Monday 29 April 2013

Transfer Dye mania............

I seem to be on a flowery theme at the moment, must be the sunshine and working in the garden. In the last post I introduced you to Rose and I said I had another one ready for stitching, so now meet Poppy Red.
Poppy Red
Poppy Red detail
All this was done with transfer dyes, the background fabric, sashings, binding and poppies. I love the mottled effect and it's so easy, no mess or waste or rinsing dyes down the drain and when the papers are finished with they can be used in mixed media work.

If you fancy giving this technique a whirl we are running a workshop on 13th June at Fraddon Village Hall. We provide all the dyes, with no extra costs to you, so it's the perfect opportunity to try something new and get a stash of new fabric in the process.

I said transfer dyes were addictive, should I say it again..........I have another waiting to be stitched and one waiting in my head.

I'll leave it at that, bye bye
Sue

Thursday 25 April 2013

Exhibition and Diary Dates.........

As you may already know Carolyn and I belong to Trelyn Quilters and in October we're having our second exhibition. The first exhibition in 2010 was well received so we are all looking forward to this years event.
At the meeting today I sneaked a couple of snaps to show you the first and second prize quilts we're in the process of making.
First prize
Second prize
I think you'll agree both quilts are looking splendid, I'd love to be lucky enough to win either.
Our exhibition is on the 3rd - 5th October in aid of The Phoenix Appeal at Treliske Hospital, Truro, Cornwall.

On the home front, we have a Free Cut and Stencil Wall-hanging workshop on the 23rd May at Fraddon Village Hall.

If the Great British Sewing Bee has wetted your appetite to learn a new skill, then why not join us on our 6 week Begin Patchwork course, starting on the 4th June at Fraddon Village Hall.

Also at the beginning of  June, on the 6th we're at Coast & Country Crafts and Quilts, Perranarworthal with our popular Fuchsia Box workshop and on the 8th we're at South West Quilters, Tresillian Hall with our Square Strip Cushion workshop.

Information, photos and bookings for all the above workshops can be found on our web site.

Thanks for stopping by, we appreciate you taking a look.
Sue


Tuesday 16 April 2013

Meet 'Rose'..........

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to post this finished wall hanging, but I'm having trouble thinking of an appropriate name. At the moment it's 'Rose', although No.1 man says it's nothing like a rose, maybe I should call it 'A rose by any other name', meaning  - 'What matters is what something is, not what it is called'.
Anyway, it's one of the samples for a future workshop on Transfer Dyes.


It's mounted and wrapped around an artist canvas. It was lovely working with transfer dyes again, so I've got another one waiting to be stitched.

Today we had week 4 of our Quilting & Textile Design Course. The sample books are coming together now and the ladies are beginning to form design ideas for their finished pieces.






Above are a few vanishing muslin samples, I'll try and take more photos next time as the books are looking good.

Thanks for reading,
Sue

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Outings and Waxing..........

Hi everyone,

Hope you had a good Easter break and managed a few outings as we did, despite the bitter wind. There's not much on the sewing side to show you at the moment, so I thought I'd share some of my photos with you instead.
This was taken inside the Pandora Inn at Restronguet Creek, newly restored after the fire in 2011.

daffs, boats, a creek & a pontoon
This was our only wet day and the boats were certainly bobbing around, from the inside it looked quite nice with the rain drops on the window and not forgetting the daffs, don't they just make you happy!

Yesterday, along with our visiting family we decided on a trip to The Lost Gardens of Heligan, we stopped at Mevagissey first, it was bracing to say the least but I can't resist the colours and textures found in a harbour...........




and boats of course
A quick walk around the streets and we were back in the car, making a note to re-visit when the weather warms up.

Next stop Heligan, fed and watered in the cafe, wrapped up against the wind and we were off to the lost gardens. So much to photograph and I did, until my battery ran out, here is a small selection.

want this
interesting drain cover
another drain cover
love one of these tree stumps in my garden
Could bore you for ages, but moving on..........

I have been a bit creative, I want to use some tea bags in a project but they're to floppy for their purpose,  so I decided to wax them. I used a small bees wax candle, the results are quite lovely and perfect for what I want.


As I had everything set up I continued to wax painted papers and bought hand made papers.



Oops........got carried away and had to use an ordinary candle, I now have a bag full of waxed papers, hopefully they will feature in something soon. Hope there's something there you liked and we'll be back with a stitch related post next time.
Bye for now
Sue.