Knitting and Stitching Harrogate

Last week was a very busy one for us and culminated in a trip to Harrogate for me to see the displays again of the Knitting & Stitching Show.  I had seen the Show at Alexandra Palace a few weeks ago but didn't spend very long there so thought I would have another look while I had the chance.   

The 'Tales of the Unfinishable'  display featured again but in a more resplendent setting, if that's possible.

The marquee style display was set up in the glorious setting of the refurbished Harrogate Theatre.  If you follow the link and scroll down you can open the 2007 refurbishment brochure and read about its history.

This time I ventured inside the marquee and was surprised to find it filled with the sound of a sewing machine running and of recordings of the many explanations of how the pieces shown came to be unfinished.  The banners are the written explanations that accompanied the pieces.  

As you can see the theatre was also being used as a welcome place to take a break and enjoy a well earned cuppa.

Many of the stands either didn't allow photography or allowed it only for my own use so Ido not have a lot to share with you.  However, some were more generous.  The Textile Art Group, who had not shown at Alexandra Palace, had a fabulous display by some very talented artists and I was pleased to see again a piece by Lesley Bohanna that I had previously seen at The Beetroot Tree gallery earlier in the year.

Lesley is interested in "the ‘history’ of materials, focussing on surface wear and repair."  Her page at Textile Art Group gives more information on her working practices.

I loved this heavily textured piece by Margaret Brown, also a member of TAG. Her surfaces incorporate her own photographic images and are rich with texture.  

 
These three pieces pictured above are by Jackie Ford.

Some time ago I took a sneaky photo of some aerial views pictured at a nature reserve in Suffolk and these pieces reminded me of their overlaid images.  

The remaining displays I enjoyed were Cas Holmes, again, and Curiouser and  Curiouser and Curiouser by O2 Textile group.  Photographs were not allowed but their work was joyful and provided a welcome relief from some of the more sombre themed works I had seen and read about.  If you follow the link you can see and read more about this group.  

I was very good in the shopping department and apart from buying some machine needles (Sharps as recommended by Dawn Cameron-Dick) and some Matt Medium my own succumbing was to Sandra Meech's latest offering 'Connecting Design to Stitch'.  I was afforded a look at this very beautifully illustrated book by a lady who joined us at coffee in the morning and casually offered the books she had just bought to anyone who wanted to have a look!  Very generous I thought.  I probably shouldn't have bought it as I already have 2 of her earlier books but it does look a very good book and hopefully it will give me something to work with over the winter as there are lots of design exercises in it.

At the beginning of last week we went across to Macclesfield to visit some friends for  a few days.  More of that next time.

Harrogate K & S Show

Why are there not 48 hours in the day and the energy of a 5 year old to go with it? I went up to Harrogate on a coach yesterday and had a great day. Fortunately I had bought the catalogue in advance so I was able to plan my day before I went and it certainly helped to have a route round the exhibition planned in advance.

I have never taken time before to look into the amazing Royal Hall that serves as a refreshment venue at the Conference Centre so I had a peak in yesterday and was blown away by the beautiful building which has been restored recently.

I am sure there will be inspiration for future work in these images.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the first exhibit that I really enjoyed by Louise Baldwin but if you follow the link you can see the type of work that she had on display. I was also particularly impressed by the work of Cindy Hickok and Tom Lundberg, neither of whom I knew before.

This embroidery by Cindy Hickok is entitled “Her Mother Told Her Not To Run With Scissors” and is typical of the quirky vein that runs through her work. It rang a particular bell with me as my Mum has always said the same thing :)

Next stop in my day was an enjoyable demonstration by Jan Beaney who I have never met before but she imparted a huge amount of knowledge and insight to her work in a very short 45 minutes.

Jan’s talk centred on the use of solvent supports for embroidery and the piece above has given me some ideas for the future. Mind you, I went rushing off to Barnyarns later in the day to get some Soluble Sticky and managed to buy the wrong stuff! Oh well, I will still find a use for it!

I managed to link up with Sandra for lunch which was lovely and then had to pack quite a lot into the last 2 hours before my coach left to return home.

I was pleased to be able to see “The Art of the Stitch” exhibition as I had not seen it on any of its previous outings.

Jane Kenyon’s work.

Rosie James’ work.

Pippa Caley “Twigs”

Pippa Caley Twigs detail. My photo does not do this work ( or probably the ones above either) justice as the light was not wonderful and my camera struggles a little. I’m hoping Santa might bring me a new one for Christmas (Hello DH are you listening? lol).

So what else? Oh yes, Alice Kettle of course. If you follow the link and click on New Proj. you will be able to see the work that was on display within Clay and Thread, a collaborative exhibition of work between Alice Kettle and Helen Felcey in Place Settings and Alice and Alex McErlain in Conversation Pieces. I particularly liked the combination of subtly coloured ceramics and the delicate stitching of Alice Kettle’s work.

My camera wouldn’t oblige me with a decent photograph of the Alex McErlain pieces but Alice’s website has some good images.

I had hoped to spend time watching the Artists in Action but when I got there there wasn’t much ‘action’ :o( I think they were mostly having a late lunch or working on their stands elsewhere. (Insert rude word of frustration here!) Never mind, next time.

Finally, I did manage to get most of the things on my shopping list.

There were a few other bits and bobs but they were just routine things like sewing machine needles and urea for dyeing. The books are a present from my DH who also cooked dinner when I got back. Bless!

Well, that is by no means all that was at the Show but I think I did quite well in the time allowed. Needless to say I am exhausted today and my body is reacting in its own wonderful way but it was worth it. I enjoyed the day and got lots of inspiration.

You may have noticed that I’ve got more photos than usual into this post. I’ve decided to give Live Writer a try and so far I’m impressed. It even allows me to save the post to my laptop so I will have a permanent record in case Blogger ever throws a wobbler.

Oops! Nearly forgot, here’s a photo for Sandra

Harrogate and Happy Post

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Yesterday was a glorious Spring day and I enjoyed it with my Mum on a coach trip to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show. My Mum has long enjoyed flower arranging so she was keen to see all the Floral Art entries and we spent a lot of time admiring the beautiful displays on show. While I don't know much about flower arranging I did enjoy the beautiful flowers and needless to say kept my eyes open for texture and pattern in the exhibits. There were lots of design ideas that could be transferred to fabric/textile art and the collage above shows just some of the inspiration that caught my eye. Can you spot the headless woman? Oops! Mea culpa! You might also notice my little mummy checking out her camera. Aren't the 'planets' amazing? They are all made of natural materials, including in one instance, painted cabbage leaves! I kept returning to this stand over and again, there was so much to look at.

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Our latest swap over on the Yahoo group MixedMediaATC_UK (link in my sidebar) has involved making Ruby Dolls and today I have received my doll from Sue.

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Isn't she beautiful? Sue has paid great attention to detail and has added little shoes and necklaces and earrings. She is delightful!

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Sue also included some pretty bias binding and a small pouch and card. I have not seen printed bias binding before and I shall enjoy finding a project to include this in. Sue's lovely ruby doll has already met her counterpart who will soon be on her way to Sue but I can't show you her yet or it will spoil the surprise for Sue.

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Studio update: no progress :o(

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Tomorrow I am planning to go to Moulton near Spalding to see an exhibition by Mill Quilters and Friends at Moulton Windmill (you will need to scroll down to see the Lincolnshire entry). It is their first exhibition and the Mill will also be working so it should be a good trip out. We're making it a girls' day out but I think my DH would probably have enjoyed it for the Mill photo opportunity. Oops!

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Whatever you are all doing, have a lovely weekend. Can you believe we are nearly at the end of April?! Where did the month go?

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PS I nearly forgot! Good luck to everyone competing in the London Marathon on Sunday and in particular to the runners from Grantham and to Silverpebble's husband who is running in aid of Headway. There is still time to sponsor Andy by clicking on the link in my sidebar to 'justgiving'.

I spent a very pleasant couple of hours at the show in the company of Sandra Wyman who blogs as The Dyers Hand. We had met originally at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham and I was pleased to meet her again in Harrogate. We had arranged to meet at the Ario Stand which obviously meant that I indulged in a little shopping before she arrived! :o)

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I finally succumbed to "Finding Your Own Visual Language" which I am looking forward to getting to grips with.

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After my chat with Claire Benn about Breakdown Printing I had to invest in her book above.

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I didn't buy any fabric or threads, but I did indulge myself as you can see. I had been saving some money especially for the show and I also had a lovely win in a lottery when I was on holiday so I didn't feel so guilty.

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The day ended with a beautiful evening

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and a ride home on the coach with a promise from Sandra that we will meet up again in the new year and have a girl's day out in Bradford which has a good supply of fabric and textile shops!

PS .For clarity I would just say that not all the purchases were made from Ario.

Harrogate Show and Julia

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I apologise for the quality of this photograph but the light was in the wrong place. I thought Maggie Grey would like to see this tribute to Julia Caprara so I have nipped in to post it now and will post the rest of my photos of the Knitting and Stitching Show tomorrow. So many colourful tributes to Julia.

Julia Caprara Tag

I don't usually work this quickly but I have actually finished my piece for the Julia Caprara tribute at Harrogate next weekend.

I had to cut the prepared background down to tag size as I reread the instructions which asked for the size to be no bigger than a postcard. I have taken a technique from Julia's new book and worked with complimentary colours orange and blue using one stitch only, detached chain stitch. The surface was gradually covered in stitch using threads of different weights and textures, some of which are metallic. Every time I ran out of thread I changed to another colour or texture.

I backed the tag with this piece of placemat using just these few stitches to hold it together. I thought about stitching the back as fully as the front but I think it would have made it too bulky. I have finished the tag off with an 'inspire' and a 'joy' button as Julia's work is so joyful and she has and continues to inspire so many, including myself. Hopefully I will be feeling ok enough to go to Harrogate on Saturday so that I can attach it to Julia's barbed wire artwork.