Hardanger - the clue is in the title!

So yesterday I attended a class with Vicki Mansfield with the Leamington Embroiderers Guild.

She is an amazing embroiderer and had wowed us the previous evening with examples of her work. Now, I'm not great at formal stitching - I'm much more laissez faire in my approach, so I knew this was going to be a real challenge. And boy was it a challenge.

So this is what we were aiming for:

 And this is how it progressed throughout the day  

It was tough and I've never attended a class that was sooooo quiet!  All that concentration.  Although I did find it hard I was pleased to have tried something very different, which is the whole point of joining the guild.

Hello all

Hi, it's me the rubbish blog posting lady!  I have been busy - no really I have.

I had a great time last week at The Bramble Patch with a couple of lovely ladies at an Angie Hughes class.

The Bramble Patch has had some building work done so if you haven't been for a while have a look as it means it has lots more fabric and some new lines of thread.  You can sign up for their weekly news letter or follow them on Facebook.

I've had a few classes with Angie and really enjoy them.  She's very generous sharing her skills and she always brings lots of kit for you to try out.

We attended the Tantalising Tag Book class.  And here is mine and some others work.  I'll post my completed tags very soon:

Classes

Hi all,

Hope you're well and enjoying this beautiful dry sunny day.

I've been to a couple a really good classes recently.

First was a class with Hilary Beattie at The Bramble Patch.  It isn't the type of class I would have normally picked, but I've seen her at a few events and knew I'd have a great time.  

So the class was painting stylised flowers.  And here are the results:

As you can see I've painted the flowers on both plain and lightly patterned fabric.  The aim is to combine this panel with other fabrics and painted elements.  I'll let you see how it progresses.

The next day I had a class with Ineke Berlyn with the Leamington Embroiderers Guild.  A great day.

So - in the Black Magic workshop I learnt how to use a discharge paste with Thermofax screens.This is activated by a steam iron.  Once this part is complete I used the same or similarly themed screens with metallic paints.  I think I may have overdone the first piece.

At the same time I tried the technique on calico.

This is half the piece before it has been machine embroidered.

And here is the second half of the piece with some machine embroidery work.  I'm going to add some hand stitching.

I'm pleased with how this is progressing.  It's been a great way to practice machine embroidery and see how using the different threads produce such different results. I think it might end up as a cushion.

I hope you're all well and I promise to show you how it progresses.

Carol Naylor Class

Hello all.Well another busy enjoyable weekend.

Saturday was spent with the lovely Lutterworth Embroiderers Guild attending a class with Carol Naylor. And the most amazing thing is I actually finished my piece today!

So we all started off with a piece of blank canvas, drew on the design and then got stitching  well, more like painting with threads.

So this is what I started with: 

and after a lot of stitching.... I ended up with this:

I'm really pleased with the result. We used a variety of threads both on the top and in the bobbin.

You can see the rest of the groups results at the Splendour of Stitch in Lutterworth between 13 to 17 August. It includes an exhibition, demonstrations, sales table and refreshments between 10 - 4 each day with a late night on Friday between 6-9.  Please do make a note and try to see us if you can. I can assure you the cakes are great.

Living Thread Group Class with Jo Beattie

Hello all.

I've had a very busy - but really good weekend.

On Sunday I had a class with Jo Beattie from the Living Threads Group.

It was only a small group. So the aim was to select an item and develop it into a design and hopefully end up with a completed textile item at the end.  Sounds like a tall order - but we all managed it.

So here are the photos of my work during the day.

The item I started with was a shell. I looked at from different angles and drew the image on paper and newspaper - drawing on newspaper is a really intertesing process, it feels much less pressured than drawing on white paper, and gives a pleasing result.  I extracted an element from my drawing and then worked it through. 

Next are the different colourways I tried, and I used different watercolour pencils and crayons.

And then I replicated the pattern in tissue paper.

And then I started my piece of textile sample.

And here it is all together.

Here are some pieces from others at the class.

Really interesting work.

And on Saturday I had a great time. I attended a Pride and Prejudice party! I had a great time, lots of tea and cake and of course - Colin Firth.

And we had great pressies too!

So - I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Take care and hope to hear from more of you soon.

Hello It's Autumn

 Yes - it's autumn. 

And this morning started a big misty - which meant I could see lots of cobwebs.

 Lots of leaves are turning red too.

  I had a class with Angie Hughes last week.  A class with Angie is always good.  

We started off by free machining basic patterns and shapes.  I used a different colour top and bottom.  I really liked the effect it gave. 

 Angie showed us her sample book.  they look really good against black paper.  But again - it shows that you need to make a sample book... 

 Angie made a landscape - which she was going to cut up and use on cards - a great way to make samples and make good use of them.

Here's Angie's picture.  It's a landscape.

Mine looks less like a landscape - much more abstract.  Still lots to do on it.

Have a great weekend (what's left of it).

Stephanie Redfern class

Hello all.

Hope you' re having a good weekend and the flooding hasn't impacted too much on your life.

I've had a great time.  On Friday at Leamington Embroiderers Guild we had Stephanie Redfern deliver a talk.  Something she doesn't do very often. She bought an enormous pile of work with her that she very generously shared.

Here are a few photos of her work:

 I particularly liked seeing the worksheets that Stephanie uses to develop her work.  Rather than a sketchbook these pages seem to give her more space to develop her ideas.

So then on Saturday we had a class with Stephanie.  Again piles of samples, which were great for inspiration.

Again, Stephanie was very generous and let us have a good rummage through all the samples.

But, of course the purpose of a class is to produce something yourself!

I decided I could spend hours (literally) drawing up a great design.  So instead I opted to use some simple shapes to learn the technique and to enable me to get on with stitching.

The first stage produces something that looks rather forlorn.

 So here we are with the fabric and paper shapes bondawebbed onto the background fabric. Looks a bit sad.

A little bit of stitching makes a huge difference. The stitches are very simple. Either long or short stitches in different threads.  Still lots more to do - but as a sample I'm really pleased.

I'll show progress as I go.

The rest of the class made some great work - and all sooooo different.

I think I can speak for all of us at the class and say we had a great time.  Stephanie was very good at ensuring she saw and encouraged all of us on the class.

Take care and see you soon.