Slow Craft

This quilt has been a long time coming!  I first saw a quilt made of squares of old silk about 20 years ago in a homes & interiors magazine and always wanted to make something similar.  When we redecorated our bedroom (about 5 years ago now) I bought a remnant of silk that matched the wall paper thinking I would make some cushions.  When I realised that it quite a big piece of fabric my thoughts turned to a quilt and I purchased some grey slubbed silk to complete it.  But the more I thought about it, I couldn't get a design that worked and so it languished in my stash for a bit longer.

Over the last couple of years I have used silk in my wall hangings and have got more comfortable using this somewhat tricky fabric so last May I took a rotary cutter to my collection of silk fabrics and made squares and a pattern diagram but could quite start sewing....It was late summer before I managed to machine the silk layer, September when I bought the backing fabric and January 2013 when I eventually sewed it all together.  For the last few weeks I have been hand-stitching round all the flowers.

And now this week I have finished.  Happy birthday to me!

Handmade gifts

I'm hoping to spread a little happiness with these sewing kits that I made on Friday.  I'm giving them to two of my friends; one as a memento because she is leaving our community, the other is a birthday present.  These are small gifts but I know they will be used and cherished.

I love the challenge of making something new:  working out how it will fit together, where to make seams so that all the raw edges are hidden, adding little details.  I have fashioned a closed pocket for sewing threads and buttons and a padded one for scissors that can double-up as a pin cushion.  The quilted heart embellishment on the front flap lends itself to needles.  Just enough space to take a few bits when you're out and about.

I might be going slightly off my original intention of 50 new pieces of art.  They might not be high art but they are beautiful craft.

Ice Bird

Last week a cloak of snow and ice wrapped itself around the fields and hills.  Gone were the leaden skies and muddy lanes: we were rewarded with pristine white drifts and blinding sunshine.


The frozen puddles produced intricate patterns, ripples held in time, trapping bubbles and other treasures.  I spent the afternoon tracing lines onto silk with silver gutta and then painting delicate shades of purple.

"I like your bird" said my daughter as she breezed by.

"What bird?"  I didn't realise that my swirls and twirls had created hidden shapes!  What else was hiding beneath the ice?

Making plans

This week was my first opportunity to meet up with my crafting friends after the Christmas holidays.  It was a time for making plans for what new projects we were going to tackle and new skills we could share over the coming year.

Just to keep our hands busy whilst we talked, we made these lovely fabric flowers following the instructions in Making magazine.  We found they worked best when using a riot of colours - don't be too prissy about matching and coordinating!  I stitched some bugle beads onto the centre so it looked a bit like a sunflower when I'd finished.  It was a great way to use up lots of bits from my stash.

More practice needed!

I always feel a bit of a fraud when I describe myself as an artist because I'm never happy with my drawings or paintings - they never turn out quite how I imagine them in my head.  However one thing that my time at Bradford College taught me was the importance of visual research as a means of "getting into" a subject.

So many times I have started a project with one idea but by the time I have done my obligatory sketching and photos I'm off at a tangent.  Perhaps its the time that you allow yourself to truly think about your subject whilst drawing or painting that deepens your understanding and opens up new avenues.  Whatever thought processes are going on, I now embrace my rudimentary drawings and delight in seeing where they take me.

Just for the record, this is a pen and ink sketch of a bowl of peacan nuts and clementine leaves left over from Christmas.  They were sat in a hand carved wooden bowl brought back from a friend's holiday in Goa.  I liked the idea of gifts from afar which seems fitting for the season of Epiphany.

2/50

50:50 Project

Its an old adage but I'm turning over a new leaf this year.  My goal is not only to blog on a weekly basis but I've also set myself the challenge of doing a new piece of art every week.

I have often admired artists who undertake such marathons and the discipline of doing something different and in a relatively quick period of time is quite engaging.

Last year, I was lucky to visit Farfield Mill and catch the 62 Group@50 exhibition where Hannah Streefker's work caught my eye.  She had mended the holes and imperfections in leaves with delicate and loving stitches and then mounted her specimens in individual frames covering an entire wall.  The effect was breathtaking! 

In my own homage to her work I collected some leaves from my garden:  holly and ivy for the season and sweet bay leaves for their aroma.  It wasn't difficult to find some that needed my care because the incessant wind has been ravaging my garden for months.  But stitching these delicate green clothes proved much more difficult than I imagined.  As the leaves dried, the stitches became loose and coarse. I don't think I enhanced Nature's own work but it was interesting to work with new materials.

Sold out?

Its a bit of a guilty secret but I have taken time out from my artistic practice to jump on the whole cutesy owl band wagon.  I will plead mitigating circumstances and it was for a very good cause!

A few weeks ago, my friend Chrissie and I were asked to help at a Christmas Fayre to raise money for our local Sue Ryder hospice where we both volunteer.  Some generous soul gave us heaps of  fabric.  Now like most crafts people we are suckers for bits of fabric and embellishments so we set about making up little craft packs of lovely fabric, buttons, ribbons and bits.  As we were making them, we thought it we might sell a few more if we had some projects for people to make with the packs.  So I found myself, at 10 o'clock the night before the Fayre, still writing instructions for how to make my little friend.

Have I sold out to popular culture?  Maybe, but we did sell a lot of fabric and quite a few patterns!

P.S.  Let me know if you would like a pattern!


Photo and design:  Claire Ketteman