Returning.

Liz has rejoined the group after an absence .She has continued to create while away and has taken courses and collaborated with others to mount exhibitions .She brought a selection of work that is currently being considered for new pieces.

She has some beautiful fabrics collected through the years.This old indigo cloth from Mali fashioned into what is known as a Hunters jacket and 

 

lots of eco dyed fabrics pieced over old linen.She intends to make 'Healing Jackets' from them.

Tthis is a very personal project as she intends to embroider words inside the jackets to express her feelings about illnesses she has endured.

She has also been teaching at Cowslip workshops ,running very successful book making 

classes using strip cloth to create pamphlet and concertina books .She has been asked back to run more this year.Examples below show the variety.

In addition she is currently taking a course run by SallyTyrie with the very successful Fibre Arts 

Two ,exploring print and stitch.

 

New year ,prospective new members.

Sally and Viv were excited to report that their Miao textiles are set to go on to the Museum database .Already there had been an enquiry from the George Washington textile museum about ways of dyeing that had been employed.It has taken many ,many hours of negotiation and cataloguing the textiles and the end is finally in sight.They took their first trip in 1993 !

Viv brought along pieces we saw recently ,the above from the challenge set by the chair of the 1904 group.....

and this piece which has been added to since last time. She explained that she coloured the fabric before using Mistyfuse to add snippets of fabrics over the surface.Next comes machine stitch before the final layer of hand embellishing.

Carol showed the progress made on her thee dimensional stitching done with Sheila Davis of Celyn Textiles.

She had also started another of the Stitch club workshops with Jette Clover taking a stamp as her inspiration ,adding it into the piece.

 

Slim pickings.

Debby had been continuing with her Tetrapak printmaking, this time concentrating on fish.

She had taken a marbling course at Badminton school with Lucy McGrath ,creating some lovely

papers . She used some to create this bauble for Christmas.

More festive ideas were created with silk fibres for a little lantern  and a felt tree on a stick.

She had acquired some old wood bobbins used in the weaving industry and added some trees and a tiny felt robin.

Viv has been awarded the position of 'red feather 'Artist member in the 1904 group which is very prestigious . She will exhibit in their Annual exhibition and is planning to show the above work in progress.

Sally had brought a book on Tanka ,which are huge embroideries of Buddhism.See above.

Carol was in the process of finishing a crow from 'Bean Bag Buddies 'for her son in law .She had chosen fabrics left over from soft furnishings made for his canal boat.

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She had made a festive bauble and some stump work acorns with Bristol Stitchers

                                                    

as well as attending a workshop with Lisette Smart resulting in the delightful piece ,below.

Kirsten continued the festive theme with her wreath.It was bought in a sale last year and she has added her unique mice and toadstools.

After this show and tell we enjoyed a festive American supper /lunch.

 

December cards

We had our customary December meeting but at Viv's instead of the Guide Hut as we were fewer than usual.We each contributed something to our lunch and exchanged our hand made cards which are pictured above.It was a bitterly cold day but the company and surroundings kept us cosy .

 

Jenn

Jenn enrolled in a Fibre  Arts Take Two course with Shelley Rhodes which she is working through very sporadically , there is a lot of content.She chose to take the Harbourside as her inspiration.Below are some fragments from colours and marks observed there.

Recently she spent a weekend away with Stitch Textile Artists ,who have taken Collections as a theme.

Jenn has been using some beautiful tools to work from .After sampling and trying out ideas she decided the direction her pieces might take.

Perhaps a  panel of three and two dimensional tools taken from the actual tools but made in tissue and cotton organdie ....

and a tool bag made of organdie with cut up and pieced sections from 'drawings' of  the tools .

 

Remembering and upcycling !

Sally's contribution this month was this embroidered cushion cover.It had given her an idea of a way to use some of the 50-60 pieces of work she has 'lying around'.

Her thought is to cut them up into similar sized pieces then assemble the blocks to create a 'one of a kind 'cushion.

Viv had been making her weekly drawing, the prompt 'Remember Remember'.

Instead of  going down the Firework route she had chosen the herb Rosemary.

 

In motion.

A number of years ago Sue created a fine Cockerel and recently she had been looking at and thinking about him.She had decided he was very sedate . In his next incarnation she has plans to introduce more movement and wacky colour for his legs . This initial stage already looks promising.

She also brought these observational pen sketches capturing perfectly the environment around her .