Liz Brooke Ward - Stitched Textiles
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More Journal quilt figures.

8/6/2014

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I've had a break from landscapes and have now completed four more journal quilt pieces. They are based on figurative sketches and I am trying out different techniques for textured backgrounds and line.
These are little eight inch squares with a thin wadding between the layers. Eventually there will be twelve of them which together will make a whole design. In this piece the background is machine stitched then small squares of cheese cloth and scrim are attached using  french knots.

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Here the background is stitched with a free machine swing stitch and then embellished with knots and a hand seed stitch in a darker coloured thread.This gives a bit more contrast.
The legs are machined with straight lines and a couched thicker thread and they do line up with the piece which will finally sit above it.
The figure is appliquéd calico and machine stitched.

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The background fabric is linen. It is machine stitched with a twin needle and then with a programmed blanket stitch. The line of the central figure is cable stitched by putting a thick perle thread in the bobbin and stitched from the back. The top thread keeps it in place.  I wanted more definition in the central area and also needed to lighten it for more contrast so it was filled with bullion knots in a light thickish thread.

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This drawing was quite sketchy and complicated so it was digitally printed on to calico. The stitching is all by hand - running stitches and knots again - must be my favourite stitch!

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Cloths of Heaven

6/22/2014

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Occasionally I have one of those early mornings and on this morning I woke about 3 am. The good news was that I was in time to see the most spectacular dawn sky across the valley. Armed with a cup of tea and my camera I took this photograph. I had been trying to make a decision about the subject matter for the Cloths of Heaven Exhibition at the Weaver's Gallery, Church Lane, Ledbury. This view clinched it. This year the theme is W.B. Yeats poem. My favourite line is "--- of night and light and the half -light" so this is what my piece is called- The half-light.

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This is the landscape piece I made in response. It is appliquéd, machine stitched and embellished with wool fibres. The words "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams" are also stitched in the background. I have had a frame made for it and mounted the piece on a lovely soft, slightly faded, old cotton velvet. It is a gorgeous colour.
The exhibition runs in conjunction with the Lebury Poetry Festival from 1st to 13th July.

The Inspired by Slad Valley opening in Slad Chuch was very jolly and very "Stroud!" There are beautiful flowers in the church, a great exhibition, bunting, speeches, straw hats, sunshine and cider.
There were over 300 visitors to the exhibition this weekend and Open Gardens as well.

http://www.sladsociety.org.uk/festival.html
Next week I will be at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester as artist in residence. The current exhibition showing is
Extinct Boids Paintings by Ralph Steadman June 10th - July 20th
http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk/exhibitions.html

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Inspired by Slad Valley

6/18/2014

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I've just delivered three pieces of work to the church in Slad where this exhibition is being held. It is commemorating the centenary of Laurie Lee's birth It opens on Saturday 21st and runs until 29th June. I will be stewarding there on Sunday 22nd in the afternoon. There are a variety of media represented and I'm sure it will be fascinating. A percentage of sales will go towards the Church.
Next week I shall be artist in residence again at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester. Tuesday 22nd until Sunday 29th June. I am intending to do some fabric dyeing ready for some more lichen hangings for the exhibition in October at Westonbirt Arboretum with Cotswold Edge. I am really looking forward to it. It is such a lovely place and great fun meeting lots of different people - a bit like the textile trail.

I also have an online interview with so-glos. There is a link below.

http://www.soglos.com/culture/36916/In-the-studio-with-Liz-Brooke-Ward

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Bull's Cross -mixed media and stitch. £200
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Bull's Cross - detail. This is a mixed media piece using cotton muslin and scrim and paper which is machine stitched. The sky is hand stitched.

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Swift's Hill, Spring. £200
This is another appliquéd, hand and machine stitched piece in cotton and silk. The sky is hand stitched.
I enjoyed stitching the barbed wire fence in the foreground.



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Swift's Hill, Winter. £200
The same view as the one on the left but a bit closer up. Someone told me that quaking grass grew  there so I stitched some grass in the foreground. It is such a pretty delicate plant. The ploughed area below the hill looked quite red against the dark sky and reminded me of the pictures of Stroud red cloth pinned on the hillsides to dry on tenter hooks.

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Beautiful May day

5/3/2014

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 I went for a drive up to Bull's Cross to take some photographs across the Slad valley It was a stunning morning. I am so lucky having this countryside so near to my home.

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The cross at Bull's Cross.

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The view across to Swift's hill from Bull's Cross.
I shall use this as a basis for my next piece of work.

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This is an appliquéd piece based on Swift's hill in early March.

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Hellebore wall hanging

4/27/2014

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I've finally finished my hellebore hanging and it will be getting its first airing during the Craft and Textile Trail in Stroud.  www.sitselect.org
  I like the way it changes colour with different light.
I have had this design in mind for so long now and am quite relieved  to have finally completed it. I love the way these flowers appear like magic at the end of the winter and hope to have captured that feeling in this piece.
I am sharing Cath Kingzett's workshop at One Fat Quarter Sewing Workshop, Tradeplas Building, Stroud Road, Nailsworth, GL6 OBE and we will be there from Saturday 10th May until Sunday 18th May from 11am to 6 pm. We are having a day off on Wednesday 14th May.

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Here is a detail of the flowers.

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March and April Figure Journal Quilts.

4/20/2014

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The background is constructed with a chenille technique, cutting through several layers of fabric

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The April piece has a scrap collaged background which is machine stitched. The figures are digitally printed then stitched.

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Hellebore progress

4/20/2014

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I'm staying at a lovely farm called Bodrugan Barton near Mevagissey with a group of friends. We are all working on our own projects and I have brought down my hellebore wallhanging. I've stitched each individual flower element now and am turning the edges ready to appliqué it on to the velvet background.


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I finished making the individual flowers, but there seemed to be too much contrast on the bottom right flower so I spent the day making another one. Last night it looked much better but this morning there seemed to be not much difference. I guess it was the natural light. I'm looking forward to attaching the pieces to the background now.

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Journal Quilts based on figures 2014

2/11/2014

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This is the first of a series of line and texture pieces which I am making as part of the CQGBI Journal Quilt project. I found some pages of quick sketches that my son had discarded after Christmas. They have a lot of energy and movement so I have used them as a basis for 12 pieces. They will be completed one a month.



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The background of the first piece for January is made from scraps of collaged scrim and then hand stitched on the surface with linen and silk thread. The foreground is machine stitched appliqued calico with a zig zag free machined stitch.
The background of the second piece is stitched with shirring elastic on scrim and the appliqued with a double needle.

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Traditional quilting

1/27/2014

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Naughty dog checking out my stitching!
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I've been making some traditionally pieced quilts over the holiday period. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to make functional items from time to time. One was a double bed size quilt made for my son in a very simple rectangle pattern, the other is a little cot quilt with a contemporary feel. I also finished a king size quilt which was a block designed by Katherine Guerrier many years ago. She had displayed it at Malvern one year and I was asked to make a copy. Unfortunately the client had no idea of the time taken to construct it and the cost of fabric so I declined to make her one, but out of interest made a block in order to calculate how long it would have taken. One block grew in to many and it sat folded up on a shelf for quiet a few years until I decided to get it long arm quilted by Midsomer Quilters. I am delighted with the result and can now use it, not feel guilty that I didn't stitch it and get on with new more challenging projects for 2014.


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Twilight

11/5/2013

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The sun prints I painted in the summer are now stitched and mounted. Some are hand stitched and others are machined as well. On this one I machine stitched a line drawing of the skeleton tree that I can see across the valley from my shed. It has actually got a few more leaves now - must have been all that rain earlier on in the year. I shall be showing them at an Exhibition at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth at the end of this month - Twilight - I will post a flyer with details later.
I also further stitched my "Fifty shades of brown "moth piece. The background was quite dominant and by adding lines of running stitch in the background I think it looks better. I decided to continue the design into the border. I have now mounted the piece on a light coloured linen.

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This piece, Lilac Moths, has been entirely hand stitched. The ferns show up well against the background and I've stitched a light running stitch in between the leaves.
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This shows more detail of the hand stitching  and the print of a moth.

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