Class at Bramble Patch

Hello all.

I had a really lovely day yesterday at The Bramble Patch on a class with Catherine Nicholls.

The class was to make a book wrap inspired by the work of Emily Carr.  As you know from a previous post I went to the exhibition to see her work at Dulwich. 

So for me it was an ideal combination - great teacher and great art!

Here is what we were aiming towards, but as with every good teacher it was fine if you wanted to make a hanging or a banner.

So - to get to this I learned a couple of great techniques that I've never been able to master previously.  So one was curved seams - using a rotary cutter - no ruler or template... 

This formed the background

And the next technique was needle turn appliqué.  I didn't use it on the piece I made - but I'm really pleased with my practice piece.

Here is my work by the end of the day.

So - I used some of my own dyed fabric, some batik and some potassium dyed silk with bondaweb.

Still lots of work to do - but I'm pleased with how it's progressing.

Here are pieces that Catherine was making on a 2 day class at Bramble Patch earlier in the week.

 And a work in progress.

And Catherine and Edwina MacKinnion will be at Festival of Quilts - I hope you've bought your tickets and had a look what workshops and lectures you fancy!

Bramble Patch Exhibition

Hi All,

I hope you're making the most of this glorious weather.  I've been very domesticated and got the towels out and have all the windows wide open to blow away the cobwebs.

I visited the  Bramble Patch on Good Friday to catch up with friends and also see an exhibition.  They always have interesting exhibitions and they are always very well displayed.

There were two parts to the exhibition.  The first part was Dislocation by the Contemporary Quilt group, which is a sub group of the Quilters Guild. I've always enjoyed seeing work from this group and would love to join if I didn't have to pay to join the gild too. This work was originally exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in 2014, but it was nice to see it in a smaller venue where you weren't overwhelmed by the size of the venue.  I also enjoy seeing how people interpret themes.

The Shape of Nature had work by Hilary Beattie and Jenny Rolfe.  I have had classes with both and really enjoyed them. Again, another set of interesting work which made me think again about my own work.  I realised that they both really work a theme - and I realise I don't. So this is something I'm going to explore.

Apologies for this being photo light - but follow the links - there are lots of photos there.