Exhibition and Elizabeth I

So - yet again a bit of a gap between posts - but I do have some photos at least.  The photos were taken on my phone and I'm rather impressed with the quality. Much easier that lugging a camera around.

So, on Friday I went to the Bramble Patch for their annual Strawberries and Cream Exhibition.

The main part of the exhibition was work by two of my favourite artists: Edwina MacKinnon and Catherine Nicholls. The premis of the exhibition was they both produced a piece of work based on a visit to a location they made together. 

The work was very interesting and showed their breadth of skill really well. 

A very thought provoking exhibition.

 Also at the exhibition was examples of English Paper Piecing. The Bramble Patch launched a mystery club at the start of the year - which is still open now. Here is a photo of one of the examples:

I also went to an event by the Tudor Tailor: Dressing Elizabeth I. It really was fascinating. It was amazing to see how they got dressed and how the costumes were constructed.

In addition, I have been doing some sewing - when it's finished I promise to share.

A week off...

Well, I treated myself to week off last week. 

 I had a lovely time and thought I would share a few photos with you all.

One afternoon we went to open gardens at Weston under Wetherly. Twelve very different size gardens, but all worth looking at.  The weather was perfect, slightly cool so great for walking around.  

part of the fundraising for this went to the local church, St Michael's, which was a really beautiful old building.  As you know I enjoy looking at buildings that show deterioration, and this church was great.

I also treated myself to a day out in London.

I started off with an exhibition at the V & A, Treasure of the Royal Courts.  As you would expect a well curated exhibition. It was a shame you couldn't sketch, but I can understand they don't want the area clogged up or blocking the view of others for long periods of time.

As you would expect, you couldn't take photos, but there were very similar items in other areas of the museum that you could take photo's of, here are a few:

 I love the idea of looking in a pattern book to select your armour.

I also met up with some friends who I attended classes with at Bramble Patch.  It was great to see them all again.

Make sure you make the most of the good weather today.

Bramble Patch Exhibition - Orientation and SIX Feiends

Hello all.

I hope you're making the most of the sunshine.

So after a 4 day week that felt like about 10 I thought I deserved a trip out. 

Off I went to The Bramble Patch to see Orientation and SIX Friends exhibition.

I was very impressed with the work I saw and have a few photos below to share:

But the work I really loved looking at was in the next room, partly because I know a few of those exhibiting.

So here are a few photos of their specific works.

 Sabi Westoby

Sarah Showers 

 Sabi Westoby

Brenda Boardman

I must admit I had serious sketch book envy too. 

I always love looking at sketch books - it's great to see how ideas have developed and also it's great to look at the samples too.

Anyway, bye for now, take care and enjoy that sunshine.

Ryton Organic Gardens

Hello All.

I had a morning out today to Ryton Organic Gardens.

I was lucky as it was a bright sunny morning. Here are some photos of my visit.

And I also wanted to let you know about an exhibition by the Living Threads Group next year called 'Visual Delights'. It's on from 3 - 12 April 2013 at Trent College in Long Eaton.  This group exhibits every other year and I really enjoyed their last exhibition.  Do make a note of the dates and try to go.  I can assure you it's worth the effort.

Crikey it's hot!

Yes it's hot - still.  But I'm not complaining.

Just wanted to tell you about a couple of forthcoming exhibitions:

The Market Bosworth Festival

The main part (with the quilt exhibition) is 23 + 24 June.  Additionally we have open gardens on 24 June.

The quilt exhibnition is on in the Parish Hall from 11 - 5, we have a raffle, sales table and (the best bit) is there are tea and cakes for sale.  Proceeds will go to The Samartins and the local Guides and Scout groups.  It would be lovely to see you there.

The Splendour of Stitch

This is an exhibition of work from the members of the Lutterworth Embroiderers Guild.

It's on from 14 - 18 August from 10 - 4. On Friday they have a late night from 6-9 at Wycliffe Memorial Methodist Church, Lutterworth, LE17 4EZ.

Demonstrations, a sales table (which is made up of work from the members) and - you guessed it - more tea and cakes.

Keep sewing - I'm sure it'll cool down soon.

Have any of you bought Festival of Quilt Tickets yet?  I've got tickets for some of the lectures and the coffee morning.  

Hello all

Hi,

I've just not been getting much sewing or anything else much done. Very disappointing. But I did manage to get to Compton Verney to see the Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson Exhibition. It was well worth the trip - great work and well displayed. I really like his naive style and seeing the work (rather than reproductions) you can see all the texture and appreciate the use of material - cardboard, ply wood, paper - and you could see how he made use of their properties.

But this week I intend to crack on and actually make some progress.

So I'm struggling to add an image this week - so I've 'borrowed' one of Alfred Wallis' work. I hope you like it.

Another exhibition

Well - had a great day yesterday and saw a great exhibition - really top quality work. It was the Living Threads Group and if you get the opportunity to go - please do - you really won't regret it. Besides displaying a very wide range of textile skills - the way it was displayed was extremely well done.

One of the artists we met, Gilli Theokritoff, made the piece below which I'm sure many of you saw at the Festival of Quilts and Malvern last year. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos but I hope this quilt will give you an idea of the quality of work.

Hope you're all enjoying this unseasonally warm weather - I've seem lots fo very pink people. LOL.

Take care and I hope to hear form you soon.

Uttoxeter Quilt & Embroidery Exhibition 2011

Hello all - sorry for the delay in posting - I've been enjoying the sunshine and I hope you have too.

Had a fantastic day out on Sunday at Uttoxeter race course at the Quilts and Embroidery 2011 Exhibition. It was great - fab pieces on show and great company too. So I thought you might like to see some of the work on show:

Great work I'm sure you'd agree. 

A real surprise for me was the postcards we'd made at Leamington Embroiderers Guild.

It was great to see all our work on show.

Take care and enjoy the sunshine.

More Exhibitions

I dragged DH out for the day yesterday and we went to see a few things.

First stop was The Bramble Patch - we went to see Gail Lawther and Pat Archibald's work - it was really well exhibited - lots of space and light. I had seen Gail's work before when she gave a talk at Rocheberie Quilters and we'd been very fortunate that we'd been able to handle them and hear from Gail about each of the quilts. It's well worth a trip.

After that we went to a lovely tea shop in a barn at Upper Stowe- very nice indeed. There was a good collection of shops (and lots of cats) but what really caught our eye was the Hayrack Gallery. There was a great range of items for sale and a wide price range. If you're in the area well worth a visit.

We then made our way across to Compton Verney. I hadn't been before but as 'Id got a ticket using my Tesco Clubcard points. I hadn't been before and I wasn't too sure what to expect - but I really liked it. It's got a very modern interior - but the exterior is traditional.  The current exhibition is about volcanoes. The exhibition was well curated and included a wide variety of media from a large Andy Warhol canvas and also a film which was a real work of art - I could have sat and watched and listened to it all day. We would have liked to have a walk around the gardens but the weather was rather strange - very warm and sunny one moment to heavy showers the next.

So - now I'm shattered - having nice day's out is hard work.

Exhibition

Hello all,

Just wanted to let you know about a great exhibition I went to see earlier this week. I saw some work by Stephanie Redfern on the Bramble Patch website as she's taking a class there. So I saw she was exhibiting in Birmingham at RBSA - so I popped along. It's really a lovely place to see work - very light and airey. It was great to be able to get so close and see the work in detail.

There was also an exhibition on the top floor of some great printed work - a really high standard and affordable too.

If you get the chance please do go along to visit.

Yum yum and the V&A

Hello all. I hope you're all having a good Bank Holiday weekend - the weather is rather good too.

I had a great day out yesterday in London at the Quilt exhibition at the V&A. What a fantastic exhibition it was too - always helped by being with great company. If you haven't been yet do try to make the time and do get the audio guide as you'll get so much more from the exhibition. It really was very well displayed and not too crowded.

I already knew the cafe would be busy - and I wasn't disappointed. So after the exhibition we decided to go to  the Hummingbird Cafe on theOld Brompton Road. here's the table before:

And what we had....

But I did feel rather sick afterwards. But it was a nice treat.

Anyway - have a great weekend.

Busy busy...

Hello, yes I'm still here.

I had a lovely day out yesterday with the Lutterworth Embroiders Guild to London to see the Prism 2009 exhibition at the Pall Mall Gallery. Although not a large exhibition all the pieces were of a very high quality. Hopefully in the next blog I'll be able to provide you with some details of the artists.

Because we were there from 10 - 4 we decided to visit a shop I heard about from one of the quilters in our group - McCulloch & Wallis. What a treasure trove. I was very restrained and only bought 4 meters of ribbon.

We also had lunch at the new National Geographic store on Regent Street. It was rather nice.

Here's another of my blocks for the exhibition at the Bramble Patch. I've got to deliver them in the next few weeks and I've just got to finish off the one block and then decide how to get them hung.
And finally here's Flo - exploring. LOL She really can't wait to stick her little nose anywhere. Luckily she jumped out before we shut the boot.

Well - I'd better crack on with all the stuff that seems to have accumulated over the week.Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.