Yay!!! It’s Finished!

All the required pieces of work for the Intermediate Certificate in Canvas work have now been completed!  A huge relief, now I just have to mount all the samples, write some notes, put together my folio, then hand it in after Christmas.  I am very pleased to have finished it all, now I can focus on things like my overgrown garden and organising some light clothing for my Singapore trip.  I am resolved never to undertake another long stitching course again, it takes over one’s life and leaves little time for anything else.  I can clear away all my stitching paraphernalia from my dining table where it has been for three months, and best of all, my stitching time is once more my own!

Anyway, the last piece is a large (4 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall) pincushion to match the needle case made earlier – same colours, same thread, a different design and some different stitches.  Bright and glaring, I’m sure I shall not misplace them easily once they are put to use.

What do you think?

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No more Library Bus…..and a woolly blob

This little town now has its very own library situated in buildings which once housed a local health clinic – it’s associated with the Central Highlands Library system so borrowers can access any of the books on their catalog.  It is great not to have to go to the Woodend or Kyneton Library, or to use the funny Library Bus which came to town on Mondays and had a very limited selection of reading matter.  Some of the profits from the town’s Easter Art Show were donated to the new library and used to purchase a variety of books on different crafts chosen by one of my local stitching friends, so I knew they would be worthwhile.  Ever the reader of anything to do with textiles, I borrowed a book on feltmaking, something I have done with mixed results in the past.  This book has a couple of chapters on making felt vessels, and having long admired those made by Teresa Poletti Glover, I decided to have a go.

This was the process….wool fibres layered over a shape, covered with some old panty hose, wet down with soapy water, and gently rolled against the sides of a bucket until the fibres felted.  Then it was fulled until it shrank further and was shaped by hand.  It was a little more complicated than that, but there are lots of instructions online for this technique if you are interested.

A woolly blob…..

After the first felting……

The finished vessel.

I think I may add some stitching to embellish it a bit, but was so pleased with it that I made another one this afternoon.  I have lots of ideas about how I might vary the surface and shape or even to include some natural dyeing……I think I need something a little different to everyone else for next year’s Embroiderer’s Guild Exhibition.  There will be some more experimentation so do watch this space!

This afternoon’s creation is still a bit damp so the colours might be a little different (lighter) when it is totally dry.

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Bubble bubble, toil and dye…

What are these alien looking lumps, you ask….

They are pieces of woollen Doctor’s flannel that have been tied, stitched, knotted or crumpled in preparation for a dunk in a dye bath, using my local Eucalyptus leaves.  I have several varieties growing on this property, and they each give a different result – then there are other variables:- age of leaves, tap or rain water, steel or aluminium pot, length of time boiled, which mordant used, if any, whether there are other leaves enclosed, or metal clips used, and I reckon you can add the direction of the wind or how one holds one’s mouth as the results are always unpredictable.  I wanted to get some pieces with the red colour one usually gets from E. crenulata, to go with some other bits already dyed and all pieces were tied or stitched in the shibori manner, rather than clamped to avoid any darkening from the metal.  They were boiled for a couple of hours, as usual, but when I checked, they seemed to have taken up little colour.  I pulled them all out – looking a sort of dull cream colour and immediately put them in another pot with leaves of a different sort to try again.  I kept just one of the first attempt to see what it would look like when cool and unwrapped.  It was this…

It is the most gorgeous wattle yellow with blue tinges around the areas of resist.  I tried to replicate it the next day – same leaves, same pot, same rainwater, same time and got a completely different result, so this is the only piece of fabric I have of that colour.  All the others from the first day turned out a red/orange as I had initially expected, and those done the next day were similar.  I was really after something a bit darker and brighter, and I have no idea what caused the yellow, but I shall try again another day.  These are some of the other pieces, a few of which are back in another dye bath as I type as they were a bit uninspiring.

This last one is a piece of vintage kimono silk…..

I have friends who approach natural dyeing in a more scientific way, keeping notes and samples of their results with different methods, leaves etc etc.  I prefer to just see what happens, but I do intend to do a test with each of the Eucalyptus trees I have to see if it is possible to be more accurate in reaching the desired colours.

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My sewing machine still works….

Happy to report that the Bernina still goes, despite being forsaken for a Canon.  In fact I really enjoyed making these items and began to look at my stash with slitty eyes, thinking what things I could do with it – there is rather a lot, I must confess……including many fabrics that have been aging for 20 years or more.  Almost original repros so to speak.

Some simple 9 patches, made with ‘real ‘repros….as part of a joint effort of a group of friends.  They are destined for a Disappearing 9 patch quilt, that will be raffled at a Retreat in Bendigo in 2013.

Then I made this bag from that piece of patchwork mentioned a couple of posts back.  I really like this, a useful shape and size for taking needlework to meetings etc.  I knew if I waited a while, inspiration would strike!  The twisted cord is made from a bunch of lurid Procion dyed cotton threads I received in a lucky dip at the Embroiderer’s guild Christmas luncheon.  Coincidentally the colours were a perfect match.

You might notice a button in the sidebar which says Beyond Layers…….this is a 52 week course with Kim Klassen, and looks like it will be a whole lot of photo fun.  One of the first images I posted on Flickr to share with the group was this one.

I obviously hit the mark – Amazingly, I have now had nearly 320 502 viewings of it on Flickr, 32  45 comments, it was selected for Flickr’s Flickriver Explore on 21/1/12, and there were three six invitations to post it on other selective sites featuring special photos.  Who’s a happy snapper then?

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Home Again

The dogs and I have just had a few days in Melbourne, staying with my daughter in the inner city, and we all had a great time.  I went primarily to have a mini holiday and take some photos in a different environment……….but in the end, did not shoot much at all.  A couple of her dog, but that is about it!  I did however go out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, go swimming early one morning in the rain at the famous Fitzroy swimming pool, go dog walking in the local park on another, buy a couple of pairs of shoes and some fabric, go to a couple of movies, catch up with an old friend, and see a wonderful exhibition at the Ian Potter Gallery, called Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, a selection of Aboriginal Art from the 70′s.  I was not allowed to take photos, but there are a few online at the Gallery website above.  I immediately thought of the colours obtained from natural dyes on wool and silk, and how this sort of graphic design could well suit the pieces I have dyed so far.  I really need to do something with them, rather than just enjoy the process and stockpile the results – such as these from my latest evil looking Eucalyptus and Walnut dye pot.

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This piece of lurid cotton was dyed with Procion dyes in 2010. Though I liked it, I could not decide how it might be used as I thought it was too bright.

So I cut it up into 2.5 inch squares…… rearranged it several times….

and stitched it all together again……

The true colours are more like the photo above, I like it, but I still don’t know what to do with it.  Do I really need another cloth bag??  A cushion??  Or shall I just put it back in the stash cupboard?  Suggestions welcome!!

PS.   I do wish WordPress would not put all the photos into the slideshow – the last three were not to be included, but I cannot stop it happening – Sorry for the duplication, I think I shall contact them to see what the options might be.

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Wonky Stars

The daughter of a friend is currently undergoing treatment for a serious illness, and like quilters everywhere do, a group of us are making blocks – stars – for a quilt her Mother will complete for her, from all of us.  These are mine, deliberately wonky and in bright colours as requested.It was an interesting exercise to rummage in my stash to find “brights” – one would think after stitching and making quilts for more than 30 years I might have many loud fabrics from which to choose, that could appeal to a young woman.  I don’t!  It seems my stash is made up of muddy colours, not all blues as some might think, there are lots of florals and some very old calico type prints, but definitely not much that could be called bold and bright.  Wonder what that means?!

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Natural Dyeing….

Last week some friends gathered around the dye pots and played with leaves and fabrics.  I brought mine home in bundles and have been so very good in not opening them immediately…..I planned to leave them a week or so…the little wooden beads are to identify my pieces when they all come out of a communal pot, and look pretty much the same.  The other way I sometimes mark my bundles is by tying them with a striped synthetic string – you can see I used it to attach the beads.

I also brought home a few branches of prunus leaves and boiled them up.  I then strained the beautiful dark red liquid, left it overnight and added some alum before using it to dye the next day…..it initially looked like this.

Ever impatient, I decided to open all the bundles today, including those dyed with the red leaves above.  Here are the results, some of them most surprising.

wool blanket dyed with prunus on the day.

wool and smaller piece of alpaca, dyed with eucalypt leaves

Wool dyed with the above prunus leaves at home - yes it's green!

Fine wool, dyed in Cherry Ballart with eucalypt leaves wrapt in bundle.

Silk with eucalypt leaves and some metal scraps in Cherry Ballart.

Silk with eucalypt leaves and red prunus leaves, dyed with prunus - it is actually a bit more green than this photo shows.

There are more, but these are probably the best ones……a good result I think, despite getting shades of blue/green from red leaves.  I wonder if it would happen again…

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Blue Things….

On Saturday last I attended the Werribee Quilters Quilt-in, along with about 200 others to have some fun and to listen to a presentation by Michele Hill, quilter extraordinaire, author and down to earth genuine person who for the past fourteen years, has been obsessed by William Morris.  She was informative, amusing, unpretentious, and generous in her willing to share her experiences along her craft journey from the 1980′s, to where she is now.   She even showed a photo of her very first quilt!  I met her a couple of years ago in Adelaide and really liked her presentation then – she is still worth seeing if you have a chance, or doing a class with her as I’m sure you would learn a lot.  I’m hopeful that our Embroiderer’s Guild will engage her to teach in 2013, I shall certainly be there if that happens.

There was a quilt shop present during the day, and I purchased a couple of William Morris repros to add to the stash.

The blue fabric seems rather topical – it features the famous Strawberry Thief design….and I was writing about birds yesterday…….

specifically Blue Wrens…….and delightedly….today I captured these shots……I had been digging in a flower bed and he came to see if any tasty morsels had been unearthed.

A Male Superb Blue Wren

Superb Blue Wren

Superb Blue Wren - male

Mrs Superb Blue Wren

Blue is a favourite colour of mine, so here are a couple more items.  A beautiful little jug, a recent gift from my daughter.

And what is it sitting on?  A table runner finished last night – just two pieces of fabric, one hand dyed by me, no batting, stitched with running stitch – my version of Kantha work, a simple mindless piece of work that takes no concentration at all.  It is about 26 X 13 inches in size.

Finally, not blue, but the flowers are – as I was taking the photo of my jug, I noticed a minute spider….not much bigger than a pinhead.  You can compare it to the size of the Forget-me-not and you will know just how tiny it was.  I think it is an Orb Weaving Spider, of which there are many in the garden.

Juvenile Orb Weaving Spider

 

 

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Careful……

Don’t fall off your chair in shock, but I have some textile pieces to show you!  The first for months, and a bit different as well.

At our Nifty Needles group today, where our current theme is Recycling, I demonstrated how to make a couple of different textured surfaces for further embellishment and stitch.

I guess the first, Fabric Paper, is really what one might call a mixed media technique but the results certainly have potential for a number of things.  Instructions can be found here on Linda Matthews website “Creative Textile and Quilting Arts”.  One starts with a piece of fine cotton slathered with a diluted PVA glue, then add bits of fabric, threads, dried petals or whatever, and cover it with tissue paper – plain, coloured or discarded dressmaking patterns, and saturate it again with glue.  It can be painted wet, or dry (my preference), and when totally dry becomes a flexible fabric which can be machine or hand stitched.  Some photos of how mine was made.

Damp fabric with a layer of muslin and other bits and pieces.

Covered with old dress pattern tissue

This piece was painted while wet, and will need more when dry.

A second piece with added threads, before the tissue layer

Final product - painted dry, dried again and then Shiva Paintsticks applied.

This last piece is very textured and has the feel and consistency of leather, and will probably make a book cover, but I think fabric paper could be used for boxes, vessels, ATCs, Postcards and more….. I made a small notebook from some as a sample for this session, where the pages are made from the backs of A4 envelopes.

The second surface was made using strips of plastic fruit or onion bags, overlapped and layered on Aqua Bond, covered with another plastic dissolving film, and densely machine stitched all over with polyester thread (which will melt) to hold it together and to integrate the pieces and colours.  A simple design with a strong outline was drawn onto the top plastic film, and machine stitched again with cotton or other heat resistant thread, before dissolving the Aqua Bond and Romeo.  This results in an open and lacy fabric which can be layered and stitched on something else.  With mine, I used a soldering iron to cut away the centres of the simple daisy design, which is why it is essential that the first stitching is done with Polyester thread.  Having left my preparation for this session to the last minute, this piece was made in a hurry last night, but even so I think it is quite effective, and if made with a bit more thought, the technique has a lot of potential.

Strips of fruit bag layered, and covered with plastic film.

Piece has been machine stitched all over, and design drawn on the plastic

Design machine stitched with cotton thread - could use metalic.

Plastic films have been dissolved, and fabric sitting on black felt

I plan to do this again with better colour choices, a more interesting design and try metallic threads plus some hand stitching…..but don’t hold your breath!

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ATASDA Exhibition

Jasmine and her contents were displayed today at our Guild meeting, but she is once more on her way to her next showing in the South of this state.  Our members were impressed by the wide range of techniques used, the amount of work involved, the very vibrant colours in the textiles, and the skills with which each piece was worked.  Many of them were pieces designed to hang, but unfortunately we did not have the means to hang them all – none the less we were all able to enjoy this traveling exhibition spread out on tables.  The pieces of work were accompanied by a large folder which explained how they were made, together with an artist’s statement for each piece.  I would certainly recommend this show to anyone who might want to have it visit their group – so if you do, then contact ATASDA.

Here are some photos of some of the works…….

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