Liz's stitch-in-time

Sensitive tint 2012 First 2012 Journal Quilt

2012-02-01T14:08:00.000-08:00

I signed up to another set of Journal quilts with the Contemporary Quilt Group. This year the themes are based on colour - and the first four are to have at least 75% red in them. The size is A4 portrait. I came across a sketch I'd done of one of John's photomicographs - luxillianite - rock found in Luxillian, Cornwall. I translated the design into reds with a dark turquoise green accent - reverse applique, machine stitched with bobbin couched thick threads.
The original thin section is colourless but if you illuminate it with polarized light different types of crystal in the rock will show up in different colours according to a property they posses called birefringence. Apparently if you put another crystal in the light path, the colour adds or retracts from the existing colours to produce a new set of colours. The purplish red colour produced is called "the sensitive tint". I love the name and it was a happy accident on my part.

textile hanging showing pockets and quotations

2012-01-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

The quotations are printed onto calico strips and then buttoned on top of the pockets.

From left to right:
I have to become unimportant in the scheme of things, that's when the best stuff happens, when you get out of your own way. Helen Storey
Got no cheque books got no banks, still I'd like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
No one is old enough to know better.
The life so short the craft so long to learn. Chaucer
The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Oscar Wilde
Whatever you think you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it. Goethe
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
I get by with little help from my friends.
It's not what happens to you in life, its how you deal with it - that is important. Dalai Lama
If you want to grow, push your limits. Mia Rozmyn
Today is the tomorrrow you worried about yesterday and all is well.
It's hard to know if you're bound for a fall, but better to have tripped than never danced at all.
Out of the gloom a voice said unto me, 'smile and be happy, things coud be worse.' So I smiled and was happy and behold things did get worse.
There comes a point in your life when you realise who really matters, who never did and who always will.
Nothing in life is to be feared it is only to be understood.
and finally:
Your friend is your needs answered, and in the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures.

Thank you my dear friends!

With a little help fom my friends- last Journal Quilt January 2012

2012-01-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

I asked my friends to give me a button and a quotation that they liked. I made little two inch pockets and stitched the buttons on the front. A variety of techniques was used for the pockets - some appliqued, some machine stitched and painted. I printed the quotes onto calico, stitched a buttonhole on the strip and wound them around some small bamboo pegs and then popped them in the pockets. Some of the buttons are quite signifcant. One belonged to a friend's father who was in the Navy, another was from my friend's mothers button box. The quotations can be taken out of the pockets and buttoned on the front.

December Journal Quilt Lily white boys

2012-01-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is my December Journal Quilt. There is a hawthorn tree across the valley on the dog walking route which had a lovely bunch of mistletoe on it. I managed to get a piece to put in the house for Christmas. I love mistletoe and was struck by the vibrant green of the leaves and branches and the contrast of the translucent shiny white berries. They reminded me of some old pearl buttons which was lucky as somehow I had to get at least one button in this piece to fulfill the brief. I used commercial and hand dyed fabrics for the fused background and the mistletoe shapes were freely cut and then stitched in straight lines with embellishments of one pearl button and some old pearl beads- must be the first time I've ever used beads! Lily white boys are sometimes explained as holly and mistletoe in the song " Green grow the rushes oh!"

Button it! November Journal Quilt

2011-11-12T03:12:00.001-08:00

Button it! November Journal Quilt.

This is the second Journal Quilt with buttons as a theme. I constructed a large button using my lichen design, heavy duty wadding and pelmet vilene.
The buttonhole is reverse bound on a base of machine stitched lichen shapes again. In the background you can see some of those little organisms that get me so excited. I have sold my large applique pieces now so I think will make some more using a more naturalistic colour pallette.

Apples October Journal Quilt

2011-10-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is my little journal quilt for October - apples. The challenge is to use buttons for the next 4 pieces. I've been picking the apples from my Sunset apple tree and thought the apple pips and core looked a bit like a button. The background is a rustic open weave linen and I embellished apple shapes with little pieces of wool, adding them like watercolour. The leaf shapes were appliqued and layered with muslin which was also blattered with the embellisher to distress it a bit and then machine stitched to the background. I added handstitching and then white laundry buttons. They looked a bit stark so I painted them with some dilute Inktense colour.
I really enjoyed getting the embellisher out and needle felting the background, the effect can be quite subtle.

Traditional quilt

2011-10-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a quilt like this for a very long time. My aunt was 90 this week so I decided at the last minute to make her a lap quilt. It is a little larger than the usual size, 45cm x 45cm and I was determined to use up some of my commercial fabrics which I tend not to use these days. Inevitably I had to buy some more - you never have enough of the right colour. It has turned out rather bright but I hope she likes it. My mother will be 90 in January so I shall make her one too. Its very strange to think that they are the last of that generation in the family - more memories!

memories and connections

2011-10-14T03:25:00.000-07:00

Several months ago my brother and I were forced to make the decision that our mother could no longer live at home and needed more help with her needs. She is suffering from dementia. Neither of us was prepared for the emotional implications of this decision let alone the practical ones. We were faced with a home crammed with things that represented our lives and those of our parents and grandparents. The home is now just an empty house and we have tried to deal with the contents. I collected up pieces of linen - table mats, hankies, embroidered napkins and tablecloths, gloves and aprons. These had been embroidered, crocheted, stitched, darned and and owned by my grandmothers Maud and Gladys and my Mum, Eileen. What on earth should I do with them. I do not want to leave my boys with the decision of what to do with my things let alone my grandmother's. I wanted to do something that would connect me to them and also be relevant and even something of use for my children. I bit the bullet and started cutting up the pieces. I am stitching a crazy patchwork quilt in squares made up of pieces belonging to Maud, Gladys and Eileen. I am using old transfers to add my marks to the pieces now. So far I have made 17 squares so a long way to go but all the time I am stitching them ( glass of wine at hand in front of the telly) I think of these women, their lives and how they have made me what I am.

Flying the nest September Journal Quilt

2011-10-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I came across the paper collage above which I did 18months ago. My eldest had just left home and was starting a new job and living in Brighton. I was doing a workshop with Sian Martin and had collaged bits of photos, receipts, computer printouts about Brighton and bits of discarded artwork, then machine stitched pathways over the surface. We were using potassium permanganate and on that cold February day and I found the colour so dreary echoing my state of mind probably. I had a lightbulb moment looking at it again. I scanned and replaced the background colour with a lighter tone which immediately lifted it. I used a portion in large scale as a background then layered up the image again in two sizes. I printed the image on to old cotton sheeting that I had treated with bubble jet set and then machine stitched the background. I particularly like the scanned areas of the original stitching marks which picked up portions of the p.perm. and seeped into the needle holes.

Man Woman August Journal Quilt

2011-10-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is my August Journal Quilt entitled "Man Woman". It is the third of the quilts which specified text. I have been suffering from empty nest syndrome. It always happens at this time of the year. The youngest (now 21 ) drew this little picture many years ago and I have had it pinned on my wall. The funny expressions always make me smile. I used this as an opportunity to get to grips with a new printer after my old Epson started dumping ink on the surface of my fabric. I defined the pencil marks and then added some more colour to the original drawing then I added a half triangle border to the design together with some repeating figures which I think must have been Ralph. There was a tiny little figure on a distant planet and I'm wondering if that was his brother! The little wholecloth was printed on bubble jet set treated recycled cotton sheeting and then machine stitched and I also put some little french knots where there were pencil dots on the original. It still makes me laugh.
The exhibition in The Guild in Bristol, Cloth, Paper, Stitch, has now finished. Thank you to my friends who supported me and the people who visited and bought my work and cards. There was a lot of interest in the lichen pieces again and I think I shall make another large piece soon.

July Journal Quilt

2011-09-12T07:31:00.001-07:00

"Love a wall" This is my July Journal quilt for the contemporary quilt group challenge. I have used the applique stone shapes, but this time have added some hand stitching. The text is from Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" again.

Fabric Paper Stitch, Guild Gallery, Bristol.

2011-09-11T03:21:00.000-07:00

Views showing my piece "Listen" and "Moon-made friends" and "Gaps", the little Gaudi inspired pieces, Di Goodison's jackets and bags and Sally Gregg's felt pieces.

Fabric Paper Stitch Exhibition, Bristol.

2011-09-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Spectrum had its preview yesterday in the Guild Gallery at the Bristol Guild in Park Street. We had a lot of visitors and the day was very enjoyable. It ends on October 1st.
You can see some of my lichen pieces on the wall and Joan Bowie's mermaids.

Gaps and Tumbling Stones

2011-09-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

The horizontal design above was the original cut out piece which I have added a border to and mounted on linen - called Gaps.
The vertical piece on the left is made from some of the original applique pieces on top of a printed text background using verses from Robert Frost's Mending Wall. I have added borders to this, some builders scrim which I particularly like using at the moment and the whole thing is mounted on a linen background.

Moon-made friends

2011-09-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

At last the blog is up to date thanks to my son. Somehow I had two addresses and now I have transferred the images from the old one.

Moon-made friends was made for the recent exhibition in the Weavers Gallery, Ledbury, entitled The Dymock poets. The poem that inspired this piece was Iris by Night by Robert Frost, one of my favourite poets. It tells about an encounter that Frost and his friend Edward Thomas had, while walking late one summer afternoon in the Malverns. It was wet and the light formed a rainbow which magically encircled them. I started the design for this piece from lichen circles which I re- drew and distorted. When I finished the design and cut and appliqued the pieces I really didn't like the result. I am in the habit of bonding down the random cut out shapes from a piece of work and had done this on a long piece of calico using the negative shapes. This was a far more interesting design and I used it as the basis for the piece above. The text from the poem was printed onto some transparent non woven fabric I had acquired and looked suitably watery. Both the rainbow and the moon were appliqued and the whole piece was also hand stitched in vertical lines.

2011-09-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Having agreed to produce a quilt a month for the Journal Quilt project this was an eleventh hour piece. I made it even worse for myself by using the contents of a " challenge" bag of fabrics and threads - pink is not usually me at all but I managed to complete this with a nice grey background - more me. This is the last of the circles theme. The next four pieces will have text in them.

2011-09-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Another journal quilt for the month of April inspired again by the tree of life image.

Chocolate wrappers were bonded on the background, hand made khadi paper from Ahmedabad was mono printed with acrylic paint and the circles were completed with silk bonded with scrim rubbed with gold markal stick on the surface. The trees were machine stitched and the surface machined with a gold thread grid. The threads were left unstitched across the circles.

2011-09-05T09:32:00.001-07:00

Visited this extremely skilful kalamkari artist in Ahmedabad recently. His work was beautifully delicate and lyrical.

2011-09-05T09:29:00.001-07:00

This is the second little journal quilt I've done. For some reason the first February journal quilt has posted to a different blog. It can be seen if my website is accessed and you click on the link on the contact page. This is a mystery to me!

I spent a wonderful 8 days in India in February,mainly Gujarat, looking at a lot of textiles and art. This little tree of life piece is appliqued on silk which is first hand quilted, then machine stitched over the top of the applique. It was inspired by a wonderful Tree of Life window in Ahmedabad. I bought a lovely scarf made of two pieces of sari silk. One side is a single ikat type weave and the other is block printed. The whole scarf has then been stitched completely with rows of running stitch in stripes of two colours. I tried this technique on the background of my little tree.

2011-09-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to take part in The Contemporary Quilt Group's journal challenge. This year the pieces are 10 inches square. I found an old paper bag while clearing up the detritus from the kitchen table and used it to make transfer prints on poly satin and organza. The bag had a faded tree design with a flower head on it. Using the enlarged flower head image, I made a template to mask out transfer paint on poly satin and organza. The paper bag was also bonded on to muslin. Machine stitched, mainly. It reminds me of my favourite dusk, end of the day landscapes.

Gaudi inspired tile

2011-01-29T02:12:00.000-08:00

Have been having trouble with the blog posting but all seems well now. This is a little piece based on Gaudi mosaics. Reverse applique with embroidery.

Yesterday I visited Prema, a lovely little chapel gallery tucked away in Uley, a village near Stroud. I first met my husband when he was staying here with Andrew Wood when the building was being converted and we slept under blue plastic. Where have the years gone?
Bethan Ash has an exhibition here at the moment and it was a very good place to show off her vibrant work. Interestingly some pieces were displayed downstairs on red painted walls and they looked great, really enhanced it.
From Uley my friend and I went on to Bath to the Victoria Art gallery to see David Tress's work Landmarks. What a treat! We came away inspired.

Magritte the Quilter

2011-01-29T01:59:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me a postcard of a Magritte painting called L'Incendie, The Blaze. It reminded me of a tree I could see across the valley in the last days of autumn 2010. I made this little panel using the embellisher, wool and some hand dyed cotton and machine stitched over the top.

new fabric collage of Suffolk snippets

2010-11-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

Finished this textile collage of snippets from Suffolk. I used a photo montage type approach and raided my collection of fabrics. Really pleased I managed to use a piece of acrylic painted fabric I'd had for ages. It was not very beautiful but it did the job for the beach texture - there you are, never throw anything away! I've framed the piece and covered the mount in calico now. To complete the recycled theme John made it a rather nice oak frame from our old oak door, which has now been ressurected as three oak windowsills in the house as well.
The collage was made as a present for a friend with a significant birthday. The features in the piece are The House in the Clouds, Thorpeness, Southwold beach huts, Sizewell seagulls and a rather ghostly stitched Leiston Abbey.

Nature in Art Gallery, Twigworth, Gloucester.

2010-07-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to do a daily blog while at Twigworth, but did take some photographs.
Here are some of the buildings and sculptures in the grounds.

2010-06-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Nature in Art residency day 2

2010-06-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a busy day with lots of visitors - school children and a coach full of adults, plus some other visitors and some friends too. One elderly lady was pleased to find my book of Second World War poetry written by members of the armed forces as her family were in India before the war and had owned a copy of the book. She was keen to find another copy. She was rather fed up with lichens however, as they were covering an inscription on a family grave which was rather interesting because of its inscription and of course lichens are protected. I think she said the relative was the botanist Sir Joseph Banks. I shall have to check up on this somehow.
It was 4 o clock before I had the chance to look at my "brain" sample and so have only made some fabric choices for working on tomorrow. I did document the stages of the reverse applique yesterday so they will make a useful workshop aid if I ever decide to do a workshop!

Studio at Nature in Art

2010-06-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

View of the studio at Nature in Art. The morning was quite busy with a party of young school children on their summer outing - very well behaved and interested in the sewing machines especially as I wrote some of their names.
The afternoon was quiet, which was good as it was so hot. I managed to start stitching one section of the brain design using reverse applique technique. I really want to do some rust dyeing so might try that today but wonder if the heat will stop the rusting.

Nature in Art , Twigworth, Gloucester.

2010-06-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am doing an artist in residence week at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester, from Tuesday June 22nd to Sunday June 27th. The exhibition running at this time is a textile exhibition called Designs for Life. I'm hoping to start some new work inspired by John's photomicrographs. We are contemplating a joint textile/photography exhibition in the future.
Here is one of his photos. Its a brain section. I was struck how like the lichen structures it was.
I shall do some small pieces as samples to start with.

Gerontius stitching

2010-05-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

Stages of stitching Gerontius hanging

2010-05-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Gerontius hanging pieced up.

Elgar, Gerontius and the enigma

2010-05-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

My latest hanging, Gerontius, has been made for the Weaver's Gallery exhibition in Ledbury. The brief was Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance.

I spent a very interesting day doing research in Broadheath at the Elgar Museum and then in Worcester in the Cathedral.
I had an idea of making a piece to fulfil two briefs - never a good idea - but I take so long to design a piece and this winter it seems to have taken even longer.

Eventually I decided on the theme of Dreaming and the Dream of Gerontius.
There is the most beautiful commemorative stained glass window in Worcester cathedral and I took this as a starting point.
I was drawn to the powerful images of the angels and did some large drawings. I felt I didn't want the piece to be particularly representational so started to look at a more abstract idea with the wing shapes and ended up with fractured wings and a rather forbidding angel face.

After a few samples, I decided to use silk as the fabric - primary colours for the background representing the vibrant colours of the stained glass and different silks painted shades of grey for the feathers.

Randwick Woods

2010-05-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Bluebells in Randwick Woods.

bluebells, beech leaves and Matisse

2010-05-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

This morning I went out early with the dog into the woods. I really needed to walk and was out for two hours. I took my camera to photograph the bluebells which are simply stunning at the moment - the most beautiful heart stopping blue colour.
I wasn't expecting the vibrant green of the beech leaves either and took several pictures of the leaves against the sky. This evening I was downloading the photographs and one particularly caught my imagination, especially as the shapes of the shadows showed through the transparency of the leaves. Then I was watching Modern Masters on Matisse and realised that I could make a design based on those leaf shapes but make them very simple. I am very excited about the potential and can't wait to try out some ideas. The last piece I made was so intense for so many reasons. This will just be calm and simple.

Forthcoming exhibition near Stroud

2010-05-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have an exhibiton of my work at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse near Stroud. This is the first time I have exhibited on my own.
It opens on Friday May 7th 2010. If you are visiting Stroud for the textile festival you may like to take a look. The exhibition is in the Atrium. Access is through the main reception area. It is a big space and I will hang all my pieces plus two new ones. One is a little lichen embroidery and the other is the piece I am showing in Ledbury at the Weaver's Gallery in June.

Fragmentation

2009-11-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Appliqued, drawn and stitched lichen fragments.

More pieces for exhibition

2009-11-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

This piece was started as a little gem but I didn't finish it in time. Lichen Stars.

Unfolding Exhibition, Ledbury November 30th - December 5th

2009-11-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Just framed a little lichen study. The original was sketched with oil pastels,scanned and printed on to transfer paper then transferred to fabric and stitched.

Little gem quilt

2009-11-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

This little A4 size quilt was made for the Quilter's Guild fundraising tombola at the Festival of Quilts this summer. I wonder who won it.

Lichens on Limestone III

2009-11-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

I've just framed this appliqued piece ready for the Ledbury exhibition.

"Listen"

2009-11-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is the completed wall hanging called "Listen" inspired by Walter De La Mare's well known poem "The Listeners". The fabric has been printed with sericol inks and ink jet computer printing inks. The design is pieced and stitched.

Finishing work

2009-11-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

Today I finally finished my dark piece. I have called it "Listen". I have also finished and mounted the appliqued lichen picture. Tomorrow I will take a photo and publish it here.

nuthatch painting by Tony Meeuvissen.

2009-11-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Here is the delightful little painting by Tony Meeuvissen. It looks great in its circular mount. I really like the fading daylight - sunset light in this.

2009-10-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Exhibitions and power cuts.

2009-10-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

I finshed piecing the "Listeners" hanging and was looking forward to stitching it today - but ha! a power cut and it was a very dark murky day here so not much light either. I gave up and took a couple of paintings to the picture framers.
I went to two brilliant exhibtions recently. One was at Lypiatt Park, near Stroud and was an exhibition of Lynn Chadwick's wonderful sculptures in a most beautiful setting. I particularly liked the figurative bronze sculptures, but the light catching the shiny metal of the crouching beasts has also given me some ideas. The other exhibition was a retrospective of Tony Meeuvissen's work at The Museum in the Park, Stroud. We have known Tony for thirty years and are lucky to own some of his " roughs". If anyone does read this blog, do visit it. I walked round looking at the gems of illustrations and just grinned - the work is so witty.
I couldn't resist a little picture of a nuthatch - it is delightful. I have been watching a nuthatch on the hazel, through my bedroom window. When it is back from the framers I will put a picture on the blog.
In the meantime here is a photo of one of Lynn Chadwick's sculptures and my pieced but not stitched hanging.

2009-09-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

This is one of the little creatures - marks made with palette knife.

stitching diary

2009-09-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

As I manage to forget my blog password with monotonous regularity I thought I would try and write a diary entry more often. My new laptop is a bonus as I don't have to leave the sofa now. This morning I finished a little appliqued lichen hanging and thought I would mount it on a pre stretched canvas. It didn't work and looked a bit clumsy, so I've decided to cut down the size and get a smaller frame made for it.
Also stitched the sericol printed borders on the "Listeners" piece and scanned pieces of fabric with a view to printing the scans on to more fabric with BJS for the outer borders. Added little images of the " bird" like print as secret little creatures hiding in the woodland background.

Textile Exhibition

2009-09-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

This exhibition is taking place at The Weavers Gallery, Ledbury, from November 30th to December 6th 2009. I am hoping to exhibit a couple of new lichen pieces and also a hanging inspired by Walter De La Mare's poem The Listeners.