Lovely post and making a start.

I have had lovely post in recent weeks so i thought i would share some with you. The first is from Elizabeth. It is for the colour combinations swap on Alis' Unlimited textiles group. I love the richness of the velvet thatnk Elizabeth.
I got this gorgeous paper and stitch card from Anna for my birthday, what a treat I love it thanks Anna you never fail to inspire me to push things a bit further.
This is the first of 2 quilties I have recieved from Unlimited textiles group swap. I love this size to work on and this gorgeous piece is from Sandy. This is lovely, i love pieceing and am rubish at it so now i have a nice bit!
Sue (Papoosue) sent me this little gem, a silk fusion quilty for the same swap. i love the delicacy of it and am so thankful Sue for such a lovely addition.

I think I will make these into a book , like a concertina. i think this will be a lovely way to display them.
Now to me! I have been avoiding and tired to be honest so I have started at last. I have 3 swaps owing, a quilty, a post card and an ATC for a friends birthday. So i started with a similar technique of printing. I used a bit of the painted fabric from my workshop day and am adding some scrim. Here is a quick and distorted glimps, i will show you them all once they are finished.

Christine Benson card

As I mentioned I took a workshop with Christine Benson and I made a card. She gave us a pack of bits and I chose a copper and blue one. The workshop was all about composition and tonal values. I really enjoyed it but would have loved more insight into her work as I think they are so beautiful. Here is what I produced. I think I was the only one to put in a dimensional piece.

New blogger and my finger out at last!

Hey all I thought I would start this post out with a new link to add to your blog roll, My friend Michelle from my C+G class has just started a new blog. It is very new at the mo but i know Shell will show you her stuff soon, it is gorgeous. Michelle is most definitely a colourist, she puts together the most stunning colours. bear with her while she finds her blogging feet but well worth checking out.

http://gathen788-shell.blogspot.com/

Now to me and my finger out, well i went to the Knitting and Stitching show yesterday with the aforementioned Michelle and another girl from college , Cath. We had a lovely time, despite being the last day of the show, which is apparently not the best day but I found it far better than the Saturday i went on last time as there were less people and you could really see the work then. I saw some really stunning pieces, the 21 group were very good as was the Val Cambell Harding just so stunning to see all that work together and so close up., well done Maggie, and if your reading this i totally chickened out of saying hello!
I spent a bit of money but didn't go mad I bought:

• Moonshadow inks in turquoise and sepia
• 2 perle balls in a variegated blue and orange
• 2 £1 packs of aluminium sheet
• Some Grillon thread to try
• and some lovely copper and turquoise beads and glass beads

So not overboard. THE most important things was I got to meet in person my bestest internet friend Jan. I can't tell you how pleased I was and so happy to see her, she has become a surrogate auntie to my littly Ellie and a trusted friend and creative and emotional sounding board. We met over a year ago online and have chatted and phoned each other regularly since but to met her and work along side her at a workshop was just a treat.
The workshop was with Christine Benson, who was lovely and gave us an interesting exercise in colour and design principles. We were using a variety of papers and fabrics to make a layered card. It was quite challenging and thoughtful despite on the surface looking simple. I have to finish stitching mine and then I will post a pic.

In the same vein i decided to bit the bullet and do something, so i painted some papers for transfer printing tonight. i have to try and find some polyester now as I don't keep any at home, mainly prefering to dye and therefore have more natural fibres. Again when i sort it i will show you. I have a quilty and a postcard to make and I am going to use my fabrics from the course i went on last week.
Until all this planning actually gets full filled I will leave you with a picture of my last finished Dotee dolls for a swap on textile challenges.

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Sorry i have been away so long - and fabric painting.

Hello all, sorry I have been away so long. After the holiday I have been a bit blue, and I really don't know why, that coupled with the start back to school has me staring into space every evening! I thought I would show you what little I made while I was away. I put the bones of this needle case together before I went to hold my needles and scissors and I embroidered the decoration while I was on the sunbed!
These are 2 of my 4 Dotee dolls for a trade on Textiles Challenges, have to get my finger out and finish the last 2! They don't take long, but as i say i have been in a malaise of late!


I have been on a course today on fabric painting. Some of the lovely ladies in my C+G group had the inspired idea of forming a group for workshops. That way we can teach each other and also get some bigger names in for a more reasonable price. This was the first meeting and Deb O'Hare took the first workshop, she has just finished part 1 C+G with us. She was fab and showed us lots of interesting ideas with fabric paints. This is Deb with one of her art quilts.


These pics are a bit out of order but anyway, she showed us how to use tissue that is not colour fast to dye the fabric.And here is my finished dried piece of fabric.

And another!
Then we used the pebeo seta colour , both the transparent and the opaque to sun print. These are Deb's demo results, she made paper masks.Here are all of the participants results hanging to dry.

and more....
more.....
She showed us how to use pleating and scrunching to make marks on the surface, the paint gathers in the folds and makes stronger marks. Here are mine.
Here is my sky effect drying.

I had a great time and it enthused me to do more, I want to redo some of mine now and think of things to make!!! I think I will use some of the fabrics for the quilty swap I am in and to make postcards.