TEXTURES

I had recently been to a Jan Tillet workshop discovering the wonders of a 'NEW TO ME' product -
Shrink Polyester - which shrinks with steam, causing the fabric it is sewn onto to pucker.
So this was the perfect opportunity to use some of my samples and ideas in a piece of work, together with sparkly net, organza and some hand dyed fabric which I printed with my wonderful - newly acquired - letter stamps.
Unfortunately the colour is not as lush in the photo as it should be.
janex

Summer Outing #1

We had a lovely day at Trebah Gardens yesterday. 

 The weather was good and almost like Summer!!  

We met up at 10:00am and had a lovely coffee and slice of cake before moving to the Vinery for our show and tell.

Enjoying the sun outside the Vinery

 The gardens looked beautiful, very fresh and green, with lovely Foxgloves adding a dash of colour here and there, and the walk down to the beach ensured we had sapce for a well deserved lunch!!

We all were busy snapping the views and some of us even took out our paints and did a spot of painting.......not me it has to be said!!  

We now have to put these images into use by designing July's challenge , which of course will be Trebah Gardens.

Trebah Gardens

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone picks out from all the things that we saw to use as there inspiration, and that includes me because at the moment I have no idea!!

Thank for reading.......Carolyn

REVIVAL

I found it difficult to settle on a subject for this challenge but in the end decided to
 "REVIVE A UFO".
I had this textured painted background which was unfinished and had been abandoned quite a long time ago.
I recalled the theme was intended to be based on patterns on currency.  I was surprised when I actually looked at some money at the intricate patterns, none of which I had noticed before.
My design was inspired by the ammonites, spirals and colours on the English £10 note.

I did some stamping, reverse applique, more painting and then I embellished it with sequins and beads.

I was happy with the finished result.

janex

Dear Textile Maids,

Once again life has taken over from art this month and I have made no progress on any of our themes!

BU the first good news is that my dad had a very successful operation last week and got home just in for his 90th birthday celebrations.

The other good good news is that my sewing skills have had to be applied elsewhere... I made a picture for my dads 90th birthday present...

and stitched him this card.
(Which his next door neighbour looked at and said - "of yes you can buy kits now!"

With my dads health improving I'm looking forward to a quieter few months and catching up with my textile maids projects.
Looking forward to our day at Trebah, fingers crossed for the weather, Chris

60's Revival...........

I think I lost the plot with this and taken over the mantle from Margaret, as in, I don't know when to stop. However, the whole point of this group is to explore new challenges.

My thoughts were to revive a piece of cloth with a 60's pattern, layers of bright flowers and symbols. I started by researching Psychedelic, that was an eye opener, I never knew it was a drug in the 1960's. The modern use of the word which I am familiar with, describes anything with an abstract decoration of multiple bright colours.
So I moved onto Flower Power, only to find that in America where it originated, it was used to protest against the Vietnam War. Hippies embraced this by wearing embroidered flowers in vibrant colours on their clothes, flowers in their hair and distributing flowers to the public.

Phew! After all that I looked up some images, drew some flowers and swirls, painted one page in my sketchbook and got to work. Starting with a Transfer Dyed background and images, I built up layers with bonded appliqué using hand dyed fabrics. I used free machine quilting, hand embellishments and beads to bring the whole thing together.

Yeah Baby Yeah!!

I was going to call it 60' Revival Flower Power, but this mad little creation deserved something else, so I took inspiration from Austin Powers..........Yeah Baby Yeah!!
Sue

Gothic Revival

Hello
Ralph Waldo Emerson said 'Every wall is a door' but this month I have felt like every door is a wall and I haven't been able to get through!
I chose Gothic Revival for the challenge (April) and took some photos of Truro Cathedral and  the wonderful doors there. I had been very impressed by Wendy Dolan's embroidery technique based on an old door and thought I would have a go. All went well for a while but I struggled a bit with the colouring. However it is finished and it was really good using my old sewing machine again ( My new machine is not happy with certain threads, so we have fallen out) It has taken a lot longer to complete this challenge but I would not let myself start on Textures until I had finished.

Adding colour with inktense blocks

The finished piece - Revival

Thanks for looking. See you soon with Textures 

Margaret

Bridget Riley inspired Texture

Normally I create pleated pieces in a plain fabric, I really love the shadows and light play they create, however, this time round I thought I'd give a patterned fabric a go - the picture doesn't really do it justice.  

You really need to look at this piece which is an effect I was after.  I say it was inspired by Bridget Riley, however, unlike her work which is beautifully measured and precise my design is a little more organic.

I am in two minds about this piece, it has interesting qualities to it but I do prefer the effect in plain fabric - it's still only Thursday, who knows, I may make two squares for this challenge!

- Becca

Magic Numbers!

The challenge for May was 'Revival' and I have eventually finished my piece.  

At the last Festival of Quilts, it seemed that the 'Hexagon' was making a come back, as there were several quilts made with small hexagons.  So I decided that I would use this old favourite and give it a modern twist.

Magic Numbers - In production!

After deciding on Hexagon's I then had to think about how I would use them and settled on the Fibonacci Sequence.  So the size of them hexagons started at 1/2", and went up to 2 1/2".  The infill hexagons had 6 sides but of varying sizes. 

The fabric I used was all hand-dyed using a variety of techniques.  The modern twist was the addition of hexagons made from melted bubble wrap placed other a sheer that was trimmed away in places.

Magic Numbers - Close up

I am pleased with the result and hope you like it too.

Now to get cracking on 'Textures' this months challenge......