Limits and Resistance

As promised last night I have managed to get some reasonable pictures of the piece that I bought. They are not the best I have ever taken as it is mounted on very dark grey perspex so difficult to photograph. It is actually darker than it appears in the pictures. The title of the piece is Limits and Resistance.



This close up shows the detail of some of the stitching.



This is a close up of one of the square on the left hand side. They all have images of a figure stitched on them. A bit blurred I'm afraid.



It is hanging above my new fireplace and is likely to be the last thing I buy for a while as I got the car back today and now it is me that is broke!

Happy stitching

Maggi

Sculpted Surprises

I had a wonderful day at the Beetroot Tree on Sunday at the workshop. We were working with metal fabric which can be used in so many different ways. There are different weights and types such as copper, pewter and bronze, all of which can be used as they are or burnished with heat to create beautiful surfaces. I decided to use the medium fine stainless steel fabric. As you can see from this photo it doesn't look like anything special.



Until you hold it over a camping gas stove and then the magic starts.



This next picture shows the same fabric with Lutrador, added, stitched and burnt back and with the beginning of the stitching. It will eventually be a small three-petalled vessel but has quite a way to go yet.



The day was mainly spent making samples of different ways the fabrics can be used and then in the afternoon we started on the vessel, hence it did not get finished.

If ever you get the chance to take a workshop at The Beetroot Tree I can recommend it. It is in the heart of the old village of Draycott, converted from an old barn. The surroundings are beautiful and it is a very relaxing place to go - even if you just want to browse, have a coffee or visit one of the many exhibitions that are held there. The lunches, which are included in the workshop fee are excellent, vegetarian which is great for me and other dietary requirements can be catered for. The sun was shining all day and at lunchtime we wandered in the garden which now boasts three chickens who come up to say hello and talk to you - or at least it seemed to me like they were talking!

I was able to pick up the piece of Alysn's work that I had bought from the current exhibition and had said I would show you a photo of it. Unfortunately I have just gone down to do it and it is too dark and the flash does it no favours. I will try again tomorrow in the daylight.

On the downside, my car failed its MOT today so I had to leave it at the garage and get the bus back home. I was really annoyed as the things it has failed on are all related to the many potholes that have appeared in our roads over here since we had the severe weather earlier in the year. I don't think my bank manager is going to be too impressed when he sees how much it is going to cost. I would love to be able to do without a car but it is just not practical so I will just have to cough up when I pick it up tomorrow. Until then I will just enjoy stitching - good job I don't need to buy any new supplies.

Enjoy your creative time.

Maggi

Living Threads Exhibition

Just a quick post today to remind anyone who is anywhere near to Long Eaton in Derbyshire that the latest Living Threads Exhibition is still going on at Trent College and is an event not to be missed. It is a textile exhibition that takes place every two years and the standard of work has to be seen to be believed. The group started in 1983 and now has around 70 members covering beading, embroidery, feltmaking, knitting, lacemaking, quilting, rugmaking and weaving. It is a stunning exhibition, the only downside being unable to take photos to share with you. It is on daily until Saturday 18th April from 10.00 am - 5.30 (5.00 pm on Saturday) and only costs £2.50 with free parking so do try and see it if you can, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

The new sewing table arrived from Bernina arrived today so tomorrow I intend to make a start on the piece that will hopefully be ready for the Festival of Quilts in August.

I also got my April Journal Quilt done for the Contemporary Group and am quite pleased with the way it has turned out. I decided to do reverse applique then added scrim and some beading. Quite labour intensive for a 12" x 6" piece.



I am also looking forward to Saturday as I have booked to attend a workshop at The Beetroot Tree with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden called Sculpted Surprises which involves creating something three dimensional using a combination of woven metals, machine applique techniques with sheer fabrics, Fibre DK and hand embellishments. Classes with Alysn are always entertaining and extremely enjoyable so hopefully I will have something to show you next week. It will be nice to do a workshop with human contact for a change after all the online classes.

I will now go and catch up with what all of you out there have been doing.

Enjoy your creativity

Maggi

Geta's giveaway received

I received my little quilt from Geta's giveaway yesterday and am thrilled with it. It is so pretty and it is really good to see her work in the flesh.



I also received a really cute postcard from Kim as part of the Popular Patchwork swap. The theme was 'Family' and the three figures are holding a little quilt which is actually separate from the main body of the card. Thank you Kim.



Popular Patchwork are also doing a monthly Journal Quilt project in which a different technique is used each month. I took out my subscription too late for the January one so had to order the back copy - don't want to end the year with only 11, that would seem like an unfinished project. January's was using Bondaweb.



Not much more done since the last post as I am back at work until Sunday morning and I now have to get on the phone to Bernina to try to sort out the order that they got wrong! I ordered one of the plexiglass sewtables so that I could have a bigger area on which to do my quilting and was thrilled when it also arrived yesterday. Can you imagine my disappointment when I opened it to find that they had sent one that did not fit my machine. It arrived really quickly as well so just hope that I can get it resolved as quickly.

Until next time, happy creativity.

Maggi

PS - have to give credit to Bernina, a three minute phone call and it was all sorted. They are delivering the correct one on Tuesday and collecting the wrong one. Lovely lady at the other end of the phone too.

Quilt show and new fire

I had a wonderful day out at Trentham visiting Quilts in the Garden on Sunday. It was well worth the visit as there were some wonderful quilts on display although sadly they were not really at their best as the lighting was not good. I did the best that I could with the photos but it was not easy, particularly as it was difficult to get into a good position for a shot as well. The winning bed quilt was by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths, another beautiful example of her hand work, including the Sea Lily blocks from Jenny Beyer's book which were hand pieced using the traditional English method.



I loved the colours that were in Maggie Relph's wall hanging which was made from her sunprint fabric.



This next one is another lovely wall hanging by Annabel Rainbow - it really stood out in the rather dim light.



There was also a small exhibition by a contemporary textile group called Eclectica who meet at the Forge Museum at Redditch which provided some excellent and varied pieces. I can't acknowledge who made the pieces I'm afraid.






I was extremely restrained amongst the traders for a change and only bought two wall hanging patterns from Anja Townrow. I have several others from her but have only ever made one of them - perhaps I will be inspired to do some more now. Having said I was restrained we did also visit the retail village after lunch and I discovered a shop called Weird Fish and treated myself to a new jacket which meant that I had just about spent up before going back to the quilt show. I did need a new jacket whereas I definitely did not need more fabric!

The fireplace is finished. relatively painless because the two young men who were with me for three days were so pleasant and left the place immaculate. Here is the 'before' picture with the old gas fire and the fake marble and MDF surround that I had always hated.



And this is what I have now - the slightly darker marks have now gone, it was just from where they had wiped down the stone and it was still damp. I love it as it makes the room seem warmer even when it is not lit.



I got a wonderful surprise when I was checking my emails on Sunday evening to find that a landscape hanging that I had been doing with the Learningfa Yahoo group was on the home page. First time I have done a landscape and I have to admit that I had to add the three-dimensional butterflies to help out the perspective but I am quite pleased with it.



I'm now back on shifts until Sunday morning so time spent sewing will be greatly reduced but I wish you all, happy stitching.

Maggi