An Ending, a beginning and Christmas

Since my last post life has taken on a very hectic feel, brought on by some, to me and my friends, devastating news.  If you follow me on Facebook you will already know that the place that has been my second home for two years went into liquidation at the beginning of December.  No-one died but it felt so much like a bereavement and I think the full effects are only now being felt by me.   Stitchcraft was the most amazing place and brought so much friendship, laughter and learning that it left us all numb when we heard the news.  

After the initial shock and disbelief we all agreed that we wanted to carry on meeting up for our Wednesday Sit & Stitch sessions and some how I turned overnight into Little Miss Bossy Boots and took it on myself to find somewhere for 20+ people to meet and sew.  Well, happily we have found a very comfortable venue at the local Bowling Club (level green not tenpin) and have already had two get-togethers there.  All our thanks are due to the girls who had been there socially and recommended it.

These are not our sewing ladies but another group using the room. Sadly the bar is firmly locked!  I havn't told the group but they're trying to recruit us all for the bowls club!

So, as well as chasing a venue I've been busy with some actual sewing!  Yes, really!

I really enjoyed making this quilt/throw for my friend.  I made it in Quilt As You Go with 12" squares and found instructions for a way to do all the sashing on the machine.  It was a relief not to have to stitch it all down by hand.

Next job was Scissor cases for my bezzy mates at Sit & Stitch.  These were fun to make and I made an extra one for myself and two more for other presents. It also helped reduce my stash by the tiniest bit.  I am on a mission!

Finally I had to make another little bag to keep my new mini Gelli plate in and had a ball making it in the orange colourway.  The larger purple bag was made some time ago in a workshop and I simply reduced the squares that the bag is made from down from 12" to 10".   If you'd like to make on the tutorial is here on Fabric Mutt blog.  Did I say "new mini Gelli"?

As you can see the plate is just 3"x5" and I'm really looking forward to having a play.  I bought it from Hilary Beattie who is a powerhouse of Gelli printing.  I'm hoping the Acrylic Markers will work with the plate as they are water based.  I can't believe I havn't ripped the thing out of its wrapper and thrown paint everywhere but I've been totally exhausted over the last couple of weeks so I'm hoping to get some play in over the holiday period.

Talking of the holiday period we are having a quiet Christmas Day with my Mum and my stepson.  I have everything crossed that Mum will be able to enjoy tomorrow and not sleep through it all.  I hope that however you are spending the next few days you are spending it with people you care about and who care about you.  Have a very special Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Thank you for all your friendship and comments here and on Facebook.  It's lovely to know so many caring people and to share our creative happenings.  Love to you and yours xxxx

Time For a Catch Up

It's about time I shared the results of our dyeing day earlier this month.  As you might expect, once washed and dried there was quite a change in the colours.

On the left above is the exchange dyeing (one piece is missing, left behind by mistake but soon to be reunited).  There is an 8 step change from yellow to blue and three pieces of white on white that I added to random dye baths.  On the right the largest piece is the linen that I dye painted and which has washed out to be considerably paler than it started.
 

The sumptuous purple pieces above were dyed with logwood.  I am delighted with the gorgeous apron that was parfait dyed in a jar and has some wonderful marks on it.  I was going to cut it up as it is very worn with many holes from wear but I am tempted to layer it over a support fabric to conserve it and then I might wear it!

While we're talking about dyeing I have made use of the Images of Egypt fabric that I bought at the Uttoxeter Show.  At Stitchcraft we have all been going a bit mad for tunics/tops so despite having always hated dressmaking I thought I would have a go at making one.  

The pattern is by Janet Clare and apart from being a bit fiddly on the shoulders is very easy to use.  It must be!  I managed to make it!  I made it with a lining and it could be reversible if you so wished.  I have made another one with the other fabric I bought at Uttoxeter but don't have a photo of that yet.

I think I've got the bug for dressmaking now and I am planning to make some more tops, hopefully using some of the linen I dyed.

I've been to two workshops at Stitchcraft, one to make a zipped bag and one to make infinity scarfs.

Mine is the second bag from the left and it's a great pattern.  The bag is a useful size and the zip opens it wide so you can get at what's inside.  The bag's official name is the Ellie Travel Case and the tutorial can be found on Heide Staples blog.  

On Friday I had a fun couple of hours making an infinity scarf.  

 I used a lovely piece of snowdyed fabric that had been sitting in my stash for several years.  Having made one scarf I had to make another for an upcoming friend's birthday:

I hope she likes green! 

The fabric above has also been turned into a scarf for my stepmum's birthday, although I am finding it hard to part with as it has another of my snowdyes in it and I love the flowery fabric which is by Rowan.  The selvedge shows it is a 2012 design by Melissa White (Amelie's Attic).  I don't usually go for flowery but this is really pretty.  Stitchcraft had it in their £2 box so I hope they've got a piece left when I go on Wednesday as I may have to make another scarf with it for myself.

It's May Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and as it rained all day yesterday I spent the day squaring up a load of blocks for my pinny quilt and hopefully tomorrow I will be sewing them together.  Whatever you are doing have a happy Monday and I'll be back soon to share our recent stay in Cheshire.

Busy January

Before you ask, no we didn't get to see the aurora :-( but January has turned into a very busy month.

First of all, the blitz on my shudio (shed/studio).  I've embarrassed myself with photos of said work space on Facebook so I should probably share them here too in the hope that it will spur me on to keep up the good work.

This is the state my studio has got into as a result of being used as a dumping ground.  The table and the counter in the first photo are supposed to be my printing areas but at the moment there's no chance.  I've made a start on de-cluttering and we've already made one trip to the tip.  There'll be a few more yet.

Inside, my sewing space looks nearly as bad:

That shelf on the bookcase is upposed to be empty so I can take my textile books down and have a look at them so how does it keep getting full of rubbish?!  

Work is ongoing to find some space to work in and I am making progress.

As I said in the last blog I have been busy with workshops this month, both teaching and taking.  I am really enjoying a series of workshops with Mary Sleigh exploring hand stitching and its place in design.  Mary has had us exploring some basic stitches and using them in little compositions.

 We started with a little refresher of basic stitches.

 

 This is cretan stitch which I havn't enjoyed in the past but the penny has dropped and I have plans for this stitch.

 Our first homework had us creating a small scene concentrating on tone and texture.

All of these little pieces are 4 cms square and will be incorporated into a book at the end of the 4 sessions.  I particularly enjoyed doing the cross stitch square which reminded me of the work of Julia Caprara who loved to layer stitch to create texture.

This piece is our homework for this week and it still needs some more stitching to be added. I will probably be unable to resist adding a few beads and a shell or two.

Away from workshops I have been tryng to finish a page I have been working on for a sewing friend to go in her beautiful garden book.

(My photo is a bit over bright because of using flash).  I started with some confetti cloth that I had made and then applied scraps of fabric as flowers and added a few buttons, beads, lace flowers and little flowers from some commercial trim.  I hope she's going to like it.  It's going into this beautoful garden book box.

Last week I taught a Friday Fun workshop on top stitched curved piecing and once again the ladies did really well.  I was nervous beforehand as I had a class of 12 but the general opinion was that the workshop ahd been enjoyed.  Sadly I didn't get to take many photos of the pieces that were made.  

This coming Friday I will be teaching my version of Funky Portraits in a 2 hour session.  I have spent most of today drawing up a handout and researching online versions of fun portraits.  You've seen my original funky portrait as it is my profile photo but I have made a new one for the workshop so I could take step by step photos.

For some reason I look a bit coy in this one!

This weekend I have been taking part in an initiative started by Myfanwy Hart to get people creating, if only for 15 minutes at a time.  Titled 'Be Creative' Myfanwy has set up a facebook page and a blog where she has listed a series of prompts throughout the weekend and people have responded with enthusiasm. My weekend promised to be rather busy but I have enjoyed seeing what everyone else has been doing and I have responded to the first prompt which was to draw 6 interlocking circles and fill them with different textures.  Inspired by a posting form another participant I decided to use fabric and came up with this:

I can't tell you how tricky it was to get the strips to behave but I enjoyed playing with the shapes and colours.

If you want to join in with the prompt inspired fun you can join the facebook page ready for the next round of prompts.  It's a great way to kickstart your creativity if you're feeling a bit sluggish with all the winter storms.  For a small charge you can also join Myfanwy every day on a private blog that will offer all kinds of inspiration and support throughout the year.  The fee is purely to cover the costs of providing a private blog.

Christmas and catching up

I seem to be doing a lot of that lately - catching up.  The lead up to Christmas has been really busy, and especially so the last 10 days.  

On the creative front I made a few Christmas presents this year and also a Christmas tree decoration.  Don't you love it when the Christmas tree goes up?  I love rediscovering the decorations we've had for years and ones I've received from friends.  

If you look towards the top right hand side of the photo above you'll see the cloth Christmas tree decoration I made.  It was so simple, just two half circles of cloth sewn together and turned through and then the curved edge brought across to the straight edge in such a way as to create several folds backwards and forwards.  Voila!  It resembles a tree and a few beads completes the effect.  I made a couple of these for friends and used tiny bells from what was supposed to be a cat's Christmas collar to give it a bit of a jingle.

In the photo above is a daft decoration I made last year that I had completely forgotten about, probably because it crippled my hands to do it.  I scrunched up paper into a ball and then glued tissue paper over that.  It was finished off by glueing sequins, beads and pieces of broken jewellery and shisha mirrors to give it some sparkle.  Not difficult and a bit of fun.  

At the beginning of December I did a class at Stitchcraft with Wendy Coyne and made a very easy but efffective box. 

Inside the box you end up with a tiny triangular pocket at each corner.  I've since made a second box with lace layered onto felt for the inside surface and I've covered the flaps with buttons and beads.  I thought I had a photograph of it but can't seem to find it.  It's gone to my stepmum for her Christmas present so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was very pretty.

Early in December my Mum's care home had a local school bring their choir to sing carols for the residents and everone had a great time.

I don't know how they did it but 25 children and two teachers crammed into the lounge with the residents.  The children came from St Mary's Junior School and sang beautifully.  My Mum joined in with some of the carols and I tried to sing but had a huge lump in my throat.  Can't imagine why!

Last week was the busiest of all.  First was a return to the care home for Mum's Christmas tea, then a fabulous trip to Leeds to see Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.  I have been a fan for years so it was wonderful to see them live.  The show was at the new Leeds Arena which is huge but a much pleasanter venue than some of the other arenas. 

We had good seats quite high up but at the front so we could see everything.   We even managed to get ourselves on those big screens waving our Union Jack about during one of the numbers.

Excuse the glare where the stage is, phones are not perfect at recording.  I was intrigued by how the orchestra get onto the stage and now I know.

 The Youtube clip is Andre's tribute to Nelson Mandela which formed part of the concert and which was a tour de force by the soloist, Kimmy Skota.

Andre Rieu gives a fabulous concert and by the end there is a real party atmosphere.  Some people missed the last half hour as they believed Andre when he took a 'final' bow.  They ignored our assurances that the concert would continue which it did within less than a minute.   Our local coach company A and P Travel are organising a trip to Andre's home town Maastricht in Holland for his 10th anniversary concert there in July next year and we've already booked to go.  It should be something special!

Saturday saw us on a coach trip to London to enjoy a Christmas Carol Singalong at the Royal Albert Hall.  Again we were lucky with our seats which were near to the stage.

We had a bit of a wait before the auditorium doors opened.

I was really pleased that our seats were in the stalls and not up the top.  The white squares everywhere are the songsheets.

As you can see we were right near the main action alongside the orchestra.  I'd never been to this event before and it was more like the Last Night of the Proms and lots of fun.  

Sunday saw us in Hyde Park having a walk round the extravaganza that is Winter Wonderland, another new event to us.  It was a cold and breezy day but Hyde Park looked at its best.  

No, we didn't go on the big wheel!

We weren't able to get into the Magical Ice Kingdom as all the tickets had sold for the day but we had a lovely walk round taking in the atmosphere and then went for a walk round the Serpentine.

This is part of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial garden and water feature.  

These must be a very early species of snowdrop in flower in time for Christmas.

As we went back to the coach to come home we passed the monument to the terrible bombings in London in 2005.

There is a post for each life lost and the time of the incident.  The names of the lost are commemorated on a slate tablet nearby.  A moment for quiet contemplation in  the middle of all the excitement of Christmas.

Well, the shops are now all shut and there's nothing left to do but to hope that the bad weather doesn't upset too many plans.  We are seeing Mum tomorrow and will then be spending Boxing Day with her and all the family, not least her great grandsons. 

I hope my nephew will forgive me for 'borrowing' his photograph.  Callum, Max and Duke, in case you were wondering.

Whatever you have planned for the next couple of days I hope you have the best time you can have with people who are special to you or doing what makes your heart glad.

Merry Christmas

The Ones That (nearly) Got Away!

I've managed to catch up with the two ladies who hadn't resolved their curved piecing samples last week and can now show you how they did.  But first of all Lindsey has finished hers off and added some embroidery.

The stitching has really set it off.

Carol is the least experienced of the group in terms of machine stitching but has made a wonderful effort with her piece inspired by a Yorkshire garden.  She has added a satin stitch border and some hand stitching too and may add a little more.  She is now raring to start working on her interpretation of a favourite view in the Yorkshire Dales.  

I'm hoping I've put this piece the right way up.  Jane is primarily an embroiderer and her piece is very much a work in progress.  She has used some wonderful textured fabrics to describe the light on the water in her garden pond and I know this will be beautifully finished with embroidery and beads.  I can't wait to see how it progresses.

At the weekend DH and I took ourselves off to Patchings Art Festival which was celebrating its 20th anniversary.  I can remember going to the very first event which was exciting in itself but on a much smaller scale.  These days it's a big affair with around 200 crafts and art producers taking part.   Temptation was on all sides but I did manage to resist buying any art materials.  However, I was unable to resist buying this handsome chap.

I have been wanting a Green Man for the garden for a long time but have never found one that I really liked.  This gentleman really appealled to me and the oak leaves up his nose reminded me of my late husband and a trick he had with dandelions (don't ask!).  It made me smile so I had to bring him home.   Looking at the photo he looks a bit stary eyed but I don't get that feeling in reality.  We bought him from Caroline Lee Ceramics and I was quite tempted by their Green Ladies too.  My DH has fixed him on the front of my studio so he can look after it for me while I'm out.  

We also bought a bird for the garden from Gavin Darby who makes new work from recycled metal.  

 
Birdie stands about a foot tall and I can't wait to wrap some silk round all that rustiness!  I'm going to look out some metal pieces that I've got in my studio to pass on to Gavin as they have been languishing in there for a couple of years and aren't suitable to use for rust dyeing.  *Note to self - get out there and find the stuff!!!


I've been busy with my Horizons piece this week and have managed to start stitching some of the blocks together.

This is it laid out at Stitchcraft on Wednesday and I still need to fill in some of the gaps.  I am planning to have a day at Stitchcraft again next week when I hope to get the bulk of it stitched together.  I still have to make  20cm square sample (yes, I should have made that first but I made some mistakes so parts of the sample are now in the main piece), write an artist's statement, add a hanging sleeve and label and get it sent off to arrive by the deadline.  No pressure then!

My quilt for the main Festival of Quilts competition is coming along and is currently resting on my improvised design wall waiting to be stitched together.  Fingers crossed I will get there.  It has gone through several incarnations but I think I am nearly there. 

I just need to piece it all together, layer and quilt, add a binding, add the sleeve and a label, parcel it all up and send it off to arrive by 26 July.  That wouldn't be so bad if we weren't going on holiday before then.  Eeek!