We’ve just come to the end of day one of my “Tall Trees” art quilt workshop at Simply Stitch near Wetherby. There are thirteen ladies taking part, over two days, working with paint and stitch, layering sheer fabrics and netting to create beautiful backgrounds for their painted Vilene trees. We have some fabulous quilts taking shape, this is how they are doing so far…….
Even our host, Nicola, is making time to join in with this workshop!
We had a very intense day today at the Alford Craft Studio with seven ladies learning new techniques and using them to create a mini art quilt. I based the workshop on my Three Tall Trees design but participants were encouraged to use their own creativity to make their quilt their own.
Two of the ladies created beautiful pieces with their own designs while the other five chose to stick more to the original but, as you will see from the photos, each one has its own distinct style and beauty.
Katie is basing her design on a photo taken in Italy
Alison working on her trees
Kate has the background trees stitched
Rose’s quilt
Kate’s quilt
Sheila’s quilt
Annie’s quilt
Alison’s quilt
Katie’s quilt
Jean’s quilt
Everyone worked really hard throughout the day and produced some terrific work but, with so much to fit into the workshop, none of the pieces are quite finished……I will post updates as and when I receive images of the completed quilts.
On 3rd November, at the Alford Craft Market Studio, I will be running a workshop using the techniques and materials which went into making my Three Tall Trees art quilt. This will be a one day workshop so in order to get the piece finished (or as near as possible) we will be making a mini version.
To create a beautiful forest scene we will be painting, layering and hand/machine embroidering. For the foreground trees students can choose to work entirely on their own design or I can provide templates. This workshop is suitable for all abilities including those who have not yet tried free machine embroidery.
I will provide all fabrics but students will need to bring: Colouring medium i.e. fabric paint, Inktense blocks or acrylic paint plus brushes. Sewing machine with a normal foot and free machine foot. Basic sewing kit. Selection of different coloured machine threads including black, grey, cream and greens.
The studio in Alford is small so workshop numbers are limited. This makes for a lovely friendly atmosphere and means I get to spend more time with each participant.
For more information on classes at Alford, or to book a place, please see their website http://www.alfordcraftmarket.co.uk/alford-craft-market-centre.html or call Lynne on 01507 463341
One of the textile groups I belong to is LINQS (Lincolnshire Quilters) and each year we respond to a challenge to make an art quilt based on the life or works of a particular person. Our latest challenge was inspired by Sir Isaac Newton and the work will be on display over the coming bank holiday weekend at Waltham Windmill. The exhibition is free and we will be having a sales table and demonstration area. There will be lots of other things going on at the working Mill with shops, cafes, picnic area, miniature train rides and a model engineers marquee, etc so a great venue for a family day out!
The exhibition is open from 10am – 4 pm on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Here are just a few examples of what we have on show…..
Gravitree by Jean Proud
Inspired by the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton by Karen Lane
The Mind of a Genius by Mary Jackson
Woolsthorpe Manor by Pat Cave
All the Louth Panorama quilts, being made by textile group Meridian, have now been handed over ready to be sewn onto a black background.
The individual quilts laid out prior to being sewn onto the black background.
Sheila had photographs of the two original canvases, painted by William Brown in the 1840’s, reduced in size and printed onto cotton fabric which she then quilted using free machine stitching. These two panels will form the centre of our collaborative quilt with the rest of them being grouped as shown above.
Centre two panels free machined by Sheila
Click on each of the images to see the detail that has been put into the quilts, they really are beautiful pieces of work.
Quilt created by Pat Cave
Quilt created by Sue Jackson
Quilt created by Gill Lewis
Quilt created by Eileen MacKenzie
Quilt created by Gwen Harlow
Quilt created by Sandra Goldsborough
Quilt created by Margaret Fulwood
Quilt created by Karen Lane
Art quilt based on a small section of the Louth Panorama
I’ve just finished working on my little section of a collaborative quilt with ‘Meridian’ a textile group who are based in the market town of Louth. The overall quilt will be a tribute to the Louth Panorama, painted by William Brown, which is an all-round view of the town and district as seen from the top of the spire of St James’s parish church in Louth as on a summer’s day in the 1840s. It depicts local life, the pattern of streets and the market place, with a roofscape little changed today. The painting consists of two canvases which have an interesting history and more information can be found on the Louth Museum website.
We each chose our favourite section of the painting to reproduce as a mini art quilt, either A4 or A3. My choice was the graveyard which I’ve made in A3. We were given free rein to use whatever techniques we wanted to use, I’ve created mine as a whole cloth, painted with Inktense and then hand and machine embroidered. I’ve used a bit of artistic licence to square up the layout and omitted the tiny figures. You can see the original section below.
My chosen section of the Louth Panorama
I will add an update once we get all of the quilts joined together.
I’ve just finished my latest art quilt “Lincolnshire Wolds“. This one has an entirely painted background, using Inktense on vilene. I don’t normally use Bondaweb in my art quilts, I usually lay the fabric down and sew it straight onto the background but this time I made an exception. After giving it some thought it seemed the easiest way to create the foliage on the foreground tree and a good way to make the shadow from that same tree on the field.
The stitching is a combination of straight stitch and free machine embroidery with a little hand stitching along the base of the hedgerow.
Lincolnshire Wolds
The one drawback to using pelmet vilene for textile art is that it is easily creased so it really needs mounting on a canvas or a board when I get around to it.
Between Christmas and New Year I began work on a new art quilt which I have called A Tribute to Three Worlds. This 44″ x 27″ quilt is my textile interpretation of a lithograph by one of my favourite artists, Maurits Cornelis Escher (1892-1972)
The original lithograph version of Three Worlds by Maurits Cornelis Escher.
I have been an admirer of Escher’s work since my art school days. During a recent visit to Barter Books in Alnwick I bought “The Life and Works of Escher” by Miranda Fellows and felt inspired by this particular design to create my on take on it.
Background work in progress…..the trees are done and the Tyvek fish are painted and roughly placed in position.
I wanted to recreate the three different perspectives i.e. the trees above the water seen as a reflection, the Autumn leaves floating on the water and the fish swimming below the water, all of which make up Escher’s “three worlds”. It took a lot longer to complete than I had imagined it would but I’m very happy with the result.
A Tribute to Three Worlds
The latest quilt challenge for members of the Cranwell group is A Walk in the Forest and this is my interpretation.
A Walk in the Forest
With each challenge we are also given a particular technique to use somewhere within our work, for this particular piece we were asked to include painted Bondaweb. This could be used over a large area or just included as a tiny piece, it was entirely at our discretion. Those of you with a keen eye might be wondering where my Bondaweb is…….it’s so insignificant it’s not even worth me pointing it out!
When the subject was given out I immediately had this image in my mind of the trees and forest floor cut out of several pieces of Lutradur and stitched to create the illusion of depth. I also knew that I wanted a shimmering backdrop to represent the daylight glistening at the edge of the woods. After auditioning several fabrics, and not being happy with any of them, I decided to go with wallpaper for my background. I had a sample of paper that was just large enough and created exactly the effect I was seeing in my mind.
The Lutradur trees were coloured from dark to light to suggest that the viewer is walking from inside the forest towards the light at the edge of the woods. I figured the Bondaweb would be used fairly discretely to create shadow on the forest floor. Unfortunately, as I had coloured the Lutradur with wax crayons, there was no way that the Bondaweb was going to bond! Having said that, a tiny piece is clinging on, allowing me to say I have included Bondaweb in my work……..just not a lot of it!
