I have tended to post work on my Facebook page but have now got back to my blog.
Here are my Journal Quilt experiments so far for 2016. Each little quilt is 8 " x 10". The brief also stipulates that the first four have a small amount of purple, the second four a small amount of green and the last four of the year a small amount of orange fabric.
I have been using Gelli plates, which you can get in different sizes or even make your own. Mine were a Christmas present. Essentially it is a mono printing technique so each print is different and I have been using cotton poplin and organzas to print onto. The paints are acrylics with an added fabric medium. I now have a plan for the rest of the year!
Here are my Journal Quilt experiments so far for 2016. Each little quilt is 8 " x 10". The brief also stipulates that the first four have a small amount of purple, the second four a small amount of green and the last four of the year a small amount of orange fabric.
I have been using Gelli plates, which you can get in different sizes or even make your own. Mine were a Christmas present. Essentially it is a mono printing technique so each print is different and I have been using cotton poplin and organzas to print onto. The paints are acrylics with an added fabric medium. I now have a plan for the rest of the year!
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This has been an opportunity to use some commercial stencils which I have had for a while, play with some wooden Indian printing blocks and use up scraps of paper from an old book that were also used in my Winter Heliotrope piece, which is now on tour with the Contemporary Quilt Group Challenge "On the Edge".
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There are a huge variety of grasses growing in the fields where I live. I collected some, attempted to identify them with varying luck and did some quick stitched sketches in grey thread on a yellow beige printed background. I divided the background fabric up so the shapes look a bit like the fields.
I wanted to try doing some printing on synthetic organza with a view to using the technique on a new piece of work. The organza livens up what previously was rather unpreposessing piece of cloth.
I like the way the shadows work on the layered organza. I collect leaves and bits of plants when Im out with the dog, which I press in heavy books under kitchen roll. I've also used leaves and plants on the gelli plates. Even the prints which look a bit blobby because of the bulk of plant material look ok over other layers.
The field closest to the house has a purple hue at the moment because of the knapweed. Earlier on in the year there were so many orchids, I've never seen that many in these fields. All the hay is being cut now. I must try and get a photo before it all gets bundled up into big black rolls.
Look what I found lurking under the clematis.Those colours!
I wanted to try doing some printing on synthetic organza with a view to using the technique on a new piece of work. The organza livens up what previously was rather unpreposessing piece of cloth.
I like the way the shadows work on the layered organza. I collect leaves and bits of plants when Im out with the dog, which I press in heavy books under kitchen roll. I've also used leaves and plants on the gelli plates. Even the prints which look a bit blobby because of the bulk of plant material look ok over other layers.
The field closest to the house has a purple hue at the moment because of the knapweed. Earlier on in the year there were so many orchids, I've never seen that many in these fields. All the hay is being cut now. I must try and get a photo before it all gets bundled up into big black rolls.
Look what I found lurking under the clematis.Those colours!
Capabilities
This year is the 300th Anniversary of the birth of the 18th century garden designer Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Embroiderers' Guilds around the country have been taking part making pieces of work that celebrate the occasion and they are being exhibited at venues which have connecftions with the designer.
I made this small appliqued picture and it is displayed at Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire along with other members work from Stroud Embroiderers. Apparently Capability Brown did visit Woodchester Park, before he died. Of course the Mansion hadn't been built then and was never finished. I am hoping to be there for Big Stitch Day, on August 6th. Our work is displayed in a corridor in the house. The exhibition runs until October. This is an article from Cotswold Life August 2016.
I made this small appliqued picture and it is displayed at Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire along with other members work from Stroud Embroiderers. Apparently Capability Brown did visit Woodchester Park, before he died. Of course the Mansion hadn't been built then and was never finished. I am hoping to be there for Big Stitch Day, on August 6th. Our work is displayed in a corridor in the house. The exhibition runs until October. This is an article from Cotswold Life August 2016.
Winter heliotrope: On the Edge.
This is a large hanging, 100 x60 cm which was submitted for inclusion for On the Edge, a touring exhibition run by the Contemporary Quilt Group. I took for my inspiration a piece of land covered with winter heliotrope plants which borders the side of the A417 and Edge Common and quarry.
When I visited it I was hoping to find interesting geology and lichens in the quarry, but it was a miserable wet and dull day and we waded through the undergrowth tryng to avoid rubbish which had been thrown from cars. I stitched the linen cloth with stone shapes, block printed the leaves and then appliqued waste paper leaves on the surface. It needed more texture so I stitched lichen like french knots over the stone shapes. It was rather hard on the fingers and I had to mount it on a tapestry frame. It will be shown at various venues during this year and next.
When I visited it I was hoping to find interesting geology and lichens in the quarry, but it was a miserable wet and dull day and we waded through the undergrowth tryng to avoid rubbish which had been thrown from cars. I stitched the linen cloth with stone shapes, block printed the leaves and then appliqued waste paper leaves on the surface. It needed more texture so I stitched lichen like french knots over the stone shapes. It was rather hard on the fingers and I had to mount it on a tapestry frame. It will be shown at various venues during this year and next.
A Stitched Anthology
I always enjoying taking part in Weavers Gallery exhibition, Ledbury, which runs with the poetry festival. This year we could choose our own poem and I chose one of my father's poems which he wrote to my mother in 1941. I have been coming across bits of his verse in various obscure places. this was in a little pamphlet called Poetry Today. I find it rather poignant, especially given the present state of things. However, my father was always rather a melancholic sort of man!
I tied and stitched the background cotton poplin and over- dyed several times to get the circular planet - like shapes. The text was appliqued and the diagonal background stitching was done by hand with a variegated thread.
I was reminded of the technique while clearing up my shed. I found a piece of tie dyed fabric that I'd done in 1999, after designing one of my very first hangings. "One minute 38 seconds" which was about the solar eclipse.
I tied and stitched the background cotton poplin and over- dyed several times to get the circular planet - like shapes. The text was appliqued and the diagonal background stitching was done by hand with a variegated thread.
I was reminded of the technique while clearing up my shed. I found a piece of tie dyed fabric that I'd done in 1999, after designing one of my very first hangings. "One minute 38 seconds" which was about the solar eclipse.
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