Simply Stitch

Lutradur Forest Workshop…..

/ Karen Lane / 8 Comments

Day two of the Lutradur Forest Workshop saw the ladies layering and stitching their Forest designs to their base fabric.

As often happens in a workshop, although all of the ladies worked constantly over the two day’s and the quilts are looking terrific, everyone has some finishing off to do at home.

Clare is adding clumps of bluebells to her Forest floor, hand embroidering them with Colonial knots

Janet’s design featured trees in leaf as well as these wonderful old gnarly tree stumps

Sue created lots of depth with her shading

Clair based her design on a photo she took while visiting a Canadian lake in the Fall

Janice is making lots of individual leaves which will be added to the foreground on the right of her design

Patricia has created a very strong contrast with her dark foreground tree and the lighter grey trunks in the background

Lyn will add stitched detail the her ferns to create interest in the foreground

Thanks to Nicola at the Simply Stitch Studio for being a wonderful host and to all the ladies for their enthusiasm and hard work.  I will look forward to receiving photos of your finished quilts.

Lutradur Forest Workshop….

/ Karen Lane / 12 Comments
A Walk in the Forest art quilt by Karen Lane

Walk in the Forest

Today was day one of a two-day Lutradur Forest Workshop at the Simply Stitch Studio, Wetherby.  Using my “Walk in the Forest” design as a starting point, eight ladies have begun the day designing their own “Forest” art quilt which will consist of several layers of Lutradur fabric.  Today the Lutradur has been cut out and painted and tomorrow we will begin layering and stitching the fabric in place.  As you can see from the photos not only is each design unique but also each student is displaying a distinct style of their own.

The ladies start by drawing out their design ideas on paper

The Lutradur is cut out and painted

Cutting out foliage using a soldering iron

This is where we are at the end of day one…..

Tomorrow we will bring all the main elements together and stitch them in place before adding any foreground detail and hand stitching.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how these pieces develop!

 

Lutradur leaves…..

/ Karen Lane / 22 Comments

Busy making samples ahead of next weekends Forest Floor Workshop at Simply Stitch.  Today’s samples are Lutradur leaves…..

Lutradur is a wonderful fabric to work with as it doesn’t fray or tear but can be easily stitched, coloured (Inktense, Acrylics, watercolours, fabric paints, felt pens etc, etc) cut with scissors or a soldering iron and distressed using a heat tool.  It’s possible to create beautiful, lacy effects when making leaf skeletons.

I had intended to paint this leaf but it has a  ‘frosted’ look about it which I like.  It’s given me the idea of creating a monochrome Winter sample with frosted bark and grasses.

This Autumnal leaf (above) is my favourite so far….and this is the back of it…..

Tall Trees – The Finished Work…..

/ Karen Lane / 10 Comments

It’s been a terrific two days at Simply Stitch and I’ve been blown away by the standard of work that the ladies have produced!

We were joined on day two by a new lady, Jen – the pressure was on for her to catch up with what she missed on Wednesday and she did a great job of it!

Here are a few more “work in progress” photos featuring Ruth, Janet, Jen and Carole…..

and the fabulous finished (or almost!) pieces…..

Once again, thank you to Nicola for inviting me back to Simply Stitch and being such a great host!  Also a huge thank you to all the ladies who took part in the workshop for their enthusiasm and hard work over the two days.  It will be great to see you all again at our next class in the New Year.

Tall Trees Workshop….

/ Karen Lane / 4 Comments

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!

Yellow Poppies Workshop…..

/ Karen Lane / 6 Comments

This week I travelled back up to East Keswick for day two of my Yellow Poppies Workshop at Simply Stitch.

In the morning we concentrated on our designs and needle felting the key elements onto the backgrounds.  By the afternoon all of the ladies were free machine stitching the detail into their work, including four ladies who had never done free machine work before but who are now hooked!

I’m encouraging participants to use their own design and colour scheme on this workshop so I’m thinking I may need to change the title …….”Yellow Poppies aren’t the only Flower”……..maybe not, I’ll work on it!

By the end of the day we still had some finishing off to do but the ladies had produced a beautiful collection of work, each with their own distinct style……

Thanks to Nicola and all the ladies for a lovely two days and I’m looking forward to working with you all again when I come back up in November.

Yellow Poppies Workshop…..

/ Karen Lane / 6 Comments

Yellow Poppies wet felted wall hanging

Earlier this week I travelled up to East Keswick, a small village just a few miles from Wetherby, to deliver the first of a two-day Yellow Poppies Workshop for Nicola Hulme at Simply Stitch.

Nicola with a selection of her work on the wall and my work on the table

14 ladies attended the workshop, some had previous experience of felting while for others it was to be their first time.  

Once the basic techniques had been explained students were given the option to recreate my design or to develop their own and it was good to see some of the ladies working on their own designs and alternative colour schemes.

The time flew by, it was a lovely day with good company and Simply Stitch proved to be a hidden gem! The beautiful studio is large, bright and very well equipped. There is a fantastic choice of classes and courses run by Nicola Hulme, including patchwork, machine sewing, purses & bag making, hand embroidery and much more! The studio also hosts regular visits from well known specialist tutors in a variety of subjects. On sale are up to the minute patchwork fabrics and all the other essentials such as threads, wadding, notions, etc.

Simply Stitch studio

Nicola was a terrific host and ensured that the tea, coffee, biscuits and cake kept flowing!  Watch this space for photos from next weeks workshop including images of the finished wall hangings.

Find out more about Simply Stitch visit www.simplystitch.co.uk

 

Yellow Poppies Workshop…..

/ Karen Lane / 2 Comments

I’m really pleased to be announcing that I will be holding a two day workshop in August to recreate one of my favourite pieces, the wet felted wall hanging I call Yellow Poppies.  Since my quilts started touring with Grosvenor Shows earlier this year I’ve received more email comments about this piece than any other, which is really nice, with several ladies asking when I will be running a workshop.

The venue will be the beautiful light and airy Simply Stitch Studio at East Keswick owned and run by textile tutor Nicola Hulme.  The facilities are perfect for encouraging creativity and with over 400 bolts of patchwork fabric from Makower, Lewis & Irene and Cloud 9 as well as Hobbs quilt wadding you can take the opportunity of a little retail therapy if the mood takes you!  Nicola offers an extensive workshop programme so it’s well worth taking a look at her website to see what’s available.