Tuesday 25 March 2014

A workshop, a visit to Creative Stitches & a start on the peacock fabric


Delighted to be asked to give a workshop at Skyeworks Gallery in Portree (on the Isle of Skye!) on April 9th & you're all invited - I appreciate it may be a little way for most of you to come!





Had a wonderful day at the Creative Stitches show in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago, traveling down with my friend Jenny. 

Some people from last year had returned & it was good to see them again. I might even consider a stand myself one day, promote some workshops perhaps.... nothing like frightening myself to death, having that idea! Feel the fear & do it anyway I think they say.

 Susan Hotchkis

 There was a series of quilts from the Quilter's Guild based on 'hidden histories', I've just shown a few here, lots of beautiful work. Edit : So sorry in advance, I thought you'd be able to read the info I so carefully included in the pics of the quilts but you can't in most of them ;( I'll try better next time

 name unclear, (in my pic) sorry - hope you can read the names on the others
 Katrina Parris
 Millie Thomas
 Khurshid Bamboar
 Judy Fairless

Below there were some lovely hats & bags from the 1890's - 1960's




& above, Jeanette Sendler from Hat in the Cat, a place I'd love to go for the many wonderful Masterclasses they give in Newburgh, near Edinburgh. She was very helpful in giving advice on making a fascinator, lovely pieces here.


 above was a weaving made by 'the people' from Rachel Powel's last show, you write a label with a memory, choose a thread beautifully dyed by Rachel then you tie it to the weft using , I think, a Turkish knot. This one was complete - the one we took part in had only just started.


I admit to not having seen Les Miserables

 with a stunning dress like the one above I think I must!


I came across Reveal, info above, a surprise as I hadn't realized they'd be here, first met them at Knitting & Stitches 2 yrs ago. Lovely work but quite bright lighting in the stand.



Wonderful Contemporary Quilts & info below with my favorites






We went to a talk by Dionne Swift - this pic in the link is exactly as we saw her on her stand, one by Pat Archibald - her talk was on Indian inspiration, in this link, & Jenny, who organizes people to visit the group Skye Quilter's, who I've just joined, says she's coming up to give a workshop next year, can't wait!

We also heard Lynda Monk talk about her wonderful techniques & had to visit her stand for her latest book....of course 'Exploring Creative surfaces. Then over to Colouricious' stand to meet Jamie Malden of Talking Threads fame - I've watched so many youtube clips from them it was great to see her in the flesh & she's coming to give Skye Quilters a workshop next year, too ;) We revisited some of the people from last year who came back & finished up at the Yorkshire Books stand where I got Cas Holmes & Ann Kelly's book Connected Cloth which I'm enjoying slowly, such a treat. Jenny bought a couple of different books & when we can find a minute she's going to give me a dyeing workshop at hers, further up the island - I shall take notes & while the fabric is  'batching' we can work thru one of her books!

 Above was a bit of architecture right next to a bridge seen on the walk back to the car, love those windows.


 & above looking under the bridge at those lovely marks thru the car window...on a red light, honest!


Jenny gave me a wonderful gift of some bits & pieces from her shop, so generous! Can't wait to see what else she has when I get up there. Exactly my colors, which leads me on to my next pic.



Above is the start of the cloth I'm making to create a fascinator, an earring, a 'buttonhole',  a small bag, a wrist cuff & possibly 2 clipy things to brighten up my shoes for......The Wedding. Suddenly it's only 5 1/2 weeks away but if I don't manage to make these things in time I'm the only one who will loose out. You can see top left The Dress & top right The Jacket. I thought peacock feathers for the fascinator, it looks so well with the jade/turquoise color of the dress & I don't believe that something that beautiful could possibly be unlucky. Also, I have some peacock feathers ;) They'll go on the bag, too, along with some organza flowers, Fijian style, sort of. The wedding is a mix of Fijian tropical (where they met) Eastbourne seaside where they're marrying, Seaford seaside where my lovely dil to be is from & Skye seaside of course where the Eldest was brought up for the second decade of his life. He's 25 on Saturday, I can hardly believe it!


I was thinking delicious colors, soft wool tops, needlefelting & I love the fabric above so far but it's not the wedding glitzy I imagined, far too rustic for that. I'd been looking at my shiny, silky flower hangings for inspiration & wasn't feeling it on this fabric. If you can't be shiny & glitzy at a wedding, well, where can you be?!


Even tho rustic looking the back was lovely too.


Even so, I started a new piece, same lovely peacock colors with a little tropical pink


& added some organza & random gold  stitching. I'll add more glitz as I go along & we'll see what happens.

Thanks for sticking with me this far & welcome to some new followers - we kept loosing access to google & therefore the sign in facility here & facebook too for goodness sake, how did I manage?! Seems ok just now, we'll see ;)

10 comments:

ju-north said...

So many beautiful things to see here! Thanks for the tour!

Julie said...

You certainly packed a lot in to your day at the Show. I think you saw quite a lot of the things that I saw at the Sewing For Pleasure Show in Birmingham on Saturday. I'm excited for you joining Skye Quilters and wish I was able to come up for your workshop, it is sure to be lots of fun. Your wedding clothes look beautiful and I wouldn't expect any less. Looking forward to seeing all your accessories. xx

maryom said...

Love those quilts. Fingers itching now with the thought of trying something of my own....

Jill said...

Fab post, so much to look at. Love the Hidden Histories.

https://tastytextiles.blogspot.com/ said...

Thanks for sharing about the Glasgow show - fascinating! Love your new piece and good luck with your workshop, you can do it!

Maggi said...

What a fascinating post. Look forward to seeing the outcome of the wedding clothes.

Iz said...

Looking forward to seeing the wedding outfit! And we must fix a meeting place for the next day too :)

Kim Henkel Creations said...

WOW thanks for sharing so much! I was happy to see your long post and see all the wonderful images. Thanks for your note through email. I hope your google troubles are sorted out soon, - and a wedding outfit....how exciting! Can't wait to see more.

Linda Vincent said...

Blimy, that's a blog post and a half Emma! So much to admire.....thank you for all those inspiring images.
But am I going batty?...I can't see your wedding clothes anywhere! And I would love to be nosy and have a look ;-)
XX

Jan said...

I'm late getting to this post, the wedding must be nearly upon you. Hope you are managing to get all the things together for it that you envisioned. I look forward to seeing what ever you show us of that in the future.
Love all the works you showed us here, they are so ethereal and ancient looking. Wish I could have gone to the show too.
Try not to go crazy! getting ready for the wedding. It will all work out wonderfully, I'm sure.