Friday 13th...

Hello all.

Yes I'm back again.

Had a great time yesterday on Friday 13th visiting a number of artists who were part of the Warwickshire Open Studios.  I really enjoyed seeing art in a domestic setting as I think it makes it easier to imagine it in your own home. So here we go - in no particular order.

Jo Roberts

 I was so pleased I had the opportunity to meet Jo.  I've been a big fan of her work for some time and it was a real pleasure to meet her in person.

She is now the proud owner of an 1800's letter press.  A really beautiful machine and she has trays and trays of letters.  She makes great work combining drawing and letterpress.  She very kindly demonstrated her machine and the photo above shows the result.  I'm so pleased with it.

Sharon Mendham

Sharon was featured in Embroidery magazine and I was really pleased I could see her work up close.  She uses a combination of dress patterns and ephemera.  She combines these to produce pieces of art, including paper bowls.

A lovely house too.

4 Artists at Weston

It was great to catch up with Bren Boardman.  As I would have expected she had beautiful work on display.  And she is due to start teaching her 'Explore you Creative Potential' at Bramble Patch. Get in quick if you want a place - I can assure you it's a great course.

Also exhibitiing was Emma House, who used vintage fabrics to produce some lovely work - I loved the quirky aprons.  Very 1950s.  I bought a bundle of fabric - far too cheap at £5.  I think the orange and lime green will go rather well with the fabric I dyed last week.

Also there was Jane Jones who makes unusual but wearable jewellery and Nicola Roberts beautiful pots.  

Again art in a domestic environment was great to see.

Michala Gyetvai

Michala has produced yet another selection of great work in a variety of media and sizes, all easily identifiable as her won style.  She recently exhibited at the Herbert Gallery and they have asked if they can take her work on tour.  A real achievement for a local artist.  Keep your eye on her blog.

And now to me! 

As promised here is the progress on my incubator quilt top.  Now machine quilted, and ready for binding.  I really want to master those ruddy corners!  I'm never very pleased with my results so I'm going to see what I can do this time. 

I forgot to mention last time I'd been to Spring Hydro on Wednesday. A lovely day.  If you have the opportunity to go- don't pass it up. I also saw the Women's GB Olympic Football Team training there.

Take care and have a good weekend.

Village Life

 Thought you might like to see what happens in the village at the weekend!

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.

Oh - such fun

Hello all.

I hope you've had as nice a weekend as I've had.

Thought I'd share some photos of what I've been up to.

So this pile of fabric was added to the old saucepan containing Potassium Permanganate and hot water and stirred. 

 They are then rinsed in cold water until the water is clear

 And then you hang them out to dry

And this is what you end up with. Lovely brown fabric. 

 Oh - such a pile of lovely fabrics.  As usual not too sure what I will do with them, watch this space

And here is progress with the incubator top I'm making. It's very bright - but that's the idea. 

I also made progress with my mystery quilt and made up a pieced back and started to hand quilt in black cotton perle with black running stitches.

Hope you all had fun and I'll let you know how I'm getting on

Outstanding Projects

Do you remember when this...

became this?

Well - It's time to get it finished.  This is my next project.  I intend to hand quilt kit with big black stitches. I always like to have a hand quilting project.

Last night I went to the Lutterworth Embroiderers Guild talk.  It was a great talk from Gizella K Warburton.  She shared her work with us - both textile work and photographs.  I really enjoyed seeing both.  Do have a look at her work.  It's abstract and uses some great fabrics which give the feel of the countryside.

 These images give you a hint at the work Gizella produces.

I hope to make progress with a few things this weekend and I'll post about it next week.

Have a great weekend.

Market Bosworth Festival

 The Festival was a great success this year.  It was lovely to meet some of my blog readers... you know who you are.

Above is a photo of Helen Rhodes who was demonstrating in the Bosworth gallery.  She's so nice and produces great work - do have a look at her website.

 Here's a photo of the Town Crier - not sure where he was from, but he looked very smart in his outfit.

 And here is the lovely Bee Design stand.  She also makes great paper products.

 I wanted to show you the quilt Phyllis made using Edwina's 'cut and come again' method.  It was very popular with visitors. 

 I thought you'd like to see some of the work completed by some of the ladies who were beginners and are now producing great work.  If you'd like to know more about classes drop me a line and I'll forward you details on.  Don't worry I don't teach - the lovely Linda does.

 Here is my small contribution to the show.  At long last I finished hand quilting with a seed stitch and got the binding finished and even a sleeve on.  I'm really pleased wit the results. 

And finally a lovely quilt by Angela.

So - hope you all had a good weekend.  We raised loads of money - over £1,500 which we've donated to the Samaritans, the local Guides and the local Scouts Group.

See you all soon.

Market Bosworth Festival - Reminder

Hello All.

I hope you enjoyed the sunshine whilst it was here.

Now, this is just a little reminder for you all - it's the Market Bosworth Festival this weekend - specifically our village quilting group, Market Bosworth Quilters, are exhibiting at the Parish Hall on Park Street on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 between 11-5.  I can guarantee you'll see some great work and you'll be able to buy some lovely cake to go with a cuppa.  We're also holding a couple of raffles and we have a sales table - the proceeds of which are going to be divided between the local Girl Guide group, Scout Group and Samaritans.

There's lots to see elsewhere too.  An Art Exhibition for both days, Helen Rhodes with be demonstrating at Bosworth Gallery, Michaelmas House open their garden and Garden Studio, there's a craft market on the Saturday and farmers market and open gardens on the Sunday.  So lots and lots to see and do.  I'm sure if you come along you'll have a great time.  I'll be in the Parish Hall for most of the time - do pop along and say hi.

Regardless of what you do - have a great weekend.

Poppies

Hello.

I hope you're enjoying the improved weather at the mo.  It's great to see some sunshine.

I thought you might like to see some of the poppies that have overtaken our garden.  We had a bit of a ruthless clear out last night and if it was horizontal it went in the green bin.  Don't worry there are lots left and I'm sure the birds enjoyed all the slugs and snails we exposed.

I ordered some plants and I'm hoping they'll arrive soon so they can fill these gaps.

Anyway. Take care and hope to hear from you soon.

Lovely sewing day

Yesterday I had a lovely time with the Leamington Spa Embroiderers Guild.  The idea was that we would develop our hand embroidery skills by picking a card with 3 stitches listed on.  My first three were Thorn stitch, Van Dyke stitch and Basque knot.  My head really hurt by the end of the day, but it's a really good idea and make you look at things differently.  It's also good to try the stitches with different threads.  I really enjoyed spending time with such a lovely group of ladies.

We all bring a dish along for a faith lunch.  I made Summer Vegetable Couscous.  It was yummy - and healthy too.

It's a beautiful day today. It's not raining YAY. I took a photo of the poppies.  Although they're flowering nicely, you can see the relentless rain has battered them.

Now DH has a bit of an issue with one of our garden visitors.

He's rather persistent and loud!  He doesn't seem to get a sore throat or tired!

So - enjoy the day and I'll post again soon.

Oh the rain...

Well.  It's still raining.  I can't think of a word that conveys the amount of rain we've had. Lots doesn't seem to describe it well enough.

Anyway, it did stop on Monday (for a while) so I took some photos in the garden.  I'm pleased that the lupins and foxgloves seem to like the rain.

Hope you're all ok - and at least dry

Baking for the Jubilee

Hello all.

If I told you it was a bit wet - it really wouldn't convey how wet it is and it's coming down in sheets.

So, I've been a good girl and been to the gym this morning.  And now I've baked Jubilee Crown Shortbread.  Good job I went to the gym.

This is my second attempt - rolled out a bit thicker and allowed a little more room to spread.  One of the cookie cutters doesn't seem to work as well as it can spread into the next part of the shortbread.  But I can assure you they taste good.

I wondered if any of you had been to Malvern to the quilt show.  Unfortunately I didn't make it, but hearing from friends who did, I missed a really good one. With this in mind I thought I'd let you know details for next year's competition are out.  Why not give it a go?  When you enter a quilt you do get a day ticket too.  Be brave - go for it.

Take care and keep dry!