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