Still life.

Jenn recently spent a weekend with Stitch textile Artists mentored by Sian Martin.This time everyone was asked to bring items selected by colour drawn at random.

Jenn drew black and grey.

The weekend was spent working from the still life and undertaking a series of tasks involving exploring colour and theory.

These images show a selection of what was done.

The next stage will be to extend and develop ideas generated and take them into textiles.

Domestic stitching.

Jane had been creating patchwork on her embroidery machine, experimenting to see what could be produced.A runner for her Christmas table in some lovely un -traditional colours.

She had also completed her Bargello quilt ,making use of a new quilt frame she treated herself to .It is assembled and adjusted to her machine and is easy to work, and packs away easily, we believe you'd find it easy Jane !

She had continued to experiment with foundation piecing and quilt as you go .The pieces are stitched and flipped onto the  wadding then the pieces are sewn together into the quilt before backing and borders added.She makes it sound so easy and the results are brilliant.

Samples and stitching.

Kirsten brought along a selection of what she has been doing.This bird above created in a Sit and Stitch group .Lots of lovely Folk style hand embroidery done with Perle thread  on felt birds, reminiscent of Nancy Nicholson.

We remarked on the lovely threads which Kirsten says are older than she cares to remember!

A little owl teaching sample along with some vessels

and a  quirky little patchwork very cleverly and expertly  pieced.

Then this beautifully felted and embroidered piece, the delicacy of the jelly fish is amazing .

Mindful ?

Debby had purchased a nativity set from Hobbycraft and was beginning to stitch them together .A simple but effective construction .

Her next piece caused some discussion as she called  it a  mindful stitching piece she worked on when she wanted a quiet moment.Wasn't all stitching mindful? It was noted that the difference might be that stitching without an end result in view might be considered mindful......do you have a view ?Leave us a comment.

This next piece uses some paracetamol wrappers, hand dyed fabric and some Japanese indigo.

She brought too, a catalogue  containing some work by Pauline Burbridge using feathers that appealed .

She thought she might continue to develop her feathers done with Cyanotyping.

She had also taken advantage of a special offer on Prinfab to order some velvet samples of pieces of her work .The reproduction of the details and colours were very good indeed.The velvet felt sumptuous and Debby has plans for turning them into cushions.

And lastly ,an interesting book with a variety of projects bought at a very good price from The Works.

Coincidence.

Sally had paid attention to Ira's instruction made last meeting to get two pieces done! She had pieced some of her fabrics printed with the wind horse and

had completed herTibetan book adding 

the closure and working on the back of the concertina.

After last meeting Deryll had unearthed a tablecloth her daughter had brought back from Nepal several years ago.Her daughter had taken a stamp and printed some napkins to go with it.On closer inspection the stamp contains a wind horse.......what a coincidence!

Deryll also brought along some samples using her flower stitch foot

worked on the felt she made on her summer course.

They reminded Jenn of Japanese ceramics with chrysanthemums.

She had also created a first piece based on the scans taken of her eyes.We think it has worked really well and hope there will be a series.

She had taken the double eyed needle and done some experiments.She had much better success than Jenn.

Not strictly textiles but continuing the recycling theme.

Deryll grows plants from seed ,and had found a new use for Tetra packs.After rinsing them out she cut around one long side leaving one edge attached to fold back.The lid was screwed backin position and the bottom was  pierced a few times.

It can be filled with seed compost and seeds sown.The advantage being the foiled interior is water resist and  it reflects the light,Win, win on all counts.

Floral display.

Sue had been experimenting.She had made some fabric  on her embellisher using a variety of tops ,old ties and fabrics.She cut these into flower shapes ,and again using the embellisher had applied them to some tweed samples brought by Liz some months back.We thought they would make lovely cards or if smaller, some brooches.They could also be mounted and put in small frames.She seems to be on a roll.

Viv  had also been working away on a companion piece to the sunflowers she showed previously.

This time of some daises that shout summer .She has made this technique her signature and her enjoyment just shines out.This piece will now go to the framers and be ready for Nature In Art next Easter.

It's that time of year again.....

We met ,as usual, in the Guide hut and laid out the food and drink we would enjoy later .

Such a varied spread to tuck into after the business of Show and Tell,

and the delight of receiving a specially made card.Trees seemed to be an accidental theme this year.

With this to look forward to we got on with the business.

Dyeing and drawing.

Liz had been dyeing some fabrics with avocado to create a basis for a Pink healing blanket.She had also been making her own inks using collected oak galls and black walnuts.

She also told us how the inside of a Tetrapak can be used to make effective drypoint plates.As long as the surface isn't scored and broken the  method is the same as aluminium.The design is drawn ,inked ,wiped and printed.

The plate and the resulting 

print.Voila! another use for waste.

Jenn had stitched more of her 'mark-making' samples and had tried out Karen Stamper's Concertina Sketchbook course.www.karenstampercollage.com

The process was very enjoyable ,using masking tape ,sticky labels, ink and collage to prepare the pages 

Then the pages were worked into with Posca pens .Jenn had used photos of Italy as a reference for these first few .She is hoping the techniques might translate into fabric.