Busy Times

The months seem to hurry on by with lots of things happening to fill the time.  I felt I was posting a bit too frequently so decided to wait for others to post before posting again!!  Then in November last year I had to buy a new computer and lost everything on the old hard drive.  Windows 8 took a lot of getting used to and many hours were spent endeavouring to master it. (in my dreams!!) 

Last year I had a lump appear between my index and middle finger on my right hand and as it became very painful whenever I used scissors, a needle or the keyboard the doctor sent me to a specialist and after various tests they found a tissue mass that needed to be removed.  It was found to be a ganglion and would have continued to grow so I'm glad I had it removed, however I am still doing hand therapy exercises and can't hand stitch for too long as my hand tends to stiffen up.  Fortunately the pain has gone.

I do visit your blog, Eva and am enthralled watching how your work has unfolded with the inclusion of some different techniques. I especialy like your last pieces and I'm sure your contribution to the exhibition will be well received.
After our successful exhibition there has been a lot more creativity and sharing of a range of techniques amonst our group members and no mention of staging another exhibition in the near future.

A friend and I spent six weeks at the beginning of the year participating in an on line Monoprinting course with Linda Germain.  It was amazing, as she sent notes and a video each day so it involved a big commitment and we were both exhausted when it finished.  We both learned a lot of new tips to achieve better prints on papers and later in the year will meet to try everything we learned using fabric.
In April/May I joined an on line felting workshop with Fiona Duthie to learn some new Surface Design techniques.  It was an extremely satisfying workshop and I now have notes to go with all the different samples I made.

A week ago I returned from 10 days in New Zealand where a friend and I attended two felting workshops with Charity Van Der Meer from Holland.  We made a one piece dress and jacket which neither of us had attempted before so were very pleased with all the knowledge we gained.
 The first four photos are from our group monthly Challenge.

We were given a baby wipe that had been used to mop up paint and asked to create a piece.  The embroidery is free machining using Whip stitch.

Abstract was the theme for the month I felted this piece adding the stitching at the pre felt stage.

Embroidery and Beads was the chllenge for May.

Couldn't do without Autumn!!  Mixed media background with leaves stamped on with a sponge, silk leaves hand dyed vliesofixed and appliqued on.

This piece was created using prefelts cut to shapes and then felted.
Free machining was used to outine the flowers and leaves with a small amount of hand stitching

 

Some of the felting I've been trying.  It was a first for me to make hats so am pleased with the results.  It is called an origami hat and starts as a square before folding into different shapes. 


When I take photos of my dress and jacket I will post those.

breaking the silence

oh dear, it has been a year since the last post - i'm guessing that we are busy creating and have found other ways to share our thoughts and progress - maybe it's time to find another use for this space?

i have been rather preoccupied for the last six months, taking part in a project at the local county archive: Threads of Time - i've posted about it on my own blog and there is more information about it on Herts Memories 


our exhibition opens on tuesday 13th june and one of the speakers is John Styles, curator of the Threads of Feeling exhibition which so touched us a while back - he will be talking about that exhibition so i am really looking forward to it

Smart Arts Textile Exhibition

Today we dismantled our very successful "Shades and Shadows" exhibition, after a one month showing at the Museum in Cleveland.  We had a fabulous opening night with a very good guest speaker who had everyone enthralled.  The comments regarding the exhibition have been most complimentary and so positive.

Only a couple of major pieces sold but this time we had a sales table and items sold really well.  Members had made textile cards and photo cards of our work in the exhibition and they sold except for about 20 all up when we had made about 260.  I had made some scarves, bangles, 3 neck pieces and a couple of sketch books with felted covers and they sold for about $645!!  The museum takes 25% which is fair enough when we don't pay for the gallery space and the museum staff looked after the sales as we didn't have to have members in attendance all the time that the museum was open.  The museum has a gentleman who makes a video of each exhibition for their archives so we have been able to buy copies of this for $10 and it contains the opening night speeches, every piece exhibited with the artist statement and some detailed interviews about a couple of selected pieces.

All in all a very successful exhibition and a wonderful boost for our group.  We have eight people who are keen to come to two of our meetings before they decide whether to join us.  They will be invited to come to our July meeting as this month nine of us are going on a retreat the weekend we would normally have our meeting.  We are really looking forward to it and have workshops and demonstrations planned for those who wish or members are free to take whatever they want to work with.

On Tuesday my husband Paul and I are off to Sydney where we will be met at the airport by friends we have known since our college days back in 1959-60, taken to Wollongong, where we used to live, to stay with them and then we will all make the trip to Canberra where we will visit the visiting Turner exhibition.  We are really looking forward to it as we haven't seen our friends since they visited us at the end of May last year.  Canberra will be cold but worth putting up with to see Turner's works.

Rick, the museum curator, hanging our Shades and Shadows sign which was fabulous as it stood away from the wall and the shadows of the print looked great.

On the right the sales area being set up with decisions about where to display items to their best advantage.

Below the tables with exhibition items waiting to be hung.  My piece "The Long Goodbye" is on a table on the right.



Jenny and Vicki found the template that Mereana had made, very useful in lining up the signature pieces.

The finished display of signature pieces which visitors found so interesting seeing the variety of techniques used.



Round Robin Challenge Complete

The Round Robin Challenge that started in 2012 has now finished and the six of us have received all the pieces done by the other five involved.

My instructions for everyone were to select one of the handmade beads accompanying the parcel, select fabric and thread to fit in with the bead colour, choose one of the stitches I had listed and stitch within a space of 18X5 cms as I wanted to make bookmarks with the stitched pieces.



Luckily I found card that matched the textile pieces really well.

 

The piece on the left used Kiko's flower stitch
and the other is raised chain band.

Here the left one uses Portugese Border stitch and the
right one Buttonhole Herringbone.



The black is black and not mottled as in the photo!!  Rope Stitch was used for this piece and Knotted Loop stitch was the one I was left with to work the piece on the right.

Everyone enjoyed the challenge and some learned quite a few new stitches and/or found more creative uses for the stitches.


I am really thrilled with what I received, so will wait and see how the other participants' turned out!!



Threads of Feeling

My Threads of Feeling piece is finally finished!!  We have been experiencing  bit of rain and when not raining it has been very gloomy but I couldn't wait any longer to take photos so they aren't very good but at least give an idea of the finished piece.

It measures 153cm X 26cm so wasn't easy to photograph.  It is titled The Long Goodbye which is often used in relation to Alzheimer's sufferers.
My artist statement for our exhibition to accompany the piece is as follows and I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for improving it from a viewer's point of view.

This textile piece is in memory of my sister.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's eight years ago and still lingers on.
Merino wool, wool yarns, pre felts and silk chiffon were wet felted to depict the transition from an active mind to emptiness, where she is now, only a shadow of her former self.

Whole piece

Close up of left half.

Close up of the first section where you can see the pre felt strips showing through the silk chiffon cells after felting.



 Below shows the far end with the tangles appearing.

stitching memories with love

here is what i've been up to in january - the photo colours are brighter than on the real thing, i think i over tweaked them

i am staying with my mother, in eastbourne, for a few days and brought the small framed-up piece for her, she likes it so we will hang it tomorrow - she also saw one of the little cloth-weave hearts i stitched while we watched TV together - she recognised one of the fabrics as some silk i bought for her in india in 1992 (floral on side B), i had forgotten that i bought it but when she reminded me i could picture the shop in delhi

an elderly french aunt (now dead) made it into a dress for her - so mum asked if she can have the heart to send to her aunt's daughter, how lovely that this little heart of scraps has a story which will link four women in a family across two centuries

i am using scrap silk from my stash to stitch little hearts with the intention of sending them to cousins and aunts, the idea is to use mainly fabrics worn by family members - so it is especially pleasing that my mother  wants to send this one to a cousin of hers i would not have thought of - i will show her the other fabrics of hers i am using and get some stories about them to send with the hearts - suddenly this has turned into another Threads of Feeling project!

marj is quite right to say that it's a bit quiet here - guilty as charged! i've been meaning to do something about it for a while

last week i persuaded the beloved to take me to oxford for an exhibition - Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles from Meiji Japan - it was amazing

from the online exhibition brochure

i was lucky to visit on a day when there was an introductory talk, this added considerably to my appreciation of the works on show - these were commercially produced textiles aimed at the western export market at a time when japan was opening up to foreign trade and industrialisation - although commercially made the embroideries were hand stitched ..... by men - women stitched at home for domestic purposes, not for employment

most of the pieces were on their first trip outside japan since they were first exhibited at trade fairs (1860s onward) - we weren't allowed to take photos but some of the works are shown here and here are some shots of the exhibition being set up - if they come your way do try to go - even though this style is not my usual cup of tea i was overwhelmed by the skill and artistry 

Round Robin Challenge

This is the fifth piece that I have completed in the Round Robin Challenge started last year.  The brief was to create a 15cm square using autumn colours and select a stitch from the list.  As there were only two stitches left on the list I chose Vandyke stitch as it seemed to suit the rusted pattern on the cotton voile which I had chosen as a background.  The piece had been rusted using a convict made nail that we found in rubble from a house that was being demolished in Bathurst when we lived there in 1975/76.  I have used the nail many times and each time a different pattern results.  Selecting autumn coloured threads to complement the rusted fabric was difficult, similar to trying to match up colours to hand dyed indigo.  They seem to be colours that want to stand alone!!
My parcel of pieces has been sent back to me so when I have finished my piece I will post images as I am absolutely thrilled with what everyone has done.
Everyone is very quiet!!
Happy stitching.

Christmas Wishes

This photo was taken after our youngest granddaughters had put the finishing touches to the decoration of our Christmas Tree.  We thought they had done an admirable job with very little help!!

Sending best wishes across the miles for a wonderful Christmas and a New Year where you enjoy excellent health, good company sharing happy days and an opportunity to extend your creativity.
Marj

Felting Workshop

The other Saturday I ran a wet felting workshop for 16 of our Smart Arts group members.

We hired a CWA (Country Women's Association) hall and it was fabulous and everyone agreed it would be great to hold all our meetings there next year so I have arranged to do just that so that we will be able to hold more workshops with the extra space.

These three pieces are book covers.
The piece with the yellow background was my sample piece I had made but the stitching was added after the workshop.

The brown piece I had made up to the fulling stage as I knew the piece I was demonstrating from starting point wouldn't reach the fulling stage during the afternoon with so many students to assist.  It still needed further fulling at home after the workshop and also had stitch, beads and sequins added.
I love the way the silk organza wrinkles.

The pink piece was my demonstration piece which wasn't as even as i would have liked and the embellishments were not placed very carefully from a design point of view but with some stitch and a few sequins it has turned out OK.

Everyone loved the workshop and most finished off their pieces at home with some making a second and third piece.  All very encouraging!!