Hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful New Year !
Don't forget our first meeting of the year is on January the 2nd where we will be finalising what we are going to do and need for our forthcoming exhibition at Blackwood Miners Institute.
Lots of us went to Sheila's workshop on layering and stitching with metal just before Christmas. A wonderful technique with some fabulous colours all around me. I had to sit next to those doing lots of lovely blues and purples !
I have now finished my design. I recently bought a book on how to draw faces and love all the folk art faces that I've been seeing lately. I like the simple faces and bodies and whimsical nature of the pictures so decided to make my design into a face. She did look a bit patchwork sixties at one point and still perhaps looks a bit like something from a different decade but I am quite pleased with her.


 


I also managed to finish my weaving from back in November!
I decided to decorate the frame and add a cream background so I didn't have to rely on having a neutral colour on the wall as it would show through.



Well wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and see you all Saturday!

Looking forward to our Christmas Not Necessarily Sew Party !
Hope everyone is in the festive mood, jingle bells ringing and of course making sure you are on Santa's good list! You never know what crafty things he might bring!


Don't forget our annual Christmas get together on the 11th December. You will need to bring your sewing machine and associated sewing things- scissors, thread, needles etc. Everyone will have a pack and I don't know what we will be making.
I'll also put together (hopefully- I've not tried it out yet) a quick make for your Christmas tree.
Don't forget a little prize for our quizzes and a present to the value of £5.
Also if you have any more A5 hot and cold pieces please bring them on the 11th so we can fit them all together.
See you all there!

Great day Saturday weaving with Laura Thomas!


Well a wonderful time was had by all on Saturday. We were introduced to weaving and using different objects in order to create a weaving loom. The results were amazing. Plus we got to have a go on a wonderful loom that I just want so badly now! Goodness knows how I would get it to work but who cares I loved it!
It was a really inspiring and relaxing day, I loved all the yarns that Laura brought with her, it gave us a different perspective and method for creating new fabrics, backgrounds or centrepieces for our designs.
A huge thank you to Laura for her expert tuition and a fabulous day. We all enjoyed it and are all well inspired to carry on and look for different ways to create looms and weaving patterns and textures. Below are some photos from the day and the designs we made. Mine isn't finished yet but I will work on it and hopefully we will all have something to show at our next meeting in December.
     

Well Autumn definitely going quickly as the leaves are disappearing from the trees around here. Have been on a wonderful trip around the Forest of Dean with my dog and we did have a lovely time rolling about in the leaves and taking lots of pictures! I'll leave you to decide who did what!


But the colours are amazing. So, so bright and inspiring. I do love all the yellows, reds and golds that you see at Autumn. Still quite warm too so lovely for walking and photographs.


Hope everyone has been busy and been crafty. I did manage to make a Halloween ornament which is new for me as I don't  normally do much on Halloween but am well into gilding waxes as they pick up so much of the texture of whatever you put them over. Also been exploring collage stuff which in my case has been stick everything I can get hold of onto a canvas and cover it in gesso! Having some problem with the colouring of it though as the cosmic shimmer mists and liquid dyes don't really take to the gesso well. They all look fab when wet but then it dries so pale. Ended up with chalk paints which I'm also loving at the moment!


Don't forget to think of some ideas for a theme for next year. I think we'll be taking suggestions and either pulling one from a hat or debating on which is the most popular. I think we could end up pulling lots from the hat if only one of us likes what we pick!


Here's to a lovely week and looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday for our Weaving Workshop with Laura Thomas.  Can't wait to take lots of photos of what everyone does!
Will update the group photos and galleries as soon as I can too!
Take care and see you Saturday!

Greetings everyone!
Hope everyone has managed to get out and about, its been lovely Autumn weather of late. I've spent the afternoon with the dog trying to collect Autumn coloured leaves for work! Have massive bag which we can just throw about if we can't do anything else!


Am working on a little how to booklet for the blog so that we can all post what we are doing and what inspires us. I am very strangely quite addicted to gothic-y Halloween style items and I am enjoying putting lots of gesso on them and adding bits and bobs and painting them. Asda are selling some candlestick MDF plaques which look pretty good to dress up and add to.


Also looking a lot more into dissolvable film. Would like to do more with it plus would like to do more with plastics too! Been looking at Kathleen Laurel Sage's stuff which is fab.


Don't forget Sheila has a workshop

"Embellished Lines" Sat Nov 21st

Embellishing threads, machine stitching threads, and fibres combined with hand stitching -- book cover cushion or panel.

Sounds fabulous and I will be there ! I really don't use my embellishing machine enough. Well at all really! So hoping for some inspiration with it and then some enthusiasm to use it more often. I am so so sure that there is so much that I can do with it that I'm simply not!

Well off for a cuppa and a thriller on the telly!

Hope everyone is well, keep an eye on the blog and the calendar for any requirements for the next workshop which is with Laura Thomas ! whoop whoop, really looking forward to it !

     

It was a milestone birthday for my daughter and she really liked the piece I made for my sister's 30th wedding anniversary, so I thought I would make her a hanging.  She loves fish and the sea, so the idea was for an aquamarine piece.  There are a few fish shapes about it, lots of beading and, I feel, an underwater effect to it.

Back to mushrooms!

Greetings everyone, thought that I would add a post before the new term starts.
Don't forget we have our first meeting of the new sewing year on Saturday 5th September which I believe will be the AGM. I'll check on this but am sure that is right.
But I have been back to looking at mushrooms. I do like the shapes and the patterns and the colours! So decided to do something a little different with them and sort of a brighter picture. I wanted it to be like the end of the day just as the sun goes down.


   





I was quite pleased with the result. I was well pleased with my butterfly too. I used the paper that was made from old denim jeans that I had for basically nothing from a lady at the Cardiff CIA show a few years ago. She was almost giving it away because she said it was so fragile. I had previously used it to add modelling paste to- it's one of the samples on the modelling paste day we did. So thought that I would try and do something with it!


Not sure what to do next as might have exhausted the mushroom theme for a while! I am sure that I will go back to it though.
Hopefully see you all Saturday!
Lesley

Links

Check out the new links opposite. Textile Artist have lots of articles featuring very different artists from different areas of textile art. Mr Finch has a wonderful site full of his natural art- he creates amazing butterflies, bees, mice and of course my favourite the mushrooms. It's fascinating and beautiful work, please check them out!

Ripples and Stones

Greetings!
Had a wonderful day back in July making a felted piece with ripples and stones!
I have now finished my picture and am well pleased with the results. I did mount it on black velvet which is new as I tend to avoid black because it's not always easy to see when you are sewing or embellishing it.
Funnily enough I thought that the picture would look much more like woodland because of the colours that I used and the felt was created using natural materials (when dying). But the end result reminds me more of sand and the sea. I think its the stones that change the look of it. It reminds me now of the ripples in the sand when the sea goes out.


 


Also went to Crafts in the Bay recently and there were some lovely free machine flower pictures there by Sue Atkins. Also loved some of the glass work they had on display there. There were also samples of Claire Cawte's scarves using the technique that she showed us.
Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is being busy and creating lovely things to use in the Autumn. I'd love to see them- perhaps you can post them here on the blog. Loved seeing Mel's work, so beautiful. Enjoy the sun while it lasts although I do also love Autumn for the colour.
Happy stitching ! I'll have to find something else to sew now!

Anniversary Gift

These are photos of a piece of work I made to celebrate my sister and her husband's 30th Wedding Anniversary.  It took 6 weeks to complete and although you can add and keep on adding stitching, running out of time in which to get it finished is a good way of knowing "that's it!".  I was very pleased that they loved it and I love them both very much! xxx

Pasting and Bleaching!


Had a wonderful time using the modelling paste and then learning to bleach out colours and make books!
Big THANK YOU! to Wendy for bringing along her beautiful books and giving us a taster of how she begins to create her lovely designs.


It was great to have a play with the modelling paste. I've not finished my book cover as I made a sort of cobble path on some purple fabric and am now trying to do something with that! Spent a long time making lots of holes and stitching around them. I do like sewing over holes and making sort of a cobweb look. But will get onto the book cover sometime- perhaps one of the summer hols!


Greatly enjoyed the Brusho and bleaching process too. I was really surprised at how different the paper looked after it was all dry too. It seemed to blend together much better when it was drying. Haven't worked on it yet (too many reports to write!) but will be setting aside a few days soon to choose my colours and have another go. Using the bleach with textured stamps might work well too.


But hope that everyone has had a chance to have a play with both techniques. Perhaps you can bring them along to our next meeting in July. No agenda set for that meeting yet but will add it to the calendar as soon as I know if there is anything special you need to bring.


Also a big HELLO! to those who have joined me on the blog. Posting your own post is easy. I can show you on your phone next meeting or I can write up a little "how to " guide if you can wait until the summer hols! Oh I am going to do so much this hols! ha ha !


Here are some photos from our last meeting!
Let us know how you are getting on, post some of your finished pieces if you can!


 


  


Bleaching! Look forward to seeing your books!


   

Sheila's workshop!!!!

Had a wonderful day on Saturday stitching away at Sheila's workshop.


The piece we were all creating was a black and white piece that also involved a bit of bling in the form of some silver embellishments. A key to the day was recycling and we used a variety of different materials to create our designs.


The background was created using bubble wrap (such a versatile material!) then we added plastic bags, coffee bags, crisp bags and even flower wrapping. We had a great time heating and experimenting with different combinations of plastics, felts and heated items. Of course there was lots of stitching involved and we are all hoping to create finished wall hangings that we can show at our next meeting.

Above -Sheila's design ..... (detail)




I have lots still to do on my piece but I really like adding the different felt pieces over the top of the background and am looking to add more stitching using metallic silver. I have lots of metal pieces such as washers and cogs to add as well. I was also thinking of adding just a touch of colour maybe a steel blue or a hint of purple just to add something to the black and white as I think I may have added too much silver for the overall design!
But work in progress I shall keep going!


So far I like the following bits....

 

 The silver runs up through the middle, I will need to add something to this I think as I will need to keep that viewpoint flowing through the picture.

Also like the added felt bits as the stitching over the plastic bag turned out really well.

Mushroom picture finally finished!

After such a long time I think that I've finally finished my mushroom picture!
I had a bit of trouble with the sides as I didn't actually have a frame before I started just a sample that I started working on that got bigger and bigger and thicker and thicker with paint, stitching, cords and tissue paper!
So had to pad out the sides as they don't seem to make box frames in an oblong shape!


Managed to fix the stitched piece to daler board and then added more fungus pieces and beads to the card with wire. The vines or tree branches were made by creating rouleau strips and threading them with wire and cord to pad them out. I made the leaves by either hand sewing them on chiffon or machine sewing them on organza and burning the organza away to leave the stitches like skeleton leaves.


Would appreciate any comments, if I can make any adjustments or an easier way of achieving them same image !


       

Greetings to everyone!
Hoping you've all had a chance to look at the blog. I am hoping that it is going to be a place where we can share ideas, support each other and generally chat about stitchy things in between our meetings. It's always lovely to receive feedback and advice from everyone and hopefully you will post pictures on here so that we can help support each other rather than having to wait for the next meeting. Also any exhibitions, books, programmes, or blogs that are worthwhile us seeing we'll be able to post so no one will miss anything.


I'll send you invites ! Please join me, you'll need a gmail account
Its free!


Don't forget Sheila is holding a workshop on the 23rd May (Saturday) stitching with plastics, bubble wrap and all sorts of recycled items.
Follow the link to Celyn Textiles for more details - it's on the right!

Had an amazing day with the wonderful Sian Martin. We created different shapes and forms using wire, threads and paper pulp. A fantastic time was had by all we all view bottles very differently now!

Thank you so much Sian for an amazing day !