July preparation.

You might think all our meetings are just a sit down and share ,but you'd be wrong.Look at the concentration the faces as Debby and Kirsten cut up and pack luscious fragments.

This month saw us meet at a Guide hut to begin preparations for our UWE exhibition.We all brought the work we hope to exhibit for Liz and Jenn to begin to plan out how it will go together.

Meanwhile the others were preparing 'glitz',bead and threads packs we will be offering for sale, that is if we can avoid falling into the trap of wanting them for our own stash!

This is just a section of the work laid out which will all have to be suitably mirror plated to be hung, all in just the one day .Then it has to come down again and be packed safely and delivered to its owner.Though we do hope a fair proportion finds its way into the hands of visitors to the show.Will you be there to see us?

SOUTH WEST QUILT AND TEXTILE SHOW

1-3 SEPTEMBER 2017

UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND.

Creatures

Jane had worked her birds on some tapestry furnishing fabric picked up several years ago in Scrapstore.

She has no more left so can't add to them.These look as if they have a place to go, marching very determinedly one behind the other !

Her next step is to decide what she will do,to frame them as individual pieces or to join them into one large hanging.

Kirsten meanwhile had been making creatures of her own......

This adorable fluffy SLOTH,made all in one piece with alpaca fibres.

She had also turned her skills to creating these small bird portraits for our exhibition at the Textile and Quilt show at UWE 1st -3rd September 2017.

Eco dyeing.

Liz had spent an exhausting but enjoyable week as artist in residence at Nature in Art with a fellow artist.They collected the raw material from the grounds and spent their time Eco -dyeing .

Some of her quilts are appearing in exhibitions across the world,with Saqa in America.These will be touring with World Quilts in San francisco,Florida and Pennsylvania.This long thin one below has still to be quilted and will hopefully be accepted in Europe .

With her interest in dyeing Liz had used Avocado which produces these lovely rose pinks.

Alder cones is next 

Brazil wood,Fustic and Birch bark

and finally Rosemary

She is building up a wealth of knowledge about how to gain the very best results.

Books,a pleater and some quilts.

Debby had attended several workshops ,one was at the Arnolfini Gallery.

They had made books ,first printing on the papers .The one above is made by folding a single sheet of paper.She had then used the idea of botanics to illustrate the pages with some beautiful drawings

This one has covers and is a fold out zigzag book

illustrated again with botanical drawings .She has also used some print blocks to add 'a weed is a healthy plant just in the wrong place'

Her next workshop was given by Teresa Searle ,best known for her felt,though these days she is working on other techniques.They used a pleater 

and free machining on dissolvable fabric.Debby produced this free standing pot.

Complete !

Viv had beenon holiday  to Norway to visit her relatives and had a lovely time .She had been to Oslo and visited the museum finding interest in innovative industrial fabrics and the history of Oslo .

Consequently ,she had not had much time to stitch but did bring along her hanging.She had resolved the backing and it is now ready for our exhibition at Nature in Art in November.

Deryll was pondering her circle piece and whether to have it on one or other backing.As usual there was plenty of comment for her to consider before it ,too is ready for exhibition.She is contemplating a companion piece ,as yet still in the thinking stage.

Embellishing.

Sue had been drawing from some ammonites,this in pencil and the one further on in pastel.

She uses the embellisher a lot and had some tips about what works well and what does not.The mesh was tried but proved not to 'MESH'with the base fabric.Wool tops and silk does okay ,but her most favourite is old silk ties!

She had gone on to create some samples basing them around the spiralling shape of the ammonite.

Even though Sue had not been to Amanda Clayton's workshop we remarked how similar in style these two samples were .