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

Up and Running...at last

                                                   Hello Lovelies. 

                         Is it too late to wish you a Happy New Year?

2015 may no longer be brand spanking new, but it is still fairly shiny so I wish you a very happy, healthy and creative year ahead.

Sorry I have been missing-in-action for a while. December ran away from me and January hit the ground running....well almost. In recent years I have found the beginning of the year really difficult, dark and emotionally challenging. Like many people, it takes me a while to shake off the old year and embrace the new.

                                           I'm getting there gradually. 

It's been difficult to balance this weighted-down feeling with the busy-ness and demands that the last few weeks have brought.

Last weekend gave me a big kick up the backside! Mr Dotty and I took up the Couch 2 5k challenge last summer and very gradually began running. We built it up slowly with a  few ups and downs along the way. We were very proud to take part- and finish- a 7 kilometre run at Lyme Park on Saturday as part of a series of National Trust Night Runs. It was challenging, fun and a great experience, running up and down hills, through the woods, splashing through boggy mud with a crowd of around 300 other runners wearing head torches. I loved it!!

                 We were very proud to receive our medals at the end.:)

So when I feel like I'm wading through treacle, I can look back at this and remember that I can achieve lots even if it takes me a little time. What achievements are you proud of?

I have been working hard on a commission and also work for Ten Plus Textiles, but there seem to be so many distractions. Does anyone else dream of having a studio at the bottom of the garden?!

patchwork background with applique

                                           work in progress

                           I'll show you the finished piece soon.

                                   Have a good week

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.

Rings and Things

There is a definite chill in the air, time is ticking by and I'm navigating a path through good moments and sad ones. I'm taking comfort (and warmth) from simple things like French knitting- not too much thinking, just doing!

(Blurry photo, but I wanted to show you I'm back to my favourite hair colour)

Finished simply with a cluster of 8 metal washers from a well-known DIY store, ( I have since reduced it to 3 washers as the weight kept pulling the scarf around so it didn't hang straight and I can't stand clothes that have to be fiddled with!)

Ideas are swirling around my mind and gradually I'm becoming productive, relishing the timeless motions of pinning, tacking and stitching into fabric and paper, taking shape between my fingers. I love English patchwork, making hexagons, the simple repetitive rhythm unchanged for centuries.

I have a plan, to tack together the old and the new. Vintage technology revisited, allowing me to print my Nan's letter onto fabric, words from the past whispering inspiration for the days to come.

Some of our good moments were spent at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Spinningfields in Manchester at the weekend- so many talented crafts people. Mr Dotty and I had a wonderful time and spent thousands of pounds in our heads! Actual pound were spent too! I bought this beautiful ring from Helen Shere.

Natural

Simple

Beautiful

Hope your week has lots of good moments too.xx

Bugged!!!

I'm under the weather today, some kind of virus has invaded my joints and throat, sapping my energy! I've spent most of the day in bed, but I got really bored and dragged myself up to try and do something constructive. I'll try not to pass the bug on to you!!

I wish I could have gone to my meeting at Ten Plus Textiles as I wanted some feedback on my new work for the coming exhibition at Bankfield Museum. I'll show it to you after I get a few photos.

Instead, I've been looking through my pictures from Lisbon.

 

I'm hoping to print this onto fabric and see where it takes me.

 

 

These colours and shapes could translate into patchwork. I love that a little plant is growing out of the graffiti.

 

 

More colours and shapes.

 

 

The cat makes me smile.

 

Well,  that's all for now. Hoping to be back on form tomorrow......

 

I am very excited about tomorrow-it is going to be a good day! In the morning, I'm having my hair coloured (ok that part is a bit boring, sitting still for ages! There are only so many Hello magazines I can stomach), meeting two lovely friends in the afternoon, then in the evening Mr Dotty and I will be rubbing shoulders with some arty types! I had a piece selected for the Open Contemporary Art Exhibition at Stockport Art Gallery and I can't wait to see all the wonderful art.

Sneak preview of my mixed media piece, "Home from Home 2". I am always very grateful for how well received these pictures of Skye cottages seem to be.

I have been busy working towards my next exhibition with the Ten Plus Textiles Group. This is a quilt I made four years ago for an exhibition at Little Moreton Hall, a stunning tudor house in Congleton.

The "strips 'n Curves" technique by Louisa L. Smith is quite challenging. I created a fabric by piecing together black and white strips, then cut these up to make the patchwork- lots of seams to match up!. I quilted it very simply with circles. It is quite striking, but I'm afraid I found it...well, dull!

So, my brains were wracked for ideas on how to recycle it (or is that "upcycle"?) I'm beginning to explore the shapes of leafless trees.

I love the ones in Skye- short and gnarly, and leaning against the harsh elements.

So, I appliqued a bold, bright, bare tree onto the quilt. The curves of the branches echo the curves of the patchwork and the tree looks as though it is offering up the moon. I requilted it with orange thread-it was originally blue- and added some black satin stitch circles to draw the eye. Then I had great fun handstitching and voila!

I don't want to reveal the whole thing just yet as it is going to be on show in October.

Right, off into the kitchen to make the second Christmas cake of the year! *smiles smuggly*

Dotty About Hexagons

I do love making traditional patchwork hexagons. I love the process; drawing paper templates, pinning them to the fabric, cutting around the template, folding in the seam allowance and tacking and finally stitching them together with tiny little stitches.

The shapes grow and I feel connected to the past, all those thousands of fingers that have carried out the same actions. I find it very soothing.

I love how these brooches have come out- thay have given me another good use for my gorgeous buttons!

One or two will be appearing in my EtsyShop over the next couple of days.

Beginnings and Endings

BEGINNINGS
We had a very productive weekend, clearing out the loft, going to the tip and reorganising wardrobes, which felt very cleansing. My positive mood meant that I was amenable to persuasion and I finally gave in to my older children's requests to have Facebook accounts. I have set boundaries and we will see how it goes, but it means I will have to make the most of computer time during school hours- I didn't get a look in over the weekend!!

I have been similarly productive today- Pilates, shopping, baking and gardening- I will probably slump tomorrow:S
I have been thinning out my little seedlings, a job that I found surprisingly difficult to do. I'm not generally sentimental, but I feel so proud that the tiny seeds I planted are actually sprouting up abundantly, so plucking them out of the soil felt very wrong! I know why I am doing it and it is for the best, but it made me feel a bit glum! I replanted some of them where there was more space to make myself feel better.

ENDINGS
I was very pleased to finish binding this quilt, which I made from a "Park Avenue" Moda layer cake using the Tipsy Tumblers pattern from the Quilt Room (www.quiltroom.co.uk). It is a lap quilt to snuggle under in front of the telly in the winter months.

I have been working on it on and off for ages, though the quilt itself didn't take very long. I machine pieced it in a week and quilted it by hand.Strictly speaking it isn't a "quilt" as it only consists of two layers- the patchwork top and a lovely soft fleece backing.

The quilting pattern is very simple, but I enjoyed hand stitching it. Now I just need some chilly evenings so I can use it, but I'm not speeding them along. (Oh, and it is strictly a dog free zone!!!)

Trip To Salford

My study room is piled with carefully packaged textile artwork at the moment. Tomorrow I am delivering the work to Salford Museum and Art Gallery for the Ten Plus Textiles group retrospective exhibition. The preview is on Saturday and I am really excited about it.

There are 16 members in the group and we have each put in around 4 pieces of work, spanning our time in the group, including a new piece each. There will also be some art  from associate members. Our work covers many textile arts, including beadwork, patchwork, mixed media, batik,quilting and weaving. It is very varied and wonderfully colourful.

More details about the group can be found here: http://www.tenplustextiles.com/

Salford Exhibition

I have been working on a piece for Ten Plus Textiles (http://www.tenplustextiles.com/), the group that I am priviledged to be part of. The group are having a retrospective exhibition at Salford Art Gallery next February to celebrate 20 years together doing wonderfully creative things, (I have only been with them for a fraction of that time!)

Here is a sneak preview of my new piece. It is just a portion as I don't want to spoil the surprise!

The work combines modern technology with traditional patchwork. I have used the computer to print text and images onto fabric. I have also made "fabric paper" by layering tissue, newspaper and paint onto a fabric bagkground with PVA glue. These have been combined with painted, stamped fabrics of various sorts, which were embellished with stitch, buttons and eyelets. I cut lots of 1.5inch squares which were arranged and stitched to a background.

To see the whole piece you'll need to visit the exhibition:) I will post details nearer the time.