Venitian Tiles

inspirational images of floor tiles in st marks in venice - lots of ideas here for textile work!

quilting finished

another piece to join my marvellous marble collection which is touring with the Grosvenor shows, the quilting is finished at last despite a bit of thread shredding which has been extremely frustrating, I think it was the tight weave of the silk background fabric that was the problem - just got the binding to do now. i'm going to do a faced binding so there won't be anything visible from the front.

now I can pack my stuff for venice!

blooming lovely

floral inspiration in my garden this morning before the rain - tree peony and aliums such gorgeous colours and textures. anyway back to decision making what to pack for our venice trip, we are leaving tomorrow and apparently the weather isn't going to be too cracking over the weekend, just my luck! I've been so looking forward to this trip and all the photo opportunities - watch this space!

last weekend we went to see Chris and Ash at Old Dalby and went out for lunch with them to celebrate Ash's birthday, lovely sunny day and the dogs enjoyed getting together for a play

 

I've been working on this piece today, free machine quilting but so frustrating when the thread keeps shredding - tried everything. Clean the machine, change the settings, new needle , different thread- I've come to the conclusion that its the fabric!

studio blitz

amber dog came to stay this weekend
she's a springerdor

well apart from having just one extra dog to stay this weekend I decided that I had to blitz the studio it had got so bad I couldn't bear to work in  there! so all the shelves have been cleaned and loads of stuff put away and I've moved the furniture around just for a change. believe me what you see here is a massive improvement to the 'before'. I think I've  just  got too much 'stuff ' so perhaps my challenge is to use it up..............

the studio cat

when esme is with me she spends a lot of time in the studio her best place in on my work table in amongst the fabric

so my lovely transfer printed synthetic satin makes a comfortable spot for a cat while she watches me sew

but her very best place is in front of the window where she can watch the comings and goings on the bird feeders!

 anyway I have been working on another marble tile piece silk background printed with thermofax screens and transfer printed synthetic satin for the tiles so there is a lovely sheen to the fabric and once the shapes are machined in I can cut away with the soldering iron so no finishing required ! the Bristol triptych piece below is on tour with the Grosvenor shows  From Marble to Marvellous at Sandown, Harrogate, Edinburgh and Duxford hope you can get to see it.

Oh and by the way esme has gone home now

 

 

Esme

esme is staying for a few days while here mummy and daddy are away on holiday she's really an indoor cat but likes to escape for a bit of fresh air every now and then - here she is enjoying our lovely bank holiday weather

lots of news

well first of all my big news - I've been invited to teach and lecture at the Australasian quilt convention in Melbourne next april - how cool is that! soooooooooooo excited to get yet another trip down under.

then I found out that I had won a pair of earrings from Michael birnie jewellers in bury st Edmunds www.michaelbirnie.com which was a nice surprise.

then yesterday I went to a region 9 event at mundford - the spring trade fair with doughty fabric road show. great to catch up with lots of old friends and buy a bit of fabric and do a bit of a deal with mat from doughty - may prove to be a good contact - its all about networking I think.
sorry no photos today - just off to the garden to work in the sunshine - need some vitamin D