Lucy's Cushion

 

It's easy to get lost in a pursuit of producing creative textiles and to forget the simple pleasure of producing what I would call domestic sewing. This covers household textiles, repairing and altering garments and such like. There is an enjoyment to be gained from this type of sewing probably because we no longer have to do it.  

I was inspired to make this cushion cover for a certain glamour-puss in my family when I was last at Beecrafty.The elegant 1950's models and the vintage sewing ephemera fabrics seemed tailor made for someone who is in love with that era. I finished it off with some faded 1940's rubber buttons.

 

Talking of buttons -

 

 

I'm teaching these at Beecrafty on  Friday November 9th.  

  

Four days of Bliss with Bobby

 

 

What  a brilliant course with Bobby Britnell. I'm never disappointed in her classes, she always makes me surprise myself and feel that anything is possible if I push that little bit harder.

It invariably starts with drawing in her classes and this one really taxed my brain. Being able to carry on working each evening meant I could put more effort into it. It's not perfect by any means but I can chart the the learning process taking place when I study it.

 

Lots of little quiet moments in my work book were produced over the four days and printing blocks were made from our drawings and again worked back into our journals.

 

 

We kept to our individual colour palettes throughout to provide a cohesive body of work.

 

Gradually the pages filled up with ideas.

 

The third day we moved on to printing fabrics and learning about design techniques to create pattern and contrast.

 



 

 

Finally, samples were stitched, refined and critiqued. I then set my own objectives that I will take forward from this course to produce further work.

 

Great tutor and a great bunch of like minded colleagues (especially Rose who I know if we lived closer could become a good friend) and really great to be on a course that everyone took seriously and buckled down to get the most out of. I was inspired by the beautiful work produced and will think about the imagery produced by everyone for a long time to come. 



 

 



  

The Good and the Bad

 

 

The good things first - at last my four day late summer workshop with Bobby Britnell at Artvango has come round. For the first time I have actually booked a b&b for the duration rather than drive all that way twice a day, that way I'm sure I will have the energy to do the course justice. I'm a teensy bit excited. My requirements list is all ticked off - my case is packed and I'll start out at about 7.30 tomorrow morning.

Today was another good event - a meeting of the Trident group I'm part of. It was my turn to host the day and choose what we would be doing. I was inspired by the appliqued quilt I've been working on and based the day on producing a small version of the design on the big quilt. We each choose our own preferences for colour and will each stitch in our own style. It will be interesting to compare the end result as we each work in a different way.

 

We choose from a palette of fresh colours and really enjoyed handling the fabrics and auditioning dozens of combinations. Of course copious amounts of coffee and biscuits helped the process along and we all three declared that there was nothing we would rather be doing!

 

 

The sun shone into the workroom and made the colours so vibrant, It made us quite elated (on the other hand it could have been all the coffee we guzzled) 

 

 





  

This piece of applique that Jean did is so typical of the elegance that she brings to all her work - I loved the way she altered some of the shapes to make the work less stylised.

 

 

Jackie's piece was the bravest, going for a lovely selection of silk fabrics that are going to be a joy to embroider.

 

My piece is a little more chunky looking because I want to add a lot of handstitch to it. We have agreed to be finished by Christmas on this project so I must find a bit more time to devote to it.

 So - Bobby for the next four days, then a few days to myself (most of which I've commited to one thing or another) and then the Embroiders Guild Exhibition and then Scotland. What a lovely Summer I've had!

 

I did say there was a bad bit as well - my son finally leaves for China on Thursday, I'm glad I have the distraction of Bobby's class to take my mind off it. These things have to be endured with a cheerful smile and the realisation that he will be home again in a year, unlike some mother's sons that we read about on an almost daily basis that never return. I count my blessings. 



 



Almost There

This is a snippet from a large piece of work that is just about ready for the upcoming Guild exhibition. I have lived with this piece for almost two years and I think I'm ready to give it an outing. It took three months in the making and is a very personal piece of work, conceived as my reaction to receiving a friend's workbox after she had died.

 

 

My applique quilt that I am currently working on is getting closer to that awful stage of being quilted on a domestic sewing machine - let battle commence! I don't really pine for a long arm machine, it would not get enough use but the occasional use of one would lighten the load somewhat for the odd quilt or two.