Strippy bookwrap

In the tradition of strippy quilts, (yes that is strippy,  and not stripy spellchecker, no matter how many times you try to correct it), the most recent bookwrap was made from left-over strips of my hand-dyed fabrics, then hand embroidered with colours complementary to the colour of the cloth.  The organisers of this project are so efficient, it is on their site already, so this is a picture of the back  or the front, depending which way you put it on your book.

I don't want to go to Chelsea…….

I seem to be reliving my musical history through my photos.  In the week of the excesses of the Chelsea flower show, these are all from my garden, and show why " I don't want to go to Chelsea" ( with apologies to Elvis Costello).

Colour palettes

The photo below, of peeling paint on an abandoned rowing boat,  has continued to intrigue me, and I asked my elder son to help me extract a colour palette.  He did extract the colour palette below, but in such a blur that I'll find it tricky to duplicate the process.  He's definitely not a natural teacher.

More book wraps finished

These little projects are very addictive.   I've decided to use a lot of my dyed samples from Morley to make these for the Bookwrap Gem tombola at the Festival of Quilts.  All to fit A5 size sketchbooks, with a spine or up to 2cm width.  Cotton sheeting, hand-dyed with Procion MX and Procion P, then  machine quilted.  The last one, has an overlay of silk chiffon from somewhere or other.  These were also a chance to try out the Bernina edge stitch foot - well worth the money.

I love my baby' cos she does good sculptures……………….

…….with apologies to " The Rezillos" ( still one of my all time favourite bands) but it is so appropriate for the sculptures I saw this week at the Cass Sculpture Foundation, by Ellis O"Connell.  Fantastic work, really organic shapes.  As they are made of carbon fibre and not steel or stone, they are warm to the touch, which is really surprising in work of this scale.

This was such a rewarding place to visit, and there were only about 6 other people there yesterday - admittedly, it was so cold that I couldn't eventually take any more photos as my hands were so stiff.  About 1.5h drive from London, and I took about 2h to view all the sculptures.  It was the culmination of a complete overload of art this week, that I will blog about later once I've absorbed it all.  This visit was combined with a trip to Petworth - art of complete contrast and incredible to think it was all owned by one family.

Two finishes

Rain at the weekend gave time to finish a couple of ongoing projects.  First of all " Morley Moons" indigo dyeing using resists,  pole-wrapping shibori and some Procion p dyeing with a thermofax screen.  Details of dyeing in this post.

Quilted with stippling and a design learned at a Philippa Naylor workshop.

Then, using the offcuts of the cloth, an A5 book wrap for the Bookwrap Gems stall at the Festival of Quilts.

Interior

All very satisfying.

Work on display at Morley College

The work of the participants in the Printed Textiles course is on display at Morley for the next two weeks.  The broad theme was earth, air, fire and water and I have pieces in the earth, fire and water sections.

Earth, mine is the white silk scarf with the squiggly circles, at top right.

Fire, mine is at the top, tray-dyed linen sheet.

Water, mine are at the bottom, below the lovely silk shibori.

The air exhibit is this amazing dress, made with silk fabric that has been printed using the breakdown screen method with Procion P pastes.

Inspiration from dedication

(Image from saint johnsbible.org)

 A visit to St Martin's in the Fields this week for a candlelit concert led to an unexpected treat, in a viewing of some reproduction pages from the St John's Bible.  I am not religious, so this could be a well-known project in the Christian community, but it was new to me.  Hand-lettered, with quill pens on vellum, and illustrated with pigments used in medieval manuscripts. The reproduction pages on paper are absolutely breathtaking, both the calligraphy and the illustrations, so the originals , on vellum, must be startlingly vivid.

Many artists collaborated on this project and I am particularly struck by the pages by Suzanne Moore, combining text with image.  It is possible to look through the bible on line but the colours are a pale imitation of reality.  

If you are in Trafalgar Square, it is worth going in to see the East window, a remarkable piece of art by female artist,  Shirazeh Houshiary,  and to visit the great cafe in the crypt.

Spring greens

So many shapes and shades.

April journal, in by the skin of my teeth - EH16

Finished on 30th April, about 4h before the deadline for submission.  Zooming off to university with the world at my feet.

Even although it was only 30 miles away, funding at that time meant I could leave home and live in.   Liberation.

Hand-embroidered panel ( Jenny Hart design), machine trapunto and machine quilting. Post code abstracted out to a decorative edge stitch on the panel. Hand-dyed commercial fabric from amazing supplier at FoQ whose name I have forgotten.

 This is how I felt,  off to my future. The dark side represents what I was leaving behind and the candlelight of dinners taken in the dining hall during the 3 day week. The brighter side was all that was to come.

Lots I would now change on this in terms of composition, but is was a useful and fun exercise to try to convey my memories in cloth.

Colour - who knew shadows contained so many colours

Another great day with Richard Box, today getting an understanding of how colours interact to give shadow.  Exciting, exhilarating and exhausting, but this was the result - it actually is recognisable as something.  Richard teaches elsewhere in the UK, so do look out for him, he is a great teacher.

I have actually drawn something

An unexpected bit of free time has coincided with a pre-booked drawing course at Morley with the lovely, encouraging Richard Box.  I am therefore able to completely give my mind to the two days, without having any interruptions.  Yesterday, Richard gave we terrified starters a recipe to follow, and it works.  Blurry images form my phone, as i certainly didn't expect to be photographing any results.

It actually looks like a "proper" drawing.  Colour today, what a treat.