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Sunday 29 June 2008

Toadstool swap

I took part in Kate`s toadstool swap and Catherine from Oz was my partner these lovely toadstool and a kind gift of a beautiful little cushion arrived this W/E, they are adorable
My husband who is adorable has been going bald since the day I met him,but now thanks to all that wool I have found the answer!

Bride of the year

This is my granddaughter Olive in her wedding gear, she looks great just a shame about the socks! but get the expression. I must also thank Ernie for all his helpful comments and if he sends me his measurments I will get felting.
I have finished the on-line design course with Liz Berg, I find designing hard and with C& G`s spent hours trying to design the piece and always wrote up the design portfolio after I had finished, my pieces seem to evolve as I work on them I have trouble planning them. I now have to write a critique, and as I
am now fed up with the quilt is going to be difficult , was the course worth the time and money? well Liz`s critiques were good and she helped me regarding my design failures advising ways to improve them. Only 3 of us look as if we are going to finish, so we will not have the input on others work.I have got to the end of the sheep`s fleece it is all clean and scoured , just waiting to be carded which I find quite therapeutic.


On the right the fleece is soaking in cold water to clean off the dirt & grime below is the fleece after scouring.




I then felted it onto muslin.



These are 2 scarves that I nuno felted with the wool and dyed with logwood far right and cochineal they are for my sister.

Friday 20 June 2008

I blame purple missus

I just loved all the rusted quilts and textiles that purple missus was showing on her blog so I decided to splash out and buy some of the golden paints, they are lovely but not cheap,so next week the main meal of the day will be baked beans or baked beans.And I need a lot more practise to get a decent result, although I was impressed with the stamped image below in Payne`s grey which did not washout.

My sister has given me 2 large rubbish bags of sheep's fleece,I have nearly cleaned one bagful but do not possess a set of combs so will have to see if I can borrow a pair or a drum carder.If anyone wants any uncleaned fleece and can pick it up from Glos. they are more than welcome

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Sherril Kahn book

This book is well presented lovely photos and she uses great colour combinations,it covers tyvek,metal,air-dry clay,stamping,funfoam & laminating.Good instructions & easy to follow a good book if you are not sure about using these items


This is the laminated necklace I have made from the book,using a stamp made with a lino cut.


Design course

I am doing an online design course most of it up to now has been using paper or scraps of fabric for the designs but this week we have moved up to he grownup stuff and I have had to make small quilts.The one on the right is painted silk which was tie quilted and beaded, the photo of the plants & bananas got in by mistake

This one is much better colours in the flesh lime greens and blue/purples using procion dyed calico and scrim with a small amount of painted bondaweb.

Saturday 7 June 2008

Laura Kemshall`s workshop & natural dyeing

Sorry about the previous blog I still have trouble working backwards here is the finished bag which is based on an Indian one and below is the square before it is stitched together



I love dyeing and I have always wanted to try dyeing with natural dyes, I was going to leave this until I had done a workshop, but I bought a book " Natural dyes" by Linda Rudkin spent a fortune on mordants and natural dyestuffs.The result is shown apposite the top colour is Logwood a beautiful dark mauve, this is the heart wood of a tree, isnt it amazing that anyone thought of trying it? the pinks are cochhineal ( yes I had to grind up those poor little beatles) the silvery grey is elderberries lovely colour and i shall be doing more when they come into season.The rest is a mixture of the dyes I have got Madder and Alkanet on the go tonight in fact I must go and check the temp of the Madder as it musnt get too hot

Friday 6 June 2008

Hip hip hurrah for Maggie Grey

The piece on the right is all thanks to Maggie Gray and her fantastic blog Magstitch who taught me how to use displacement maps in paintshop I used a photo of a quilt and a scan of an old building I had painted and pushed one through the other, it is very addictive as it gives great results, and i think my husband could divorce me on grounds of desertion for the amount of time I spend playing on it.This piece was printed onto fabric and then some parts were foiled before being machine quilted.This is for a design course I am doing on line
These quilts are in the exhibition at the Needle Museum and are by Linda & Laura kemshall





on the right is Doreens masterpiece & Maddy`s is below great hearts



On the right is an example of what the quilting could have looked like below is mine on an old pair of my husbands golfing trousers.




Some of the lovely bags that Kemshall`s have made guilted & painted & foiled .







This bag is slashed work or chenille





Doreen slaving over her sewing machine