Aside from this project I finally finished the last cushion for the living room sofa which is in dior need of some tarting up!! I've been practising my free motion quilting on some cushions using fabrics I hand dyed with procian dyes. The centre square of the cushion is trapunto, a kind of raised quilting, which I learned with Phillipa Naylor in a workshop a couple of months ago. I'm not too pleased with the final result but satisfied enough for it to go on the sofa for the moment. I've learned that I need clear, distinct shapes rather than the running into each other look I've got here.... oh, get over it Liz and stop the self flagellation! Learn for the future! By the way, the small quilt above was also done with free motion quilting. If you are curious as to what on earth is "free motion" then take a look at http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.co.uk where Leah Day shows her mastery of this skill!!
And, last but not least, my textile course has started again and this term's project is called "Lines of Communication". I have some thoughts already about what I want to do so...watch this space.
Finally, ( I really must get more disciplined and post on separate dates) I went on a two day workshop with Clive Bartlett at Art Van Go on Discharge Techniques. We worked on fabric applying Finish Dishwasher Liquid to discharge the colour out of the fabric and then, if we wanted, to reintroduce new colour. We started by preparing a screen for printing onto the fabric initially using "Finish" to discharge the colour, and then applying colour with fabric paints. The first two are discharged fabrics and the third is using a silk screen to apply layers of colour. The colours are not great in these photos but, what the hell, you get the idea. I learned a few new techniques which I feel will be useful in the future. Clive is a qualified nurse working with adults with learning disabilities but he also has a passion for textiles - really lovely guy!!
