Jack's Quilt

You saw the pile of fabrics I had collected together

on a previous post? Here is Jack's Quilt pieced together.

It is now ready for quilting.

The inspiration for the colours and design came from

the Blue and Green Quillow on the right of this post.

I took it outside to photograph because I couldn't

get higher enough to photograph all of it.

Jack's Quilt is a large single.

See more of my quilts on y website.

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Bess of Hardwick

Last week I had the pleasure of going to The Methwold Ladies Group

to listen to Professor Jeff Handcock speaking about

Bess of Hardwick Hall.

'Bess', not 'Elizabeth' due to Elizabeth the 1st being

on the throne at this time in Tudor England.

The Professor put Bess's life in context with Tudor English history

and made her 83 years of entrepreneurial life come alive.

I have visited Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and marvelled

at the tapestries, panelled walls, collections, vast embroideries and garden.

Above is the guidebook written for The National Trust full

of some wonderful photographs and insights to the Hall.

See two videos I have put on my website about Hardwick Hall and

Bess's life. They are very interesting.

www.art2inspire.co.uk/bess

Fabric Shopping

Before a lunch time appointment I got to go fabric shopping!

Of course I went to Sian's Scout Hut

in Hunstanton.

The bunting outside looks great by the way!

Shan introduced me to her daughter Claire and the

shop will now be open on a Monday 10am-2pm,

by Shan's other daughter Jo.

(It's open now Monday to Saturday).

There was a Fabric salesman there

with all his samples and it was lovely

to see how Shan thought of her customers and

really chose the fabric for them and not what

he was persuading her to buy!

As you can see by The Scout Hut

it is an Aladdin's Cave!

As usual it was wonderful, wandering round and

discovering things, loads of new fabric and bargains!

I was there to buy Blues and Greens for a commission.

A quilt for Jack.

As you can see I found all I needed and could have brought more

and stayed longer if I hadn't had to move on.

See more of my Quilts on

my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Alpaca Waistcoat

There are so many different types of medias being undertaken

@The Gallery it's wonderful.

Nikki is coming along to use the fabric she has had spun

from her Alpaca Herd. The fabric is lovely to touch and to work with.

She is making a waistcoat, very suit like in it's construction

and look. After a few funnies the other week,

we got out the sewing dummy and are fitting it!

See more information about Nikki's Alpacas

at

www.azsualpacas.com

Crazy Patchwork Scissor Case

Barbara loves 'Bling' and admired my Scissor Case which

holds my sewing kit and scissors.

It is in the top photograph. I made it ten years ago, from

Jennifer's pink velvet trousers.

It is covered with crazy work patchwork and lots of

trimmings and trinkets.

You can see Barbara has made the back and front

and they are ready to be embellished.

I am available to teach this as a workshop,

to a group or at my studio.

Contact me for details.

See more of my mixed media textiles and embellishing

on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Eygptian Quillow

Carol is starting a new project, a quillow based on

Eygptian inspired fabrics.

it will be lovely to see it grow. This is what Carol did in her

session @ The Gallery.

See more quillow's on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Kimono Wallhanging Completed

Carol also brought her finished Kimono Wall Hanging in too!

There are so any techniques on here although it

looks quite simple in design.

(The top photograph is the front).

The fabric is beautiful and this design show it off so well.

Well done Carol!

See more of what goes on a @ The Gallery

www.thegallerrydereham.co.uk

Stained Glass Patchwork Complete

Carol came back after the break with her

'Stained Glass Patchwork', Wallhanging all finished.

It looks wonderful, ready for a sleeve and pole to

hang it up.

It looked wonderful hanging on the wall at

The Gallery.

Well done Carol!

See how this was made by clicking the label,

'stained glass window', underneath this post.

See more Patchwork and Quilting on

my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Machine Embroidered Leaves

Jeannette is starting a new project, a wall hanging

containing all different mixed media layered leaves.

There are many different techniques she wants to learn

and improve on ones that she has touched on in the past.

Here are some of the ones she made in her session.

The sessions @ The Gallery are approximately

2, 2 and a half hours long and some stay all day!

See more textiles in my portfolio pages on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Bolliwood Turrets Completed

Tuesday 10th May, Gallery Day back after the break.

Lots of pieces finished and new projects beginning.

As you can see "Bolliwood Turrets" is now completed

and in a box frame. It really looks wonderful and there

was a wow when it was un- wrapped.

Well done! Jeanette it looks fabulous!

You can see the stages of how it was made by clicking

the label,'bolliwood' under this post.

To see more of what goes you can use the other

labels but also visit

www.thegallerydereham.co.uk

Weeting Quilt Group

Today was The Weeting Quilt Group Meeting.

It was a really busy one with Chris showing everyone

how to put together the strips for the "Jelly Rolls".

I was on cutting the first part of the morning,

cutting strips 4.5 " by however long the scraps of material was.

You just make sure you square off the ends.

Sue was on ironing and most of the group was on sewing

the strips together.

By lunch time we all needed a break and

everyone had a good chat. Ida and

some of the new quilters were advised

on sewing machines and how to choose fabric

for The Sampler Quilt, the first block begins

for them next month.

I admit, I have an unfinished Sampler Quilt Blocks among

my stash so I think I ought to get mine out and

finish it. This is always a good way

of finishing those UFO's!!! Join in!

After lunch, it was back to putting the long

Jelly Roll strips together the length of the wadding

and fleece backing fabrics.

Three quilts were put together ready for quilting

or tying.

I photographed the growing number of quilts

coming in for Chernobyl.

See more of the Weeting Meetings

by clicking the Weeting Quilt Group label below this post.

Clematis Arch and Box Hedging

Last night it rained for the first time in several weeks.

It has made everything in the garden really green up again.

This is what we call the Secret Garden as it is secluded

and surrounded by a large hedge and covered trellis.

The raised beds have strawberries, leeks, chives, lettuce,

carrots, herbs, onions, rhubarb and

runner beans (which got a little singed the other night

by the frost), as well as flowers,roses, bushes and clematis.

We decided to cut the Box Hedging as it was cool

and this would stop the cut leaves burning.

It is a bit of a bother but putting down sheets to

catch the cuttings, makes gathering them easier.

We cut the Parterre garden too!

There are always jobs to do in the garden

at this time of year.

I can honestly say I am a fair weather gardener these days!

See more of our garden on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Origami Colour Firework

I persevered with the origami firework.

These units start at a 16cm square which made the difference

for holding and as you can see

I made it in another colour combination.

I say I, Stewart got intrigued and helped fold the

units so far and then let me do the fiddly bits.

He then shuffled and folded the ends in while

I held it!

A two person task!!!!!

It starts looking like the top and then you twist it

inside itself and you get to the next photograph.

Due to this being a moveable origami it

looks better in film so watch

the film I put on a previous post by clicking

HERE

See more of my creative paper techniques on

my portfolio pages on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Origami Firework

Sometimes I like to set myself a challenge!

I have never really been that good at origami but I do

folded patchwork.

While researching folded papers I came across this......

"An Origami Firework",

Well! I just had to have a go.

What seem hours later after putting all the little

units together I finally and I mean finally,

got it to a stage where I could manipulate the flower,

I mean firework and what happened?

it started to fall apart and the more I tried to put

it together the more creases appeared.

All I can say watch the video and enjoy,

if you are going to make it I would try a larger

square to begin with!

I will have another go at this myself again

with a larger starting square and I will show you the results.

Enjoy this weekend project!!!!

Blue and White China Inspiration

I love Blue and White China and have a Welsh Dresser in my kitchen

full of all different types. I especially like Spode and

The Willow Pattern China.

In the afternoon after the card class had finished

I played around with this blue and white combination.

Kim showed us how to mask sections of our stamps,

you can see, by this card, a vase behind a vase.

When I got home I researched a little more into The Willow Pattern

and here are two videos that I really liked.

The first tells the Legend of The Willow Pattern

and the second is a quick animation.

If you would like to see a really inspiring Chinese Puppet animation

interpreting the Legend almost true to the actual story.

Click my tech site

www.art2inspiretech