Saturday Workshop

Back in June when the sun was shining and the air was warm (yes it did happen once or twice!) I was very lucky to spend a day at a workshop run by Cas Holmes.   It was arranged by Context, the Contemporary Quilt group I belong to and what a great day it was too.

It was titled "PAPER, TEXT AND IMAGE – DEVELOPING IDEAS FOR TEXTILES" and we had to take with us a variety of papers, fabrics and paint.   I must admit I hate putting things together for workshops, particularly when I don't have much of an idea about what the end result is going to be.  I either end up with too much or too little!   Being a creature of habit I stuck to my rusty colours and also took some rusty nails just in case!

We started by printing on to some of the papers and fabric using what ever came to hand including leaves and other items found in and around the Hall.  My nails came in handing as I used them as a printing 'block'. Then came the task of building up layers of fabric and paper held together with paste.

Cas was a wonderful tutor and although we were left to get on with our own materials and ideas, she was constantly going round the room commenting and advising as she went.   

I ended up with three pieces which I have used in differing ways.

The first one I stitched in to (having waiting at least a week doing nothing, as advised by Cas).  Also added some rusty nails!

The finished work mounted on cream board ready to frame.

The second piece I intend using as the design for a quilted hanging.  I want to dye some fabric to use but I also want to incorporate paper and found items.

The final piece I cut up as it was a bit 'busy'.  The pieces are now in one of my sketchbooks and who knows they may to used one day.

At the end of the workshop we had a show and tell/discussion which was made all the more worthwhile by Cas's thoughtful and though provoking comments.

A truly great day!

Play Day with Jo

Back in February my craft-mate and fellow Thread and Shutter member Jo and I got together to have a creative day together.

We started off dye some fabric and threads using snow.   We had intended to 'ice dye' but as the good Lord sent snow, we just had to use that instead.  It really is a great way to dye fabric as the resulting colour are generally very deep and rich.

Fabrics prepared ready to start

Jo packing on the snow

Snow packed fabric, ready for dye powder

   

Dye powder added - left for ice to melt

Finished fabrics

We also made some felt using the wet method - not my favourite way as it takes too long!

My effort

Jo's work

Just to finish off the day, Jo did some rust dyeing too.

Fabric wrapped and layered with rusty items

The resulting fabric

How shameful!

I am ashamed at just how long it is since my last post!  I could make all the excuses under the sun but I won't waste my or yours.

Here's a brief update on the last 7/8 months, not necessarily in the right order!

April saw another exhibition by Thread and Shutter, this time at our local Library in Crawley.   The exhibition was a fantastic room with great light and a professional, purpose built gallery hanging system (not without it's problems until we got the hang of it!).   Our work did look great in the location and although we did not have as many visitors (our fault because we did not publicise the exhibition enough) those who did come were very enthusiastic about our work.

Here are a couple of photos  but you can see more on our website - www.threadandshutter.co.uk .

Most of the work on display was from our previous exhibition last November but there were several new pieces as well.

The first two are a continuation on the theme "Rust Meets Water" which was our opportunity to combine my rust work with Jo's water work.

This was based on Rick Timms' convergence quilt method and incorporates some panels printed using a Thermofax screen after combining the panels.

This combines my favourite media - needlefelted fibres and embroidery which was then mounted on a quilted fabric which had been dyed in the theme.  The embroidery extends on to the background.

The next collection was based on a photo of Brian's of the Grand Prismatic Springs in Yellowstone Park, USA.

Brian's photo - with apologies if I've ruined it by changing the resolution!

The first piece uses three pieces of fabric, dyed especially for the work, with added lines of machine quilting and some threads and fibres machined in too.

Yet another piece of embroidered felt, this time a piece made by wet-felting.  This was made when Jo and I had a 'play day' making felt and dying - I will report on this over the next week.

This was strips of sari silk needlefelted to a felt background and then embellished with embroidery stitches and buttons.

This was again sari silk needlefelted to a felt background and then cut up into squares on the cross and reassembled.  Embroidery stitches and gem stones were added to each corner.

In May it was the Ruby Wedding of our closest friends, Tony and Christine.  Using the same method as the last piece above, I created a framed picture for them using red sari silk.  

So you can see I have been busy and creative since my last post!

There is more so hopefully, now I'm back, I will post some more over the next week and then continue to post more regularly in the future.

Journal Quilts Completed

The final Journal Quilts have now been added to the CQGB website.

September - September Ice

This one used some fabric that I dyed using ice cubes - a great method if you ever want to try it and so easy with great strong colours as a result.   I over printed some of the fabric with a Thermofax screen I had from the time I did Creative Sketchbooks a few years ago.  Starting with a stack of three squares of fabric, I made random cuts and then played around with the pieces until I got a pleasing result.  I left the printed panels quilt free and just machine quilted the plain pieces.

For the final four quilts, a button or buttons had to be included.  I decided to buy the buttons first and let them inspire the quilt so a the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally last October I made my purchases.

October - Do you have some picture postcards?

The button has not come out very clearly in this photo as it is glazed ceramic.  It has the words POST CARD and a post office date stamp on it, hence the use of postcards in this quilt.    I scanned the images and printed them on to fabric and then made a college of the images.  The machine quilting was quite simple so the images were kept plain.

November - Grand Prismatic Springs

 The stripy buttons reminded my of one of my friend Brian's photos of Grand Prismatic Springs in Yellowstone Park.   My intention was always to do some pieces using this as inspiration, so this quilt is really a try out for further work.   The fabric was some I dyed myself and the photograph was printed on to hand made paper.   The machine quilting is in various colours taken from the photo. 

December - Riot of Rust

 This beautiful copper heart shaped button was purchased from Dale Rollerson at Thread Studio when she was at the Knitting and Stitching Show last October.  Determined to get at least one more rust piece done, I was inspired by Alisa Burke's book Sew Wild and felt it challenged me to become much freer.   The end result is freer for me but still does not have that totally random, "tatty" look that Alisa's do.  I'll try again though and maybe will get there.

January - Log Cabin was always my favourite block

To be honest, I was at a complete loss as to what to do for this final quilt.  It was more about getting it done and out of the way than being totally creative!  When in doubt, go back to what you love best and in my case it is usually log cabin.   I used some of the ice cube dyed fabric again and over printed some with the flower design to echo the flowers in the button.  I then started with a more random log cabin, cutting each round so it was slightly skewed.  The block then got more traditional.   The reverse of the quilt was also printed with the same flower block, the outlines of which I used to machine quilt a flower design.

I have loved the challenge of making these Journal Quilts and will no doubt be signing up for the coming year.