The gentle art of stitching and the joys of gelli-ing

I know - the gentle art of stitching and myself don't necessarily often appear in the same breath .. but I have just spent two lovely days stitching samples for a workshop a the Bramble Patch in Weedon  this week, which is based on this quilt, which I made  a few years a go. It is all hand painted onto white cotton and machine quilted ... and is big ... 42" x 94" .. (that was an accident - must learn to add up properly)

 

 

The design inspiration came from a piece of vintage fabric I acquired on ebay .. I simply couldn't resist making my own painted versions of the stylised flowers ..

 

 

 

Anne has had the quilt at the Bramble Patch since last years exhibition with Steph there, and we decided that taking one of the flowers and using it as an inspiration for either a small wall panel, or cushion, would make a great workshop. The images are painted using fabric paint on to cotton fabric and I tried a few different ways of using them ..

 

On a pre-coloured commercial fabric (I do not know why this has gone sideways - Bernice ... help!!!) this would make a good cushion ..

 

 

 

Painted onto one fabric and then cut out and appliqued on to another - this allowed me to use a black patterned background .. I love this and it will be a made into a small wall hanging I think.. (again - no idea why things are coming up sideways - is it just my life that gets like this??)

 

 

 

And this one, where the white fabric was painted first with rough stripes and then the flower motif added. A mix of commercial and painted fabrics were then used to make a long wall hanging/panel

 

It has been many months since I have actually sat and used a 'proper' sewing machine and done some 'proper' stitching .. and it was a reminder of just what a relaxing pleasure it is. I hope the workshop will be too ...

Anne (the owner of the Bramble Patch) has also bravely invited Steph Redfern and I to run another Open Studio there at the end of August. Here is a picture of some of the mess .. sorry I mean work I made last time

 

and my lovely friend Steph with some of her mess .. sorry work.

 

Steph and I had a ball last time and are already looking forward to our three days there again this year. Last three days of August - so please keep a day and come and see us ..

 

I'm also teaching a workshop making gelli prints and then mounting them onto a textured canvas in April. This one is at Art Van Go on 8th and 9th April. Here are some reminders of prints and canvas .. you can get lots more of you scroll back through the blog posts ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was in with my gelli prints - not sure what it is or how I did it .. I think it's with neocolour 1 crayons ..  but I do like it!!

 

 

And lastly, an update on those horse chestnut leaf pieces ..

 

this is piece two - a blue version, machine stitched now and ready for hand work

 

 

 this is piece three - larger (approx. 30" x 40") laid out on the table 

 

 

 

This then went under the machine and is currently being stitched in between teaching. You may notice the French course behind my machine in the next image? This is because Jenny Rolfe and I are taking our exhibition The Shape of Nature to France after the NEC in the spring (well as much of it as we can fit in the car, with both of us) and I thought I should get a bit more competent in the language. I was dreadful at school - but this course is truly brilliant .. I think we will be fine by September

 

I'm teaching the rest of the week now - another Make it Personal tomorrow and Thursday and then Vintage Flora - phew!! I will take photos to show you what all my talented girls get up too - and I know I still need to post the first MIP groups images too .. I think we may have a big MIP image fest next week ! Thank you for visiting - Hilary xx