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Showing posts with label WI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WI. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Summery Summaries: Part One

Tatting, Tullie Textiles
May 2018

It's happened again; despite my best intentions I've ended up being really busy and have not kept my blog up to date, oh well. I keep this blog for a number of reasons, the primary reason being that I find it a really good way to review and reflect on what I've been doing. It's also a good way of sharing what I'm doing and on a practical note of keeping an easily accessible record. I enjoy writing posts on here, regardless of whether or not anyone reads them but I do find that when I'm busy it tends to be one of the first things that falls off the to do list. I can then sometimes find myself in a situation where I want to write about something but feel that I must write up what I've missed writing up before. To get around this I've decided to do a couple of summary posts; that way I'll have a record of what I've done but won't feel like I must write up everything I've done since the last post in great detail and I'll be able to get back to blogging about what I want to when I want to. That's the theory...

Suffolk Puffs, Stapleton WI
July 2018

As always I've been busy with my regular groups at The Heathlands Project and Prism Arts but also with lots of other projects. These include my Tullie Textiles group, workshops and other bits and pieces. I've done a couple of sessions for different Women's Institute groups this summer; a talk for Carlisle's WizCraft group and a Suffolk Puff demonstration and mini workshop for Stapleton WI group.

Suffolk Puffs, Stapleton WI
July 2018

Suffolk Puffs, Stapleton WI
July 2018

I'm always a bit nervous about working with WI groups as there are women there who have far more experience and skill stitching than I do. However, so far it's always been a lot of fun and everyone has been very receptive to my ideas and we've had some really interesting conversations. It was interesting doing my talk for the Carlisle group as it was a good opportunity to review where I'm up to with my work and have a think about what's next.

Crazy Creatures from KS1 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

Crazy Creatures from KS1 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

Crazy Creatures from KS1 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

Earlier in the year I was invited back to Wiggonby School to run a couple of creative workshops for the children. This is my third year running sessions for them and I always enjoy it, it's a very friendly school and I'm always very impressed with what the children create with me. This year I worked with Key Stage One in the morning making crazy animals from recycled materials and then in the afternoon I worked with Key Stage Two making wildlife portraits with fabric pastels and stitch. They all created some fantastic work and I think it's really good for the children to have the opportunity to try something different.

Wildlife Portraits from KS2 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

Wildlife Portraits from KS2 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

Wildlife Portraits from KS2 at Wiggonby School
April 2018

I run a monthly group at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery called Tullie Textiles. We meet on the second Sunday of each month and each session I choose an object from the museums collections to look at and I demonstrate a textile skill or technique. It's a lovely group, really friendly and I always look forward to the sessions. Some of the group have been coming for a few years now but we also get new people coming in which is great, I love it when I'm demonstrating something and then some of the more established members help newer members. I also really like that one thing tends to lead to another and it gives me a great opportunity to try new things and then share them with my group!

Standing Wool samples, Tullie Textiles
September 2018

Fabric Tassels, Tullie Textiles
August 2018

I think that's enough catching up for now. Hopefully I'll do another couple of catch up posts soon and then something resembling normal service can resume. Or not!

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Recent Textile Based Antics

Setting up for a workshop

I originally began this blog as a way of documenting all the different creative things I was doing. Over time it has grown and changed and it's become quite a reflective place for me and as social media has grown and grown I've been using other platforms to share and record my work. (If you have a little look on the right of this page you can find a link to some of those platforms.)

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

Recently I've been blogging less and less about the workshops and participatory projects I'm working on and I think there's a couple of main reasons for this. Firstly, I've been using Flickr to share images of the projects I'm working on and as I've shared the images (a picture paints a thousand words and all that) I've been writing less. Secondly, I've been working on lots of 'ongoing' projects so there isn't always a definite start and finish so I've tended not to blog as I think "I'll write a post when..." but of course the 'when...' never happens!

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

I don't think that sharing my work on these other platforms is a bad thing in any way but I do find that sometimes I miss the writing up and regular writing practice that blogging provides. There is an obvious and easy way to solve this and that is to get back into the habit of regularly blogging! So, with that in mind here's a summary of a couple of recent workshops that I've run.

Making Suffolk Puffs with the WI

Suffolk Puffs with the Women's Institute (Warwick Bridge, Carlisle)

This was a really relaxed evening with a very lovely group of ladies. Making Suffolk Puffs is fairly easy so my main focus was showing the ladies what could be made with them; in particular textile jewellery. I'm always quite nervous working with groups such as the WI as often I'm working with people who have much more knowledge and experience of sewing than I do but I always find that what I can bring is a bit of inspiration and a different way of looking at things which encourages people to be a bit more creative.

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

This is one of my favourite workshops to run and this session was so relaxed and enjoyable. The ladies were so engaged in embellishing their fabrics that at times the room was almost silent but in between those times we had some really interesting conversations about needlework and how the way something is taught makes such a huge difference to not only your understanding but your enjoyment (or otherwise.) I'm really pleased to have been asked back so in September I'll be running another of my favourite workshops for the group: Sketchbook Making.

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club

Embellishing Printed Fabrics with Brampton Art Club