Advance notice

Deryll will be exhibiting some work with this group as she did last year.There is a variety of work on offer with the advantage of light lunches and refreshments available.A nice trip out for April.

RECENT MEETING

Carol showed us a a very beautiful quilt she had just finished.

                                         

She had also been creative with a French knitting "dolly", and adding beads to the cord.

            Debby had been working with neutrals on her piece of Ikea cloth, and decided to use the ideas for her group project frame.

She had been making baby sheets to donate for newborns at Bristol Maternity Hospital. Some had children's hankies applied to them, and were beautifully finished off.

Sue had been making these samples with her embellishing machine.  We thought they were good enough to go in frames in their own right.

She also had this brilliant idea for isolating sections of an image!

Jane had used her computerised machine to create different versions of this Celtic design. The ones on the right incorporated thousands of small snippings of Marilyn's leftover weaving threads.  In the centre, her "neutral" embroidery frame.

She had also been trying out a special patchwork template, producing this interesting sample.

 Deryll had finally decided on the arrangement of her leaves and attached them to their background. Job done!

These were her unused ones - but is there the suggestion of another piece?

 Marilyn produced yet another exquisitely woven scarf, in pastel tones of silk thread which she  had dyed.  Below, she is demonstrating how she begins to prepare the warp threads.

                                      
She had been making these woven braids with some short lengths of thread.

 Liz had started putting together some vintage indigo fabrics for a new piece of work. She intends to do considered, "slow stitching", to enhance the work..

She had done some more eco-dyed silk, which no doubt in time will also become an interesting piece.

Jenn had been experimenting further using seedpods as her inspiration. We look forward to seeing  her complete collection!

Gum arabic transfer.

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As you know Jenn did a collagraph course with Sue Brown in Cheltenham which she really enjoyed .One of the techniques that Sue uses in her work is Gum Arabic Transfer.The last session before Christmas Sue very generously shared her technique.

It is a brilliant way of transferring images to paper ,fabric ,sketchbooks.You use a photocopy or laser printed copy,gum arabic, oil based ink and a water spray.It has possibilities for transferring own drawings to work on.The top image shows a transfer onto a print and the bottom one onto some black organdie cotton fabric.The results are good as there is no faffing about rubbing paper off the surface you attach to and the hand of the fabric isn't altered.A technique to explore.

www.theyardartspace.com

www.suebrownprintmaker.blogspot.co.uk

If you have a look at the blog Sue has posted some pictures of a recent two day workshop using this technique.

Versatility and Kirsten.

Kirsten seems able to turn her hand to most creative techniques.This is something she produced from some wrappings today.

The fabric is stretched across the frame like a batik would be and she has hand drawn the design with a white  fine line pen.

It will be interesting to see how it develops.Will it be painted,stitched.....you'll have to check back to see.

She had been using her skills with needle -felt to fashion this Orang-tang.He's handsome.......just missing some wild fur .

These next felt pieces are some sampling done to find ways of making shapes within the felt pieces.

This brick like sample was really three dimensional ,though the photo doesn't show it well.

This is the same way as the top sample using marbles but the tops have been cut to reveal the multi layers inside.We wonder how these techniques will manifest themselves?

Works in progress---nature themes

Despite being a bit unsure about our workshop back in August Deryll has been persevering with the results from her day.She is thinking about arranging these into a piece.Whether she wanted or not we played around with placement and made suggestions as to ways to expand.We think these are so successful and liked the plain fabric leaves she had added.

This is her 'Neutral 'stitched piece for our challenge ,they are all going to be so different.It will be interesting to see them all arranged together.

Sally has a 'Bird of Paradise' and it is in flower.She has done drawings and taken photographs of the various stages and is now beginning to explore to give her stitched pieces.She saw a different variety in America which is very much larger and grows into tree size.

I also need to correct my mistake on her 'Neutrals' piece from last month.She is taking her inspiration from looking at ice rather than snow clad mountains! I should have known.

Viv had brought this piece ,in its infancy, to a meeting at Sue's together with her drawings and inspiration .It has quietly been worked on until its reveal.It deserves a really close look with its array of fabrics and stitchery.Such close attention and detail.

Sumptuous surfaces.

Patricia had been reviewing some past samples and brought along some beauties for us.Remember her large hangings at Sidcot?This looks like a rich vein for her to explore ,she puts things together so well.

Book to dip into for ideas and inspiration.The cover is very tactile and even the surface is folded and ridged.

Lots going on here ,the fabric has been tucked and manipulated ,silk apple over before the addition of beads and stitch.

She had also unearthed a quilt she had made from two of her batiks.

The grey is a beautiful foil.

Sally commented that it was a shame to hide one batik at the back ,why not make two  quilts  to celebrate the uniqueness of them both.

We anticipate more sumptuous exploration of surfaces.

Post -Christmas

Debby started the 'Show and Tell ' with this piece she had found while sorting out.

She also brought some of her presents from South Africa from her son.

Using furnishing fabric ,cords and commercial beads these are made for tourists.Great idea for recycling and making without spending too much.It also picks up on the beads and necklaces we saw last month.

Carol has decided to take a class in patchwork to broaden her understanding of how it is done.As far as we are concerned she is clever enough and skilled enough to run her own class.Some of us shudder at the thought of trying to cut accurately and get corners to meet!

She explained that this above is how "Disappearing Nine Patch "is done.

First you cut out nine squares of equal size and stitch four together,then you cut a square from these so that you have a small square,a larger square and two rectangles the four fabrics.I'm not sure that was very well put ....but if you look at the photo I'm sure you'll get the gist.I think these are then pieced together to make a larger block,thus disappearing the original nine.