WILD WEST

1. Return to the Wild

Large wheels turning

Engines pumping

Ponies pulling

Stones crushing

Tall chimneys pointing

Like fingers

Into the dark, dirty skies

Birds now singing

Bees are buzzing

Rabbits grazing

Buds are shooting

Tranquility

Harmony

Peace

As earth reclaims the wilderness

Which is truly hers once more

This is the piece I made for the Quilters Guild A.G.M. Wild West Challenge.

It was a photograph I took of a derelict tin mine, which I covered with black chiffon and stitched.

I wrote the poem to describe how it made me feel being there.

About time I blogged!

Hi all,
I got my first West Country Quilter magazine via email today and as it has my blogged listed I thought I had better do something. Firstly welcome to any quilters from Region 4 that may be taking a look.

Upcott Valley Quilters had a challenge. It is mentioned somewhere on here and I promised to keep you posted. We bought the fabric as a group when we all went to the Quilt festival. Basically the challenge was to cut a hole or holes in your fabric and give the bit that came out to the others and then fill the hole with something else. It was very scary!This challenge was set by Sarah. The quilt is fantastic,(I think). It will be going to Birmingham in August so if you are going to the festival look out for it. It will be in the group section. It was hung at West Point but it was almost impossible to take a picture. I could only get the edge. I will post a better picture when I get one.


Decisions- which bit to put where? It is 8 fat quarters and 4 of them were cut in half and worked as 2 pieces to create more interest.


The label is pinned to one of my two bits

One Little Gem

Inca Inspiration
Well so much for my new beginnings. Almost as soon as I said it I was struck down. I was ill for a week! I had just started this piece but have only managed to finnish it today. I have made it for the Little Gem tombola.
It was inspired by Inca art originally but has wandered of a bit. The copper mushrooms represent the blades of sacrificial knives. I hope it gives the feeling of the Incas. I must now put away the sewing machine and get out the wax. Craft fair season is rapidly approaching and with sickness etc. I am getting behind.

Region 4 Banner

Coast



Each region of The Quilters' Guild of the British Isle was asked to make a banner to hang in St Anthony's Hall, York. Upcott valley Quilters volunteered and today it was handed over to the regional coordinator. The brief was to make a two sided banner that reflected our region. Region 4 includes Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We went round in circles to start with because we had so much choice. We decided that the one thing they had in common was they all have sea/coast and also the land/countryside was important. To simplify it further we split into two groups This worked well I worked on the coastal side. We started by thinking of the elements. Surfing is very popular in our region especially Cornwall. The ammonite represents the Jurassic coastline which stretches from Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in Dorset to near Exmouth in Devon. Bishops Rock Lighthouse which is of the Isles of Scilly was chosen to represent the many lighthouses that protect our rugged coastline. Finally the Mayflower sailing into the distant flying the flags of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Country


This side was worked by the other half of the group. The cow is a Devon Red or Ruby and the sheep is a local breed. Eden was an easy choice it is also built in a disused quarry. Quarries can be found all over the region Portland Stone and Bere caves are two examples. Derelict tin mines are a common site in Cornwall. Finally we could not leave out the Cerne Abbas Giant, a very well known feature of Dorset.
I apologise for the quality of the pictures( and the spelling) please feel free to ask me anything about them.

Upcott Valley Quilters Challenge 2009

Another year gone and another challenge completed. For the last two years Upcott Valley have had a fabric challenge. Each member that went to the Festival of Quilts last year chose a fat quarter of fabric. They looked at them and chose one. A fat quarter was then bought for each member. The size was chosen and this year it was going to be made in landscape format. The fabric has stripes in different colours so we decided we could each choose one of the other colours to work with. I chose purple. One other fabric was also added a pale aqua blue. The embellishments and stitching could be in any of the colours from the challenge fabric. They will be on display at the quilt show being held at Westpoint Exeter Devon this weekend.

Happy New Year

Well another year gone!

I have been taking part in an arch challenge for the last twelve months so thought you would like to see a picture of eleven of them. (I still have one to come).
Christmas went well. I think I am the only person not to have had a cold but there is still time.
We went to one of the local pubs on New Years Eve. It was really nice and friendly. I think we are going to like living here.
Yesterday friends came over for dinner I did a mini Christmas dinner which was less hectic than the first one as there were no children. It was very relaxed. Now tho I am still trying to clear up and have been washing up a bit at a time but it was worth it. I am just of to do the dinner. More washing up!

Arch for Carol T

This is one of my Encaustic pictures which I used a print of for Carol's arch


Close up showing the free machined arch with its bells




This is my final arch. I know it is still November but I wanted to get it done and sent of before the chaos of Christmas. I started of by thinking I would do something seasonal so I used one of my own paintings as a starting point. Having read the brief I started of on the Gothic route but think I must have been distracted by Tiggy's blog of her trip to India because the arch started to go very Indian. I did a bit of free machine embroidery which had tassles, just right for little bells. Carol likes metal so I made a metal frame for the picture which left a space, just right for a bit of shisha work I thought, so I dug out my instuctions which I had from doing a workshop with Tig years ago. I embellished the background. Red and blue chiffon onto blue felt. I added a little copper Angelina behind the free machined arch. I then hand stitched beads around the edge and finally added a few Swarkovsci crystals to give it a sparkle.

Arch for Cathy

This is the arch I made for Cathy. November is a time of remeberance here in England. The majority of people can be seen wearing poppies bought from the British Legion to help them raise much needed funds. The money enables them to help servicemen, ex servicemen and their families in anyway they can. I decided as Cathy had floral on her list that I would do poppies for her. I used various sheer fabrics layered up onto a felt backing. The centres of the poppies were done on the embellisher. I decided to leave the edges free.

Arch for Gillian

I have just completed my October arch for Gillian. She likes seahorses, leaves and anything Egyptian. I decided to do the sea horse. Although I can draw sea horses I had a stencil which had come free in a magazine years ago and have not done a lot of stencilling. I stencilled onto felt and add some puff paint to give it a bit of texture. The background is layered chiffon. The edge is painted Vilene to look like rocks(although I have added so much stuff you can hardly see them now)I stitched over the sea horse and background, then attacked it a bit with the soldering iron. I loosely added some chiffon as sea weed. I then got out the glue gun and did some foiling. Finished!

The next day as I was getting it ready to post, I decided on second thoughts it was not finished. It needed something else. It was lifeless. It was a bit flat so I tackled the for ground by adding the shells. While looking for the shells I found the leaves and then the bits of painted Tyvek. I now feel it is finished and will again get it ready to post

Arch for Hannah

I have just finished the arch for Hannah. I worked it on the embellisher using felt, wool and chiffon. It is worked from the front and the back. The candle is a print of one of my encaustic pictures. I have done some stamping and added some foil. The problem I find with the embellisher is that the work grows. I embellished it onto silk this time thinking it would hold its shape but it didn't make any difference. Originally the stone arch was bigger but it had to be trimmed down to fit the template. I enjoy using the embellisher and don't break so many needles now (since I found out how much they cost.
My work space is getting more organised and I feel much more comfortable with it. Ever since we moved in I have been moving things around to make the space more workable. I make cards and jewellery for a living and need to be able to get at all the components easily. I think I am nearly there now.

Challenges

This was the ATC which I received from Zoe. It was part of a hand stitched lottery challenge in the Textile Challenge Group. Her challenge stitch was cross stitch


July Arch for Kate
The base is black felt. I embellished a layer of velvet and then a layer of chiffon. I put the heat gun on it for a while. The picture is of my grandmother or my Aunty Nell. They were identical twins. The picture is framed with embossed metal. I have added tea dyed paper, shells,a skeletal leaf, a lace motif and gemstone. Finally I added some foil.

Hand Stiched ATC

I have just finished a hand stitched A.T.C. for the Textile Challenge group. My challenge was to use Chevron stitch which as I am not an embroiderer I had never heard of. I managed to fined a picture with in instructions and this is the result. For the background I had some half made samples which I chopped up and painted with fabric paint. The Chevron was done in variegated man made thread. As it was a hand stitched challenge I blanket stitched around the edge.

April arch for Mags

This is the arch I made for Mags. Her chosen theme is Egyptian. I used sheer fabrics on felt which has paper and paint added. The picture is a limestone relief of King Amenophis IV carved about 1370 BC It is now housed in the Berlin museum. King Amenophis was a heretic. For him only one God was supreme, Aton,whom he worshipped and whom he had represented in the shape of the sun. He called himself Akhnaton, after his god, and moved his court out of reach of the priests of the other gods, to a place now called El-Amarna. (Extracted from the Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich)

Kindred Spirits of the Textile World

This was a recent write up in the North Devon Journal, about me and the Kindred Spirit Exhibition. Written by Anne Tattersall.

Arch for Patsy

This is the Arch I made for Patsy.
The picture is my grandmother Amy.
Patsy is also interested in family
The picture is paper and the fabrics
are tea dyed.

Rosemoor

Archangel Gabriel

Well -today was the the day we set up the exhibition! All went to plan (more or less) and its looking good. We just have some final touches to add tomorrow ready for the opening. I only took one picture today which is of the A5 sample wall. I will post some more pictures as I take them for those of you who can't visit personally. My theme is The Four Elements all of which have a gaurdian angel. Here is a picture of Gabriel and the head of Archangel Michael.

Work for Rosemoor

I thought I would post a couple of bits from one of my Rosemoor panels. Apart from the stitched details they were worked on my embellisher which I bought just before Christmas. So far I have broken 12 needles. I have a Pfaff embellisher and found a good tip on Maggie Grey's site about using Babylock needles instead as they are stronger. When I can afford it I will get some and have a go.
The pieces are worked on felt. The wings are Angelina sandwhiched between the felt and a layer of organza. I then add strips of frayed organza and embellished from the back. The hair of Gabriel is done using wool tops with some sari waste added.

Upcott Valley Challenge

Upcott Valley members decided to have a fabric challenge. While at the Festival of Quilts they each looked for a fat quater. That evening they voted on their favourite and the next day bought enough for each person to have a fat quater(red), along with a contrasting fabric (lime green)
While packing and sorting my paperwork before we moved house recently, I found the excercises I had done on a workshop with Sandra Meech. "Taking a line for a walk" would be the perfect technique for this fabric.






First I made a full size drawing 18"x22" A template was made for each shape from freezer paper. The challenge fabric was laid on the wadding as a border contrasting fabric shapes were cut using the templates and added. It was all stitched to the wadding. The line was made from twisted black fabric which was zigzagged. This was stitched over the shapes using the drawing as a guide. I quilted over all the shapes, added the backing and quilted more. It all took me a lot longer than I had hoped.

As they have featured Inches in the latest Quilting Arts Mag. I thought I would post my small collection. It is very quiet on the net at the moment. I guess you are all enjoying the sun ( in England) I prefer to stay in and admire it from the window and then go out when it is cooler.

TEXTILES

My First Art Doll
I have just redone my first doll. She was not properly stuffed and was very floppy. I have also wired her head. She is made from calico which I have painted. Her hair is sheeps wool. She has pipe cleaners in her hands and arms which means they can be bent into different positions. Her hands are a bit untidy and one day I may re do them too. Her dress is made from cheese cloth which I have stiched Tyvek, beads and sequins. Her head dress was free machine embroidery with felt leaves. Her shoes are also made of felt which have been covered in various odds and ends including Angelina and a bit of netting from a lemon bag. Her wings are made from two layers of organza which have been machined together.