Stitching onwards

You know how things happen, a phone call, someone telling you something and them life just seems to fall apart. Well that was five weeks ago and I'm back. I still have some appointments with DS2 at the local hospital to see a consultant and then decisions to be made.

I have been doing lots of teaching over the past weeks both at the studio and around the country. I had a fantastic time at The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. Both stitched origami book workshops were full and it was good to see some stitched up in the hour. If you are going to The Knitting and Stitching show at Harrogate in a few weeks I think there are a few spaces left for this workshop. I am teaching six workshops across three days so lots of kits to make up.

There has been a sampler quilt class at the studio for the past six weeks. I just love seeing how the same block looks in different fabrics. Karen's quilt is at the top and Claire's below.

 My very talented group who meet at a Children's Centre have been playing with Shibori techniques. I'm sure that I took some of the dyed fabrics but can't find them at the moment!

I have also completed some stitched landscapes using woad and other bits left over from my larger landscape that went to Festival. I am off to see the exhibition tomorrow so will hope to take some photos. If you are fairly local to Lincolnshire it is at The Carre Gallery in Sleaford.

Concours d'elegance

Well I didn't want to keep you guessing for long! I was making a concours d'elegance costume for a friends daughter. I would be the first to say that I do not really work in 3D nor dress make but I was really happy with how it turned out.

This is Archie who was going to be ridden for the first time in this competition. Archie is a bit of a pro though as he has won lots of rosettes when ridden by Jake (Bryony's brother)

The pink fabric became a skirt, the table became a "pretend horse" when I checked for measurements.

Nothing like the real thing though. Archie was very patient as we tried on the skirt as it had to fit under Bryony's feet and over his tail. On this picture I hadn't sewn on the grey trim. The grey and pink were chosen to match a riding hat.

This is the completed costume. There is grey trim along the edge of the skirt and some lead curtain weights just to make sure that it didn't blow up and spook a pony.

She is wearing a grey military style jacket which was "doctored" I added grey trim along the collar and at the cuffs and neck a blouse was cut up for extra ruffs. To top it off she had a pink cravat made from the skirt fabric and wore my cream leather driving gloves . She  looked very elegant.

I even managed to teach her mum, and my friend Fliss how to make a corsage. I made one for Bryony's hair and Fliss is making one to be attached to Archie's bridle.

This is Bryony at the show today. She came 5th in her first ridden show.

An idea

You know how an idea starts? That first thought, the what if? Could it be achieved? Well I started something new which involved -

 Six metres of pink fabric, pink and grey trims, seven metres of  lead curtain weights and a pony!

Can you guess? Just off to complete this project and then I will share.

Quilters Guild Area Day (and the patter of tiny legs)

I meant to blog about the fantastic and welcoming weekend I spent with members of The Quilters Guild Region ten last week. Things are a little busy here with trips planned and quilts to finish as well as preparing for Summer School 2012 at the studio. Not long now ladies!

Sheila the Lincolnshire co-ordinator taught everyone how to make calorie free chocolates. Everyone had a go and the results were good enough to eat! On Saturday I did my talk about Natural Dyeing, apart from a technical hitch with the projector (which thankfully sorted it's self out) everything went well. I enjoy a talk when I get asked lots of questions.

Sunday was Stitch for Texture, we all worked in the hall still festooned with Jubilee bunting.

All the ladies worked really hard. I took these photos of Margaret (above) and Julie (below) smiling

This is a photo of Sheila's work in progress.

And the patter of tiny legs? Well yesterday we had three goslings hatch out. Mum and Dad are very protective so I might get some better photos later. Today is cold and windy so they are tucked under mums wings.

DyE, wool, stitch

Things have been a little busy around here this week. The studio has been full of DS and I working on Festival of Quilts entries and workshop samples.

 

This week I taught a woolly dye day. We started out using a few natural dyes on wool that I had pre- mordanted.

 

Everyone was very busy painting yarn, dyeing fleece and wool tops in pans using chemical dyes in the afternoon.

 

The top right was dyed with turmeric. 

 

Wool drying outside. The pinky and blue/green had been hand spun.

At the end of the day Trish went round and used up all the dye left over in the pots. After cooking in the microwave these are her stunning results on hand spun fleece.

I have spent this weekend up in Ludford with members of the Quilters Guild region ten. Lots of laughs, technical hitches and stitching. I'll post more tomorrow.

Stitching for Texture

Today I spent an enjoyable yet very productive day with the ladies of Country Roads Quilt Group. They worked so hard to make up lots of stitched samples which were then made up into a book.

Lots of concentrating, especially from Lis. She has written about the workshop on her blog here.

Some ladies worked in the dining room, others in the conservatory.

Thank you Christina for hosting the workshop and including the partially dressed young man and Thomas the spaniel.

I am teaching this again at the studio in Spalding on June 16th and July 28th, limited places on both workshops now so contact me for more information.

Show and Tell

Well, despite travelling around the country this Summer I have been able to do some stitchy/crafty things as well as my City and Guilds work and making jams, chutneys from our various garden produce. This post is a bit photo heavy so sit back and enjoy. This little angel was made for a friend who has moved down to North London as she and her husband are Territorial Officers in the Salvation Army.

Way back at the start of the summer holidays Emma over at A little bit of everything was invited people to celebrate her 50th birthday with her, she sent out 50 postcards and you just had to send one in return. I was lucky enough to get place number 50. Above is the postcard Emma sent me and below the postcard made for her (I think you can click to enlarge them).

Below some of the City and Guilds stuff I have been working on over the holidays, pages and samples from my sketchbooks.

This small quilt wasn't anything to do with my City & Guilds. It was called "Daisy Chain" and was initially juried into the Quilters Guild Exhibition at Rufford Country Park. Unfortunately it didn't actually make it to the exhibition as it was felt it was a bit on the small side. It is made of all recycled things, a recycled sheet which was monoprinted and plastic bags were used to make the actual flowers.

Catching Up

It seems like ages since my last post but I have been teaching several Christmas workshops and even some Christmas cookery along side my normal adult cooking courses! This last one is a bit of a joke with those who know me well as I hate cooking. Unfortunatley I didn't have my camera with me for these workshops but these were some the children did in York. Its not a great photo though but you can just about make them out alongside the butterflies.
When I put my Christmas tree up today I just can't believe that it is eleven years since this hung on the tree for the first time, where does the time go? It has become a tradition to make a new tree decoration each year -
I have also managed to get some work done for my City and Guilds diploma, the most worrying thing about this is that I seem to be enjoying working with plastic more and more. This is a page from my sketchbook
I am really happy with this folded patchwork sample
After folding a square I then covered it with fabric paint and used the folds to insert old lace and fabric. I also covered some cotton wadding with the same fabric paint. I used an idea from Tina, folded the backing to the front and stitched down with big stitches so you could also see the wadding. No plastic on this though.