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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.