Creating Metal Work

What I love about the Textile Classes everyone is so open minded

now about creating and trying new things.

When I asked everyone to bring drinks cans and a Jeans needle,

everyone was intrigued.

When I showed them the start of the can and what you can

then do with the techniques, some

where a bit cautious but they soon got

stuck in and shared the results they were getting.

This has started another hoarding phase,

Sorry!

Recycling is so good and you can make so much treasure from it.

Foiling and embellishing added to the technique and 

I am sure metal will appear on lots of things in the future 

as now there is no fear of putting metal under their machines!

Birds

The previous week at Leisure Classes I taught all things 'Birds'.

These are Carol's versions.

The top used some fabric that Kate had dropped off in some 

scrap bags. We love recycling someone else's fabric.

They look very French!

Textile Tuesday

As you can see bags are really popular at class and some 

are now known as 'Bag Ladies'!

Beryl had unpicked some of the binding on her Batik Bag

(Bag in the middle above) 

and added the buttons.

The box style bag used the twisted squares technique.

These small alterations just made the difference.

Its all about finish.

its knowing how to move on a design or how to 

make the best of what you can do.

Val showed us her new Laptop bag she had made,

again an adapted pattern.

It is the fixtures and finishings that make

this look so'Designer'.

You can find good bag fixings at this website

HERE

This is where Val found her stainless steel twisted fixings

fo this bag. 

Sandringham Walk

Jenn was home for her birthday at the end of last month and we 

had a lovely morning together.

Had a great Italian lunch and then went for a walk at

Sandringham.

Sandringham is the Queen's Norfolk Home. 

We love going there and having a long walk in the woods 

laughing, chatting and putting the world to rights.

I love my time with Jenn.

She is a wonderful young woman!

(Proud Mum talking here).

As you can see we just had to cuddle the 'Bear'!

Christine Davey

OOO I was so excited to see Christine Davey who came along

to give us a talk on 'Colour Theory'.

She is the one of the influential  people responsible 

for what I am doing now.

She was my City and Guilds Embroidery Tutor all those

years ago. 

It put me on a path that changed my life forever:)

She was so inspirational and also a hard task master.

We would learn a technique in the morning, experiment.

Learn traditional stitch and then the contemporary version after lunch 

then have to 'Show and Tell' the following week!

I have a similar routine to my City and Guilds class even today.

Christine was professional and always positive about our work but

also made us stretch ourselves!

If there was a new technique she would add it into the 

session and we would expand!!

Thank you so much Christine.

As she gave her talk I realised many things I hadn't

taken on board. 

I often only use three colours in class so that

participants have to mix to get a colour they want.

Christine said this is what she did,

un be knowing to me I had taken this to heart and in my 

practice!!

Again Thank you.

It also made me realise how far I have come since

doing my first City and Guilds and it has made

me very 

proud to be able to share and teach them too!

Alveva Show and Tell

As you can see there was a good selection of quilt styles 

shown at Alveva's this month.

Starting with Ruby and her love of colour and finishing

with Yvonne's meticulously pieced Table Runner.

The speaker for the night was Christine Davey.

Elephant Page

Jeanette has finished another page for her collection.

This one as you can see is all based on the Elephant.

It is so beautiful!
See more of these beautiful
'Mixed Media Book Pages' HERE

See more of Jeanette's work by clicking the written labels below.

'Bolliwood' is a wonderful piece.

Star Strip Piecing

Helen had found this pattern and had always  wanted to try it.

Its a technique where you join the strips of fabric together

 on the angle and and then cut them into the square size.

The squares are then arranged so you form a square in the

middle and if you do this throughout the quilt you will have stars

where the large squares join too!

A really effective pattern once you get round the 

angle thing!!

Table Runner

Helen has made this Autumnal Table Runner using

The Card Trick pattern in the squares. It is one of those

patterns that look so effective but you have to be

careful of points and how you put it together.

The table mats just add to the collection.

Well done Helen. 

Thinking of you :)

see more table runners by clicking the written label below.

Wedding Keepsake Bag

Hilary made this beautiful bag for her daughter to put

all the keepsakes, cards etc in on her wedding day.

She embroidered and put on all the things that 

meant something to her daughter on the

bag including a keyring with a dog

with a neck chief like the one they had.

What a wonderful gift and such a lovely idea.

Twisted Square Japanese Inspired Cushion

Val used Japanese inspired fabric charm pack to make twisted squares

for the centre of the trellis pattern in her cushion.

It really showed off the technique really well.

The twisted square has been really popular.

Sandra's rose fabric cushion (top picture on the right)

uses the same twisted square pattern but it gives a totally 

different effect.

To see more twisted squares and items,

click the written label below. 

Jo's Rucksack

Jo is a keen cyclist and wanted a comfortable rucksack that she could

use while on holiday. She saw a pattern and then adapted it to 

suit her fabric and put the pockets where she wanted too.

Jo put in her button straps which she can alter depending on what 

she is carrying.

She uses this technique on a few bags now and it is 

such a good idea. 

it just means putting an extra couple of buttonholes into your

strap so that it can be altered.

Textile Tuesday

Textile Tuesday always have wonderful 'Show and Tell'.

We do this as a start to the session so that people can share 

what they have made and also so I can add the tips and extended ideas.

Carol and Pat had both made cushions out of 

upholstery fabric and charm packs.

Beryl made yet another lovely bag and also the flower

looked wonderful as an embellishment.

See more by clicking the tags below.

Coven Quilters

I do love going to meet up with the girls of  Coven Quilters.

We have so much to catch up on each month and so much to share.

We laugh, cry, put the world to rights

and stitch or knit.

Well, Joan is crocheting at the moment!

Kate has been making a cat quilt for her grand daughter.

Jane has been making lots of baby quilts and 

Barbara brought along a quilt that had been donated for

the MS Trust. We had a real discussion on how much a quilt

would sell if it was auctioned and where it could go to

get the best result for the lady who donated it and the trust who 

would receive the funds.

It is so hard to predict at the moment due to the times.

I feel now, that you make a quilt for donation and give it.

You know the people you give it to try their best 

for their charity and that is all you can do.

Make and give with love and care.

Our best wishes

to Barbara and Mike who are needing TLC at this time and

Thank you to the Coven Girls!

Metal Embossed Tag

Continuing the metal theme I made a tag to put on the side

of the metal sketchbook.

It is a piece of tomatoe puree copper tube.

I embossed a pattern by drawing with an embossing tool

on the shiny side. 

Put some scraps of fabric on the back and sandwiched

this with a piece of water soluble dissolvable plastic, 

longer than the tag so I could stitch all round several

times and then made the frill by continually stitching up and down.

The plastic was dissolved with warm water and then

allowed to dry.

The frill will be a bit stiff until it has been in use for a while.

Metal Sampler

This is a Metal Sample of techniques.

I coloured the metal drinks can with a blow torch.

Embossed a design with a ball point pen,

drawing the design on the label side.

I then punched out the circles with a craft punch.

These I put onto small pieces of felt and stitched.

The dyed felt background, I ironed on fusible webbing 

and then sprinkled on Rose Gold Flakes. 

Ironing them between parchment paper.

I then put the main metal piece onto

the felt background with the metal knitted net trapped underneath.

This was then machine stitched into place.

The circles were trimmed and then fee machine stitched into place.

Lots of techniques and lots of fun!

Some of the ideas come from 

Sarah Lawrence's book,

'Shimmer and Shine'.
I recommend her book to really get inspiration on
using metal and metallics.