Out Of The Fold Textile Exhibition

I went to Bury St Edmunds today to visit an exhibiton of thirteen textile artists work based in Suffolk and in case you think I'm totally boring and textile obsessed I also bought two pairs of shoes.

I had seen Marion Baker's work at the open studios and find it very colourful.

Other work there included an unnamed piece by Karen Frost which was an asymmetrical pale piece which was beautiful.

Lynne Pretty had made a slightly quilted picture with ginko leaves which was very effective and very reasonable at £35

Some pictures of other work are below and the exhibition is on until the end of the month I think. It is housed in the Denny Brothers Gallery and the shop is well worth a visit as it houses loads of craft and arty farty bits, like dying and going to heaven.

Inspired by Nature and Fantasy

I love nature and fantasy and think it influences my work. I suppose it was being brought up on fairy stories and books like The Magic Far Away Tree by Enid Blyton.

I love to buy crafts that are based on fantasy such as fairies and made some fairy slippers myself a while ago.

I love the work of Sandra at Elfin Cottage Crafts. I used to know her over 20 years ago but we haven't seen each other for ages. I have several of her pieces, mainly fairies, with my favourite probably the Mushroom Lamp.

I am always on the lookout for craft based on fantasy to clutter my house up but sadly there isn't much at the fairs I visit. Not sure its popular in our world dominated by technology.

In Flower

Ok, I'm getting addicted to making flowers, I admit it but isn't that the first step to recovery?

I went and ordered some more wool tops from World of Wool which are a real bargain. These are the colours I got but think I prefer the pastel ones so will have to get some more. May also get colours blended together which gives a lovely effect.

Despite the smell of wet felt being a little like a wet dog it is a great way to make the flowers. There are some lovely ones on Etsy but I'm not up to their standard yet. Hopefully I will be able to sell some at the Wayland Show in Watton on the 7th August when I have a stall with a friend who is a fellow textile person.

I make most of the flowers in 3 parts before curling them into a flower. Then add a bead, felt ball or stamens in the centre. Some of them have silk added which gives a lovely sheen. You can add throwsters waste and as Stef Francis have a 10% sale until the 15th July I'm going to order some.

These are parts drying off.

Some of the latest ones I've made are below.

Think I like the lilac one best but isn't it funny when you make something you think is great it seems rubbish when you make others.

Starting yet another course on Wednesday with the Embroiderer's Guild in Norwich. Its a level 1 City and Guilds in Machine Embroidery run by Sheila Ford. I did the first year of a Creative Textiles course a couple of years back but left after the first year as I thought the teacher was rubbish and I wasn't the only one apparently. I'm sure this one will be better and it is only 1 day a month for 7 months. Have done machine embroidery but there is always something to learn.

Bev's Blooming

I've been meaning to try wet felting for a while as I've never done it. I do some felting on my embellisher but wanted to make some brooches and thought they would be stronger using the wet felting method.

As usual I'm drawn to flowers as they are so colourful and cheerful so dug out the merino wool tops I had already and the results are shown here.

Trouble is with trying new things is you want to rush out and buy supplies and I have to curb the urge to spend, spend, spend.