A Village Quilter

The Lutterworth Embroiderers Guild were very fortunate to have Jean Littlejohn teaching. I think most of the class managed to finish their morning piece - which was a small stitched picture that we then embellished.  For me it was a first with an embellisher and Jean generously let us use her machine.  The second piece was stitched with a more open weave fabric than many of us were used to sewing with. Jean generously provided this fabric that was dyed and she also provided a size 14 Chenille needle - again much larger than we were used to, but the big eye enabled us to use a thinker thread to fill the space. We then bond webbed and foiled over the stitches,  So - a great class. Here are some photos from the day:             I'll post more photos as the work progresses.  

Hello all. Where has the year gone? How come it's July already? And apologies for not having posted for some time. I've been very busy so hope you'll like some of the photos I have to share. So, I was very fortunate to attend a class with Jean Littlejohn with the Lutterworth Embroiders Guild. Here is my work in progress:         And here are the pieces at the end of the day    And here is a piece I finished from my last class with Jean: I had a fab time last weekend.  It was the village arts festival and I was asked by the Market Bosworth Quilters to demo FMQ on the Saturday. Well - sitting sewing, drinking tea (which was brought around by the lovely Andy) and talking - it was a no brainer.  I had a lovely time. I also had a quilt on show.  A little blue Disappearing Nine Patch that I hand quilted. I do love hand quilting - but it's a little too warm at the moment to have a big q...

So - yet again a bit of a gap between posts - but I do have some photos at least.  The photos were taken on my phone and I'm rather impressed with the quality. Much easier that lugging a camera around. So, on Friday I went to the Bramble Patch for their annual Strawberries and Cream Exhibition . The main part of the exhibition was work by two of my favourite artists: Edwina MacKinnon and Catherine Nicholls . The premis of the exhibition was they both produced a piece of work based on a visit to a location they made together.  The work was very interesting and showed their breadth of skill really well.  A very thought provoking exhibition.  Also at the exhibition was examples of English Paper Piecing. The Bramble Patch launched a mystery club at the start of the year - which is still open now. Here is a photo of one of the examples: I also went to an event by the Tudor Tailor: Dressing Elizabeth I. It really was fascinating. It...

Hello everyone. I hope you've made the most of another Bank Holiday. I've been very lucky and have been at a sewing retreat.  It's great fun - an opportunity to sew and socialise and learn new things. So here are some photos of what I got up to: Still to be quilted but nice bright cushion covers  A 'doodle cushion' which looks very complicated but as it was well thought out was actually as easy or as hard as you wanted to make it  Disappearing nine patch with a lovely charm pack - Persimmon by Moda, plus a few of my own and the spotty fabric to pull it all together.  Cut and come again - a workshop by Edwina Mackinnon which I keep on at. I really like the results. And finally a bowl I am very very pleased with. The original fabric was truly horrendous and this is a massive improvement. Now there was a catastrophic event on the retreat. My machine broke on Saturday morning - not even...

Hello all. So, yesterday I attended a workshop with the Leamington Embroiderers Guild with Christine Plummer . And, amazingly it's one of the first workshops where nearly all of us finished the item we were making - and those who hadn't finished were very near to. Another added bonus was that if you wanted you could buy a kit! Happy days. So here is my offering: Off to put all the stuff away ...

Hello all. In the UK Bank Holidays have a reputation for having rubbish weather, which suits the British as we love to moan about the weather.  This weekend has been a typical mixed bag. Friday was very nice and I managed to split a Japanese Anemone, and replant the parts. So I was pleased when it rained heavily yesterday as it saved me watering them in. The weather also gave me the opportunity to spend the day tidying my sewing room. I have managed to tidy the cupboard. It's all labelled, and hopefully, it makes a bit more sense. I must say it was very satisfying. So no excuses now .... I went to the British Quilt and Stitch Village at Uttoxeter Racecourse last weekend. It's a relatively low key event, well anything is compared to Festival of Quilts. There's a good mix of quilting, embroidery and traders. So, here are a few photos from the event:  This is a beautiful example of embroidery. Beautiful muted fabrics and lots and lot...

Hello all. I had a really lovely day yesterday at The Bramble Patch on a class with Catherine Nicholls . The class was to make a book wrap inspired by the work of Emily Carr.  As you know from a previous post I went to the exhibition to see her work at Dulwich.  So for me it was an ideal combination - great teacher and great art! Here is what we were aiming towards, but as with every good teacher it was fine if you wanted to make a hanging or a banner. So - to get to this I learned a couple of great techniques that I've never been able to master previously.  So one was curved seams - using a rotary cutter - no ruler or template...  This formed the background And the next technique was needle turn appliqué.  I didn't use it on the piece I made - but I'm really pleased with my practice piece. Here is my work by the end of the day. So - I used some of my own dyed fabric, some batik and some potassium dyed silk with bondaweb. Still...

Hi All, I hope you're making the most of this glorious weather.  I've been very domesticated and got the towels out and have all the windows wide open to blow away the cobwebs. I visited the   Bramble Patch on Good Friday to catch up with friends and also see an exhibition.  They always have interesting e xhibitions and they are always very well displayed. There were two parts to the exhibition.  The first part was Dislocation by the Contemporary Quilt group , which is a sub group of the Quilters Guild. I've always enjoyed seeing work from this group and would love to join if I didn't have to pay to join the gild too. This work was originally exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in 2014, but it was nice to see it in a smaller venue where you weren't overwhelmed by the size of the venue.  I also enjoy seeing how people interpret themes. The Shape of Nature had work by Hilary Beattie and Jenny Rolfe.  I have had classes with both and really...

Hi. Yes I'm still here.  Sincere apologies for not having posted for 4 months - no excuses, life just gets in the way sometimes. So this first post will be a resume of those four months - culminating in an internationally observed event! Snowy January 2015   I have made a few things   Holiday in Penzance Eclipse - honest The funeral cortege of Richard III So - that was a quick run through what I've been up to. Lots more sewing and textile things to come.