Textile news 29

Felted Carrot

Not only does Denise grow her own vegetables she also makes them. She has made a needle felted carrot all ready for the pot!

 Thank you Denise, I think it is super.

 

Getting ready for Nikki Parmenter - Plastic Entrapment 

Here is something to make your creative juices flow! Mary sent me this wonderful sparkly fish that she made with Nikki in conjunction with Parbold Branch a few weeks ago.

 I am hoping that after viewing this it will spur you on to have a go at this unusual technique!

 

 Hellebores

Wendy has sent us this beautiful picture of a hellebore from her garden.

They have been beautiful this year and very long lasting, taking anything the weather has thrown at them. 

 

Sandra has sent these from her garden.
 

I hope you have all found some hellebores to enjoy.

Thanks Wendy.

Textile News 28

Loving Earth Panel - Clothes 

Sandra has just finished her panel on clothes and pledging to only buy new basics. She will make her older clothes last longer wearing them more times and upcycling some by changing sleeves, embellishing and lengthening etc..

 

This is the pledge and if she only buys basics it will help reduce the use of pesticides, reduce water consumption and put less Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by reducing transportation and production.

The clothes on the left of the panel are the basics and those on the right are some of her older items.

 If we all do a small thing to help the planet it will all add up to something major.

Thank you Sandra

If you haven't decided if you are going to do a panel please consider it as the Earth is now at a critical stage and we owe it to the next generations to hand them a healthy planet, not a dying one. It doesn't have to be too complicated just something that strikes a chord with you.

Chicken Scratch Embroidery

Sandra has just finished a small chicken scratch square. She was amazed at how quickly it could be completed despite making a mistake with the pattern and having to undo a bit.

 

She is thinking of making the small aquare into a pin cushion!

-And here is the completed pin cushion.

Back of pin cushion made with scraps!

A big thank you to Anita for introducing us to the technique.

 

Rice Bags as Presents 

During lockdown when it was very difficult to go out and buy presents, Janet made some rice bags with Japanese charm squares. She filled them with hand cream, chocolate, sanitizer and soap and then gave them to friends for their birthday presents.

 What a lovely and thoughtful gift. Anyone would be pleased to receive a pretty bag like these and the items inside would have been a bonus.

Thank you Janet. 

Meditiative Stitching

Janet has completed her piece of meditiative stitching which she said she found quite addictive. Once she had stopped trying to follow a pattern and let the needle just take her where it wanted to go she found it very relaxing and would like to have another go.

I love the way you have maintained the lovely graphic quality in the stitching.

Thank you Janet Its lovely.
 

 

 

 Loving Earth Project

Mary has made a start on the background for her loving earth panel and has used Inktense blocks on cotton. [See below] She is not quite sure about the white at the sides which is likely to end up beige. She  will probably embroider some stitched leaves on the ground with a Medeira machine wool thread but needs to experiment some more before she decides.

A good start Mary and we are all waiting to see what comes next!

 

Finished Panel for the Loving Earth Project 

This is what came next as Mary has now finished her panel. 

The panel is tranquil,  subtle and evocative of the peace of trees,  plants and the healing power of nature suitable for an Earth Project.

It has a calming effect by just looking at it.

Thanks Mary for your beautiful piece.

It is such a topical project and I am hoping that we will get some more ideas soon even if it is only at the thinking stage.

Chicken Scratch Embroidery Anita Yearsley March Meeting 2021

 Anita has kindly prepared a meeting on Chicken Scratch for us. Below you will find the requirements list a cormer design and a sampler.

 

Sampler

Sampler Stitches

 

Photos of Stitches

Photos of Stitches 2

I love the way it looks lacy and I am looking forward to having a go at this as it is completely new for me.

Thank you Anita

Textile News 27

  Sketchbook Work

During lockdown Sandra has been doing a lot of work in her sketchbooks.She has been  building layers using mixed media working into the pages over and over again using a variety of techniques. 

Sketchbook

 

Monoprinted leaves on painted background and over painted  stencil on deli paper.

 

 

Water colour background, rubbed circles, crayon squares, traced pot.

Mosaic photo over painted background, painted square stencil on photo, dried leaf.

Printed background, hand drawn poppy seed heads, pen drawn lines and handwriting.

Photos of blue material cut into triangles pasted onto print and painted background.

Scraped paint, printed wide vertical lines, pen drawn narrow red lines.

Scraped paint background, block printed,  circle cut outs.

 

Painted background, felt pen writing,  circular photo.

Photo, ink background, block print.

Collage, mono printed leaves.

Photo, painted background, mono printed vase, brush shapes.

Painted and printed background, block printed, drawing, writing.

Ink background, eco leaf print, mono printed vase, stencilling.

 

Sandra said it was very relaxing just working into the sketchbook with no particular end product in mind.

Loving Earth Project - rough design for a panel 

Sandra has just made her first rough design for her loving earth panel pledging to limit new clothes to basic items and extending the use of older items by upcycling and embellishment.

The effect of this is to reduce the use of water,  pesticides and carbon dioxide. 

Sandra says she will use layers of used material for the background, and material collage and embroidery for the clothes.

It will change and develop during the making but the basic idea will stay the same.

Thank you Sandra. Clothes production, particularly fast fashion, is one of the biggest poluters of the planet.
 

NHS Thank You 

You will all have received your copy of  January's contact magazine by now and you might have had time to read it.

If you look on page 4 you will see a compilation of some of the squares made to thank the NHS.

Starting in the bottom left hand cormer and going up to the first square on the second row is a square made by Sandra - caring hands.

 

Cards

Thelma has been busy making some very attractive cards. She said she collected fabric and threads which looked good together and provided a range of textures, which she enhanced with stitch. They were then embellished with textural stitches and adornments e.g. buttons, beads etc.

Thank you Thelma , the colours and textures are beautiful.

 

  

Anne Brooke's 52 Tags Project 

Anita has been busy joining in with Anne Brooke's 52 tags project. The aim is to make a 3" x 2" tag each week and then combine them into a book or carousel of ideas.

The front of each tag has some stitching and then a kind of diary on the reverse,  quote or something interesting to you.

Anita's tags are below.

The tags could be used as a reference of ideas.

 If you are interested in finding out more go to

www.annebrooke.co.uk/2020project

and/or 

Anne Brooke textile artist 52 tags introduction 

{you tube video}

Thank you Anita ,your tags are pretty and by the time you have finished you will have built up a useful" reference book".

 

Loving Earth Project - Sue Tyldesley, February Meeting, 2021

An invitation to participate in The Loving Earth Project.

Photos of just a few natural wonders near my home.

 

This month Sue managed our zoom meeting with an invitation to join the Loving Earth Project. 

The project invites individuals to make a 30cm. x 30cm. panel of a small environmental change that we as  individuals can do to help save the Earth, or remind everyone of something that is iconic to them, that would be a tragedy if lost to the next generation.

If you would like to know more go to the Loving Earth website at

lovingearth-project.uk

Click on gallery to view some of the panels 

So it is over to us now as Sue has enthused us to think about what we can do to help the environment and produce a panel by early Summer.

Thanks go to Sue for setting up, organising and running the zoom meeting. Also for inspiring us to think about what we can do as individuals to help improve the state of the planet.

A few more natural wonders.

Textile News 26

An Upturned Tree

Denise has just finished her weaving  based on an upturned tree with rocks embedded in the roots. The pink is foxgloves with some grass growing amongst it all.

Her husband did a drawing of the find and Denise converted it to a lovely weaving.

If you look closely you can see she has used a double warp weaving the background weft over two warps. The coloured weft has been woven over a single warp producing a very neat and detailed result.

Thank you Denise. It is stunning and spurs me on to finish mine which will not be as neat!