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My latest Laura Ashley project
It’s been quite a while since my last post. This is mainly due to the day job which is becoming increasingly demanding. I have also been working on a couple of things which are for a Bristol...
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What I did at the weekend
On Saturday I went to Builth Wells in Mid Wales to do a talk for the area day of the Quilters’ Guild Region 12. Their small but magnificent banner is shown in the picture above. Quilters, kindly...
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Work in progress – Little Lauras 1
My new project involves making a series of small panels of little Saint Lauras. I started by making a biggish piece of machine-made crazy patchwork, using my faithful Bernina and the Singer my mother...
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No 1 in a series of quick posts of Little Laura panels
I haven‘t done much posting recently as I have been spending so much time on my day job, and I haven‘t had that much time for my Laura Ashley projects. Plus in the dead of winter I don‘t feel that...
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Little Laura no 2
This Little Laura uses one of my favourite stitches: fly stitch. Here there are some examples used as a stand-alone stitch, but also to sew down some substantial sequins. There are also beads sewn...
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Little Laura 3
I do love an encrusted surface and this Laura has a lot of very shiny black beads appliqué-d down the right-hand-side. There is an old turquoise bead earring on the left, which I got in a lucky bag I...
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Little Laura 4
This one is the first of this series that I did. It has a very geometric stacked-up pattern feel, but the bronze on bronze pattern made with metallic machine sewing thread, here used for hand...
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Little Laura 5
I rather let rip on this one and added about as much embellishment as I could squeeze in. Sometimes more is more. I think it works because there is a lot of patterning and repetition in it,...
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Little Laura 6
This seemed like a nice Little Laura for Valentine’s Day (which happens to be my birthday), because of the little red enamel heart; I like this one because the stitchery at the bottom of her skirt is...
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What I did at the weekend
I have no idea where to start today so this might be a real ramble, for which I apologise in advance, but lots of things have come together in that last few days which has been fun but hard to...
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Drawing armour at the Wallace Collection
The first subject on this week’s list of things to blog about was drawing armour at the Wallace Collection. This all started because I am interested in men’s workwear, and in particular the...
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Zentangles
I said that I would do a post on Zentangles, which I have been working on, inspired by my friend Beatriz and her one-a-day art process. A Zentangle is a drawing, done in ink with some graphite added...
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What I did on Sunday
Well, I should have been working at the day job, but for some reason I have the big Urge to Create yesterday and so I gave in. I finished the last of the little Laura panels just after lunch and I went...
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What I did at the weekend
I love Bank Holidays because I don’t feel so guilty about spending a chunk of time in my workroom. I started off today making a quilt for a new baby, but it went horribly wrong when I rather...
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The £50,000 question
Big Keith’s appraisal in ‘The Office” Events took a surprising turn this week: I had a really useful appraisal with my new colleague, Jon Beaverstock. Appraisals, for those of you fortunate enough...
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A post as much for me as you
Today is a momentous day. I have finally started work towards my book. I have sat down and written out plans before for a book which all came to nothing, because I think books have to be ‘ready’...
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Revisiting a classic
I have been working on a new project, which I will blog about shortly, and I thought that I would get out my copy of The Shining Cloth by Victoria Z. Rivers. It is a great book, a bit of a classic...
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War Collars project
I have spent quite a lot of the summer at conferences presenting my research to my colleagues. One of the new projects for this year was on the connection between suits of armour and contemporary...
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War collar number two
The second collar in my series of wearable armour for corporate women is this blue neckpiece. The idea here is to make a protective piece. So, according to the sort of folklore I was brought up...
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War Collar Three: The Don’t Mess With Me Collar
This piece is another which has been looking for a home. I made the piece on a workshop at Heartspace Studios with Basil Kardasis in 2012. I’ve noted before that I love things that are really heavy...
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