Crafts On The Web

Next Up! Scrapbook Stitchery WORKSHOP!

2012-01-21T16:11:00.001Z

February Saturday 4th - 10am to 4.pm - Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting, Seale-Hayne, Newton Abbot, DevoN TQ12 6NQ

Scrapbook Stitchery: A personal journey
Make, machine quilt and embroider a fabric scrapbook journal in which to keep a personal record of your creativity in stitch. Use your journal to: house collected textile fragments and ephemera; record fibre experiments; practice embroidery stitches; showcase machined samples, thread sketched patterns and stitched doodling. Add more pages and watch your scrapbook journal grow! more details here

Contemporary Quilt Exhibition

2012-01-21T15:26:00.002Z

I just want to share with you details about a contemporary quilt exhibition I visited yesterday in Bovey Tracey at The Devon Guild of Craftsmen. "Voices: Expressive approaches to quilting by the international Quilt Art group" is how it was described. There were some really interesting pieces and some that were not so. I liked Eszter Bornemisza's piece (below) - lots of detail in the design which revealed a super-rich surface texture. Some artworks were more technique based and, therefore, lacked any real depth and other pieces lacked thoughtful presentation. Obviously, these are just my impressions and views :) Overall, it was interesting to see and if you get the chance to go, it runs from 13th Jan to 26th Feb. More details can be found on the Guild website http://www.crafts.org.uk/ .

NEW YEAR - NEW WORKSHOPS!

2012-01-11T21:30:00.002Z

Happy New Year to you all! It has been some time since I have blogged due to the fact that I have had too many things needing my attention, so it's suffered - but with a New Year comes New Resolutions - and mine are all CREATIVE! Forget all that stuff about exercising more, eating and drinking less, and take time to make some CREATIVE resolutions yourself - much more fun, and far less daunting!Join in and have a CREATIVE New Year - all Year!

New also for this year are my 2012 Creative Textile Embroidery Mixed Media Workshops being held in Devon. You can find my programme here. Our first workshop Introduction to Free-machine Embroidery begins on Tuesday 17th Jan at 10.00 - 4.pm at Serendipity Patchwork and Quilting, Seale-Hayne, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 6NQ.
I do hope I get to meet some of you at a workshop soon. Have a good week. Jill

Spring is in the air

2011-03-07T13:45:00.003Z

Hello All! Hope you are having a good day today? The sun is shining...hurray!

I somehow got sidetracked from what I thought I should do today and have ended up making my own rubber stamp - letter B- and have 25 left to make! (Alphabet stamps are sooooo expensive to buy so thought I should try and make my own). Also played with photoshop using my own photos of flowers I have collected over the years and made a montage. Hope this inspires you good folk to make something. Had great fun teaching my embroidered mini book workshop last Thursday -some really lovely books were in production by the students - hope to post pics soon.

Dove of Peace & Published in Quilting Arts 10th Anniversary Edition

2011-01-26T14:42:00.007Z

Hi!...hope your day is good? I have been playing with photoshop today and created a dove of peace and also want to share news that my textile collage book has been featured in Quilting Arts 10th Anniversary magazine.
And Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-26T12:34:00.007Z

Was slow getting going after the Christmas break, but now have some momentum...here are the results - some fabric paper collage. Makes a good background - I need to work on it more.
The piece measures approx 2ft x 3ft and is painted with acrylic inks which are very vibrant and easy to use. Great and quick to use on fabric.
close-ups showing collage content.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-18T18:16:00.006Z

H A P P Y... C H R I S T M A S

E V E R Y O N E!

Autumn is here!

2010-11-21T00:32:00.006Z

Hello! - I'm back with an update, but first some eye candy :) A silk embroidered cuff in rich gold, turquoise and iridescent peacock green, which is for sale by clicking here www.craftsontheweb.co.uk/shop.

Long Time No See!

2010-03-29T13:09:00.019Z

Hello Folks!
No postings for such a long while. Time to put that to rights!
First...some spring tulips to add colour to a rather wet and grey day here in Devon.

Some things I have been up to during the last year. I had an article published January 2010 in a Danish sewing magazine called "Handarbejdsbladet". Pages 8-11 Embroidered Hearts for Valentine incorporating free machine embroidery. It's all in Danish!

I had tags published in Cloth Paper Scissors in Nov/Dec 2009 which were great fun to make and brooches in the Cloth Paper Scissors Sept/Oct 2009 issue. In Quilting Arts Gifts 2009/2010 holiday issue, I had two articles - Silk Paper Pockets, and Embroidered Bracelets published.

So you can see, I have been rather busy! I enjoy making things which I hope other people will enjoy making too.
More postings and eye candy to come later! Have a great day :)

2009-07-29T13:52:00.006Z

See my latest embroidery article for Quilting Arts magazine in the August/September issue.

'Ethically Ethnic Cuffs'

I've made a quilt!

2009-07-21T11:00:00.006Z

Hello All

I promised to make something (originally a leaving card!) for my boss who is retiring soon and it has turned into this quilt!

I am so pleased with this mini quilt as it is only my 3rd ever!...I am an embroiderer - not a quiltmaker, but I just love art quilts and have been dying to try it for myself.

This is not an art quilt, just a quilt that has embroidered images of the things my boss enjoys doing...but it has given me so many ideas for my next one! It measures 12inches x 12inches (30cm x 30cm).

There is something I really like about the texture of fabric when it is closely stitched and quilted.

I will hang it from either Japanese chop sticks - if I can locate some, or an old violin bow, failing that, I shall roll up some sheet music into a tight cigarette cylindrical shape and use that.

Anyway, hope you enjoy looking at it. :)...enjoy your week.

An Embellished and embroidered patchwork paper collage

2009-05-29T20:53:00.003Z

Hello!

Well, it's now May 2009 and I thought I ought to update you all, so...

why not take a look at my latest article as featured in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. A patchwork paper collage using many techniques as featured on Quilting Arts online extra.

Where did the summer go?

2007-10-23T11:06:00.001Z

Well, it's been rather too long since I posted as lots have been going on this summer. Demonstrating at the NEC and Exeter, running a week-long textile summer school, and writing articles for magazines!...so without further adoo, here are the results...enjoy!

Here is a pink cuff that I designed and made for an article appearing in 'Sewing World'. Free machine embroidery was used together with hand stitch and beading.

A great time was had by the students from the textile summer school held this summer. What great work they all produced - well done!

Embroidery and Collage

2007-06-06T18:36:00.000Z

pouch made from bonded cling film and machine embroidery using vanishing muslin for the edge.

Enjoy!

pouches made at my stitched stationery workshop on Saturday. They all finished too! - I really like them!

collaged background paper and playing with photoshop

part of my collaged paper

some of my students collaged papers completed at an altered art workshop

collaged papers and sketch

spent 2 days at Karen Howse's workshop monoprinting and stitch. Created work very different from my own which was great fun. Who knows where it may lead?

Hello Again!

2007-05-25T19:14:00.000Z

free-machine embroidered pouch with stitched lacy edging

Tags, My very first! I love them! - want to do thousands more!

Altered Art - books with drawers, tags, collage and more! - I'm taking a workshop this Saturday - can't wait!

Sorry, have been extremely busy these past weeks with lots of workshop preparation, making stuff and planning this year's events. So, straight to it-here are some photos of what I have been up to recently. Hope you like them!

A short break in Cornwall

2007-04-21T18:11:00.000Z

Mullion Cove, Cornwall

Coverack Harbour, Cornwall

Well, having spent four days last week at a beautiful fishing cove in Coverack, Cornwall, staying in a wonderful Youth Hostel, I am now back in full swing again with ideas for more making. I have spent the last 2 days dyeing bits of fabric and embellishing a bowl from scrap upholstery fabric. I am trying out new ideas that constantly buzz around inside my head!

Also I have made my first art quilt!...if you can call it that?....do let me know? I am rather pleased with it as i am not a quilter but have always wanted to do one. This measures 8inches square approximately, so it is only a little one! The image is the one of my earlier photos (shown on my blog pages) of my poppy head which i played around with on the computer and turned it into a psycadelic poppy!

Painting Play Day

2007-04-02T20:45:00.000Z

inks, gold paint, glitterati flakes, stamping, glitter, acrylic blob, homemade angelina, and rhinestone

Another Indian printing block after use!

Have spent the last 2 days playing with paints, paper and yummy stuff! Trying to fill a new sketchbook which i bought at Totnes in Devon on Saturday. Also bought a long narrow pad of watercolour paper so hope to use this too. I used a heavy texture gel paste and spread it onto a pre painted/inked background. Then used my indian printing block to impress into the paste. When dry, I painted over it with more inks, paints, oil bars, and finally applied gold foil using a guilding liquid.
I like to take close ups after I've made the art work, and if any good, print them out as photos.
We had a glorious day here today, but as i was playing, I didn't get much opportunity to go outside. Hope you like them-enjoy!

I love handbags!

2007-03-23T20:42:00.000Z

Here is my finished pink cotton velvet tote bag which I began awhile back but today managed to put the lining in. The embroidered panel is made by bonding angelina fibres to a dyed silk background, with added free-machining, then glass painted metal leaves were cut out, embossed and free-machine stitched. I can't wait to use it! On with the other UFO's.

More embellishing!

2007-03-23T15:39:00.001Z

Have had another play today on my new embellisher and here are the results. I like the blue piece more, it has all sorts on it. The orange flower piece was embellished using wadding in between the top and base layer. However, the amount of embellishing flattened it all, so no need to use it again in future.

The sun has come out and I have put the kettle on.

Hope you like my flower of the day.

Psychedelic Poppies!

2007-03-19T22:17:00.000Z

original photo of poppy head

Well what fun i have had today using my photos of plants and flowers and manipulating them in software such as Corel Draw x3 (which i am trialling) and Photo Impact. I love the effects that you can apply to them...too many to choose from though as I forget what I have applied and what I have removed!! Anyway, here are some of the results. I most certainly want to turn them into some kind of textile piece. I am not a quilter, but feel the urge to try out a art quilt of some sort - I do not like very much the traditional quilting - although I appreciate the work that goes into making them.

So watch this space and i shall post more of the poppies etc. soon.

A busy Mother's Day embroidering flowers!

2007-03-18T20:21:00.000Z

Well, a busy day today as I was running a workshop on free-motion embroidery onto soluble fabrics. We were all making various flowers and wiring them into coursages. I find the more you make, the more you want to keep making them. I hope you like them. They are very quite easy to make up, although some of the smaller componenets are fiddly, but the end results are delightful.

2007-03-13T17:07:00.000Z

Another spring day with the sun shining and me battling with the left over of a migraine.

Here is a cuff i made today whilst i was fiddling with my bits and pieces in my 'blue' box. The base is waste denim with dyed wools and yarns. The pink knitted roundel just happened to be in my button box. I took it off an old button and used it. I shall probably use velcro to close the cuff, although i don't really like the stuff.

Hanging pin cushion for my embellisher

2007-03-11T18:10:00.000Z

Here is my hanging pin cushion for my embellisher as I missed having somewhere to stick my pins. It's all done on my new machine and stuffed in the centre with wadding to hold the pins. I like its rough painterly style - no neat edges.

recycled embellished wool scarf

2007-03-11T16:37:00.000Z

Here is the scarf i embellished this afternoon. Some of the circles stand proud of the background fabric but is not easy to see this in the photo. Also I think it looks better in the flesh, so to speak. It was fun making this and designing it as i went along. Also, it is all totally recycled so I feel somewhat pleased... Now to finish the book cover.

new piece of work - embellished wallhanging

2007-03-11T12:19:00.000Z

work in progress under the machine

Well, what can I say, I JUST LOVE MY EMBELLISHER, have spent the last 6 hours on it after its arrival at 1.35pm on Friday and have made my first ever embellished piece which i turned into a wallhanging - I am thrilled with it and can't wait to do more. Its sunday morning now and am ready to get going again using some dyed wool blanket and machine felted commercial tweed fabric. i think i shall make a scarf and call it purple rain, as both fabrics are of a purpley colour and i have started to cut out circles for some reason. anyhow, i shall post a photo as usual for your comments.

ps, take a look at my website for other pictures of my work.....thanks.

Jill

the finished embellished wallhanging....I'm really very pleased for my first attempt on the embellishing machine

detail showing the raised embellished elements

this will be a book cover...look out for the finished article

Machine still not arrived - so here are more photos to get juices flowing

2007-03-09T11:42:00.000Z

Now late Friday morning and still no machine..grrrrrr So, have decided to post some pics of scrummy stuff to get my creative juices going. I have everything ready for the delivery of my new toy. Anyway, just enjoy the photos. Will post photos of embellished work later.

Scrummy yarns, fibres and glitzy bits all ready to embellish

babylock embellishing machine expected Friday 9th March

2007-03-07T21:40:00.000Z

Detail of my artwork which might inspire a piece of textile work?

Hi,

Well here is my first ever Blog... Not even sure what it stands for? Can anyone tell me?

Thought i would give it a go, as i have been searching the web for ideas etc on what you can do with an embellishing machine.....because, I am awaiting the exciting arrival of my very own Babylock embellisher which is due to arrive, hopefully pain free, on Friday 9th March.

I can't tell you how excited I am waiting for it to arrive. I have seen so much stuff done with it that looks absolutely fabulous and can't contain my excitement any longer, hence this Blog to share my thoughts with other textile/fibre/colour/pattern.....etc...etc... lovers such as I am.

Hope you'r keeping up with me. Is this how its done? Someone please tell me if I'm heading in the right direction.

Anyway, as I get to grips with this blog thing, I shall post my own pics etc of my work to share with anyone who wishes to see them. I always love looking at scrumptious textile stuff on the web.

So I shall get back to you soon to let you know about the arrival of my machine and what I have done with it since.

Hope you come back to read more, speak to you soon again.

I shall leave you with some more images - hope you like them.

Jill

ps, It's 21.53pm here in England at the moment.

A bonded, cling film, machine stitched, pouch

A mixed media collage