A blog about making art and other things using cloth, paper, paint, colour, stitch, and all sorts of exciting techniques, some of which I'm sure I still have to discover! I hope that the joy all this gives me is visible in what you can see here.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Felt and Stitch Day

I belong to a Women's Art Group called KAIROS, and on Saturday, four of us met up for a day of "Felting and Stitch". Jackie led the workshop, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and I've put the results of my efforts here.    
I've done a small amount of wet felting before, but it has always been a very energetic, and quite exhausting process. However, the technique that Jackie demonstrated was far more gentle, and quite relaxing, so I think this could be something I'll be doing more of in the near future. My two samples are above, and as you can see I've started to stitch into one piece. I plan to do more, so will post the finished results at a later date.The group has also decided to make a wall hanging that we can all contribute to, and then raffle in aid of The Smile Train charity. We are all making a 6"x8" panel, with a theme of "The Sea". We have all exchanged some of the fabrics we are going to use, so that hopefully, the finished result will have some uniformity to hold it all together. The only other stipulation was to design a panel that was not too representational. My panel is above, and I started by weaving together some of the fabrics I was given, plus a few of my own. It has turned out to look a bit on the solid side, although I hope that by indicating some wave movement, and some seagulls, it will have a hint of the ocean about it. I may do another one so that I have a choice, but I just need to sit on it for a bit I think.
                                                              
                        

Monday 1 March 2010

cqgb March Journal Quilt

This is my March Journal Quilt for the cqgb. For the first four months I'm exploring texture, and I used the same technique for this as for the textile piece "Experimenting" on the 19th Feb. The only difference with this quilt, is that I stuffed some of the sections from a small cut in the felt backing before adding wadding and backing fabric. A bit like trapunto I suppose.

There is a small problem though, and that is because the needle punch machine has caused some of the fabric to become quite fragile, so that when I pushed the stuffing in, a couple of areas started to fray away at the edges. Something to consider if I use this technique again!