Something on Saturday - Engage!

... what I am doing this weekend
This was my proposal for the Engage! with Art at South Hill Park event.

On Friday I stood for about 4 hours stitching thin nylon rope through holes in fabric cut from water proof jackets. But it got done!

even a little cape for the frog

And on the other side of the brick wall...

 

And today we even survived a downpour!

Back again tomorrow for more of the memory balls and talking to loads of people I haven't seen in ages.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie's

And the rest of the Worn Threads work

or at least the rest for which I have any decent photos!

(left) Clare Williams inspired by New Zealand culture

(right) Linda Seward inspired by a Hi-Low skirt she owns

Dorothy Crossley

inspired by a Shaman's costume

Jane O'Sullivan

inspired by her late mother's evening dress

Jenny MacKay Jones

inspired by a patriotic apron

Joyce Amirahmadi

inspired by 18th/19th century Iranian paintings

Ros Crouch

inspired by photo of Aunt Polly at the ball

Heather Brand

inspired by tights/pantyhose

Emma Courtnadge

inspired by dresses her twin daughters wore

See the exhibition at Lady Sew and Sew in Henley-on-Thames, Thursday, 4th February to Monday, 22 February. Weekdays 10am until 4pm

The exhibition will also be at the National Needlework Archive Thursday 29th March – Thursday 28th April
FREE Demonstration Saturday 2nd April 10.30 – 11 am

I have added the posts for the Worn Threads exhibition to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's

Since I have finally got a good photo of my stitched wax paper, I will show that tomorrow.

Henley Art Trail - Heat and the Flames

Right - things are starting to settle.

Today I sent the info for my Heat and the Flame gown/ensemble to Lady Sew and Sew for the Henley Art Trail. When I saw them at Festival of Quilts, I promised them I would enter it this year.

What I also realised is that I never did get good photos when I finished it last year. The ones in the Fashion Sans Frontieres show were very blurry.

So, here they are. I took some with flash and some without and have decided to show both. Different details highlighted with either setting.

Without Flash front

Without Flash back

With Flash front

With Flash back

Interesting to visit it again all this time later. Things you wish you had time to do then no longer matter!

I am linking this to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.

D for Dragons - Finished!

Binding sewn and photos taken. I need to put a sleeve on it, but besides that it is finished. There are a couple areas I am considering a bit more quilting, but I will look at it a while before I decide.

Stretching Art and Tradition 16: Illuminated Letters
The challenge:
For our 16th challenge, we ask you to examine, in the tradition of Illuminated Letters, an area of your life or an idea you would like to explore in a original quilt measuring 18" wide by 36" tall. Choose 1 letter and use it in your piece. In honor of SAT's origins, we ask you to identify an area or technique of fibre arts unfamiliar to you and stretch your artistic or technical ability by incorporating that area or technique in your piece.


The visible stretching part on this for me was drawing up the Celtic knot work patterns. But the main bit for stretching was trying felt as a wadding. I know someone who uses felt for most of her pieces. I did find it a lot easier to quilt because it didn't flop about like a piece with wadding does. However, I also used a brocade type fabric for the backing, so I am not sure how felt would do on its own. The 2 together, though, worked well enough that I would attempt it again.

One reason I used the brocade was because I used a bright yellow felt for the wadding. It seemed to add just a tinge of colour through the cream coloured silk. But I didn't really want the back to show bright yellow by putting white muslin or something as the backing. No, it doesn't really matter, but for me, I wanted the backing to continue the mood of the piece.

And another new thing for me was to try turning flames into a vine like quilting pattern. It worked very well, so I will probably do that again as well.

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.

Halfway Between - TVCT - 4

More of the photos of our exhibition at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show.

As I said, I couldn't get good photos of it all, but I hope to get down to the National Needlework Archive to get good photos of the rest.

Delia Salter 'View from the Bridge'.
Deila's work at first looks like abstract marks. You read the title and suddenly you realise you are looking down into swirling water!

She says; 'From a bridge that links one side to another you are halfway between, not quite in one place or in the other. From the solidarity of a bridge to the precariousness of the water, you are halfway between the two conditions.'

Mavis Roles' work 'Seeds of Compromise' at first catches the eye with the lovely flowers. Then you begin to see what is around and you realise you are looking at No Man's Land. You think red=poppies and then you catch the clever statement Mavis makes by choosing to use an Honesty Plant instead.

Very thought provoking.

Sheila Dunscombe - 'Mediaeval Grids' inspired by mediaeval paving tiles and the backward text found on some because they were cut by illiterate workers who didn't know which way letters faced.

Several of the rest are linked to thoughts of the times between night and day.

Frances Self - 'Dusk, Darkness and Dawn' An interesting triptych.
Frances says; 'This piece was inspired by images and experiences dealing with a long stay in hospital with a critical illness. Dusk is the uncertainty of diagnosis. Darkness represents an endless stay in ICU. Dawn is the realisation of a future.'

She shared with us that at times, the view of a tree from her window was the only thing to give her hope. You can't tell from this photo, but the centre black portion has the main part of the tree quilted into it. You can see the branches spreading to either side.

Kate Findlay -'Pink Dawn' - inspired by thoughts about Dawn and Dusk, those rather mysterious states in between day and night. As I mentioned before, this piece has fibre optics included.

Kate says; 'Adding lines of light, which change colour slowly, gives a wonderful atmospheric effect in a room with low-level lighting, and it is very soothing to watch.'

Vivian Grant's work was a similar theme. 'Dawn', inspired by thoughts of a night going through the transitional stages towards daylight, with dawn coming
halfway between night and the expectation of what the day will bring.

While Gill Knight's - 'Sunset into Night', inspired by images from contemporary art from the Middle East, focusses on the other end of the day.

Also on one of the outside walls -
The large piece is one of Kate Findlay's pieces from her Hadron Collider series.

We had thought we would have a much smaller space and that another stand would be joined onto ours. So, when we found we had the outside back wall to fill as well, we called on Kate!
But the space was just right for hanging Ruth Archer's piece 'Between the Two Moons' with Kate's. The two 'spoke to each other' in a visual and thematic sense.

And finally, you may recognise the Cloud Puppy. I actually made him for this Halfway Between Challenge, but when our deadline was postponed, I took the opportunity to submit it to Festival of Quilts last year.

This is the statement I included. 'My piece is halfway between imagination and reality. Inspired by an Oriental creature. To me he looked like a puppy made
of clouds. I thought he would be great depicted playing in the wispy atmosphere of an imaginary planet. This is one of my series of ‘Fire Creatures’, making imaginary beings reality.

To see all the works in person, visit the National Needlework Archive in Newbury (Greenham Common). They are on exhibition from 19th March – 30th April. Check the website for opening times. I think it is only open on weekdays, with the only Saturday opening being the 5th April.

These posts about Halfway Between have been added to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's. If you have come from there, continue to scroll down and see more of the work in our exhibition.

Sketchbook 2014 - pages 22-32

The last pages from the Sketchbook "Punctuation and Symbols".

22+23

24+25

26+27

28+29

30+31

32

The back cover is blank.

As you can see, I could have worked into these in a variety of ways and made it much more artistic. But I am satisfied with it as a 'sketchbook'--a place to explore ideas.

I didn't pay for digitising the book this year. The cost went up quite a bit. So this will be the online record. It is registered though, and in the list of projects I have done for the Brooklyn Art Library. The venues for travel have been restricted, too. So I have selected the North East Tour. (United States)

These posts about the "Punctuation and Symbols" sketchbook are now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.

Map no.12 - Chester, Maine

The last 2013 journal quilt for Contemporary Quilt. These have had the theme of Maps and the size was 8"x12" landscape format. And it was finished around 8pm last night. So it wasn't even the last minute!

This was the hardest map because it is where my family live. But because I thought about it so long, it came together quickly. This map is not to scale and probably not quite accurate either. I did use proper maps to get the general gist of things, but it is more about memory than accuracy.

Part of the reason why it was hard to make this was because the life was hard. Coming to this place in Maine with no buildings, no running water, no electricity - 8 people in a trailer and all sorts of animals in a $9 barn we built with scraps of things from the paper mill. All because Dad wanted us to learn responsibility.

Okay, that bit worked! But no one else we knew lived that way. Milking 2 cows by hand before school every morning and then going up with a lantern to milk them again at night. Helping with haying on other farms so we could have some for ours...even though the temperature was over 100°F. Carrying numerous 5 gallon buckets of water to the cows in winter because they needed a drink even when the temperature was around -40°F!
And no female I have ever known, besides my sister with me, earned college money by cutting wood and selling it to the paper mill or to people who wanted wood for their wood stoves.

However, it has come full circle this year as A Certain Young Man is living there now - he wanted to! (I still don't get that part.) And yes, learning responsibility...because my dad can no longer do the hard work it takes to live there. So A Certain Young Man has been cutting wood, fixing holes in the roof, and shovelling snow and ice...and so on. And because he chose to, it is still an adventure to him and he is contemplating having them get some animals again!

The Penobscot River runs through this map mainly representing North Chester, with some of North Lincoln and Winn on the other side of the river where Route 2 or the 'Military Road' travels north accompanied by the railway track.

Our Land is on the far right (detail above) and goes right down to the river. The land below the road is pretty swampy though.

The bridge to cross the river is on the far left of the map. Various neighbour's homes are marked. Two different saw mills on the river side of the road and a large patch of veg farm marks the place approx. 1 mile down the road where I had my first 'real' job working for our friend's uncle picking fruit and veg. Other plots of land were also theirs and on all of these they also grew potatoes. (Maine is known for being potato country.)

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.
If you have come from there, you can also see another finish from this week.

Another Ramshackle : Proximity - Closer

These posts on the Ramshackle neighbourhoods are now linked to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's. Go on over there and see what the others have been up to!
If you have come from there, you should be able to see the 3 posts from this week. Scroll down to the first one to see the whys and wherefores.

Another slightly different colourway. I got a bit distracted yesterday, so finished it today.

Exploring neighbourhood, looking at the landscape around the houses, discovering if the background colour choice affects the mood, and considering Proximity. Does being close together develop community?

Up to the point after fusing and before stitching.

Then stitched, trimmed and binding added. The colour in this photo is more accurate.
The fabric was a pale peachy brown. I think it still works, even though it is a bit unusual, in that the original sketches had more of a colour contrast.

Because I wanted this to be about community, I put fabric in the middle path to keep it from having a strong visual separation. Instead of going along one side and back down the other with the stitching on that path, I did more of a wiggly line which I think works well.

Map no.11 - finished

Things have calmed down a bit so I was able to finish the November map which was about Reading. I placed beads for the 3 different learning centres where I taught for New Directions.

The quilting has really made the roads stand out.

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.

Postcards no. 28 and no. 2

I have been using purchased postcards to send to my family member, so the numbers have skipped up a bit.
This one is on it's way.
no.28

This was a scrap of fabric from the skirt I recently refashioned into a blouse! Just that much different when there is a little colour.

Also, my mother-in-law was in hospital for some tests this week, so I have done one for her as well. I haven't been sending them regularly to her, just now and then. So, this is no. 2

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.

"And the Bead Goes On..." October's daily beads

Here are all of the beaded safety pins for October. I will show this week's beads on Sunday as usual, but you can tell from this photo that I did a few more! Sort of becoming a habit to bend the rules that way!

Because I had 5 different packs of 'straw' beads... and because of the way October was laid out on the calendar seeming to have 5 weeks... in the end I did 7 sets from each type of straw beads. So here are some of the extras for this week.
October extra - a


October extra - b


October extra - c


and well, since I had to buy more of the brass pins earlier in the month to make sure I had enough, I did one more pin from each 'straw' bead using mostly brass pins. It will give a little spark of difference when I use them all on something in the future.

October brass pins - a


October brass pins - b


October brass pins - c


October brass pins - d


October brass pins - e



You will also discover on Sunday what the new beads for November are to be. It is back to fabric beads, but what colour scheme?

I am linking this to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's. If you have come over from there, this is my daily bead project. It is like a daily creativity prompt. It gets you into the studio and starting on something! Only 2 more months to go for this year. At this point I have enough ideas for another year, so I am thinking I will carry it on.

Map no.10 - suddenly developed and here it is

Last night when I hadn't enough brain to actually tackle a waistband, I thought I would see what happened with the map which has been peeking out at me amidst the blouses and other scraps on my table.

I did my City and Guilds Qualification in Hemel Hempstead. Nearly every week for 4 years. Through the traffic on the M25 at whatever o'clock in the morning. If you left at 10 past 7, you got there at 8:00 or so. If you left at 7:30, you got there after the class started at 9:00. So, I often took a nap in the carpark of the college. OR finished stitching whatever it was that was the current projects.

Apart from fighting the traffic on the various motorways on the way there. There was the daunting run the gauntlet experience of getting across the Magic Roundabout. So, I decided I would use the diagram of it in developing the map. I used the printer/photocopier to enlarge it.

when I went looking for what fabric, I decided to use this piece which was a mop it up blotter fabric from a Masterclass I did with Rayna Gillman at FOQ a few years ago. It was about printing your own fabrics.

So I fused the back and began to cut out the shape. I decided to use the roundabout as a design motif, rather than using the map of it as I have mostly been doing.

I found a background that was quite a bit more subtle than the surface designed piece. I liked the contrast of the grunge looking piece with one that seemed more elegant. In a small way, it represented the wide areas of interest in textiles I have developed as a result of the C+G (not that the course itself was particularly encouraging to someone who wanted to think outside the box! but we had a very good teacher for design who opened up worlds for me by showing anything was possible in design.)

Once I laid out the cut roundabout motifs, I fused them into place.

You can see that I chose to create more interest on the background. I decided to use other parts of the road system around the college. I used a map I had printed from the college way back on the first week so I could figure out how to get there. I cut away sections leaving the roads around the college. Then I used it like a stencil inside the open space of the roundabout motif using a silver gel pen.

detail

I thought some of the outside spaces could do with more, so I used the section of the road system which included the roundabout and some of the roads I took to get there. I traced them with both metallic and opaque gel pen colours.
and then for just a bit more, I used a very small version of the roundabout to create star-like motifs in other gel pen colours.

And then stitched it. and found a similar colour fabric to the background for a binding. and it was already done by 10:00pm tonight! I usually hand stitch the binding at the back, but I thought I would just experiment with machine stitching from the front. Okay, it works and is quicker, but I prefer the hand stitching as it is tidier.

So there we are! October's map before the end of October! are you in shock?

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.