I like Thankful Thursday

https://lapaylor.blogspot.co.uk/hope this works! LeeAnna’s blog. This link will Not go on the bottom. The phone thinks the bottom of the post is missing. Grrr


This week is pretty full. I am going to post some photos that are a bit of a tease. See if you can guess!
It is going to be pretty wonderful!

Due to all this, I am posting from my phone, which has a mind of its own! 🤨Trying to add the link to LeeAnna’s blog. Which is not cooperating 😖

TVCT

Today was the November meeting of the Thames Valley Contemporary Textile group. We had a very inspiring talk by Mary Crabb who does innovative basketry.

Mary told us about her background and how even family engineering efforts have shaped her life and informed her work.

Later in the afternoon Mary talked us through how to start a basket. First she showed us the basic twinning technique using a sturdy plastic drink cup slit to become the struts or warp.

Everyone's work was slightly different which helped you see what else could be done. Use thin threads or thick threads, the result is different.

From there, we moved on to actually starting the base and working from there.
Some did a flat weave like this sample, some did a 3D version which was more like a pod.

Some worked small like I did and some used rope like warp (I can't remember what she called it!) and so had something pretty substantial.
I was concentrating too much for photos of the others work on this part! but here is my bit I have started.

 

I am linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. A different sort of creative effort. I am already getting ideas how this could be used in my work. Of course, needs a bit more experimenting, but hey, that is part of the joy!

FOQ - Contemporary Coffee Morning

Hmm... just found out I was nearly in a photo from the fashion show. The hands clapping in the forground here!

So anyway, after a late night at the fashion show, I woke early so I could get to the NEC for the rest of the set up for the Contemporary Coffee Morning.

Although most of us had never been to the event before, when the day actually came those had taken on a task just got down to it and did what they said they would do. What also should be noted, that most of us had only just met for the first time, the majority of the arrangements having been made online. Bernina helped to sponsor the event, but I missed out getting a photo of them at the beginning before they had to get back to the show floor.

At the event, groups of visitors rotated round the demonstrations with the assistance of very helpful "crowd control" ladies. It started off with somewhat even groups, but people continued to arrive through the morning...right up to nearly the end. Also, some of the guests had to leave early, so the size of the groups were quite different near the end, which is reflected in some of the photos.
The demonstrations included:

 Free Machine Quilting from Pauline Barnes

Painted Bondaweb from Penny Armitage

Drawing for Those Who Can't from Janet Cook

Using an Embellishing Machine from Jackie Smith

Cheat's Quilting from Sue Turner

Designing your Own Work from Your Photographs from Sandra Wyman

Because the demonstrations did not actively involve the visitors, I had imagined there would be those who would lose interest. Therefore, Chris Dixon and her helpers were prepared with a hands-on stamping/printing activity.

However, the guests were so absorbed in what was being said no one was inclined to wander. So Chris and her team busied themselves with starting the printing anyway and soon had the catering staff involved! One lady said, "I am going to go right downstairs and buy some of this stuff!"

We also had a table with sketchbooks and a few journal quilts from some of the members. Irene MacWilliams, who looked after the table, was able to help people to see how they could develop their ideas in various ways, (including NOT using sketchbooks, but little scraps of paper here and there round the house!) The sketchbook table was also helpful as a stop for guests arriving later in the morning to look while waiting for the next rotation of demos.

The responses to the morning were immediately positive. "You opened up a whole new world for me!" "Best £7 I ever spent!" But the success didn't stop there, we had people stopping us randomly the rest of the show to thank us and to say they had already joined CQ! A few of these live in countries where there are no Contemporary Quilters for them to connect with.

We had some great door prizes from well known authors and vendors. I don't know just what Hilary Gooding said to when she asked, but they were definitely not stingy in their donations!

CQ committee members receiving thanks from several satisfied guests!

Other comments... "It was the highlight of my show!" "Everyone explained things so well I actually think it is something I could do!" Someone said she had taken a 3-hour workshop in a technique the previous day, but got more out of the 15 min CQ demonstration! Comments coming through to committee members run along the lines of this one; "I'm out of my box and definitely not getting back in it no matter what."

THIS is why I am willing to organise things like this!

There were also benefits to those who participated. At least 2 of the demonstrators were asked to come to Scotland to do residential workshops for quilt groups. One demonstrator was offered a machine from Bernina to make work for their stand!

As I said in my report...Even though I was absolutely exhausted after the event, it was such a buzz to have such a smooth running event with such great results. A VERY BIG Thank you to everyone!

Here I am printing with found objects!

FOQ - Rayna's class - 2

I took a photo of my collection of fabric from Rayna's class. You can see how they start to work together when you are working with the same colours and the same sorts of screens.

I have zoomed into parts of the collection to explain them further.
The ones on the table have been left for the time being till I decide how I want to proceed. I really like the glow od the linen one, so don't want to rush in with any old thing to cover it.

I think I might like to try screening over texture with large areas. Rayna and some of the ladies had interesting mats with twirls and whirls that are meant to go in the bottom of your sink to protect glass. I think I will visit Dunelm Mills to see what is there, as that is where some got theirs.

You can see on the right the pieces I showed yesterday which had stamping. They also got a layer of screen printing through a thermofax screen "cracks". To me it gives a bit of an abstract thorns in front of the forest look. I especially like the one with the yellow circles as it gives a sort of moon through the forest look.

I mentioned the idea of writing on the screen with glue, letting it dry and then screening through it. I tried white on this piece and found it to be far too vivid because the paint was a bit thicker. However, after I blotted it, it looks a bit better. The backwards blotted bit also look interesting on the other piece. At least it redeemed my first attempt at layers which resulted on the overwhelming blue print in the centre of the piece. I added some "chicken wire" in black.

I decided to take this further by using it on the linen piece with the stripes.

I think I like this piece the best. It has the words and the thermofax cracks.

And these are the pieces that were really mopping up cloths or blotting cloths to start with, but I did some bits and pieces to them. One thing was to use a pet syringe that Rayna had given us to try making thin lines with the paint. After a bit I kind of worked out how to do it.

I am surprised at the triangular pink piece, because it isn't too bad. The piece to the left of it though, I decided was my one I liked the least. Not that I couldn't do something with it, but compared to the rest it is a bit too "grunge".

All these painted fabrics are so unlike anything I have in my stash. but I have been admiring this sort of look for sometime. These, of course, are all beginner pieces and I think I will work a bit more on the development til I get more of a feel for designs I can make that will combine with the ways I work now.

It might make a real difference to work on fabric I like to start with!

FOQ - Rayna's class

So, I better get on with showing a bit of what I got up to last week before it is next month!

I do understand now why people do masterclasses. if you are able to concentrate on something for 3 days in a row, you can start where you left off, rather than trying to get back in the groove a week or month later. I also know why people take a certain persons class a second time. Rayna does a class about what to do with the fabric now that you have made it. It would be fun to do that. But I can probably do something if I put my mind to it.

Here are a few photos of some of the printing I did. I was one of two students who hadn't really done this kind of printing before. On the first day, we learned the technique, and some moved onto brayering paint over textured surfaces. I tried a bit of that, but as it is something I have done with paint before I went back to the screen printing so I could get more confident about it.

Day one

Torn newspaper resist and "ghost prints"
I also featured on Rayna's blog Wednesday morning getting the technique on the previous day.

Second Day - getting the layers idea

masking tape resist and a bit of stamping

Day three - I was fighting off a migraine, so didn't take many photos. The room was very small and we had to wash screens off in the cleaners cupboard! We resorted to taping work up every where to dry. So, this photo is not too great because the light shines through the window.

Here is a clearer view of the one on the left. The one on the right only had the stripes at that point.

However, we had drawn with washable glue on the screen and let it dry over night. This acted as a resist so we had the design when we printed. I was going to add more photos to this post, but have decided to put them on Saturday's post.

We had been told to bring fabric we weren't happy with. for me that meant some of the failed snow dye stuff. However, it wasn't till the end that I started being happy with it. Moral? if you REALLY don't like it, you might find it difficult to get it to the point where you actually do!
So, anyway, with scarlet pinkish stuff and some purplish stuff, I tried to make the pieces work together somewhat so I can use them someway. I began to be a bit happier when I started working with a piece of rust dyed linen. The rust wasn't all over, so it works as a first layer. I should have realised I am partial to natural coloured fabrics.

A special thanks to Dorothy who loaned me a screen. I had tried to make one, but not really knowing what I was aiming for, ended up with one which only worked till the first washing out.

I got photos of some of the others work early on. I will post a few tomorrow. Most of it got more work done to it through the days.

Copper

I really do like copper. And now that the Sky Princess has gone and the studio is back in a sensible shape...(including 2 sheets ironed that had been in here for months!)... it is time to start catching up on the dragons I meant to do for the Contemporary Quilt monthly journal project.
/
So, why not carry on with copper? I have collected a lot of copper bits and pieces. Many of them from the DIY shop! When I do get photos of Sky Princess, you can see the fastenings I made from copper washers!

So, tomorrow (after a blood test), this lovely copper sheet and a bit from the snow dyeing experiment ( the green one overdyed with blue) will be combined to be a copper dragon. Probably shaped like a Viking ship's prow if all goes to plan.

Should be fun! At least thinking about it will keep my mind off the blood test and whether this lady can find a vein. :{

Doodle 9

Here is a doodle I have been working on in fits and starts for sometime. At first, I did a bit of a "what if" thing. I took a berry from a bush...I can't even remember why or what prompted it! But I think it was blue and I wanted to see what the colour was. Instead of squishing it any old where, I thought I may as well squish it on a page in my doodle book. I had already started the swirly bit, but didn't like it well enough to finish. The colour was a bit mulberry.

Then, I left it, not thinking what I could do with it at that point. But, when I had the book at a meeting I had to go to, I started just drawing round the anomalies in the colour. So, that was interesting.

But, I left it open on my table at home, and bit by bit I saw faces of creatures that look a bit like various sea creatures. So, I drew in the eyes, some patterning for the creatures, and so on. I was nearly done when I was just doing a bit more detail. I had just washed my hands, and hadn't realised there was water under my ring. When it leaked out, I thought "oh no!". But, eventually the area affected looked a bit like a dolphin, so he got added. I have no idea why there is a pinecone floating on the top of the pile!

I found it interesting that the addition of water turned the colour blue again. A bit like beets, red cabbage and some red berries.

Anyway, it was quite fun in the end and quite out of the ordinary. Very surreal and fantasy like.
I might actually think about doing some sort of art work using this as a jumping off idea.

out of the box fashion

I came across this great adaptation of the idea of a corset the other day.

Nifer Fahrion works in construction out in the desert. She has found a way to show her femininity in a useful way while staying cool in the desert.

After she built the corset, using fabrics from a well known maker of work wear, she added industrial strenght poppers/snaps for holsters for her tools. That way, she hasn't got to wear a tool belt. The construction of the corset holds the tools right where she needs them!

photo borrowed from Nifer Fahrion's site.

http://www.nifnaks.com/chatterings-blog/rugged-femininity-my-new-work-corset-21.html

She even adapted a jacket into a shrug for those times when the desert cools down!

Oh, and by the way, check out the felted wool dreds! I guess no one will mistake her for one of the lads!