Armley Print Fest

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Tomorrow, Saturday 30th March, I’m exhibiting at Armley Print Fest at Leeds Industrial Museum. I find one way of finding time to make new work is to commit to exhibiting. If you’re in the area please come along and say hello. There’s 20 artists exhibiting, print demonstrations and a film.

It’s been a little stressful as my day job at Adelaide Walker is so very busy but I have enjoyed spending time on my creative practice. I’ve lots of new things to show you as I work to combine print and felt. First up are these printed silk scarves, you’ll notice there’s no fibre on them and that’s because, on this occasion, I didn’t feel the scarves needed anything else.

monoprinted
Block printed
Monoprinted

Welcome to …….

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Welcome to my updated website. I started work on this last year or to be more accurate, Hubby did. I don’t know what the problem was with getting it finished, perhaps I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but it’s taken longer than expected.

This year I’m taking a break from running workshops to focus on developing my own practice. Currently I’m working a lot in white or black and white and now the website has changed I’ll try and show you some of the new work.

I won’t be blogging very often but I’m aiming, in the next few days, to show my latest Facebook updates on the right hand side to help keep you informed of activities and if you have Instagram you can find me on there too.

Hubby, aka Simon Battersby Consulting, has done a great job, any typos, missing bits etc. will be down to me so do let me know if anything doesn’t look right.

Sofa repairs

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It’s over the Christmas break that I seem to find time to have a go at something that’s been bugging me for a while. This year it was the sofa which has sustained terrible damage from one of the cats, right down to the wood on both corners.

I patched it up first with some hand made felt to cover the wood and bring the level back up to the same as the rest.

It doesn’t look pretty at this stage but no matter, you won’t see it when I’ve done.

It’s a big improvement isn’t it?  Hand crocheted madalas using yarn from my stash and then stitched on.

The sofa is 26 years old but it was only these areas of upholstery which needed attention. I saw the idea on facebook and am so glad I decided to give it a go, such an improvement and I’m thrilled with the result. Interestingly the hardest point was the time sat on the floor stitching them on!

 

Patchwork cushions

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In September I assisted Charlotte in the making of two floor cushions for her room at uni. The fabric was bought from the 6 scraps for £5 bin at the Fent Shop in Skipton. All end of designer stuff and perfect for soft furnishings or tote bags.

I was allowed to cut strips, do the maths and press all the seams. Not bad for our first attempt at patchwork and they’re well loved and used.

 

 

University nesting

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Charlotte suffers quite badly from homesickness when she’s away at university and has found it helps to do a significant amount of ‘nesting’.  I thought I’d try and help.

I’m happy about this little piece of art. It’s hand embroidered on hessian which cameas free wrapping on one of our deliveries, it’s backed with leftover fabric from curtain making (free) and mounted onto a piece of cutoff MDF (free) from the joiners next door to us at work. Turquoise is one of her favourite colours.

There was sufficient hessian to make another tote bag and I think I might even squeeze a third one from it!!

The biscuit exchange

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So, I teased you last time with this image.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-custard-cream-biscuit-traditional-vector-format-image44825897

Our girl has a healthy appetite and seemed to be constantly hungry when she went to university, the same was also true for some of her friends and one in particular. They had a group chat. The chat was often around being hungry (no surprise there) and swaps of biscuit resources were undertaken, The Biscuit exchange was born and the group chat relabelled.

I felt this should be celebrated with a tote bag to carry further supplies 🙂   The centre of the biscuit and the words are hand embroidered with the rest of the biscuit being drawn in with a sharpie. It’s gone down a storm 🙂 🙂

I made three other bags for her friends but sadly forgot to take photos. I will do better.

It’s been so long

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It’s been so long since I posted and life has continued to happen but for some reason I’ve not had the energy. Some days energy levels are low and others non existent ,  so far tests have revealed nothing and the doctor’s current theory is it’s related to menopause – joy 🙁

Have I made felt? yes. Have I done any other textiles? yes but I just haven’t found the energy to talk about it and the longer I’ve stayed away the harder it’s been to come back. There’s so much I’ve wanted to say / show you and it’s been bugging me but I’ve decided the only way to get back is to not worry about what I haven’t said / shown. In the fullness of time some things may appear but others you may never see. I’m making a concerted effort to blog and try and get myself back in the swing of things.

Charlotte is back off to university next week, she’s passed her driving test and will be more mobile but the homesickness has never gone away and she’s not really looking forward to returning. Falmouth is such a long way away! One way to deal with it is to nest like mad so there may be a blog about floor cushions on it’s way, you have been warned. However, custard creams will make an appearnace before then!

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-custard-cream-biscuit-traditional-vector-format-image44825897

 

Print at Armley Mills – 1

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Last year I used print at Armley Mills as part of three of my pieces for the Wool Stories – The Felted Mill exhibition. This time around I wanted to use print again and couldn’t help but revisit the wallpaper block I used last year plus one or two which belong to the same pattern.

Here’s the original.

Now for the rest.

Here’s how they work in use

Then I found this one.

Gorgeous as all this is I’m not sure where I’m going with this currently, this is one to come back to.