A trip to Creative Stitches

Last night I spent a good hour or 2 sorting photos, writing a post about my wonderful trip to the Creative Stitches show in Glasgow & adding links to great artists - I was obviously too tired to notice that it wasn't saving properly & when I went to post it said 'oops there's a fault' or some such & that was it, all my chatting, gone!

Just seen it save, woohoo! Anyway, luckily I was given the gift of the gab, so here we go again ;)

Welcome to my new followers, one day I'll get round to saying hi & replying to all my lovely recent comments.

Below are manhole covers on my walk from the perfectly comfy Travelodge 15 mins away from the SECC - I don't get out much! I'll hopefully ink jet print them onto fabric & stitch, possibly make a raised template block so I can take a rubbing &/or print with it.

 Interesting balcony shapes

In honor of my stitchy visit I decided to alter a cardi bought for £3 in a Charity shop earlier. The sleeves were a little short for my scrawny wrists ;) Below is  before

& here is after....can you tell? ;)

 OK, I'll never be a fashion photographer or hand model, the white paper ground is obvs meant to be under the whole arm. It covers up my 'old before time' wrinkly veiny hands nicely. The slightly swollen joints is another matter but hey I'm still me under all the aches & creaks!

 So, the first layer next to the sleeve is a strip of ruched black silk. Next is a piece from something  I've had for yonks solely for the purposes of the black lacy bits you understand, a sexy black number which would barely cover a nip.... let alone the rest - I knew I'd kept it for some reason! So I cut a couple of inches off the sleeve bit, lovely beading by somebody else already on there, then some more ruched silk, I just put some thread thru pulled a bit as I tacked it down. I also had only one piece of lace edging & knew that if I cut it in 2 I'd have to add a piece to make it long enough at each end..twice. Having never done this before I didn't know how wide it had to be & as I was taking it with me to justify an arty lunch I just went with what I had, tacked the strips down onto some soft black pre shrunk cashmere, while chatting away - if I'd thought it thru too much I wouldn't have bothered with it. When I got home I machined down the strips & had to work out where the seam should be keeping in line  with the rest of the sleeve & - you'd be proud of me - took the precaution of drawing a template for next time. I'm inordinately proud of myself!

The show. I made a bee line for Helen McKenna  as last year I only managed to walk past her stand, forgetting to go back - I did notice she embellished shoes ;) You can see one jut peeping out on the back of the table by the wall. Delicious. She's a woman after my own heart as even tho my inspiration is not Mexico or Freda K I can see similarities in my garden pieces.

 A gentle purpley clutch bag, not too far removed from my purses, Helen was very encouraging to have a go.

Below, detail from the gorgeous dress that she made specially for the show, you could get lost in there, so glad I met her this visit.

 I went to a great talk by Lorna Bateman who makes incredible flowers out of silk ribbon embroidery. You just wouldn't believe they weren't the real thing. She very kindly showed me how to couch down a length of ribbon first stitching then gathering/ruching then stitching it all down. Very grateful & can't believe I forgot to take a pic of her beautiful stand!

 Val Hughes makes lovely nuno felted dresses & mixed media pieces - she preferred me not to take a pic of the dress & I've just got a low res pic of the canvases, above, with permission. (I got permission from everybody, of course)

This is Kerry Mosley above & below who was taught by Val H. Amazing work, she knits fine wire, then lays it down in between 2 pieces of soluable fabric & stitches. Her faces are fabulous & she'd brought sketchbooks from uni work, too. I hadn't realised that she was part of Reveal who I saw at Knitting & Stitching last year.

 I went to a talk by Wendy Dolan last year & saw that there was a mini 20 mins w/s with her this year. I was keen to join as Mixed Media Julie had just been on a really good w/s with her. I succumbed to some screen printing inks at her stand as they are the correct consistency for painting after stitching, you could also dilute for a background wash & well, screen & block print. She is very generous with info on her stand as she shows us samples of her work in stages so you can just about get your head around her unique technique.

Below is Margaret Beal   Couldn't see a direct website so here's a video instead. I went on a w/s with her 100 yrs ago, facinating to be able to fuse, pierce & mark acrylic organzas with a soldering iron. Wonderful work behind her head there, hopefully you'll be able to see clearly.

 Last but not least was meeting  Kim Thittichai again. Went to a good talk about her latest work using painted newspaper & bondaweb - she has a great sense of humour is passionate about sharing her techniques & has plenty of time on her busy stand to answer a load of questions. It was her 'Experimental Textiles' that inspired me at college, made sure I got a chance to read every word.

 I had a go at adding my mark to the 'Worlds Longest Embroidery' on the embroiderer's Guild stand - mine is bottom just off middle right, some fly stitch seaweed with a couple of knots inspired by Alex at underatopazsky

 as I left I bumped into an old friend on the Quilters Guild stand, our very own Maggi
Lovely to see her beautiful work in person (sad not to meet her!) prominently displayed, such precision & detail, contemporary meeting traditional. Just my colors, too.

Luckily I'm off 'real' work this week - walking around & buzzing with info for 2 days & a 41/2 hr drive each way plus coming back to a nights B&B guests (yay the season is slowly starting!) is a little tiring but well worth it. I haven't unpacked my purchases, I didn't go mad but I'll show you next week. The sun is shining in a blue sky, therefore it's baltic but I can't wait to get out into the garden. I might even drag Willow out with me!