

The lack of posts over the last few months doesn't mean I haven't been busy! I spent the weeks leading up to the summer break busy getting stuff ready that I could finish with hand stitching, beading etc. i.e. nothing that needed machine! Well, what I prepared was done in the firs three days of our three week break and I seriously began to consider getting a machine for the caravan. It was only the lack of electric point in the right place and the fear that I would have to tidy up as I went (why do you think this blog is called "Creating chaos"?) that I talked myself out of it. Not one to just sit and do nothing, I resorted to puzzle books to keep my hands and mind busy.

We had a great time away, first week with our two granddaughters and two weeks on our own. Despite what everyone is saying about the weather this year, we didn't seem to suffer too much at Pagham. A few overcast days but plenty of sunshine to keep the girls happy on the beach and for us to get in some walking.

We spent one day with my brother at Fort Nelson, the Royal Armouries museum just outside Portsmouth. Not a place for textiles artists I can hear you saying, but how wrong you are. Here are a few of the many photos I took - I saw patterns and designs all over the place.

Now I have to sort out and organise all the work I have prepared for November's exhibition. Most work is complete and not needs to be labelled or mounted so I will post photos of the pieces I completed over the summer in the coming weeks.

April's Journal Quilt

Looking back I found that I had not posted my April Journal Quilt!

Sticking to my "whatever is around me" theme, I felt the only option had to be based on weddings, after all we'd all gained an extra Bank Holiday so it was worth celebrating just for that!

For some time I have been interested in mixed media work but never had the occasion to actually do it so I thought this could be the occasion. All made from bits and pieces found in and around my workroom, the various layers were put on a base of silk. Different elements include lace, printed tissuetex, odd pieces of lace, netting, printed fabrics, batik, gold 'leather', heart shaped buttons, punched bells and of course a 'wedding ring'.

I really enjoyed creating this and will definitely be having another go at mixed media.

Rusted Nails Journal Quilt

As a final fling to my series based on rust I used a whole piece of rusted fabric as the background to this month's Journal Quilt for Contemporary Quilts. As I had had difficulty machine quilting previous pieces of rusted cloth I took the coward's way out and decided that this one would have minimal quilting.

A friend of mine recenlty gave me some rusted nails, screws and washers that her husband was clearing out so I couched them in a circle with the washer at the centre. The machine quilting followed the line of the rusted colour.

This is the last of the four that needed to have a circle included in the design and now we move on the having to have text.

A Rusted Lanscape

This might well be the final piece on my "rust" theme. I feel the time has come to move on to the other ideas I have spinning around in my head. This one was created by needlefelting layers of scrim to a background of dyed wadding. There are three broad 'layers' which give the appearance of a landscape. I added some contrasting colours at the bottom to act as the interest in the foreground - with some buttons and french knots for more effect. Initially I was just going to hand stitch along the lines where the scrim changed but once this was done, I decided to add some lines of machine quilting. Then came the dilemma of how to mount it! My original plan was to just hang it as it was, just putting a backing on to it. A friend suggested that I mount it on another piece of fabric so that it had a frame. I tried this with several different colours but just didn't like the affect. So I went with my original plan and just hand stitched a backing fabric, leaving the ends of the scrim free to give an uneven edge.

Easter Postcard Swap

I took part in an Easter Postcard Swap with a group of friends and felt inspired to create something akin to a Faberge egg. I started out layering several layers of glitzy fabric with the intention of quilting a grid over it and cutting away the various layers to show the different fabrics underneath. It didn't quite come out as I intended and not wanting to waste the fabric (and the time it had taken to quilt the grid) I was determined to make use of the prepared fabric. I put different coloured foils over the top of the fabric and liking the result I added the beads and sequins to give it a real sparkly, glamour look. I then appliqued the egg shapes on to a neutral background and added the "Happy Easter" greeting. Et Voila!

Just two of the eight that I made. All similar of the same theme.

What happened to March?

Where did March go to? So much of March was spent at our caravan that I fell very behind with my creative endeavours. I did get the March Journal Quilt done and yet again I've taken inspiration from the world around me - this time it was the daffodils which have been abundant this year. Sadly because of all the sunshine they haven't lasted as long as usual. I monoprinted some fabric which didn't quite come out as I wanted so I printed over it with an old Thermofax screen I had (which was a cactus print). When it still didn't look quite right I dyed it in some yellowy-green dye which did improve the overall look. Still not totally happy with it I cut it into strips and reassembled it and thank goodness I liked it. Not too sure where I would have gone from there. The daffodil in the corner has the necessary circle for this month, added to this I machine quilted in a leaf-like pattern. All in all I'm pleased with the result.

Inspiration from rust - again!

How about this for inspiration!

Last month a collegue brought this in for me, knowing that I have an obsessin for rusty objects. He'd found it on a beach (he beachcombs for wood which he creates into wonderful objects) and thought of me! We think it was some sort of support for a post. When he found it, it was the other way up but when he gave it to me I turned it upside down and immediately saw a bird. I then "acquired" a tripod from a science lab and the garden sculpture was born. Even the tripod has rusted nicely in the few weeks it's been outside. My collegue admitted if he had seen the bird I might not have got it!

I think now that I will have to create something inspired by my new garden sculture. Watch this space!

More postcards

I've been having a clean out and found some half made fabric postcards so I finished them and will probably put them on my Folksy store. I've neglected it recently and feel the need to go back and try again.

They were made with some scraps of blue batik fabric that I had left over from a quilt I made last year.

Journal Quilt Project

I've signed up for this year's Journal Quilt Project with the Contemporary Quilt Group. I've recently become a member so thought it was a way to get involved. It has to be 10" x 10" and for the first four months must inlcude a circle.

As this month has been so grey I felt the need to reflect this in my quilt. I also used the phrase "behind every cloud, the sun is shining". All the fabrics are commercially bought but I have added various media on top. The left hand panel is over printed with circles using bubble wrap to represent the rain drops. The centre panel is printed with a block made from string which I made when doing Creative Sketchbooks - this represents the bare trees that contrast against the grey skies. The final panel was over printed with grey and silver fabric paint which had been painted on to bondaweb. Each panel was then free machine quilted. The silver circle is layers of silver and white organza.

Latest creations

At the end of December I posted some photos of the hand stitching I had done over Christmas. Well they've now been made into cards and hopefully will be on sale later this year at my exhibition. I might even put a couple of them on Folksy in the meantime just to see how they go.

I've also made an open box using needle felting and hand stitching but it was very labour intensive so I'm not sure whether it will be cost effective to make more for sale. If I did one again I would do it slightly different to make it quicker to make.

I've always loved working with scrim when needle felting so I did a piece which was just layers of scrim finished with some simple hand stitching. The end result has a 'landscape' look about it and I'm planning to do a larger one which will be more quilt-like.

The final piece for now was based on a pile of rusty chain I photographed at Selsey last year. I printed the photo on to a base felt although it isn't obvious from the finished results.

My original plan was to knit or crochet to give a chain-like texture but the initial trials did not give the look I had in mind. In the end I made a finger chain with two different yarns and them felted them loosely on to the felt base. I added some chain stitch and lazy daisy stitch to finish. I left some strands free so they could extend over the edge of the mount.

Christmas Postcard Swap

Once again I took part in a swap of Christmas Fabric Postcards and received the following cards from Jayne, Mavis, Jan and Jacquie .

They are all so different which is part of the fun of swapping. Each time I take part in these swaps I get excited planning my design and then waiting for them to drop through my door.

Thank you so much to each of you for swapping - looking forward to the next one.