In my studio: at a snail's pace to completion

This week in the studio I’ve been trying to finish things, with varying success...! 

Unsung Muses pieces
Let’s start with my ‘real’ work.  I haven’t managed to finish any work for ages – I’ve been stuck at the starting ‘scatter-gun’ position for a few months now.  So I decided I really needed to finish some that had been on the go for a while, just to get them out of the way.  Here’s some close-ups of the two I’ve been working on this week.  The orange/bronze coloured one is basically finished, except I don’t like where I’ve put one of the lines of stitching.  I don’t think anyone else will notice, but I do so I need to fix that before I reveal the whole hanging.  So only 15mins work left.

The other piece has been at the almost finished stage for ages and now it only needs the final trimming and the hand stitching of the hanging sleeves, so hopefully I’ll be able to reveal the whole piece next week... (but don’t hold me to it!)

Coffee Cup Patchwork

I’ve progressed to 33 of the 38 pieces joined together into a big long row.  I’m getting excited and slightly worried about whether they will spiral together properly – they should as I’ve measured it, but until I actually start stitching...

 

Transfer Printing

At the weekend, one of the topics I was teaching at the C&G class was transfer printing.  I’ve resisted the temptation to start making work based on maps, the topic for the next few sessions, although it is fascinating and full of potential; but I couldn’t resist having a go at some transfer printing.  This has had mixed results, however, I don’t think you can do transfer printing properly without at least annihilating several pieces of fabric.  I managed it so well, I melted three bits of fabric into the paper and couldn’t remove it – the transferred colour was very strong though! 

The disaster!

 

The colour on the pieces that have worked is weaker, but they are at least intact!  I am thinking they could be really interesting layered into a piece, as I am playing with the ideas of memory and its disintegration, so having some obscured by other layers would work well.

Three layers of transfer printed chiffon

Simple Quilts

After longarm quilting at Beechwood last week, I’ve finished one – hurrah!  The second only needs the binding stitched down on the back and the third the binding added.  I keep thinking I can do the hand stitching in front of the TV in the evening as it doesn’t need too much concentration, but I don’t really watch much television, so I need to find other times to do it.

 

The backing on the one I’ve shown in the photo is some Amy Butler fabric and I’m really liking the way it is making me smile when I see it – it is definitely cheerful fabric.