Sea Shore



Colour and texture is every where. The other day, while iceberg watching, I happened to look down at the water near the shore. The colours and textures were amazing.

I can see a bit of stump work in the first photo. Maybe a bit of textile painting on linen or muslin for the background and some stitching added, in the second one. A combination of stitch on organza might translate well for the other two. What do you think? What would you do?

Stitching With Sulky Sliver Threads

Here's one of my felted sheets before any machine stitching was added. I used different colours of Sulky Sliver Thread to stitch the piece. I find that this really gives texture to the surface. The bobbin has Sulky invisible thread as I find it works best with the Sulky Sliver thread.
It was also interesting to see the light shine through when it was held it up to the light.

This felted piece will be cut into 2" x 3" pieces and put on cards. I have also used smaller pieces for Wearable Art Pins. The pins are usually embellished with beads, hand embroidery and other findings.

Needle Felting before machine stitching

Close-up showing maching stitching with Sulky Sliver Threads

Machine Stitching Complete

Held up to a light, the holes show through

This is the reverse of the above felted piece

Held up to a light, the holes show through

Quidi Vidi - Finished At Last!

I've been working on a commissioned piece for the last month. It has been a bit challenging as I was unsure where I was going with it. The cliffs are dyed cheesecloth over hand dyed cotton. Free motion stitching with a smoke coloured invisible thread was used to give more texture in the background. I used this method for the mountains in my quilted piece, Western Brook Gorge (scroll down). The shed is broadcloth. This fabric isn't as heavy as cotton and very easy to fold without the bulk. The windows are cut out with grey organza over black fabric to give the look of glass. The water is black organza over black cotton. Some black tulle was used for shadows.  If you go HERE you will see a photo of this scene before any renovations were made on the building.

First Flowers

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday here in St. John's. Here are a few photos from my garden. I think the one with the stump has potential for a future thread painting. The tree at the bottom is hugh! When we moved in this house 20 years ago, it was about 4 feet tall. Now, it's way above the second story and much taller than the light pole beside it. I like the texture of its bark. Maybe it, too, will find its way into a piece of art.

Textile Artists from the UK

Lately I have been looking at the work of textile artists from all over the world. I sometimes loose track of time when doing this. However, it is time well spent especially if it triggers an idea. It's quite inspiring to see how these artists use colour, line, shape, value and texture to create a piece of textile art. My focus this time, is artists from the UK or who have ties to this country. Take a look!

• Barbara Weeks, textile artist & tutor
• Sandra Meech, art quilts & textiles (I've taken several work shops with Sandra)
• Gina Ferrari, check out the gallery
• Lynda Crosthwaite, 
• Mary-Clare Buckle, abstract art
• Lindsay Taylor
• One Step On, a West Lancashire group of textile artists
• Laura Stevens, hand stitched artwork
• Rachel Jennings, textiles & printmaking
• Linda Kemshall
• Gillian Travis
• Helen Howes 

Durian

Durian, is a fruit that is known as 'stinky fruit'. I have a Chinese sister-in-law in Ottawa and she introduced me to this fruit. Her family will not permit her to cut it open or eat it in the house so we had it out on the patio. When I first saw it, I was skeptical as to trying it. But what the heck, I could always spit it out if I didn't like it. Before I read about it, I compared its colour and texture to custard - stringy custard. The smell, because it was frozen, wasn't as bad as I thought. It did smell a bit like something had spoiled but once you get by that part, the taste was quite nice. I did go back for seconds. Check out the interesting story about this fruit here.
Here's the video about how smelly this fruit really is!