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

Busy and exciting weekend

I found out yesterday that I was the winner of a beautiful little quilt by Geta who does the most amazing machine Trapunto work. I am so thrilled and can't wait for it to arrive. Her blog is just full of eye candy so do try to visit is you haven't already.

Friday evening was the Jackson Browne concert which was awesome. He does not appear to have changed at all over the last 40 years and if anything, in my opinion his work has just got better. The photo is very poor I am afraid but the lighting wasn't really conducive to ordinary photography.




Sunday was also a somewhat emotional day with the opening of this year's F1 season in Melbourne. Although I have been a Ferrari fan all my life I was overcome by the success of the Brawn GP team. They have been through such troubled times and until about two weeks ago there was doubt as to whether they would even be in this year's championship. To come away with Ist and 2nd is an amazing achievement. I think Jenson Button's face says it all.






There has also been some sewing done as I managed to get the postcard finished for a swap with Monica in Australia. I think I am fairly safe in putting a photo up here as she is on holiday in Egypt at the moment so will not get to see it in advance. It was a piece of fabric that I had dyed recently which looked just like a flower garden so I couldn't resist it.



I will either get a lot of sewing done over the next few days or none at all as I am having my fireplace ripped out and a new one out in along with a wood burning stove. It is going to take them three days and although I will be relegated to my sewing room or the computer I think there is also going to be the need for numerous cups of tea and biscuits to keep the workforce sweet. I am not looking forward to the upheaval but I am looking forward to the additional warmth next winter. My main living room is North facing and although it is wonderful when we have a heatwave it can be hard to get really warm on very cold nights. I'll do a before and after pic when they have finished. I will still be able to at least keep up with what all my blogging friends are doing which will be a comfort.

Happy creativity to you all.

Maggi

Where does the time go to?

I can't believe that it is two weeks since the last post. They say that time goes by faster when you get older and if that is true then I must be reaching my second century. One thing I have been very remiss about is not acknowledging the lovely ATC that I received from Heather and also the shimmering postcard from Monica in Australia. I did acknowledge them personally when they arrived but it is so nice to see what other people are making. Thank you both.






I had a major dyeing session last week after finally making a table for the garage which is where I do all my messy work. I had been looking at an 8' x 4' piece of ply for a long time now and debating how to cut it down to a manageable size. Eventually a friend suggested that I use a jig saw but when I opened the drawer to get it out I found a circular saw so three hours and a lot of heaving large pieces of wood about I had my table - nothing special, just functional. I thought I had better show a picture of the garage after getting it all set up and tidy - it certainly doesn't look like that now. Any Mancunians reading this may well recognise the lady on the back wall.



And this is the result of the new table. I decided that I needed some lighter colours and this should keep me going for a while.



I have done some sewing, quite a lot actually, but they have all been journal quilts to try out different techniques ( I seem to remember they used to be called samples) and I have now decided that I need to do something on a larger scale. I have got several ideas and intend to start developing these soon. One that I did like was my first attempt at discharging. This technique has, I feel, a lot to offer.



Going back to the subject of time going quickly I cannot believe that the Jackson Browne concert is this Friday - I have been looking forward to it for so long and it seems to have arrived out of the blue. It will also make for a nice afternoon in Sheffield as an old school friend and I are meeting up to have a meal first.

And finally, Spring has arrived with a vengeance here and we have just had the most beautiful week. Hope you are all enjoying your gardens and your creativity.

It's not just about flowers.

In my last two posts I showed some flower pieces that I had done as a result of Beth Wheeler's Altered Photo Artistry II online course. This has been an excellent course and having done smaller pieces she showed how to create the lovely scaled up versions that she makes. I have done one, again manipulated in Photoshop and have printed it out on fabric ready to to do the stitching onto it. This one is 24" x 11". I am showing it here as it is because if anyone has been thinking about Beth's course the next one starts March 27th. She is an excellent teacher, always ready to answer questions and make suggestions and I would thoroughly recommend one of her courses. If you are not sure and want to know which on might be the most suitable for you you can always contact her and ask her advice.



This next one is only at the experimental stage and has not yet been printed as I am still playing and having so much fun.

Thanks Beth



I am now going to start stitching so hopefully I will be able to post the finished piece eventually.

Be creative.

Maggi

PS. If you do decide to do one of Beth's courses would you please mention my name. Thank you.

This could become addictive

This is my second flower piece done using Photoshop. It is from a photo of a clematis in my garden. This one is also going to the Little Gems project.



No update on the chimney sweep yet. I have left a message on his mobile and his landline but he has not got back to me - does anyone know any small undernourished boys!!
Maggi

Parrot tulip

Still waiting for the chimney sweep to ring back, guess I'll have to try again tomorrow now. I did finish the parrot tulip piece though so it was not a wasted day.