Doorstops

With the weather being so hot I have needed the doors open throughout the

house and studio.

Keeping the doors open with an array of objects is becoming annoying,

so today I came up with these contemporary looking

Doorstops.

I made 3 pairs.

One of each pair I will take and put on sale, in The Gallery tomorrow.

They definetly work and look good too!

See more of my work on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Stewart's Birthday

Stewart's Birthday today!

So we headed off to, 'The Hare Arms', at Stow Bardolph.

The history of this country pub is really worth looking up

on their excellent website.

The original building dates back to The Napoleonic Wars and Nelson.

We started with coffee and then lunch with a Birthday drink in their gardens

which are shared by Peacocks,white and blue!

Isn't this one just beautiful?

(See more on the website).

Plus an array of different types of chickens!

We've kept chickens in the past so we enjoy their little funnies!

The quail was trying to escape it's run

and was digging some really decent escape tunnels!

We had a lovey couple of hours just watching all the goings on

and having lunch.

'Otis',the resident cat was hilarious eyeing up the little bantums

but weary in the heat as they were rushing around and the very

large chickens were glaring at him!

Stewart and I then headed home for some R and R in our garden,

sunbathing and reading.

I do think a snooze was had too!

BBQ for tea!

Happy Birthday, Stewart!

Visit The Hare Arms at

http://www.theharearms.co.uk/

Ratatosk

There are so many amazing treasures and Artworks around

The V&A, this is one of the Installations around the museum,

at the moment until the end of August.

Made by

'Helen & Hard Architectects'.

It was next to us in the pool area and we just had to try it out for

size! but where's Liz?

Has she been whisked away by the mythical Norse

'Drill Tooth Squirrel' on which the piece is inspired by,

or is she now dancing in the pool with the children?

We did find her munching on one of Barbara B's

Rich Tea biscuits and asking where we could get a

cuppa to go with it. Which we did in The William Morris Tearooms,

in the corner of The V&A,beautiful,

but Barbara B needs to be taught

how to mop up better!

We then visited the 'Fashion', 'Asia' Galleries and

topped it off with the 'Jewellery Rooms' and gift shop.

WOW!!!!!

All of us had to sit down, a kind V&A staff told us about

'Perino's an authentic Italian Restaurant just round the corner.

So we walked into busy London and down the street,

for a lovely Italian meal!

Definitely a good recommendation! Thank you!

The wonderful company, the staff and food were a fantastic end to a lovely day

before we had to catch our train home to Norfolk again.

Thank you so much Girls for sharing such a memorable day!!!

By The Pool

The Exhibition was absolutely wonderful!

We spent a good two hours looking and absorbing.

We all have our favourites but the

Military, Hexagon Quilt and The Rajh,Quilt were among them.

The Whole Cloths and the piecing was amazing on the patchwork ones.

I found interest and inspiration in all but my favourite

at the moment is,

The Childs Bed Quilt, byPriscilla Redding made in the 1690's.

here we are cooling off by the garden pool,

children were paddling and playing with the fountains,

it was so hot!

Barbara's already reading the V&A Exhibition book!

'Quilts 1700-2010, Hidden Histories, Untold Stories'.

If you want to purchase it, it is at

http://www.vandabooks.com/

Fiday,Waiting for our Train

Here we are, 'The Coven Quilters' waiting for out train to London.

We're off to see the Quilting Exhibition at

TheVictoria and Albert Museum.

I'll introduce you from the right in the picture,

Kate, Me, Barbara W, Barbara B, Jane, Joan and Liz on the end near the rails!

We have been meeting for the last 12 years

and laugh from the time we get together,share and comfort

until we leave, often I get in just before Cinderella! well just!

Visit the exhibition at

www.vam.ac.uk

Finished Blue, Green Quillo

I enjoy making Quillo's for gifts and for sale.

See more Quillo's on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Quillo Front

The Quillo pattern for download which will be available soon,

will include tips for cutting and using a rotary cutter.

Instructions for measurements,assembly and tips for machine quilting.

See more quillos on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Back of Quillo

I loved using this dyed fabric. I purchased the main one at The Scout Hut, Hunstanton.

The cushion uses scraps of my own dyed fabrics.
I machine quilted it with King Tutt varigated blue thread.
See more Quillos on my website
http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Quillo Cushion

Today I finished the Blue,Green Quillo

I am making for instructions to download and a quillo course

I am teaching in the Autumn.

See more Quillo's on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Crazywork Wallhanging

This morning I trimmed and squared off, all the

Crazywork Round Robin blocks and machined the first

green satin border on to them.

I am now working on the crazywork border to

add to this. it is going to be wallhanging

approximately 40" square.

I am finding differentareas of interest all the time.

I,ll show you the progression and finished result shortly.

See more crazywork quilting on my website

www.ar2inspire.co.uk

Inked daisy Collagraph

I am trying out the new press @ The Gallery Dereham

in readiness for the new printing courses which will be running shortly.

Play time at the moment to see what the little press and we can do.

Here is the Daisy collagraph after it printed 5 little prints.

I will be teaching 'Printing Little Gems',

from September.

I really love the collagraph plates too!

I think I can see a lots more variations off this collagraph.

See more of my work on

http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Daisy Collagraph

My little collagraph of daisy's is 2.5" by 5"

and I made it this afternoon.

It consists of card,torn paper,net,sequins and threads from the bin!

It was dried very quickly in the heat of the sun and a blast with a heat gun.

I liked the plates to look as good as the prints.

Setting up the press gave me a great chance to try out the waterbased inks.

Printing Press Arrives

A couple of weeks ago a new little portable printing press arrived
@ The Gallery, with great excitment.
It was put together and given a temporary home in Hadyn's Den!
I managed to get the chance to set it up today for printing
and had a printing session this afternoon.

I have a larger version in my studio,

which presets slightly differently.
See more printing on my website
http://www.ar2inspire.co.uk/

Pats Embellishing Circle Detail

This is a embellished circle detail. It might go on the front of a book cover

or may even be a bowl!

We'll see!

Well done Pat!

Gallery Day 22nd June 2010

Look at what Pat has done with her embellishing work.

She originally was going to make a book cover but

sorted out her needles and pins and made a new case for them.

Very special!

I love all the shades in between blues and purple.

See more embellishing on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Father's Day

Stewart's younger brother and family (his wife and two sons)

were staying on the our Norfolk coast at Hunstanton at 'Searles' Park,

over the weekend and we went to see them for Father's Day.

We went on the Land Train along the coast and into town.

Our nephews loved it.

As you can see Stewart is really 'chuffed' he's got the train tickets.

We had Fish and Chips for lunch mixed in with the fun fair and later

Ice creams while admiring all the motorbikes that had parked up on the seafront.

The brass band was playing in the pavillon for all to hear.

Just a great day, lots of family photo's and memories

Rugging Workshop Sample

I have made Proddy Rugs before and I have several around the house,

using hessian as background.

I have also tried the wool 'Redicut' hook rug method too

but this is my favourite so far.

The string running through the rug loops stops the

rug from shedding it's pile!

This is what I managed to do in the few hours.

Jenny brought lots of inspiration and yarns and so did Shelia.

We were able to rip and tear to our hearts content.

It was a really lovely workshop with lots of chat and laughter too!

Thank you Jenny and the Committee for organising it.

Rugging Workshop

I am playing catch up again with all the wonderful things that happen each day.
Saturday I went to an Embroidery Guild Workshop Day
in Kings Lynn on Hooked Rag Rugging
by Jenny a Guild member.
It was with a needlehook and thread with canvas.
Here you can see a select group realy working hard.

Blue Crazywork Cushion

Here is the finished Crazywork Cushion.

I love embellishing with stitch, beading and lots of machine quilting.

I am going to put this into the Embroidery Guild Exhibition

along with The Blue Moon Embellishment.

See more of my work on my website at

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Crazywork Cushion Detail

I think seeing all the crazywork from the Round Robin

I needed to make a cushion which had been in my head for a while.

Here is a section of the centre panel.

See more cushions and crazywork on my website

www.at2inspire.co.uk

Liz and The Flower Girls

Along with the Round Robin Reveal we had a full packed evening with notices,

Show and Tell and Exhibition details.

Our big Exhibition is the 23rd and 24th of October 2010.

Our theme is,

"An English Country Garden",

so we have started

collecting and making relevant items for it,

as well as making quilts,wallhangings and

articles for stalls and raffles.

The Exhibition is held in The Porters Barn in Feltwell.

It is a Medieval Tithe Barn so we have to hang alot of work!

Here Liz is teaching some of the members how to make

tissue paper flowers. They looked fantastic

and will look great on the stage area.

The ones in the flower pots were made by

Jill and she gave us all the pattern so we can go away

and make our own!

I have got to come up with the

back drop of a Country Cottage!

Round Robin Reveal

Alveva night was very exciting for members of the group as it was

the reveal ofthe Crazywork Round Robin.

We were all eager to open our boxes and

went into another room to look at what suprises we had.

Everyone of them were different and lovely in there own way.

We were all so pleased at our quilts to be!

Mine is the green and brown one,

at the front of the picture.

Everyone chose a theme or colour of fabrics and trimmings

to put in their box

along with a sample of their own square to give

the others in the group an idea of what we were

thinking of. Mine was based in nature and Asian Textiles.

We then showed the rest of the group.

See more Crazywork on my website

http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Alveva Quilt Day

Wednesday, I spent he whole day putting together a special scrap quilt with

help from the rest of the Clark family (Stewart and Jenn)

and Linda an Alveva member.

It was a real puzzle at times as every patch/block of triangles or

squares had been made by different members of

the Alveva Quilt Group.

They were all different sizes,shapes and some ascue!

Linda walked through the door of the studio and immediately

got machining on my very old but reliable Bernina

and Jenn was on the Janome and Stewart on ironing,

pinning and tea with me!

I machined when one of the two had to move to either

iron or position their piece back in the puzzle.

We finished the front and the centre panel of the back,

cutting out the back border strips ready to sew another time.

Thank you Linda for a fantastic job of squaring up, machining and listening to the constant chatter of the Clark's!

The Quilt will look great and I'll show you it finished at a later date.

Promise!

See other quilts on my website

http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

No Gallery Day

No Gallery on Tuesday due to my car deciding it is going to leak water everywhere.

We managed to get the car to the garage feeding it water as we went!

We picked up a courtesy car in the afternoon and are still waiting as it is the

Head Gasket!

The garage,Trevor Greef Motor Services Ltd,

is great and I have been on their website advertising

since they launced their website.

See what a great garage it is and a pic of me at

www.tgautos.co.uk

Magnum TV Ad

Today I starred in the lastest 'Magnum' TV Ad.

See it on my profile on facebook.

I am the cousin that helps the couple break into the vault.

It's been really cool learning technology!!!

Jenn also starred in another 'Magnum' ad.

We've had a real giggle!

See more of what goes on at Quilters Cottage at

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Kitchen at Quilters Cottage

We spent the weekend stripping out the kitchen here at the

cottage including taking down the cabinets and then

painting and re-assembling everything.

Every cupboard was sorted through and

the contents 'Spring' cleaned!

Glad thats done!

See more of Quilters Cottage on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Linda's 'Musing'

Look what arrived in the post on Saturday,

a Thank you from Linda for the wonderful

'studio crawl' we had last Sunday.

What a suprise, it was as I had only just

commented on it that morning on

Linda's post and there it is in my hands, magic!

Thank you Linda and I will put it on my

inspiration board.

See more of Linda's on her blog

www.artinspirations-linturn.blogspot.com

Crazywork Beginnings

It's been a very busy week and I wanted to delve into

some colour and stitch on the machine.

This is the start of a sketchbook cover.

This is the week that our Crazywork Round Robin finishes,

and I think is in the back of my mind.

I am really looking forward to seeing the blocks come back.

I haven't seen them for 8 months!

See more crazywork on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Linda and her Dragonfly

Here, Linda and her Dragonfly Wallhanging look wonderful!

at The Dragonfly Gallery,Watton.

It was really lovely to be able to go round Linda's Exhibition

with her because she explained the context of her work

celebrated the fact that it was in exhibition and what new work can now

be inspired over for the future.

I like that about putting on exhibitions.

You can see the work for itself, standing alone and in a collection.

It allows you to see what you like

and what direction you want to go in the future.

The Dragonfly Gallery is a wonderful venue and

the staff were really friendly.

See the other exhibitions on the Gallery website

www.thewaylanddragonflygallery.co.uk

Dragonfly Gallery Exhibition

The Dragonfly Gallery at Wayland House, Watton,

has an exhibition of "Quilt Inspirations" on until 12th June,

by my friend and fellow textile artist

Linda Turner.

I went to see it yesterday and when I entered

Linda was busy working in the Gallery on a detailed

'Soluble Piece'.

Linda's exhibition is outstanding.

Her mixed media landscapes are breathtaking

with the level of work and colour.

Thank you, Linda for sharing your work.

See more of Linda's work and inspiration on her blog at

www.artinspirations-linturn.blogspot.com

Gallery Day 8th June 2010

The Gallery was in 'Transition' today as the exhibitons came down and the wall painting and new displays were
going up.
The Tuesday workshops still went ahead as usual.
The sample of needlefelting above was made by Pat
and she is going to make it into a book.
Others were finishing projects and starting new ones.
Soon we will be moving into a room set aside solely for
workshops.
"News", a new printing press arrived at the Gallery and is causing
lots of new excitement and inspiration for the new workshops
which will be un-veiled soon, so watch this and the website.

BA(Hons) Degree Show 2010

Tonight, the Clark family were invited to the

Fine Art Degree Show by Anglia Ruskin Students,

based at The College of West Anglia.

The show is at

The Kings Lynn Arts Centre.

Here Sue Pollard is stood by part of her Exhibition,

using Dolls and the concept of 'Belonging'.

I loved her interactive felt board!

FUZZYFELT FUN!

The whole Exhibition is really dinamic and is on

until June 19th, 10am-5pm.

Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Well worth a visit.

See more of whats going on at

http://www.kingslynnarts.co.uk/

Mari French

Our next studio at 4pm (we started at 10am)

was Mari French a mixed media artist

who has not long moved to Norfolk from

The Isle of Skye.

Her paintings were displayed in her cottage front room.

This is the beauty of Open Studios every one

is differnent and showcases how versitile art is.

Mari French talked about her layering of materials

and shared her plans for her cottage garden.

Thank you Mari for sharing your work.

Linda and I were then ready to return to mine

after a round, 'studio crawl' of 129 miles!

We thank the organisers of the event and the studios

who open the door to the public.

Visit Mari's website at

http://www.marifrench.com/

Colin Bygrave

As soon as you walked in the door you could smell the wonderful

smell of ink andthe atmosphere of a real printer!

Colin welcomed us and we gazed over his sketchbooks.

Linda and I gasped as we turned the pages,

as every lined drawing beautifully done,we could

have translated into mixed media an stitch.

Colin then introduced the group of visitors that now assembled to

a quick 'how to' of aquatinting and some of his methods

of printing.

We wandered round and round his studio,

admiring his framed printing and editions.

There were sketches and inspiration on the walls,

that could have kept us quiet for ages.

We left with a sign of pleasure, glad to have been

giving the opportunity of meeting

Colin in his studio.

Thank you Colin for sharing your work.

See more of Colin's work at

http://www.colinbygrave-art.org.uk/

Arts @ The Tabernacle

Next Studio on our 'mission' was

Arts @ The Tabernacle a converted chapel into a

contemporary home which was exhibiting the work

of several contemporary artists.

Sue Maddocks,

Alasdair Hadden,

Sally Ann Logan,

Louise Walker

and Fiona Johnson.

In the 'Moorish' stlye courtyard was recyled art

made from beer cans, really clever.

Inside the impressive contemporary interior the

space was a welcoming Gallery area.

We admired the work and spoke to Sally

who is a local printmaker and teacher.

See more of the artist work on

http://www.artsnewroadtabernacle.co.uk/

and Sally's printmaking on

http://www.sallyhirst.co.uk/

The Old Workshop Gallery

Next studio well, Gallery at Corpusty.

A quaint Gallery with exhibitions, garden

and Jill Hill Fashion Designer, studio come workshop in the corner.

Jill studies old costumes especially smocks and uses them in

her designs.

Above is one of her cards.

There was lots to investigate and realy good art information.

Thank you Jill for opening your Gallery

to Open Studios visitors.

Pauline Wrighton

From Sally-Ann's studio to Pauline Wrighton's Studio.

Another studio in the garden with chickens.

Pauline studio is a large modern logcabin and you can see this on her website.

Her work was so professional and her studio so inspirational.

Linda and I could have stayed all day but

more visitors were coming through the door

and we were on our studio mission.

Thank you Pauline for inspiring us and making us so welcome.

Enjoy visiting Pauline's website!

http://www.oaksidestudio.co.uk/

Highland Cattle

In Sally-Ann's farm yard as we walked down, one of her

'prize winning' Highland cattle came to say 'hello!'

with her calf wandering behind her.

She was amazing!

Thank you Sally-Ann for opening your studio.

Picture taken by Linda

Tulips

Inside Sally-Ann's Blue studio it was beautifully presented

with all her work and inspiration.

Textiles galore, pictures and sketchbooks.

The tulip embroidered textile above was the inspiration

for a rag rug Sally-Ann was working on and next year she will be exhibiting

pictures from the same inspiration.

After a cup of coffee and a chat we wandered back down her garden.

To get in the mood with" Tulips from Amsterdam",

this video has wonderful displays as well as artwork.

Sally-Ann Rainey

This was the view of our first Studio to visit.

Sally- Ann's Blue German Builders Hut.
It was down her garden next to an amazing amount of beautiful
chickens, ducks and their farm yard.

Picture taken by Linda.

Norfolk Open Studios

Yesterday myself and Linda Turner, another fibre artist

had a day out visiting some studios around Norfolk.

It was to be a 'Studio Crawl'.

We had a fantastic day out venturing up Norfolk lanes and seeing all

manner of things to inspire and talk about.

We met some amazing artists and enjoyed seeing their studio spaces.

I don't think we stopped talking all day except

for the interuption of the sat nav.

We wouldn't have found half the studios we did without it

and Linda's map reading skills.

Thank you Lindafor such a lovely day.

Purple Sketchbook

I have enjoyed making this sketchbook cover.

Using a different colours and textures

to mix in with the purple was really fun.

This sketchbook will be for sale

@ The Gallery Dereham.

See more of my embellished work and sketchbooks at

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Purple Embellished Detail

There were so many areas of interest in the

purple embellished textile

but I liked this one due to the movement of stitches.

I used many different types of fabrics to get thedifferent

textures.

I have used various machine stitches as details,

over the top of the embellished felted fabrics.

See more embellishments on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Purple Embellishment Textile

I have been working on some more embellished textiles.

This purple one will be made up into a sketchbook cover.

See more embellished work on my website.

http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Jenn Practising Poi

It was such a lovely Friday afternoon
Jenn practised some Poi.
Practising some new moves.
She is still wanting fire poi but
I draw the line at that,here at at Quilters Cottage
at the moment.
She'll have to enjoy ribbon and stick poi
and leave the fire poi to the demonstation events!
I think she takes after the firemen in the family!!!

Clematis Arch

(double click on image to enlarge)

This purple clematis is absolutely amazing the flowers

are the size of side plates!

It is climbing up through a climbing rose on another arch.

I put my Starburst quilt on the seat.

All the fabric for this was dyed and batik'd.

The veg bed in front of it has got courgettes in

but as you can see it has been very dry here,

we have to water most nights.

See more of my quilts on

http://www.art2inspired.co.uk/

Clematis Arches

I just had to take a photograph of the Clematis Arches

in our garden.
This one leads into the 'Monks Garden'.
It's enclosed originally for a place for me to come out

of my old studio,
sit in a secret garden read and draw.
Now it's where we plant salads and veg

we don't want the deer to eat!
See more of Quilters Cottage Garden throughout this blog and
http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Watton Holiday Workshop

As one of my roles as a Norfolk Community Artist I help run

Holiday Art Activities and yesterday I was at Watton Junior School.

The theme was 'Holiday in a Box'.

All the children had the opportunity of making a box,painting it, decorating and putting

things that they would like to do on holiday or places they have been.

They also got the chance of putting a wish holiday in an envelope

which maybe one day will come true.( We all crossed our fingers!)

Lots of paint,glitter,laughter and eating went on.

Thank you to Sue who organised the event and the two parents who

volunteered to help.

As you can see this group had a lovely time!

See more workshops on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Gallery Day 2nd of June

More of the Exhibition by Marion and Jill.

Workshop Tuesday was wonderful with all the inspiration around.

On the table is the Quillo I have been working on.

You saw the pile of fabric before.

See more of my work at

http://www.art2inspire.co.uk/

Gallery Day 2nd of June

The Gallery is hosting the work of two Textile Artists,

for the Norfolk Open Studios.

The Artists are Jill Arnold and Marion Barnett

and are exhibiting and demonstrating,

their work until 6th of June.

Visit Marion's blog at

http://artmixter.blogspot.com/

The Exhibition runs until