Pieces of felt were cut out and arranged on felt and then tacked in place before being coloured with silk paints. These bits of lace are all cotton which gives quite a textural effect. I can't decide whether I prefer the formal arrangement of the white piece or the randomly placed snippets of the brownish piece.

Little lace samples

Pieces made at a workshop with Louise Watson last week. They are stage one and meant to be worked on further but I can't go to next month's session as I have to work.

Natural dyeing

Tried some more natural dyeing on paper and fabrics using onion skin. These are the papers. Boiled in a pan for 30 mins.

Books

A rainy grey day so this morning painting lots of pages to make books to take on future trips. Now the sun is starting to come out I'll leave them to finish off this evening and go out and draw.

Workshop 4

Perhaps my favourite stitched piece. The threads stitched, then snipped and overlaid with another piece of muslin. The remnants of stitches were pulled through to the top surface.

Workshop 3

Here the thin paper has been replaced with muslin and the pen drawing with couched linen threads. Two pieces overlaid having been stitched on all four sides to get a feeling of depth.

Workshop 2

You got interesting results from overlaying two drawings on the thin paper.

Workshop 1

I went on a workshop at Matthew Harris's workshop in Stroud over the weekend. We were working with randomness to get us away from our usual sort of work. This is tiny pieces drawn round on Japanese paper.

Journey week 4 strip maps 2

For this sample, I drew the route onto calico with a grey fabric pen. Images from my sketchbooks, books and a nice bird serviette were glued on. Other pieces of different papers were also added for tonal contrast. A piece of scrim was bonded on the top and then the route was stitched in a dark grey linen thread. The birds illustrate the ones that I see and hear along my journey from my house to the top of the hill.

Journey week 4 strip maps 1

We looked at strip maps today in class especially those of the 17th C - John Oglby. This is my first trial for a sample. The journey from my house was divided into four pieces. Drawings from my sketch book were transferred onto T-shirt transfer paper and ironed off onto calico. Because the walk is generally quite 'green' I painted the fabric first, but I think this made it too green. Also the transfer paper was too shiny.

Journey week 3 part 2

Section of the destination - a country lane next to a wood - enlarged, traced and redrawn. Symbols printed onto fabric and the stitched by hand and machine.

Journey week 3 part 1

Exploring maps of the journey destination. Examining the OS symbols and making little printing blocks of more relevant symbols.

Journey week 2 part 2

Drawn memories of circular patterns - drain covers, flower pots etc. hand stitching with couching.

Journey week 2 part 1

Memories of a frequent journey, particularly patterns and textures. Appliqué and machined.

Journey week 1

Quick observational drawings around Cirencester. Booklets swopped. Another layer of sketching. Finally shared stitching.