Things I love Thursday

nature sings the blues

Things I love Thursday

bubbles and bokeh, blue found in nature, sea and skies
shells and feathers, light and ice, shells and seedheads
blue in collections, cottons and beads, wonderful blues

beautiful blues with thanks to my flickr friends and faves
please do click on the links below to go to the artists' work

1. feathers 2. iced III 3. glamourized 4. rocks and pools 5. hoar frost 6. 07/01/11 7. seashells 8. rushing waters 9. “Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”~ Lyman Frank Baum~ 10. can not love winter? 11. one last bokeh 12. beach bubbles 13. rimed seed pods

so today is all about things I love on Thursday and
sharing a few more things from Festival of Quilts 2011

like this plush velvet devore I bought at the show

I was intrigued by the cutwork patterns
and also the tones of dark navy and indigo blue

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet

but, for the time being, it's on my desk
for stroking and admiring purposes

other "must have" purchases included some turquoise felt

from Chris Gray's stall, some sea coloured chiffon
colourful silk pieces (throwsters waste)
and some fab threads and dyed scrim from Stef Francis

inspired, of course, by St. Ives and the fishing boats I love

"Our Liz"
has lovely worn wooden trimmings
and a boarded window covered in yellow ochre lichen
(a boat I found in the harbour on Friday)

I photographed the wood to use as a photoshop texture
and if you would like to use it as an overlay on your photos
please feel free to click on the texture and save

old wood texture

as well as the competition quilts at FOQ 2011
I really enjoying having the opportunity to see the work
of some very talented and inspiring textile artists
and would like to share some of it with you here

Alice Fox

I bought several postcards of Alice Fox's textiles. Her pieces were amazing, very simple, contemporary and oh so inspiring. Above you can see extracts from some of her work. Alice was chosen as joint winner of the Graduate Showcase bursary at the Festival of Quilts along with designer Rose Wood

If you are interested in natural and eco dyeing you will find Alice's blog of interest. In particular, her recent experiments dyeing with beach finds and seaweed, following a recipe from India Flint's book, are very interesting and you will just love the sea treasures she found as well as her sea inspired photography. I love her blog!

Alice Fox Textiles

do pop over and see ...
but come back won't you as I have more to share here ...

Barbara Weeks

I saw this small art quilt by Barbara Weeks
and instantly fell in love with her work

it features photos transferred to cotton and
stitched with sheer layers (torn strips of dyed organza)
quilting by hand included lots of little knots to represent
the tiny shells and crushed corals found on the beaches
... you can see why I fell in love?

what I love about this piece ... is the softness
as well as the composition and use of colour
I love that Barbara captured a moment of tranquility
of solitude and contemplation

Eat Your Greens, Kiwi

after that ... I spent rather a long time
admiring many, many pieces of her work
and Barbara was so generous allowing me to take photographs

isn't this felted, quilted piece just amazing!
a well balanced and interesting composition and
beautiful use of colour along with simple but fine stitching

below
this is such an effective design
fine details, fine stitching, simplicity of colour
loving the sea inspired theme and that lovely turquoise

Barbara says ...

"white coral may look festive, but it is an indication of the coral under stress from changes in the environment, water temperature, solar irradiance, salinity and a decline in zooplankton. This causes the coral to expel the zooxantheallae which give the coral it's colour"

wet felted merino with bamboo 'drawn' coral
overlaid with net tulle and machine quilted

I also bought postcards

this is a piece of work from Barbara's
"Landscape Impressions" series - a detail from "Birch"

silk noil, dyed, painted and printed
bonded silks, burnt edges and then
hand and machine quilted

and this one is aptly called "Strata"

Barbara Weeks

Barbara has a website that I think will inspire you

take a look at her gallery of work ...
but do come back again ...


Nicky Dillerstone

(detail - a dragon's wing)

Nicky Dillerstone

I was so happy to meet Nicky Dillerstone as we share
not only an enthusiasm for textiles and textile art, but also
a love of heating, melting, bonding and fabric manipulation

I was intrigued by the construction of this dragon's wing
and Nicky was very generous with her time
and explained to me how it was made using
fabrics and threads bonded with pva glue and
she also very kindly allowed me to take this photo

[I'm really rather excited about this as I can
see how I can adapt the technique for something
I want to make for exhibition in October]


Mary McIntosh

the exhibition space of Mary McIntosh was full of
exciting design samples, sketchbooks and works of art

I always love the opportunity to flip through
an inspiring sketchbook and Mary's work interested me
for her use of folds in fabric manipulation

you can read more about Mary's textile journey
and about her work here:

Mary McIntosh

and this particular quilt with manipulated folds reminded
me very much of the work of local artist Wendy Topsey
which I saw recently at Morvah Schoolhouse

Wendy Topsey likes to use fine cotton, organza and linen thread
together with a variety of looms to create woven and folded
seascapes and coastal scenes, based on the inspiration
she takes from the coasts of Cornwall

beautiful folds

well that's all from me today
I'll be back with some of my own work next time
and also hoping to update my shop over the weekend

thank you very much for visiting
creative wishes
Carolyn ♥

Festival of Quilts 2011

I had such a wonderful time at Festival of Quilts

11-14 August 2011

the quilts were truly amazing with
a colourful array of work from some incredibly talented artists
it really was an honour to see them

one of the highlights of my day
was seeing my friend Julie's beautiful quilt

her quilt was inspired by Cornwall and it's sea, colours and textiles
with beautiful toning colours that I can relate to
and with images from St. Ives transferred to fabric
it was both perfectly composed and exquisitly finished

congratulations Julie

"Turning, Disappearing" - Julie Mackinder

so here are a few more of the quilts that I found interesting
inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful

where possible I have included information about the quilts and the artists but there are one or two where I'm not sure of the artist so if you can help me out with any missing information I would be grateful and will update this post

this one I loved for the shimmering silver greys
and the pebble shapes

[would welcome information]

this incredible piece is by my bloggy friend Annabel Rainbow
the amount of work and detail in this pictorial quilt is amazing
it drew many admirers and I was so pleased to see it was

"highly commended"

congratulations Annabel

"Life (Measure of Time)" - Annabel Rainbow

love this one for the beautiful stitching and soft silver greys

"Rosebridge" - Jacqueline Heinz

a beautifully composed seaside scene
so many interesting textures and details

so glad to put a name to this beautiful quilt
thanks to Sharne for the information

"Walking my dog" - Brigette Kopp

this one drew me in and was one of my favourites
I admire all the subtle colours and textures

"Herculaneum" - Susan Hotchkis

I love the mediums used

monoprinting on brown paper and then waxed
and screen printed fabrics with discharge

Susan was inspired by distressed walls and broken tiles
found on a visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum

I've visited Pompeii and Herculaneum too and I can relate
to this beautiful textile piece ... it's wonderful!

I love the colours and soft tones in this seascape
and the idea of expressing the scene in long panels
another beautiful piece of art

[would welcome information]

I liked the rusted elements on this one

machine quilted with UV activated thread
rusted and tea dyed fabrics, screen printed text
with melted sheer overlays

sounds like a fun recipe!

"In the Closet" - Tamara Schultz

this beautiful and colourful quilt was "highly commended"
it is eye catching and drew many admirers

"men in Rajasthan, India wear their saffron dyed turbans
on two occasions ... weddings and the Dassehra Festival"

"Dassehra" - Bente Kultorp Andresen

love the layers and tones on this one
beautiful use of colour

"Temple of the Dawn, Bangkok" - Hazel Jordan

and this one I loved for the use of colour and text
and such minute piecing!

these are my favourite tones of orange and yellow

a detail from "Between the Lines" - Sonja Thalen-Maat

beautiful use of colour
beautiful piecing and shapes

[would welcome information]

this beautiful and whimsical landscape appealed to me very much
I love the patchwork countryside and, again, the colours
so quintessentially English

the artist was inspired by a painting by Carry Ackroyd
and made with her permission

this led me to discover the wonderful landscapes and paintings of
the English countryside by artist, painter and printmaker

Carry Ackroyd

Ditch 2 - Doris Mary Alcock

beautiful shapes, piecing, texture and use of colour in this quilt

"Navaho" - Sarah Showers

and this was the deserving winner of the pictorial quilt section
inspired by one of the artist's own photographs
of the dry season in Kenya

"Hot Africa" - Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga

just a small selection of some of my favourite quilts
as we all have different tastes
and thank goodness for that!

towards the end of the day I caught these two beautiful girls
in their lovely costumes and on ten foot stilts

"swanning around"

there were so many highlights crammed into one day
but the best one has to be meeting up
with so many of my lovely bloggy friends

a rare moment when so many of us got together
we all agreed this was the best photo taken of us all

left to right
Julie Mackinder, Mirim, Carol McFee, Carolyn Saxby
Margaret Roberts (Mags), Jackie Cardy, Gina Ferrari
Chrissie Galley, Viv Sliwka, Margaret and Sue Krekorian

and a little after the photo was taken
we were joined by Chris Gray, Sandra Wyman and Penny Leonard

I hope you enjoyed the photos ...
I have a little more to share from
Festival of Quilts 2011

until then
have a fab weekend
Carolyn ♥