The trees are now painted and ironed in place on the riverside. As I thought, there was too much of the darker blue in the sky so some of it has been removed. There are lots of smaller branches/twigs to embroider and I still have to figure out how to create the water and reflections but that can all wait till next week.
Having damaged my toe on Friday I’ve had the perfect excuse to shut myself away in my workroom and start on a new project. I wanted to create an art quilt based on trees and reflections so last week, while out walking my dog, I took a series of photographs along the riverbank. The aim is to make a 30 x 40 cm quilt as a prototype for a larger version as part of the David Hockney Challenge. The thought of doing one 30″ x 40″ straight off was a bit too daunting! The finished design isn’t intended to look like a Hockney but the influence is still there i.e. trees and reflections in water.
I particularly liked this image but decided to simplify the layout for my quilt and position the riverbank “straight on”.
Yesterday I painted a wash of colour on my background fabric, layered it with organza and netting and machine quilted it to create the sky. I’m not sure if I did the right thing by making it this colourful….I wanted a bit of drama behind the trees but might have gone a bit too strong with the blues! We’ll see when the trees get added.
For the riverbank I remembered I had an old scarf which was the ideal colour so this was cut up and distressed using a heat gun before being sewn in place.
The background is ready for the trees to be added.
I figured an easy way to create the trees would be to draw them onto iron-on Vilene and cut them out using a craft knife. With the branches criss crossing it enabled me to cut it as one piece rather than fiddling about with several individual trees. I like using Vilene as it gives a crisp edge, it accepts paint really well and using the iron-on type means there’s no need for Bondaweb or spray adhesive.
The trees cut from Vilene.
The trees are now in the process of being painted and I will post an update as and when they are ironed in place.
Starting work on painting the trees
Last weekend saw the second meeting of the LINQS group at The Coach and Horses in Billinghay. It was a very good turn out with 25 ladies attending the meeting, most of whom arrived early to take advantage of the delicious lunch time menu.
Sheila chaired the meeting and it was great to hear that, as well as now having 39 members, we also have a number of venues showing an interest in exhibiting our DH quilts when they go on the road next year.
Several of the ladies brought along the quilts they have started, while others were keen to show which of the DH paintings they are intending to use for inspiration for their work.
Jean’s quilt is inspired by Hockney’s Woldgate Woods.
Jean took her inspiration from Hockney’s paintings of “Woldgate Woods”. This beautiful, hand sewn quilt has been created using a jelly roll for the background and appliqué for the foreground.
Karin’s quilt inspired by Hockney’s painting of Garrowby Hill.
The shapes and colours in Karin’s quilt have been influenced by Hockney’s landscape painting “Garrowby Hill” with its winding road and patchwork fields.
Rosie shows the fabrics she will use for her quilt.
Rosie is also taking Garrowby Hill as her starting point. It’s all in her head at the moment but her fabrics have been selected and are ready for the cutting mat!
Sandra’s choice is Hockney’s “Three Green Waves with Orange Sand”.
Sandra’s choice is a little known image entitled “Three Green Waves with Orange Sand” which features in the book “Hockney’s Pictures: The Definitive Retrospective”.
Molly and her quilt.
Molly designed her quilt after seeing the Hockney collection on a visit to Salts Mill Gallery.
The red background for Carole’s quilt.
Carole has created a background for her quilt using curved strips of fabric in various shades of red. The foreground will feature a wine glass with a reflection of Hockney’s face. Carole told me she is experimenting with a new technique for creating the wine glass. Once it’s finished we will show a photograph and get Carole to explain in her own words how she created it.
The next meeting was scheduled for March.
I can hardly believe it’s been more than two months since I wrote my last post. The last quarter of 2014 was very busy as far as being creative was concerned. I was fortunate to attend some inspiring workshops and talks and took part in a couple of new challenges, everything was going great. Mid November the bubble burst when my Mum suffered a stroke. Priorities changed, naturally, but after a couple of months I am happy to report that Mum is getting back to her old self and I am back in my workroom. In fact I may be in here for a few days solid as I appear to have broken my toe after accidentally kicking the door frame yesterday! Is there ever going to be a better excuse for sitting and sewing?
Anyway, this is the ideal opportunity to catch up on my on-line journal so here are a few photos of my recent attempt to paint, stamp and embroider onto fabric. I bought the Angie Hughes DVD sometime last Summer and loved the effects she created by painting, stamping and embroidering onto velvet. Angie works on 100% cotton velvet and uses bleach to discharge some of the colour – the results are fabulous! I decided to experiment with some white polyester velvet which I had in my stash before considering buying the more expensive cotton variety.
I used Inktense Blocks (finely grated and added to water in a spritzer bottle) as a spray paint for the background. The stamping was done using VersaCraft multipurpose pigment ink as recommended by Craft Test Dummies, many thanks for the tip! I bought the dragonfly stamp but made the flower stamps using a pack of funky foam shapes (from Poundland) glued to small wooden blocks.
A nice thing about the Sit & Stitch sessions at Stitchcraft is that folk are keen to share their ideas and show their work which makes it a great source for inspiration. At last weeks session (a bit late but where did the rest of the week go?) I saw several things worth sharing on here.
The first is this fabulous “Seahorse” quilt being made by Jane Falkous. The background is made from jelly rolls while the sea horses are the result of paper piecing. It’s huge, colourful and very dramatic. I love the beading and the combination of fabrics that Jane has used including some gorgeous velvets.
Seahorse quilt by Jane Falkous
These three beautiful brooches were made by Wendy Coyne at a workshop which was held by Diane Bates. Wendy has made them using organza fabric, metallic threads and beads. The wire was wrapped with the metallic threads using machine stitching.
Wire wrapped dragonflies created by Wendy Coyne.
Last, but not least, is Tina’s table runner. I love Tina’s work and this particularly caught my eye as it’s the sort of thing you can look at time and time again and still discover something new. Tina combined scraps of fabric, hand sewing, buttons, lace and staining with walnut oil to create this interesting piece.
A table runner runner created from scrap fabric and made by Tina Slipper.
I wanted to share theses images showing the work of one of the ladies taking part in David Hockney challenge. Olga explains in her own words the influence of Hockney and how she is interpreting this in her design.
“I first became aware of David Hockney through a television programme about his forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy in 2012. It was the colours he showed in the landscapes that made me look around and search for those colours. I found them in the surrounding landscape, but realised he paints them with more intensity and energy. I didn’t get to the exhibition but did splash out on the catalogue. At the same time I was getting into dyeing my own fabrics and using the cold primaries as in the Ives Colour Wheel.
When this challenge came up I chose from the catalogue, the painting The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate Woods. I liked the vibrancy, energy and movement in the painting and those three elements are the inspiration for this quilt.
I like working with layered squares, and I like frayed edges. Initially, as can be seen in my sketch book page, the quilt was to have more colour, I was thinking about the colours of the tree trunks, and I tried lots and lots of different permutations, but wasn’t happy with the result, so settled for different shades of turquoise (Procion dyes) as the background, with a, light, dark, light, layering, and small amounts of brown/red, trying to make it POP, i.e. give it a bit of energy. In the painting the leaves falling from the trees are outlined in blue, and I am planning to have a strong vertical line of falling leaves, down one side of the quilt, with a balancing leaf on the right, possibly in sheer, layered fabrics, possibly Lutrador, and with a blue outline. In these photographs I am trying it out with translucent paper.
After looking at one of my quilts Sandra Meech suggested to me that the strong vertical line could be a ‘signature’ of my work, but would need to be developed. It’s that development I am also trying to achieve in this quilt.”
Autumn Leaf skeleton made from Lutradur
This is a skeleton leaf which I created in response to the 4th quarter challenge from the Felting and Fibre Studio. The subject matter was chosen by Zed, who specialises in felt making, and it required participants to create something along the lines of “land art”.
Tyvek leaf with metallic thread and beading.
My immediate thought was to create an Autumn Leaf, possibly a leaf skeleton, and photograph it with real fallen leaves. I had previously made a couple of leaves from Tyvek which were embellished with metallic threads and beads, but for this challenge I wanted to make a more natural looking leaf.
The painted leaf has veins sewn on.
I thought I would try out a new material which I had bought a few months ago but not yet made the time to experiment with. It was a heavy weight Lutradur purchased on-line from nid-noi.com Lutradur is one of several Spunbonded textiles which include Tyvek, Evolon and Kunin. These are manmade fibres with strength and flexibility making them ideal for textile art. They can be washed, dyed, painted, printed, stitched, burned, fused, foiled, stenciled, and slashed with ease. You name it, spunbonded textiles can take it.
I began by sketching an outline and coloured the fabric with Inktense blocks. Once the paint was dry I drew the veins, using a Frixion pen. The leaf and the veins were then machine stitched using Gutterman green 100% cotton thread and an open toe embroidery foot. Once the leaf was cut out I used my heat tool to distress it. It was at this stage that I discovered Lutradur doesn’t shrink and distort like Tyvek……it wasn’t reacting as I had thought it would. I had made the leaf larger than it needed to be thinking it would shrivel but it turns out that when you blast Lutradur with heat your work retains its overall shape and size. Having said that, I loved the lacy effect it created and was really pleased with the finished leaf skeleton.
Distressed Lutradur resulting in a beautiful lace effect.
My skeleton leaf created for the Felting and Fibre Studio challenge.
A selection of some of Tina’s hand crafted Pocket Books.
At today’s Sit & Stitch session at Stitchcraft I saw these wonderful “pocket books” which were made by Tina Slipper. What a great idea for using up your off cuts/scraps to make a useful, hand crafted item. I love Tina’s use of colour and the hand embroidery that she applies to her work. These would make lovely gifts and can be used to hold all sorts of small items i.e. jewellery, sewing accessories, momento’s, etc.
Opened books reveal the pockets inside.
Bright, multicoloured pocket book.
These are all so different it would be hard to chose a favourite. If you like them as much as I do and would like to have a go yourself Tina is holding her next workshop at Stitchcraft in Grantham on October 30th.
A selection of David Hockney books were available to browse.
Yesterday saw the first meeting of LINQS, the Lincolnshire Quilters group which is responsible for the David Hockney Challenge. The challenge is open to anyone living in Lincolnshire.
15 ladies turned up for our first get together at The Coach and Horses in Billinghay and to quote Mary “there were no shrinking violets”! It was a lively session with lots of ideas, enthusiasm and encouragement.
Work in progress….it’s easy to see the Hockney influence in this colourful mini quilt.
Several of us took along quilts we have already started, while others were keen to talk through the ideas that they have in mind. Some of the members also brought their copies of various David Hockney books for the rest of us to browse.
Unfortunately the photograph below doesn’t do justice to the wonderful piece of work this lady is creating. The influence here is the colour and movement that Hockney displays in his work as the small, individual pieces of layered fabric gently ripple.
Work in progress….the influence here is the colour and movement that Hockney puts into his work.
Fiona’s sketchbook ideas
Fiona has been taking photographs of the local landscape while out walking her dog. She has pasted these into her sketch book with notes of how Hockney might interpret these scenes if he were to make a quilt. This is the sort of thing I always tell myself I should be doing…..I just need to start doing it!
Three of the ladies busy at their machines.
This week my friend Molly and I spent a day sewing with the ladies at ‘The Sitting Ducks’ quilting group. The group meet once a month in the Village Hall in Branston Booths.
The Sitting Ducks Quilt Group
This months session began with one of the ladies demonstrating how to make a reversible ‘thread catcher’. It was a very simple design, made from eight strips of fabric, with endless possibilities for embellishing. Although intended for holding scraps of fabric or threads they could be used for holding all sorts of different things. These are cute little things to make and a great way to use up any scraps you have.
The basic shape of the thread catchers starts as four double sided strips of fabric.
There is a very good tutorial here which I am guessing is the one that Margaret based her workshop on.
My finished thread catcher.
Sue with her finished thread catcher
Using the same pattern and technique, Denise chose to make a larger version, adding straps, and made hers into an attractive tote bag.
Denise with her Bag.
Some of the ladies chose to continue with their own projects, including Fiona seen here with the striking zigzag quilt she is currently working on.
Fiona and her zigzag quilt.
All in all it was a great day and I am planning to set aside the first Thursday in the month to return to The Sitting Ducks on a regular basis. Many thanks to all of you for making Molly and I feel so welcome.
Lincs In Stitches 