Stitches Coven meet-up cancelled tonight

The usual Thursday meet-up is cancelled tonight due to the wintry weather we have been experiencing. Whilst many areas are now clearing up, other areas still have snow and widespread ice is likely after dark, so best to stay indoors tonight!

See you next week :)

Introducing......Gala Blazejewska

Check out this wonderfully quirky purse I stumbled on by Polish designer-maker Gala Blazejewska who sells her work on Etsy shop, galafilc

Image taken from Gala's Etsy shop

She also writes a lovely blog which, fortunately for us, google can translate to english with the click of your mouse - though some of it is written in both english and polish anyway.You can see more of Gala's gorgeous teapot bags and purses here. At the moment she's blogging about her latest octopus purse design

Image taken from Gala's blog

I'm starting to develop a bit of a 'bag habit' of late - and these are just the sort of thing I like - ***hint to Mr Jones***!! :)

Short Course at Gower College, Gorseinon

Gower College Swansea are hoping to provide a new textile short course at their Canolfan Gorseinon Centre This 8 week short course about decorating fabric may start soon (subject to sufficient interest) which will cover topics such as silk painting, batik, printing & screen printing techniques. It is intended  to run as a 2 hour session per week(6-8pm on Tuesday evenings), and is a bargain at just £50 for the 8 sessions.

If you are new to textiles, or would like to expand on your repertoire of surface decoration skills then this course will be of great value to you. It will only run if there are sufficient numbers (i.e.12), so if this is of interest to you please get in touch as soon as possible by telephoning: Maggie Carr or Rachel Hall on 01792 894363.

Collagraph Adventures....

It was great to catch up with everyone who attended on Thursday - there is some lovely work being produced by members - reckon I'll take my camera next time to try to coax some of them to post their work on here occasionally.....!

If any of you were wondering if I ever finished those mount board collograph plates I was busily hacking away at in the group sessions before xmas, then the answer is yes! These were then varnished and I even had a try out with them and here are some of the results.

the varnished plates

plate 2 - white on black paper

Plate 1 - on paper

Plate 2 - earthy tones on paper

Plate 2 - on fabric

Plate 2 was made from the 'leftovers' of plate 1, but I think I prefer it to the original design! I had a go at printing onto a piece of fabric too, which I can embellish with some stitch when I get a mo! This is a new technique for me, and although there's clearly room for improvement, I'm quite pleased with my first efforts. I like this form of printing as you can be as simple or detailed as you want to, and it's made from very basic, everyday materials so no specialist equipment required. It's quite time consuming and fiddly to make the plate, but once you've done so you can keep it well varnished for multiple prints. You can also add to it/cut into again to modify the design. This is definitely a technique I will use again and want to explore further.

Fashion, Embroidery & Stitch at NEC Birmingham, 21-24 March

Click here for more details of this annual event showcasing some of the UK's most accomplished textile artists. On offer are exhibited works, some free workshops, demonstrations and the opportunity to chat with some of the artists, aswell as the opportunity to buy some supplies - and we all like shopping for new supplies don't we?!

And if that's not enough for one day, your ticket allows you to enter 2 more shows running in neighbouring halls - Sewing for Pleasure ( or sewing for her pleasure, as I call it!) and Hobbycrafts, details for which can be found Here