Exhibition

I have been sharing less recently as I have been preparing for an Exhibition on 30th April. I'm exhibiting as a member of Threaded Together and my theme has been abstractions of bodies of water. My work has been absorbing as it has forced me to extend my range of skills and experiment with how to interpret the behaviour of water without trying to produce a representational piece. I shall be show a set of four pieces. I'll post these just before the show.
Here is the poster with details of where and when.

Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch

Stewarding at the NEC show gives one a fabulous opportunity to see the Contemporary Quilt Groups Journal Quilts. Little gems of creativity!

As always, there is a plethora of techniques on show and the folder gives the visitors an insight into how each piece has been created.

Inevitably, each visitor has their particular favourites and this is my change to share mine with you.

Jill Packer

Irene McWilliam

Linda Billsborrow

Linda Seward

Cathy Hensman

The CQ Stand

The quilts always attract visitors and one has lovely conversations with people about how they are all created.

The Shipping Forecast

This year the East Midlands region of the Embroiderers Guild are running their embroidery Kick Start competition with the theme of weather. I was lucky to get a place on a one day course with the sub theme of weather maps. As a child I loved maps of all types, drew them, copied them made then up you name it I did it. As a family we also listened to The Shipping Forecast, it came immediately before the news. There was something quite exciting about the deletion of these names. Initially they did not have a geographical position in my mind, just the words, but later I realised that it was a tour of the British Isles!

We spent the day using the chart symbols as a basis for design ideas.

These symbols when repeated form patterns!

We spend time investigating the possibilities of such repeats and the isobars.

Here I started to play with a symbol and the names of the sea areas following a set of isobars. I played with writing with my sewing machine. Not very good at this yet.

Then I had the idea of colouring in the white fabric as if it had been paper. I tried Neocolour wax crayons, and Koh I Noor fabric paints inside the Neocolour crayon lines. These ran a little but the shading worked well.

I machined all the lines and then very carefully began to colour in the shapes.

The larger areas looked a little irregular but I soon realised that a little judicious rubbing with kitchen  towel soon evened it out!

Completed, I was delighted with this new technique and will consider it again. 

The piece can now be used for Weedon Bec CT exhibition in April, the Harborough Embroiderers exhibition in May and possibly Kick Start as well. Job done!