Festival of Quilts (cont)

I had the arguable pleasure of spending an hour(!) in the dentist's chair this morning and to keep myself distracted and away from panic while the dentist did her stuff I spent the time planning my quilts for FOQ.  I know I've already started on one but I am still at the designing stage in my head and the time was useful.  I'm pleased to say the dentist has so far managed to save my tooth too so a successful hour all round.

When I got home and the face had thawed out I decided to do some more printing just in case I havn't got enough when I start to work on the quilt proper.  I took a few photos to share here although they're not wonderful as the light was poor and it's difficult to photograph sheers.

I rather like this image which is a very lightly printed piece of scarf.  Most of the marks you can see are on the drop paper below but I like the effect and I have a plan to print this image onto Extravorganza to maybe use in my piece.

These are some of my print blocks.  I found some lovely 'spider's web' in a craft shop today and it makes the most delicate of marks (block is bottom left, a bit over inked).

These prints made on paper were to use up the inks on the print plate but they will form part of my beaches Sketchbook inspired by my course with Dionne Swift.

Not looking very special but more marks to play with.

Yesterday was Sit and Stitch day at Stitchcraft and for the morning I took my oilbars along as I had been inspired by a post that Maggi Birchenough had put up. (Oops!  I should have said by Angela of Art & Stitch.  amended 18 May) I first cut and then tore an edge along a piece of copy paper and then, having taped down a sheet of paper initially, rubbed the oilbar along the cut edge and then brushed the paint off onto the paper below.

Once I had sorted out the technique I started to work on one of my previous prints on fabric.

Part way through my efforts Wendy suggested I work in white to suggest the spray and then Jane viewed it from the opposite way to me and suggested I turn it upside down.

Apparently all it needs now is a lighthouse :-)

Thank you to Stitchcraft for this image of yesterday's play which I have unashamedly knicked from their facebook page.

Nothing looks much at the moment but I'm hoping things will start to pop when I add some silk paint.  To be continued.........

Friends

I heard from Hilary who is co-ordinating the Celebrating Diversity quilt that my 'In an English country Garden' quiltee would be in time to be considered for the compilation quilt so I have my fingers crossed for being selected.  The finished quilt will be displayed at the Quilt Museum in York and at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham in August so I shall get to see it in one location or the other, if not both.  I'm pleased to say too that Mum loved the quilt I made her and has taken it back to her care home.

Yesterday I had a wonderful day meeting up with two blogging friends whose blogs I have been following for some time and who I met very briefly at last year's FOQ.  Sadly we all failed to take a group photo to mark the day so I have been very cheeky and borrowed one from Maggi (sorry I didn't ask first Maggi, I'll take it off if you would prefer).

The other lady in the photo is Linda who blogs as Blue-Eyed Girl and it was Linda who had planned the intinerary for the day.   And what a day it was!  After picking me up from the train station we went to The Beetroot Tree which is owned and run by Alysn Midgelow-Marsden who is well known for her work with metals in textiles.  She also wrote the book 'Between the Sheets with Angelina'.  The Beetroot Tree is a wonderfully inspiring creative environment also a very tempting place for shopping!

I very naughtily couldn't resist the beautiful shot velvets in my favourite sea colours and Maggi gave me some tips on how to burnish the stainless steel metal fabric to change its colour.  I can see a use for the metal fabric and the embroidered silk in the piece that I should be cracking on with for the International Quilt Challenge (only 23 days till the deadline!).  I have plans for that little piece of embroidered silk in the project too.

Next it was on to lunch at a lovely cafe and foodstore in nearby Breaston called Anderson's and then more cups of tea and a visit to Linda's home and art room.  It was really great to see Linda's beautiful embroideries in the flesh and to meet her gorgeous cat Peachy who took to me because I had been eating a tuna sandwich and the smell was still on my hand :-)  It is well worth clicking the link higher up to visit Linda's blog and see her beautiful work and to meet Peachy, he's a very cheeky cat!  Linda and I share a love of St Ives so you can catch up on a few views while you're there.

 Before Maggi drove me back to the station for my train we went to Pear Tree Yard, a craft warehouse which was more like an Aladdin's cave!  Fortunately we didn't have too long to shop but I did buy a couple of things,

I was really pleased to get these gel stamps which are a series of circles that can be used in many ways and combinations.  You can split up the larger circles and use the middles separately.  When not in use they store conveniently in the tin.  I'm hoping these might come in useful for the Archi-Texture project too.  

I had taken Linda and Maggi a small gift of mixed fibres and fabrics as I knew they both have embellishers but they had both brought me a proper gift. 

Linda gave me the decorated book with her very pretty digital and textile collage on the cover and Maggi gave me the gorgeous wallet which shows off her very skilled machine embroidery. 

We were talking about being of an age to benefit from a Senior Rail card and once I get to my 60th birthday later this year I shall be using this wallet for my card and travel tickets.  It will save me grovelling through my handbag and panicking for my tickets!

My busy day yesterday took its toll and I have been very lazy today, although I have done a little bit of dyeing with onion skins and, after chatting with Maggi about collage yesterday, I've made a couple of small collages which I'll photograph tomorrow.  At the start of the year I had planned to do a collage a day but so far haven't done any so maybe I should start now.  I may even use Linda's book as I like the square format.

Thank you Maggi and Linda for a great, fun day out and I hope we can get together again soon.  It was great to spend time with like minded people and we never stopped talking, did we? :-)

Another Little Quilt Swap

I don't know how I've managed it, other than by plain stubbornness, but I've actually completed my quilt for Another Little Quilt Swap. I've called it "Meander" after the stitch detail I have put through the quilt and the meander of the appliqued squares.

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Note: The hanger is not part of the quilt
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I wrote about the design of the quilt here and since Saturday I have stitched a meander design through the quilt in a red metallic thread and then quilted the remainder. Finally I added some gold feather stamps to lift one or two areas. The backing fabric is this traydyed cotton and I have used it for the binding too.

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This quilt has been a considerable challenge and I have really enjoyed it. I wanted to make a wholecloth and explore printing and stamping and I have let the cloth lead me most of the way. It has been fun experimenting and I have also got a Journal quilt for June and several pieces of stamped fabric to play some more with. Yay! One small problem, I've been doing so much sewing I think I've got RSI! My thumbs and fingers are giving me jip! I think some rest is called for!

A Little More Craftiness

I wasn't going to blog this today but I thought I might ask your opinion. Today I have added leaf prints using a combination of warmer colours and you can see two sections below. I have used Lumiere paints which are sparkly but the photo doesn't show this up too well.

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My thought now, at the risk of overdoing the printing thing, is to add some highlights by (partially) overprinting with the feather again using the copper colour mixed with a little yellow. It may not be necessary to do this to every blue feather. Also the new feather prints will be a bit more ragged than the original as the feather is getting a bit dishevelled. I'm going to make a viewfinder to isolate each quarter as that should help me decide how much more each piece needs. I only have till the weekend to finish this and I fancy doing a little handsewing on it too. So, do you think I will overdo it with more feather printing? This printing and stamping is addicitive!

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These two shots below are of my practice pieces which I've been trying things out on. The circular design is from an old fashioned plastic cake doily. Remember those? I used it as a stencil to sponge paint through.

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My DH and I have been coughing our heads off all night. No, I don't think we've got colds. We've had a new settee and chair delivered today and they stink!!! I think it's just the newness of the upholstery or maybe the Scotchguard protection we've had put on. Whatever it is, I hope it soon wears off. If it wasn't so cold I'd have the doors and windows open to air it off! Poo! Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough! You can tell we're getting old too. It's a sit up and beg suite instead of a squashy one. I'm hoping it will stop my joints aching so much. First I have to stop coughing!!! Grrrr!

A Little Craftiness

Do you remember this?

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I can't remember whether I've mentioned it before but, a few weeks ago, the four of us who have been doing the dyeing workshops agreed to take a section of our printed cloth, add to it and then cut it into 4 and swap. So that it's not too huge a task we have decided on a piece of fabric the size of a fat quarter (18 x 22 ins). I've been putting off starting a bit but I have been giving it quite a lot of thought. I do like the layered paint effects that Committed to Cloth and Ruth Issett use so I thought I would work along these lines as we have agreed not to overdye the cloth.

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The photograph above shows the cloth after two treatments. First, I did some shibori stitching and gathering and then applied bleach with a toothbrush. I left the bleach on for only a few minutes and then rinsed it well in cold water. Then, I used a text stamp I had bought at the K & S Show with Lumiere paint to print onto the surface. (The text stamp came from Dimension Fourth Ltd)

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I love feathers and have used a gull feather to print across the fabric, using the same Lumiere paint.

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These lovely marks are the negative images left where I had used the paper to smooth over the feather to obtain the print. They are almost more lovely than the positive images. (Excuse my shadow, I had to photograph this indoors).

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That's as far as I've gone today but I do intend to continue tomorrow. I am planning to continue printing but will introduce some complimentary colour, probably with some leaf shapes. I am so enjoying the printing that it is very tempting to keep going so I hope I don't wreck it by adding too much.