OK so its blue!!!

I thought I would sit and quickly do my Blog for this week.  I should be doing the housework in readiness for the arrival of our Son & Daughter-in-Law this weekend, but for some strange reason I keep getting diverted!! 

 I met up with some old friends yesterday for a coffee (and lunch!!) and a good old chin-wag.  It has left me with lots of thoughts and ideas..........hence not being able to settle into housework today!

Promised colours

The days are rushing by and soon it will be April and the first of my workshops at St Eval.  I am really looking forward to doing them and spent a lovely afternoon on Wednesday with my paints out.  

I had promised a little colour this week, and did mention that it would probably be blue........what can I say; it is my favourite!!  

I am looking forward to transforming these pieces of new fabric, but for 2 minutes I am not sure which way to go.

Week 11 - 12 March 18

But, in the meantime I did have an idea for this weeks Challenge piece.  

I really liked the paint effect that was created from my stencilling and so encased the paper inside a small laminating pouch.  Trimming away the excess and using extra large Seed Stitches, I appliqued it onto a piece of hand-dyed scrim and 'Colour Catcher'.  

It is very simple but I like and sometimes less is more!  

Sadly, I can hear the call and it must be time now to go back to the housework!!!! 

This is for you Moira!!

Someone is already sat waiting for her mate to arrive!!  So why, I ask, am I worried about the house when it will be mayhem later!!

Keep warm this weekend if the promised forecast of snow happens!!  Perfect for stitching if you ask me!!

Thank you for popping by........Carolyn

Adding a bit of Colour

Well here we are almost in the middle of March and thankfully the snow and Arctic conditions have left us.  Sadly with rain and gales today, but hey, beggars can't be chooser can they!  

 

Felted Colours

To add a little colour into these grey days I have been working on a felt piece that I started last year with my Granddaughters.  At the ages of 10 & 8, they too have inherited my love of fabric and we are usually to be found stitching, painting or felting when they are here.  Their pieces are always beautiful and I am always more than happy to show them off to anyone who is interested!  No photos this time, but no doubt there will be in the future!

Felted Colours & Stitch

I am not the greatest 'Felter', but I love having a play, and always have to join in with the girls. I think I may have to do a small felted piece one week for my Challenge 2018.  

Talking about my Challenge, you may have noticed that I don't really have a theme for each week  It is just a case of seeing what I feel like at the time!  

Mostly I am re-visiting techniques in an attempt to re-fresh myself and re-connect with ideas.  I think it may have been easier to give myself a theme, but there you go, you live and learn!!  

Week 10 - Early Stages

The other day while I had the paints out, I transferred some of the excess onto this piece of tea-dyed calico.  I love the effect and decided to use it for last weeks Challenge.  

Week 10 - 5 March 18

A bit of couching, beads, seed stitching and long stitch later this is the end result!  I think I need more colour for this weeks challenge!  So I guess it will be back to blue for me!!  

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to have a read, and if you fancy I am often popping bits on Instagram Facebook & Twitter so please feel free to have a little look.

Carolyn

Challenging Week 9!!

Well...I found Week 9 of my Challenge 2018, very much a challenge and a half.

  

Up until now I have used hand-dyed fabrics as the basis of each weekly piece, with a selection of mixture of media techniques thrown in!  So last week I decided that I would only use purchased fabrics!!!  

A good idea I thought; keep it simple I also thought! Hmm!

It was quite a busy week, spent mainly waiting for the promised snow to arrive!!  I think we were very lucky because although it was bitterly cold, the snow when it came only lasted a day or so. 

Frosty Morning 

On one of our morning walks to the beach we saw beautiful icicles clinging to the cliffs.  A very strange sight to see, on our normal mild coast line.  

Icicles 

So in an effort to keep warm I thought it would be a good idea to finally finish quilting the mystery quilt (sorry no photo) that I have been making at my monthly sewing group; Sew u Think, a strange name I agree.  

Its called that because we not only sew, we do a bit of knitting; have ventured into weaving and most importantly started meeting up for lunch and a natter!  

I am also trying to finish my Hexi Challenge that I started in 2016.  

Hexi Challenge 2016

The idea was that I made 2 x 3/4inch hexagons each day for the whole of 2016.  This I duly did ending up with 12 blocks of either 56, 60 or 62 hexagons. 

No two hexagons are the same and each block is surrounded by a variety of white hexagons.  I am pleased to say the above photo is a little out of date, and it is, in fact, looking more like a quilt top now.  But to get anywhere near finishing, I do need more white hexagons, so my poor Mum was commissioned to make as many as possible while we waited for the snow.  What we call in our family a ' Visiting Tax'!! 

So now I have no excuse to get on with it, Thank you Mum. 

Anyway, I digress.........Week 9 Challenge 2018!  I love the colours of the purchased fabric, very Spring/Easter like, but that is where it ends as I think I did lose my way a little on this one.  

Week 9 - 26 Feb 18

The technique I used was cut and stitch (a favourite one, to be honest).  I didn't want to alter the surface with mixed media and so kept it very simple.  I like lines, so couching was a good idea.  It will make it into the book, just because it must, but not as a favourite!  

Hopefully I am back on track with this weeks........time will tell!

Thank you again for popping by....Carolyn

Textile Workshops at St Eval!

As I mentioned last week, I have secured a room at my local and very modern Community Centre at St Eval, to run a selection of TEXTILE ART workshops .  I am really looking forward to getting started with them and as you can probably imagine my head is buzzing with ideas!!  I have though, already decided on the subject for this first set of workshops and so I am now busy making all the samples!  

I have made the workshops to come together as a short course of 3 days.  However, there will be some people interested that might not be able to do all the days of the course.  With that in mind, I have made each day to be stand-alone so that those interested can 'Cherry Pick' the days that suit them best.  

Day 1 & 2 will cover different techniques each day which will add colour and texture to fabric.  I want to make the workshops accessible to all levels and ability and most importantly FUN, so as well as demonstrations and guidance notes; there will be lost of opportunity to experiment and make samples, without any pressure to produce a masterpiece! 

 Any paint/dye used will be provided by Younique Textiles

A Fabric Collage Wall-hanging will be made on Day 3, using the samples made/techniques learnt on Days 1 & 2 or a selection of fabric and findings. 

Should this sound interesting and you fancy coming along please bear in mind that places being limited, so please contact me for more information. 

I am looking at adding more workshops over the coming months, covering different aspects of TEXTILE ART  and will post here as soon as I have dates.

  

A bit of this and a bit of that........

Such an eventful week for Younique Textiles..........which included finding a venue, designing workshops, finishing projects and working on Week 8 of the Challenge!  

I am still running workshops at Coast & Country but have been looking for another venue closer to home, and I am delighted to say that I have found one, namely a room at a local Community Centre.  Strangely the room is one that I used to work in when the Community Centre was a Day Care Centre for Children.

A bit of this..........

The first set of 3 workshops will be based around adding colour to fabric.  Day 1 & 2 (Thursday 19 April & Thursday 3 May) will be spent colouring fabric with dye, paints and stencils, mark making, adding texture with hand-stitches and some free machining. 

Week 4#1 - Close up

On Day 3 (Thursday 17th May) we will use the fabrics made and a selection of your own fabrics, along with the other techniques learnt on Day 1 & 2, to make a raw edged Fabric Collage.  

Week 4#2 - Close -up

These workshops can be booked as a single workshop or as a set of 3.  All details of how to book onto these workshops can be found on the website page Catalina Room Workshops

So.........back to the Challenge...........This week I decided to do a Reversed Applique.  Firstly a new fabric was made by sandwiching together snippets of fabric between net and then free machining them into place.  

Week 8 19 Feb 18

This new fabric was layered together with 5 other fabrics.  A pattern was marked out on the top layer and stitched.  Sections were then cut away to reveal the different the fabrics.  

I decided not to add any extra stitching or embellishments to this piece, but if I do a larger one I may.

I also managed to complete the larger version of week 4.  I hadn't been too happy with it, so I had left it to one side, while I had a go at the next weeks challenge.  But it had been bothering me, so I took it out again and decided it needed a little chop, re-arrange and a few additions.  

Week 4 - A4 - Close up

Painted Tyvek, and Acrylic Tissue were added and then burnt away.  Now I am pleased to say I rather like the effect!  

Homeward Bound - My Artwork

To finish the week I have also added some new photos to the Albums on my Flickr page.  Homeward Bound was part of a series of work made in 2012, using my old favourites Derwent Inktense Blocks and Gesso. 

  

Winter Sun Rise - Inspiration

 Catching the sun rise on an early morning walk, what could be better!!

 

Thank you again for popping by

Carolyn

Weeks, Weaving & Workshops

I decided to take a different path for this week's challenge and so did a spot of weaving............I love weaving, although it usually looks a bit more like this and involves fabric and a bit of 'Bondaweb'

Book Cover

.  The book cover was made by weaving a selection fabric, paper and also handmade fabric paper together.

My Week 7 piece, is a purely yarn based weave; which once I finished it on my cardboard loom, I eased some of the wefts apart so that I could add extra texture with embroidery thread.  I haven't neatened the ends; stitched into it or added any buttons or embellishments this time, as I really like it as it is.

Week 7 - 12 February 18

By the way I decided on a book as the storage for my Challenge.  It is already looking plump seven weeks in, so goodness knows what it will be like at the end of the year.  I am going to add tabs with details of how and from what each week was made.  When I have done a few and I am happy with how it looks I will add a photo.   

Tuesday saw me down at Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts teaching the Cutting Mat Tote workshop.  It was a super day; very relaxed, with some familiar faces and some new ones too.  Thank you, Ladies for making my job such a pleasure.

The tote is really useful; I have been using mine for years.  The version that I teach includes five internal of pockets to keep the wide variety of rulers that we all seem to accumulate.

  

 I will be there next month teaching my Shadow Cushion workshop.  This is quite a different workshop, mixing Foundation Piecing with Quilt as You Go, but it does make for a stylish cushion.  

Shadow Cushion Front

  

 My website has all the details of the my workshops including the 3 new 2018 dates I have recently added at Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts.  All my workshop pieces are available to buy as patterns if you are not able to attend one of the planned dates.

Thank you again for popping by.

Carolyn

  

Snow in Cornwall!!

We've had SNOW this week!!!  

Well a light dusting........but for us here on the North Cornwall Coast that is quite a major event!!  After that it was back to rain, of course, which means the coastal path has been a mud bath and the poor dog has come home from our walks, very very brown instead of her lovely white!! 

Cornish Snow!!

As well as enjoying the weather!! I have had a good week catching up on lots of sewing.  I am running a workshop in April making the Merchant & Mills The Trapeze Tunic. 

Merchant & Mills - The Trapeze

So this week saw me finishing off the sample to be displayed at Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts and also another version that I will be wearing on the day. 

It is a lovely pattern and can be made in a variety of styles.  I have made the sleeveless (still with tacking stitches in) and the short sleeve version.  

My Daughter was at the V&A Museum recently and saw  this display of Merchant and Mills patterns!! 

I have also completed Week 6 of my Challenge 2018. 

 I promised a change in colour, so here we are........green!   

The majority of the fabric used has been hand-dyed but there is also a piece of purchased fabric included, The hand-dyed fabric is a selection of scrim, cotton, silk, Mulberry bark, and the backing paper from some painted bondaweb.  

I treated myself to a circular rotary cutter to make a 'Bullseye Quilt' a little while ago and so used it here to make the circles in different sizes.

Week 6 - Challenge 2018

Strangely, after completing this I realised that I had done something similar a few years ago!  Trebah Garden is a lovely place on the South Cornwall Coast, and is famous for, among other things, its Giant Gunnera, which I used as the basis for my work.  

Trebah - Sketchbook

The leaves were cut from a selection of fabrics and mixed media, including painted bondaweb and scrim.  

Trebah - July 2013

Well that's it for now, I am off now to ponder the technique for next week!

Thank you for taking time out to have a little look, and hopefully see you next time.

Carolyn