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.

Recap on 2010 - looking forward to 2011

I had a conversation with my daughter Karen over Christmas about reflection. She's a nurse, doing a Masters at the moment and a big part of it is reflection. She was saying how much she has benefited from this, both professionally and personally. It reminded me of how reflection was something I always did when I was training to be a teacher and throughout my time teaching but that it was something I rarely did now. So, I decided to reflect on the creative year I have just had and use it to look forward to the coming year.

I feel both years are, or will be, significant years in my creative life so to start, I went back to the resolutions I made at the end of 2009 for 2010.

Attend courses/workshops/days to learn new techniques or just to get creative amongst like minded people.
Sadly no workshops attended but I did take an online course with Dale Rollerson which really freed up my creativity with my embellishing machine. Needle felting has now become one of the main techniques I use in my textile art and I am so pleased it has lead me back into embroidery. Although I didn't have personal contact through courses or workshops, I have forged a strong working relationship with my friend Jo who inspires me, boosts me up, keeps me going and I just hope it is a two way relationship and she gains from it too. We are both looking forward to our exhibition in November and are working non-stop as we speak.

Go through books already on my shelf and list the techniques and ideas that I want to try. Actually get round to doing things instead of just reading about them.
I did start the year by going through all the books and sticking Post-its on all the things I wanted to try out but as the needle felting took over, I have not tackled this in the way I planned. However, there have been the odd new techniques that I've seen in magazines that have slipped into my work and I have been inspired by several exhibitions I've been to this year which have had some influence on my work. No doubt if and when I find myself with nothing else to do, I can go back to this one.
Post on this blog regularly each week, even it it is just 'work in progress' or my inspiration for a current piece of work.
Well there were 33 posts last year so I didn't quite make the 'once a week' pledge. Sometimes, I just didn't want to leave the creating to write about it!
Enter work in exhibitions or contests.
Thank goodness for Greenstede Quilters and their exhibition! Really should have entered more exhibitions this year but I guess I can use the excuse I was busy making for my own in 2011. I have joined a new group this year - Context, which is the Region 2 Contemporary Quilt group. We already have our first challenge which will hopefully be exhibited at sometime in the future. I did enter one online contest on Quilting Gallery and did intend entering more but somehow just didn't get around to it.
Put aside time each week to get creative.
Well I have certainly done this! I find any time I spend away from my workroom is usually resented. Definitely need to continue with this one.

The past year has certainly been good for my creativity. I seem to have grown in confidence and self belief in my work and blogging has certainly been a part of this. Receiving comments from complete strangers is really wonderful and gives me a good feeling that someone out there in the big wide world has liked something I've made enough to go to the trouble to let me know. Thank you to everyone who has commented on. This year I must spend some time looking at other people's work and commenting so I can give back some of the good feelings I have got.

One of my friends told me recently that she can now recognise my work as it is becoming quite distinctive. This meant so much to me and was a real boost.

One more highlight of 2010 was the opening of my Folksy shop and the sale of two items. Not a great start, but still a start. I must concentrate on this more in the coming year and see how it goes.

So looking ahead to 2011.

Obviously my work for the exhibition in November will take a huge part of my time this year. On the way Jo and I intend to continue to meet regularly to discuss our work, go to exhibitions and have some "play time" too. This is a huge event for us both, even more so that it coincides with our 60th birthdays which we will both celebrate in November (on consecutive days!). The hope is that this will lead to other things but if we get to the end of it and survive, we will have achieved more than we ever expected.

I'm also excited about being a member of Context. It's a new group so it's still evolving but for me to be a member of a group of textile artists - some of which I know a really good! - I feel excited if a little over-awed. I just hope I can hold my own within the group.

I'm not going to set any resolutions for this year but I aim to continue to create on a regular basis and share my creations, ideas and inspirations along the way with the blogging community.

A Happy New Year to everyone out there!