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.

Out and about

Hello all.

Hope you're well and that your gardens are appreciating the rain - mine has perked up no end.

I had a great class yesterday with Linda Miller - what a lovely lady. And I hope to be able to show you the items I'll complete over the next few weeks.

And I've also been walking a few times recently and thought you might like to see the photos I took en route.

And in a few weeks time its the Embroiderers Guild Day in Lutterworth - 21st May 2011. It would be great if you could come along - sounds like it'll be a great day.

See you all soon.

UFO Progress

Hello all. Another Bank Holiday weekend YAY.

Well I'm going to start off with a Royal link that I'm sure, if you haven't seen it already, it'll make you laugh. It makes me laugh every time.

Another I'm very pleased to say I've made progress with a UFO. It was the Mystery Quilt we started on one of the last classes with Bren last year. And here we are with the top made. I'm still thinking about what borders to add - or not.

I also wanted to let you know about an article in the latest issue of Embroidery. It features an article on Michala Gyetvai who's a member of the Leamington Emboierers' Guild. She has a great blog too that you might want to have a look at.

So - I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of thye Bank Holiday weekend and yet more glorious weather.

I do get things finished...

Hello all.

Hope you're enjoying this continued fab weather. We British really are obsessed with it aren't we.

So - here's my evidence that I do get things finished. Here's my Olympic postcard for the Embroiders offering to the Olympiad. One of the countries our group has is Cuba and I decided to represent the cultural side of things and illustrate ballet. So here we are:

I used soluble fabric as a base for the ballet shoes. And just so there was no confusion beaded the word 'ballet'.

I've also finished another altered book page - but won't be able to show you these until the end of the project.

So now - just one more altered book page and then I can look at my Angie Hughes UFO. Oh it never ends does it. LOL.

Take care all.

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.

Angie Hughes class

Hi all. Yes surprise surprise - here's another post. Just got back from a class with Angie Hughes organised by the Lutterworth Embroiderers Guild. It was so popular we had to book her for an extra day. 

Had a great time and wanted to share with you what we all got up to.

 So here's what I ended up with. For those of you who know - you'll see there's a lot of work left to go.

And below is another piece I managed to get started on - much bigger and a different colour scheme - lets see how it goes.

If you get the chance do Google her please do as there are lots of images out there of her work as well as lots on her site.

If you get the chance to take a class with Angie - please do - I'm sure you'll have lots of fun.

I also popped in to see the Market Bosworth Quilters yesterday. Theye were taking a class with Edwina MacKinnon. Another great teacher.

More holiday snaps...

So here are a few more holiday snaps.

See you all soon

Hello - I'm back...

And I've got a tan LOL. 

Have a look at the photo below and see if you can guess where we've been for the week.

Well - it's St Ives. 

We had a great time - fantastic weather too - hence the tan (well perhaps not so much of a tan than a shade more off white than normal). So the next few weeks I'm afraid you're going to be bored rigid with photos and what we got up to.

We started the week with a walk about the history of St Ives and later in the week a walk and talk about the art of St Ives. They were really good.

As you can imagine lots of art in St Ives a large number of very well known artists such as Patrick Heron, Ben Nicholson, Alfred Wallis and of course Barbara Hepworth.  We went to the Barbara Hepworth Museum and I took a few photos. I hope you like them.

See you all soon.

Hello

Hello all,

Hope you're well. I'm enjoying the sunshine - I hope you are too.

 So here's a photo I took on an early evening walk earlier this week.

See the sunshine reflecting on the lake.

And I am doing some sewing too. I'm making slow progress - but I'm really enjoying it. I'm rediscovering old stitches I haven't used for ages.

I'll be back soon.

World Book Night

Well - Saturday was World Book Night.

I was lucky enough to be selected to give away 48 copies of 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell.

The books were specially printed - as you can see below.

I had a very nice evening sat in the pub - with great people - giving out books and having a drink. It really couldn't have been much better

I'm pleased to say I've managed to give all of my books away. 

If you weren't lucky enough to pick up a book on the night -keep your eyes open as the idea is that they're circulated once people have read them.

Now I'd hate to think you thought I spent all my time in the pub - handing out books. So below is a combination of fabrics I've put together to use as the basis for an exercise using different stitches. As you can see I've used the fabrics I dyed the other week. And the threads too. So keep watching and I'm sure you'll see how I get on.

Hope to hear from you soon.