Hexagon Christmas Wreath

As you probably know, my formal craft training is in patchwork and quilting and I have a passion for hexagons.

I will be running a workshop teaching traditional English patchwork on 12th November. I will be teaching how to make patchwork over papers and we will make a Christmas wreath to hang on the Christmas tree.

Having mastered the basics you could then hone your new skill to go on to make brooches and even a patchwork quilt.

The workshop will be held at 1.30-3.30 pm at the Makers' Place, Macclesfield Heritage Centre, Roe Street, Macclesfield and costs £25 including materials, a tea/ coffee and a piece of cake.

Message me on my Facebook page if you would like to join in:

www.facebook.com/Dotty-B-Textile-Art-1726279450986088/

Spring Flowers

The promise of Spring has been in the air, though today is wet, cold and grey!
We need a little colour....

Is this bright enough to bring a little cheer? My beautiful daughter has spent months stitching away in her free time.

She seems to share my love of hexagons, stitched by hand over papers, the traditional way.

She stitched together 14 rows, 161 flowers, 1127 hexagons. I can't imagine how many tiny little stitches were needed to make up this gorgeous lap quilt.

The finished top was tie quilted onto sky blue, polka dot fleece to make it super snuggly, then she stitched all the way around the edge.

It sits on her chair in the window, brightening my days. I will have to make the most of both of them before they both go off to university later in the year.

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a special Mother's Day to all Mums on Sunday. xx

Grandma's Garden

Remember this? My Nan's letter has inspired me in many ways and has crept into my recent work.

I had a thermofax screen made from a page of it in two different sizes and used it to print onto some fabric, which I have been using to make hexagons.

It's very difficult to see in the photograph, but the thermofax process uses a photocopy of an image to burn away the screen material wherever there is a dark area and can be used to make screens to print very fine marks.

I showed you some of my hexies a little while back, so here is what I did with them:

 Work in progress. You can just make out my Nan's writing  printed on the lower shapes. The hexagons are about an inch across- more and more I am needing to use my glasses to sew. Anyone else find that?

                                     The finished wallhanging.

I enlarged a photo of a section of the letter so I could stitch Nan's handwriting onto the quilt.

If you want a close look the quilt is on display at Altrincham Forward as part of the Ten Plus Textiles exhibition until 29th April.

Early Blooms

When in doubt, do what you love....

Bright And Beautiful

The sun is shining outside and it is a beautiful spring morning. I have been for a lovely walk with the dog and I could be tempted to spend the morning pottering around the garden. However, I have things I need to do indoors, so to bring a bit of brightness inside, I thought I would share some gorgeous, bright, floral fabrics.

I have been busy cutting out hexagons so that when I have a quiet moment I can sit and hand stitch them together. I find it so soothing to hand stitch and although I love contemporary textile art, there are times when only traditional methods will do! I will be transforming these hexagons into lavender bags or pin cushions, which will appear in my Etsy shop after Easter.