Subscriptions and courses.

Carol said she had done very little then brought out all of these small pieces.She joined Stitch Club on www.textileartist .org.Each month there is a workshop by a textile artist.The one above by Debbie Lydon ,making small vessels to put in some small treasures.The hole allows a little glimpse of what is contained within.Carol has some shards of blue and white pottery.

This was to base a piece on the colours found in a stamp.

This was from a workshop by Cherrilyn Tyler using sheers and burning back.

Think this was using lace motifs.

Raised stitches

A go at traditional Phulkari folk embroidery led by Saima Kaur.

Making marks using two colours run by Gwen Hedley.

And this last offering was from Jenn.She had subscribed to  'Perfectly Imperfect,Discovering your Visual Language' with Lorna Crane and hosted by Fibre Arts Take Two.Briefly brushes were made from foraged items and then used to mark paper .It extends to creating collages ,making fabrics and using these to make books and vessels.Jenn is still in the early stages.It will be interesting to see where it leads.

 

Holiday work.

Kirsten brought along a whole host of what she called "holiday work"Having not been able to attend any in- person courses she had treated herself to one being run as an online one .It was hosted from Hungary so had necessitated some early mornings and late nights so participants world wide could be accommodated .It meant her family had to shift for themselves and had to provide  her with refreshments throughout the week long course.......hence her 'holiday'

As you can see it covered an incredible range of items and techniques.It included this wonderful chap above ,

some balls cleverly patterned and built around a tennis ball.

Notice the matching colours in the mug?

A tea cosy different on back

and front.

As well as this hand puppet 

deftly handled by Viv .

And finally some vessels fashioned around semi precious agate .

Nothing to do with the course but lovely nonetheless ,a bird from a crochet book by TOFT   'Twelve Birds of Christmas 'given to Kirsten as a gift .Is there nothing she can't turn her hand too?

 

Poppy and woodpile.

Viv brought along a selection of work she has done during this last year including this rust dyed piece we had only seen in a photo.We agreed that what we have missed is being able to handle textiles and see the subtle surface qualities in fabric and stitch.This piece did not disappoint.

She also referred us back to the photo taken of a log pile on a visit to Hestercombe garden.

She had decided she wanted to use it for inspiration but not to just reproduce the photo as a textile piece.Cue these little individual squares all using hand stitch.She was not sure they would become anything other than this.It is interesting what piques our interest but might not develop any further.

 

Finding your joy.

Debby has been finding she has been stitching less in Lockdown,apart from teaching her classes .She has gone back to doing more painting and drawing.

She told us about an online course by Louise Fletcher 'Finding your Joy"The two pieces below were part of an exercise where an A1 size sheet was divided into sections with masking tape before being painted with marks in a chosen colour way.She was using ink and fluid acrylics .The tape was removed and the background sections ready for working into .Debby loved the freedom of  the mark making but was especially drawn to the masking tape that was supposed to be discarded.No doubt she will work some alchemy and transform it into something delicious.

She had also revisited some older pieces of textile work ,working into them with Inktense .The bird below has been given more life and now takes centre stage instead of disappearing into the background.It is such a rich piece ,now with added depth.

She also brought the Puffin ,printed by Prinfab and embellished in her usual style.

and this multi media collage of fabric and stitch.

The sketch below is so atmospheric ,it was done after a walk to see the  bluebells on a local hill this Spring.

Will it provide inspiration for a new piece ?

 

Accidental colour matching.

Jane had lots of little offcuts of fabric after making her wall hanging and vase wrap. Rather than putting them to one side she has employed her string piecing skills in fashioning these little purses.....the clever bit is they have all been sewn on her embroidery machine including inserting  the zip ! And below some pieced lavender bags .We are sure they will fly off to new homes when she puts them up for sale on her stall in September during  North Somerset Arts Week .

Coincidentally using almost  the same colour palette was Sue with her embellished piece .We thought it could be a blue moon or the blue planet and could envisage a series of space related work.

 

She has completed this piece and was deliberating how it might be backed .She had picked out a lovely russet linen which picks up some of the colours of her hand embroidery .We thought a hanging rather than a framed piece would do it justice .

Lastly ,she had bought a casual coatigan from a well known high street store .Sue was dissatisfied that it was quite bland so has begun to embellish it to make a style statement .Will she go further......?

 

Red letter day !

 We had our first face to face meeting this month ,June, in Carol's garden and very good it was too!

Sally began the 'show and tell ' with this lovely piece ,above, It came about from a workshop we did ,when we were allowed , at the Guide hut.It has printed leaves, hand stitch and some very delicate machine stitched acer leaves.

Sally has continued to work in zig zag sketchbooks inspired by her 'lockdown 'garden.This little book uses printouts of her pages arranged in a hand made zig- zag book.

These are some of the actual pages which use observational drawing, painting ,collage and print.

She has gone on to make some individual small fabric pieces which make become a fabric book.