Open Studio 2019

Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts

My sister and I decided to visit the Summer Exhibition at the RA for the first time and we really enjoyed the experience.  There really was everything there from the sublime to the rediculous and we were very inspired.
There were so many pieces that I loved including Anselm Kiefers fantastic piece which was so textural.  I could talk for hours about the work but decided that I would only photograph pieces that had stitching on them.  I was very pleased that there were some and they were excellent and diverse.
Please excuse my terrible photography but Some of the work was high up or low down and it was hard to take a good photo.

The Bristol 2 Litre Engine - Julie Heaton

The Young Stevie Nicks - Amy Burt

Material Tenderness - Michelle Holmes

Via Con Me (Dreaming of you) - Francesca Colussi

Emmaline - Francesca Colussi

Map Mundi 1 - Renata Adela

Europe Running Through My Veins - Tisna Westerhof

Sunlight And Shadows - Alison Holt

Rabbexit(An Homage To Brexit) - Yimiao Shih

Little House on the Prairie - Julia Hall

I hope that I matched all of the names correctly, if not I appologize now!

Hexagon Bug - 9

The Hexagon quilt hanging in our Market Square Quilters Exhibition in April. It could do with a little more quilting around the edge.

The quilt being basted ready to hand quilt.

Detail of the centre section.

Reflect Exhibition at Headley

Our exhibition at Headley Village shop is now over  and it has been a great success.  We liked the layout better this time with a table down the centre which gave the exhibition a more open feel.
We provided tea, coffee and cake and people could make donations to Macmillan.  We made over £250.00  which was brilliant.

 

 Ten of the members of textileART07 textile group took part and our theme was Reflect. I apologise for the bad photography and the sun was shining into the room which bleached some of the colours and the angles of the pieces were difficult to correct.

 It was great being at the village shop which had lots of goodies to tempt us such as freshly baked bread.

June Withers made two pieces of work inspired by the war with links to lost family members. One embroidery shows the countryside in france and the other a reflection of the same scene after the war.

Rita Maton made a large wall hanging inspired by the Centenary of Armenian Genocide by the Turks and a reflection of her ancestry.

Wendy created some beautiful embroidered pieces inspired by water reflection and made with printing techniques and machine embroidery.

Gail Winters work was inspired by a fascination with Kaleidoscopes and their reflective patterns. The pieces sparkled as you moved around them being made also with reflective materials.

My work was inspired by the tiles and stone work at the Papal Palace in Avignon France and is a reflection of artistic worship.

Sue Crooks work was inspired by a visit to France and the reflections on the Loire River.

Rachel Knights experimental piece was inspired by a scientific interpretation of the word reflect and included pieces of mirror. Quote " viewer may catch glimpses of themselves adding an individual element".

Ann Beers two pieces were inspired by light reflections in water and also "convey a feeling of thought when contemplating a scene of beauty in nature".

Val Carters piece was inspired by her fascination of the Tree of Life, "the top half being a reflection of life in vibrant times and the lower half in tranquil moments"

The smaller piece was made by Mary Rich and included applied stitched shapes onto a stretched fabric background.

The first piece one the left was made by Gail Winter as part of her Kaleidoscope work.

The centre piece was made by Mary Rich and was made with layers of felt and stitch.

The third piece of work was also made by Mary Rich and was inspired by a Tibetan temple door awning. It reflected the influence of different cultures on embroidery and included several of those embroidery techniques in the piece.

One of Gails Kaleidoscope pieces.

A selection of our goodies for sale.












 

 A close up of one of Wendys water pieces.

Thread at Farnham Maltings

I visited Thread, a festival of textiles at Farnham Maltings this weekend with my sister Sonia.  we have been spending lots of time dress making  this year and even treated our selves to a Janome Coverpro machine at the Festival of Quilts in August.  We follow the Blog of Lauren Guthrie  who was a contestant on the Great Sewing Bee a few years ago and the shop that she runs with her husband called Guthrie and Ghani was there.

We were surprised that more people didn't come to the show as the Unravel knitting festival held at Farnham Maltings is usually packed with people. We had a great time looking at the different shops and artists whose work was on display.

One of the things that made the trip worthwhile was a talk by Sandra Rowles on how to get the most from a dress pattern.  It was a very informative and interesting talk and we learnt a lot from it.  I will never look at dress pattern in quite the same way again!

I  enjoyed seeing Lauren at Guthrie and Ghani and looking at all the goodies on her stand.  I also enjoyed seeing Sue Oakham who was on the Basingstoke Embroiderers Guild stand. 

Needless to say I bought home some nice purchases.

I bought some nice medium weight cotton to make a skirt and some viscose for a shirt from Beloved Fabrics.

A dress pattern from Create Escapes.

I also treated myself to a little purse from Craig Fellowes whose work I love, all printed from his wonderful drawings of insects and plants.

I also treated myself to a little bundle of patchwork fabric for a project I have in mind.