Can this be work when these are the views?

I visited my Swiss colleagues this week in Basle, and these are the views from the office window.  It is rather distracting…… 

I even got a bit of stitching done at lumchtime

Just as well I couldn't go to the auction........

The first dress sold for £7,000 and the second one sold for £3,400.  I'll continue to live with my every day wardrobe.

Textiles to drool over........

........if I had the time, the money, the places to go to wear these, I would be here tonight, particularly to see this....
and this


A lovely pdf catalogue is available to download free.

Learners and experts

Two textile treats this week.  The first, the end of year exhibition by the Textile Foundation students at Morley College where two of my friends were exhibiting.  Well worth going to see if you are in Lambeth, and it is on until 27th June.  I love these exhibitions as the you can go through the sketchbooks of the students.  Sample pages below, apologies I did not get the students' names.

Then to Sandown this weekend to the National Quilt Championships to see the work of experts.  This is a very manageable exhibition and nowhere near as overwhelming as the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.  This year there were retrospective exhibitions of the work of Ferret, Sally Bramald and Liz Jones, all astonishing levels of artistry and technique.  There are few limitations on photography at this show ( mostly on the traders' stands), so here are a few favourites from this year.

Liz Jones selection

Vendulaka Battais, amazing bargello

Jacquie Harvey, cot quilt

Sheena Norquay miniature

Rita Russell, applique detaii

Yvonne Brown, based on mosaics from a floor in Bristol

Annette Morgan, based on the same floor

As ever, the standard of the quilting at this show is astonishing, both machine and hand.

Lots to think on over the next few days.

Last day of term at Morley

So, today was the day I had to say goodbye to my lovely fellow students and to the great Marian, our tutor.  It was a day to use up some supplies and to reflect on time spent on this course.  A last outing for the Voices screen, using dyed flock

Close-up to show texture

Foiling on the "fire cloth" ( stencil created by drawing round a CD)

like the sun setting on a great two years and rising on so much knowledge to apply to future projects.

Discharging…………

……..is a verb that can have several meanings.  At Morley this week and last, we were working with this fabric, and removing the colour with..

This was astonishingly effective in removing the colour, literally working in front of our eyes.  Using various stamping, dribbling, painting and folding techniques, this gave a grand series of marks on the cloth





which were then over dyed with Procion p dye paste this week, to colour the areas where the dye had been removed.  The dye was applied in several ways :

• by scraping it on with a credit card - a strangely compelling and satisfying technique that makes a great sound on the cloth
• by painting it on with a paint brush
• by squeezing it on to the cloth with a plastic needle-nosed bottle

Then we used another discharging agent, Formusol, which can be added to Indulca paste to allow the formusol to be used like a print paste.  This is a bit more fiddly as the cloth has to be steamed to activate the pete, but it seems even more magical as the discharged print is not revealed until the cloth is unrolled after steaming.

Discharged circles, made using discs of acrylic, smeared with the paste ( using a foam brush) and then stamped on the cloth.

The words again - probably their last outing as I only have one more week in the studio.
The dyeing technique is also called illuminating discharge, and it is possible to do it in one step, but the college has a limited range of colours available so this method gives more scope for mixing our own colours.
These will both be over-dyed next week.  I'll also try this on some of my own dyed cloth - so many possibilities.

Practical stitching

I now need a laptop sleeve, as I will be travelling more in my new job. and carrying my laptop with me.  I haven't found anything for sale that I really like, so I used this piece of cloth to make my own.   There are two layers of cotton wadding in this, so the quilting had to be done with a large stitch.

Front, with loops for pens or key fobs.

Back.

Straps, which are webbing embroidered with a favourite thread.
The double zips, to allow it to be fully unzipped at airports, were a challenge, but I'm glad I had a go at these.
More carved marking tape at Morley this week, on top of a ProcionP background, created with a notched foam brush - obviously needs ironing!

Mixed stitching

I have just started a new job, so a lot of stitching has slowed down while I adjust to everything involved with that.  A couple of postcards for the birthday swap, made with hand-dyed and commercial fabrics.

A 5inch Dear Jane block to complete a tilt started by one of our group members who was a great quilter and who died this year after a long life.  Although I enjoyed making this in memory of her, this has fully convinced me that I will never make one of these quilts.

Then finally, quilting of a piece of screen printed cloth, potentially to protect my laptop if the piece is large enough.  Inside is tray-dyed cloth overprinted with a photo screen that has two sections on one screen.

Outside is Procion P painted cloth then overprinted with two different screen  stencils made from wide masking tape carved into curves with a scalpel.

Details of quilting, so far.

I am also taking part in this stitch-along, but there will be few photos as the final product will be a present to be revealed on the day of the 50th anniversary edition.