Weekly stitched pieces

At the beginning of this year I decided to make a small stitched piece every week.
I was inspired by the artist Mary Feddon. I have always admired her work, especially her still life painting.

These small stitched pieces have been worked on blanket.
The flowers and vases are machine stitched, and then framed with kantha stitch and small pieces of cotton fabric..

I sit at my machine, and the images appear from my head.
I am now on week 3 of June.

I havn t quite decided how they will be put together. Originally, I thought in book form, but I am also considering joining them a a whole piece.

Here is a small selection.

Kantha work needlecases

I have been busy working towards our next Wylye Valley art Trail .. I have a workshop at our village hall, and the group are all producing work for the exhibition.We are listed as  "Textiles@LBD textiles"
We are using the committee room, and will be transforming the space to show all of the  innovative work that is being produced.
For several months the group have been using old vintage textiles for inspiration.
We have used natural dyes, including indigo and onion skins, plus some dyeing using chemical dyes.
There is lots of hand and machine stitching, fabric manipulation. There will be some 3 d pieces, wallhangings, small books, cards and more.
I have been working on some small kantha needlecases. Kantha work is one of my favourite techniques. Each piece is unique. Incorporating old fabrics, buttons and more.
I love handstiching, and find it to be very therapeutic.
I will be posting more details of how the work is progressing, with more images. Really looking forward to the exhibition. 

Acorn frames

It has been quite a long time since I wrote on my blog.
I have been pretty busy making festive stuff, and also finishing work for the next South West Textile Group exhibition. This will be happening next year at the NEC in Birmingham.
One of my last textile workshops was all about textural surfaces using muslin,scrim polyfilla and pva.
My students made some interesting surfaces involving landscape. I also made a few miniature frames, incorporating acorns and twigs.
I would like to develop them further, and plan to continue with the idea in the new year.

Also I really must try and post stuff more often.

Acorn cups

What a fabulous sunny October morning.
Went out for my usual morning jog, and collcected some acorn cups.
There seem to be lots around this year.
Have some ideas of how I might be using them in some of my work.
I think that they would make really lovely brooches too.

Will have to experiment with some ideas before I post the results

hand made paper books

I have finished making a series of hand made paper books using silk cocoon strippings.
Bits of lace, honesty and dried flowers wer incorporated into the paper.
Coptic and simple binding was used to construct the books.
They are to be exhibited in my friend s gallery shop Magpie.
I have made lots of books in recent years, and love the process.

It is also a subject that I teach in my workshops.

Space dyed muslin workshop

A few images taken at the last workshop.
Muslin was dyed using procion dyes , and space dyeing method.
Next week the fabrics will be developed into stitched pieces

Onion skin dyeing book

The book was made using fabrics dyed with onion skins
Small pieces of fabric were appliqued on the cover using machine stitching.
The pages were made using paper also dyed with onion skins.

The book was stitched together using coptic binding.