Busy weeks

Do you ever frighten yourself by writing a list of all the work that needs to be completed within a couple of months? Well I did that two weeks ago which is why I'm only just writing this update.
The Living in the Middle exhibition had come and gone! It was a great exhibition and here are a few images to share with you.

From the left: Judith Hill's drawn and stitched view of Galton Bridge over the canal; Jill Gray's  printed and stitched wallhanging inspired by Birmingham buildings; Lesley Brankin's impression of the new Birmingham library

From the left: Amanda Wright's reflections in the windows of a Birmingham building; Jan Webb's interpretation of a floor in Croome Park; Jill Exell's printed and pieced wallhanging inspired by the Cube in Birmingham.

From the left: Pauline Barnes's wallhanging was inspired by the Selfridges building in Birmingham; Hilary Beatties's two wallhangings were inspired by the cathedral and the swans in Lincoln.

So one exhibition finished, several more looming!
Last week I completed the stitching on another Sushi wallhanging in readiness for the next Six and Friends Orientation exhibition at Minerva in Llanidloes in July. There will be a Meet the Artist get together on Sunday 21st July in the afternoon, so if you fancy a trip to west Wales we would love to see you.

This photo was taken before the double sided squares were stitched in place and the sides straightened but I think you can get an idea of how the finished piece will look.

I have also put together a collection of blocks which is part of a group project to be exhibited next month. The blocks were each worked on by a different member of the group over a period of time. We each decided on our own theme then each person in the group worked on everyones blocks. This is a great idea as each person ends up with their own quilt. As to be expected my blocks have sat in a bag for quite a long time but with a date for the exhibition set it was time to put them together.

My theme was a sunset and each person worked on a block measuring 10inches by 5inches using a soft applique technique. As each person provided the fabrics they wanted used for their blocks I included soft cottons, sheers and tulle together with the backing and wadding. Each finished block has both machine and hand stitching and several members of the group resurrected some hand embroidery stitches which lend themselves beautifully to this technique. I will post photos of the finished hanging soon.
Meanwhile my students have been experimenting with mono printing techniques and have produced some lovely fabrics. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with them next!

Thank you for visiting.
Speak to you soon
Edwina

That was the month that was....

The last time I posted was 17th March, I can't believe that! Such a lot has happened since then including a long weekend in Paris where we walked alongside the River Seine enjoying spring sunshine while the UK was under a blanket of snow!

The trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg which were still without leaves but perfectly manicured.

It was so good to be able to walk around the city and enjoy the architecture. I particularly liked this door which I found at the Pantheon.

As soon as we were home Catherine Nicholls arrived from Vancouver to stay as we had several teaching and lecturing commitments around the Midlands including The Quilters' Guild AGM in Nottingham, workshops at The Bramble Patch where I taught my monthly Inspired by Art workshop and Catherine taught Textile Illustration and a Mettler Thread Open Studio at Coles Sewing Centre in Nottingham. These were all good fun and thank you to everyone who took part.

Here is Catherine talking about her recent work at the Open Studio day.

We were all very pleased with the response to the latest Orientation exhibition at The Bramble Patch.  I took these photographs early in the morning before the exhibition opened which is why it looks deserted but the quilts looked so good on the white brick walls.

Needless to say there has been very little stitching during this hectic schedule although I have managed a little therapeutic hand quilting on one of my journal quilts.

There's still a lot of quilting to be completed plus two more journal quilts to finish before the end of the month! So I should be posting again quite soon with the finished pieces! Off to stitch!

Thank you for reading.

Edwina

Two completed, more in progress

I delivered some of the work to The Bramble Patch in Weedon, Northants yesterday in readiness for the next Orientation exhibition that opens on 23rd March for two weeks. It is always a relief to feel a deadline is met but of course then you realise that there are several more approaching! Well it keeps me busy!
I have started quilting another sushi piece which will go to the summer venue for Orientation, the Minerva Arts Centre in Llanidloes. I rather like the quilted grid in variegated thread across the surface of the painted sushi.

I next plan to bond  together some of my wasabi green and pimento red fabric and cut squares which will be attached by hand to sections of the grid.

This idea came from early sketchbook pages when I first started working with the sushi theme.
There will be some quilted writing on another section of the quilt and I will post images of that when its completed.
I was obviously having a 'get on with it' day on Thursday as I cut apart this fabric dyed last year on my trip to Italy.

The colours were layered over soy wax resists and even though I liked it as a whole piece I really wanted to cut it into sections.

This is not the best photograph as it doesn't show up the lovely marks on the individual pieces but I'm excited by the possibilities for developing it. Watch this space!
On Friday I was at Ineke's barn taking part in her monthly Text in Textiles course.

I have printed using Thermofax screens onto a previously indigo dyed cotton moleskin fabric. The fabric is quite thick and will be ideal for the weekend holdall style of bag that I intend to make with it.

The lovely bamboo-like marks were made using a cola pen dipped into ink.

As you can see, there's always lots of new ideas bubbling away!
If you live within travelling distance of Nottingham I hope you will come and see Catherine Nicholls and myself on Friday 12 April at the Husqvarna Sewing Centre where we will be talking about our latest work and demonstrating our favourite techniques using Mettler thread. For more information please check out Mettler Open Studio It should be a fun day so hope to see lots of you there.
Another date for your diary is The Quilters' Guild AGM which is also to be held in Nottingham, 5 - 7 April. I am giving a lecture 'From Sampler to Sushi' on the Saturday afternoon and Catherine is lecturing on the Sunday morning. Look forward to seeing you there too!
Happy stitching, and thank you for visiting.
Edwina

This and that

There seems to be a lot going on at the moment, always the case when there is an exhibition looming. The second showing of Orientation will open at The Bramble Patch on 23rd March. The exhibition is on for two weeks and there will be some new pieces added to the original exhibition shown at Forge Mill Needle Museum last year.
As would be expected, I am still putting the finishing touches to Sushi Roll and Sushi Logs.

This is Sushi Logs with some added hand stitching. The quilting is now completed and I am now finishing off the facing. The whole quilt will be rolled into a box so that is next on the list to complete. I know this sounds rather unusual but as it is 25 cm wide by 265 cm long, I think this will work.

Several weeks ago I was blogging about my students dyeing some family collections of fabric. As promised, here are some images of the results of these double dyeing sessions.

These were dyed with scarlet and then dark brown procion dyes.

A mixture of scarlet and magenta followed by indigo procion dye.

I think there will be some stunning designs produced using these fabulous fabric collections. I will keep you posted!
There has been a suggestion of spring in the air over the last few days and we have taken advantage of this to visit some local National Trust properties. We have visited Croome Park and Hanbury Hall many times but on both of these recent occasions have ventured into areas not explored previously.
At Croome we went into the church of St Mary Magdalene which was created by Robert Adam and Lancelot 'Capability' Brown when Croome Park was remodelled in the 18th century. What impressed me most were the details carved into the monuments which had been moved from the old church which dated back to the early 17th century.

The detail in the cushion and the tassels is wonderful.

A lovely lace trim!

What gorgeous curls!

And a lovely vista from the temple on the hill above the main house.
At Hanbury Hall we walked through the parkland which is scattered with wonderful architectural trees

and some tassel like catkins.

I hope you have managed to enjoy the sunshine too.
Speak to you soon
Edwina

Pojagi pieces

I wanted to share with you the results from some of the students attending my Pojagi workshop this week. It was a lovely calm workshop with everyone enjoying the freedom of cutting and seaming fabrics together to create a pleasing composition.

We pinned them altogether on the wall and what a wonderful, colourful display they made. Everyone used cotton organdie that I had previously dyed. The seams provide the change of value and give the look of stained glass. These pieces look good displayed in a window or against a white wall as here.

The cotton organdie takes the dye beautifully.

Today has been a family day. Ted and I made chocolate chip cookies.

I think he had as much fun washing up as he did cooking!

Now it's time to put my feet up and enjoy a glass of wine!
I hope you have a relaxing weekend.
Edwina

Quilting with a difference!

The challenge was how to quilt flowing words from top to bottom of a quilt. The answer was to turn my sewing machine.

I have often thought about using my machine in this way but never actually tried it and now I know why - it's very hard on the shoulders! This is because you need to sit quite low to be able to see what you are stitching as the machine casing obliterates the needle and the foot. Nevertheless, I persevered, making sure I stood up, flexed my shoulders and stretched after every few rows of quilting.

It was interesting to use the machine and not be able to see any of the buttons etc and I certainly found having the foot tension lever in the wrong place challenging! It felt like using a completely different sewing machine.
Fortunately there was only a small area to quilt and I must admit I completed the quilting quite quickly. It definitely enabled my quilted writing to flow and there was very little manoeuvring of the quilt needed which certainly wouldn't have been the case had I used my machine conventionally.

Here you can see a detail of Broken Windows, which will be exhibited at The Living in the Middle exhibition at Weavers Gallery, Ledbury from 29 April to 12 May 2013.
You will be pleased to know that my shoulders are fully recovered now although I am about to go into the garden and tackle some of the overgrown bushes before they burst into bud! And the sun is shining!!
Speak to you soon
Edwina

Textile Tuesday

Home again after another inspiring day with my Textile Inspirations students. There were lots of exciting buckets of dye around the studio as some were dyeing their first batch of colours for a family gradation and others were completing their second batch. We already saw some fabulous results of this two stage technique but unfortunately I forgot to take any photos! Will do so next week.
When not dyeing fabrics there is an on-going project which is to interpret a list of words using black and/or white fabrics as a base and then responding to the word in stitch. Everyone is tackling this in their own way and there are some interesting little textiles happening. I am also working on this project and here are some of my squares

and a few more prepared ready for stitch.

The challenge once they are all completed is to organise them as a collection maybe as a book but that will be a decision left to the individual. I think they will make an amazing display at our exhibition in June.
As I was clearing up I managed to knock over a small pot of dye so not wanting to waste it I immediately mopped it up with a piece of fabric! There were a few other dredges of dye left so I kneaded them into the fabric as well. Who knows what the result will be but it's always worth experimenting!

Last week Beth, one of my patchwork students, brought along her finished quilt to show us all. It is a beautiful traditional quilt made from Liberty fabrics using both hand and machine piecing techniques and totally quilted by hand.

Isn't it fabulous?

Although we have had another cold day here in The Midlands I noticed a touch of spring in the garden.

These miniature daffodils managed to grow out of the paving slabs where the bulbs had dropped and

this primrose, also growing between the paving slabs has been in flower for several weeks. I'm afraid this doesn't say much for my gardening skills!
If you are free this Thursday and would like a day out I still have a few places left on my Colour Confidence workshop at Littleheath Barn, Bromsgrove. It's a busy week as on Friday I am flying to Ireland where I am giving a talk and teaching a workshop for the Mid West Ireland Patchwork Guild in Limerick. Should be fun!
I hope you are having a busy and creative week too.

Speak to you soon
Edwina