Two finished items and some sewing related happy mail

As promised in my last post, I finished the skirt I was making.

I also finished the bunting I'd been making for my Mum.

I had been saving my pennies to visit the Liverpool Vintage Fair last Saturday, but it was cancelled, so I've been doing a little bit of online shopping over the bank holiday weekend! 

These are the first things through the letter box. The fabric is from Billow Fabrics where all of these are currently in their sale. The beads are from Sew and So.

I received a lovely package from a new friend today as well, but there are so many wonderful things in it that it deserves a blog post all of its own! I'll be back with that on Friday.

TTFN
Louise

Wips*

More stitching etc has been added to this blue and white collage piece. The printed flower may have some extra stitching added to the image, I'm waiting to see how it fits in with its completely surrounded. I'm currently in the middle of stitching three suffolk puffs onto the blue gingham patch.

This is the start of a cushion cover. I've used an embroidered corner of a vintage napkin that I've stitched onto two panels of fabric (the seam of the third piece has yet to be permanently stitched down) and added some beads too. I'm waiting for some fabric and beads I've ordered before I can continue with this wip.

 
This last one is a skirt that I'm making for myself. It's the first piece of clothing I've made for myself for years, so I've gone for a really simple gathered skirt, made from two rectangles of black and white gingham and it has an elasticated waist. I'm trimming the hem with some vintage broderie anglais and some cotton lace and I'll also be adding some suffolk puff flowers too.

Hopefully, I'll have finished the skirt when I next post on Wednesday.

TTFN
Louise

*wips - works in progress

Take time to smell the flowers - a piece of textile art

Your first saw this piece it was half done. Since then I attached the cigarette silk centre piece and added some suffilk puffs made from a vintage hanky, vintage buttons and some flower beads. To finish it off, I added pink running stitch around the hem of the napkin.

You can now purchase this, mounted onto some cream mountboard, from my Etsy store.

I'll be back on Monday.

TTFN
Louise

The work of Jackie Wragg and Tilly Wilkinson

The Seagrass Gallery in West Kirby is currently (until the end of May) holding an exhibition of the work of the artists Jackie Wragg and Tilly Wilkinson.called 'Designs on Nature'. When I visited last week, I took a few photos, though, unfortunately, not always brilliant ones due to the position of some of the paintings etc and my lack of skill!

Jackie Wragg

Jackie graduated in 1984 with a first class honours degree in Fine Art. She has exhibited in group exhibitions in the UK and USA including the National Portrait Gallery London, the Royal Academy, The Royal Festival Hall, The Whitechapel and Manchester United Stadium Gallery. She has a both paintings and lino prints in the exhibition.
(Info from Jackie's website)

Detail from the painting above.

Tilly Wilkinson

Tilly's work is in vitreous enamel: powdered glass that is fired on to a metal base usually copper, steel, or precious metal.

Enamels often react with the metal they are fired onto, producing unexpected colours and effects. Whilst this is a stumbling block for the beginner it is one of the characteristics that Tilly loves about enamel, To use enamel well requires experience and knowledge of the likely effects that can be achieved if the enamel is fired for different times and at different temperatures.

Tilly produces a range of items from wall pieces to 3 dimensional work, jewellery and bowls. Her current work has a narrative element to it and is illustrative of the comings and goings of the wildlife in her own garden and in the wider landscape around her.

(Info from Tilly's website)

 

 
Both Jackie and Tilly have created some beautiful work haven't they?

I'll be back on Thursday.

TTFN
Louise

Just a week late!

I'm sorry for the missing week of posts. My chronic fatigue was bad last week (I won't go into the details!), which meant that I couldn't do much of anything so I decided to take a few days off.

I've been able to do a bit more over the last couple of days so I actually have something new to show you. I'm not going to be back on my regular, every other day, posting schedule for another few days, so I can have a couple of posts in hand. I'm also hoping to have more posts about other things rather than just about my own work. For example, my next post is about an exhibition of the work of two artists that's currently on at the Seagrass Gallery in West Kirby. I'll be going to the Vintage Fair at St. George's Hall next Saturday (27th May) and I'll visiting an exhibition on Japanese prints at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in the next few weeks too. 

 This blue one has grown in size considerable since I first started it, as I've added two further vintage cotton background pieces. There's still a lot of work left on this one (mainy of the pieces on the top half are unattached).

This one is much smaller. I've used a small vintage linen napkin as the background and used quite large, in comparison, patches. The centre embroidered flower is one of those that were given away with cigarettes many moons ago.

I'll be back on Monday with the Seagrass artists' post.

TTFN
Louise