ATC swop - Unlimited Textiles

The theme for July's Unlimited Textile swop was 'Slash and Burn'. I opted for an ATC and this is the finished result. The sandwich consists of a base which is black felt with a middle layer of gold fabric and the top layer is a piece of polyester that I treated with a heat gun to create this bubble and hole effect. It was then loosely painted with oil sticks of gold and peacock blue. I then used my soldering iron to make further holes some going through one layer some through two so the black felt showed.
Margaret Roberts (Digital gran) will be receiving this ATC.


This closeup shows the layers in more detail.
Below is a postcard that I completed as I did make a large piece so I could add to my design/ideas book

Tif July Challenge

The colour scheme for July as part of Sharon B's Take it Further Challenge reminds me of heather and the colours of Fair Isle jumpers so popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The theme 'Half Way Mark' got me thinking not of time but of other spects of half way. Half Full or Half Empty situations. I know so many people who swing from approaching a situation/trauma in a positive and then negative way. So I doodled postcard shapes and divided them into half, vertically, horizontally and diagonally, shading them in in a variety of ways and formats.
I chose my materials, a selection of wool and silk tops that fell into the colour scheme and embellished them onto a piece of white felt. The wool gave me the background I wanted horizontal stripes and the silk was them embellished on top in diagonal sections. I love the way some of the silk sits on the top in clumps giving the effect of heather/earthy relief.

The finished result is so reminiscent of hand knitted woollen jumpers.

Holmfirth Art Week

David and I went to Holmfirth Art Week twice this past week. Once on our own on Wednesday so that we could have a good look around not once but at least three times, all at varying speeds to fully appreciate the art work on show. Some of the ceramics were outstanding and Jackie Walton was the featured potter and she had some stunning exhibits, I think by Saturday she had sold all her pieces. I would have given house room to any of her pots but by the time I got there they were nearly all sold!


The second time we went was with our eldest daughter and husband who turned up as a surprise on Friday. They live in Poole on the south coast of England, a 5 hour car journey. Joanne wanted to see me before I go into Hospital for my NEW hip next month. We had a great weekend and they are such a happy newly married couple.................!


As for sales we both sold a painting. 'David's Cow' or Contentment and my Autumn leaves.

This was taken before I had it mounted and framed. The camera has created indentations where in actual fact the natural cord swirls were in relief. The leaves are Tissutex painted with silk paint before cutting out.

I had put some items in the Craft Market, unframed textile pieces, embroidered cards, knitted jewellery, bucket bags and silk scarves.

This bucket bag is my own design and is a crazy patchwork of fabric, it is lined with silk. So glad someone will be enjoying it.It is so gratifying when people choose to purchase your designs and art work but then Holmfirth does get a very diverse group of people through its doors. I also sold three pics that I posted last month, 'Pink confusion', 'Tall and Proud', the foxgloves and 'Russets' the green felted piece. I didn't bring much home so my stock will have to be replenished which means lots of creating!!!!!!!!! good oh!

TIF catch up

Very late May TIF contribution. I liked the pastel colour scheme

which was a change and the theme of 'What do you call yourself?' prompted me to make a list of all the labels I currently attach to myself and the one that kept coming to the surface was that of an experimenter of mixed textile media. At present I am working on creating new surfaces on which to surface embellish by hand or FME. So what better way to interpret May's theme than utilising the colour way and the theme. I cut a piece of white felt Post Card size to fit in with all my other monthly challenges and then cut strips of organza and fabric in the given colour way. I embellished them on my Janome embellisher and then hand embroidered the surface design. I chose cretan stitch as I was very pleased with the effect gained last year on Sharon's take a Stitch Tuesday. This I did whilst on holiday in Menorca last week.




It's coming along nicely.



Even later is April's challenge, this is the base for my interpretation of 'How I see change'.

Change creates a swirl effect whether its positive or negative. So this piece will be based on swirls and curves that life throws us. Very pertinent at present for us as a family as we have lots of trauma and long term chronic illness affecting family and close friends. I can see this dynamic movement of life and family situations and how it is constantly changing individuals. The best we can do is try to learn from all the experiences and move forwards...............

This is the view from the villa we rent on a regular basis from friends. What a back yard!!!This chap came regularly to soak up the sun on the rocks at the end of the garden!