Four ladies laughing - still remembering Pender

Here we are. Do you remember when Anna was down at the shore on Mortimer Spit and her skirt was hitched up showing her knickers? Miriam grabbed Anna's camera and composed this. Anna just re-discovered the picture lately.

Next Challenge: Remember Pender

Here we are on Mortimer's Spit
baking in the sun

CHALLENGE:  Remember Pender!

ITEM: a bag with a specific purpose (any size or kind)

THEME: “a gradation with an interruption”

Ie. Gradation(s) of any type: value, size, colour, texture, contrast etc.

SPECIFICATIONS: use one (or more) of the Pender retreat project techniques somewhere in the bag (can be any size sample of the technique). May use the items you made on Pender if you like, or do something new: i.e. flower pounding, weaving (any kind), foundation piecing, or felting.

CONTRIBUTIONS: choose any textile item from your stash (not paper), and send a small piece to each person (fits in a regular envelope). Each contribution must be visible in the finished bag. If you can find a piece with some sort of gradation on it, great. If not, just choose anything you like.

TIMELINE: Post textiles by mid-September. Finish next spring/summer.

Tiny weavings

Ruth's project: weaving a tiny tapestry

Materials: coloured threads, ribbons, local found objects, a tiny pre-warped loom and a yarn needle. 

Skills needed: weaving in the first end; beating down with a fork; leaving ease in each pick; changing colours; and weaving in the last end.

Results: Each weaving was unique. Louisa made a deliberate colour gradation. Lesley used some wiggly dried roots. Miriam used ribbons that stuck past the edges. Others used ribbons and stitched the ends under. Anna tried two colours in the wefts to make coloured shapes. Then we mounted them in the cards, Miriam, Lesley and Ruth stitched around the opening with colours to match the weaving which gave a completely different look to the card. We made envelopes from pages of an out-of-date road atlas.

Our new challenge

Louisa and Lesley are at it again! 
We are rather fond of our names and decided to base the challenge on them.



Investigating the meaning of the names we found these results:
Lesley means   “From the grey fortress”
Louisa means “ Fights with honour”
(And you thought we were both such sweet and gentle creatures!  Warriors lurk here.)
I know it all sounds rather medieval!  But we could go a bit more abstract into ideas of strength, endurance, victory…  (Three dots -- a very useful punctuation mark meaning “I can’t think of anything else so you’ll have to come up with ideas on your own.”)
Your own name (or at least your initial) also comes into play, too.  Find something textile related that you can send to each participant.  The item must begin with your initial, fit inside an envelope for regular postage, and preferably be something that is recycled.  (Louisa could send a bit of Linen or Lime green yarn for example.)

Mail off your item to the other participants and start thinking how to interpret the challenge.  Bring your finished item to the Second Textile Arts Retreat in August. 
Does someone have a suggestion for the “due date” for mailing the shared item??

Kathy's leaf project -- tea cozy

I felt very sentimental about all these lovely leaves, especially with Aunt Ivy and Mum's fabric also being included. So I wanted to make something with them that I would see and actually use every day, something to remind me of my special family. A tea cozy seemed to fit the bill, and was also a nice size to work on. My old African tea cozy needed replacing, so I used it as a pattern.

This cozy was intended to be very comfortable and relaxed, so nicely-faded denim from my stash of old jeans was just right. I used some batting, and lined it with the generous piece of Ivy's skirt fabric Lesley had sent. Added several tiny leaf clusters made from Mum's skirt fabric (uncannily similar in colour scheme to her sister's!), and embellished them with Ruth's dainty metallic leaves.

When deciding on the layout, a warm pink leaf seemed to work well on each side (Lesley's and Louisa's). One of Ruth's leaves, plus Louisa's other leaf, seemed a complementary pair, so they ended up together. I stitched along the centre vein (as Lesley did with some of hers), so those two could overlap each other, and take turns being on top. A bit of deep blue fleece helped to round out along the edges, as the denim did not curve as well as I'd hoped. I actually ended up having to make four darts (one on the top of each side curve) to accentuate the rounded shape. (You can see one of the darts in the photos above.)

Two small black velcro pieces worked as the top closure. I experimented with other closures first (elastic, magnetic clasps), but in the end the velcro worked best. It needed to be simple and quick to attach, do-able with one hand when I was on the phone or doing another task at the same time as making the tea (!)

The teapot is rather new, and I love it. It's generous in size, and double-walled so almost doesn't need a cozy. But a cozy seems so homey, doesn't it. This is one of Mum's teacups.

Louisa’s Leaf Collection

As the leaves accumulated during the weeks of our swap I enjoyed spreading them out and marvelling at their variety.  I decided to make a background to feature each leaf nicely. 
I designed a quilt with interlocking frames to surround the boxes.  I was pleased to see that this resulted in boxes of various sizes and orientations.  The boxes are quilted with an echoed shell design and the border (a coordinating leaf fabric!!) is finished with parallel lines. 
When it came time to mount the leaves in their “display case” I realized that a couple of them needed a darker shadow to help them show against the light fabric.  I copied the idea of Lesley’s scarf leaf and used a piece of Ruth’s dark blue-green fabric behind them. 
I like the silver metal leaves – I may add a few more of these.
Here is my collection of Leaves from the Family Tree.

I have the quilt hanging on the rod in the dining room right under my shelf of “treasures”.

Leaf project by Ruth

I loved the variety of the leaves in my collection so I decided to imagine the plants they belonged to and make a botanical book.

Here's a sample page. The write-ups were fun to do and I did a few drawings of some imagined features suggested by the leaves.

I've sent each of you the whole book in an email.

Leaf Project , This has been so much  fun to do, even when i didnt have time to work on it I was thinking of ideas, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone elses.


I started with an idea from a cushion that I had given to me as a present. Some of the butterflies are fully attached others are only stitched down the middle so the wings are 'free'

Firstly I chose a large green check fabric and added a border, then I laid the leaves on and re-arranged them MANY times, I felt that the pink leaves needed to be complimented so I added piping to match them. Ruth spot the crochet basket that you gave me back in the summer, and Kathy the little orange thimble that you gave me in Keswick

I copied the butterflies idea and attatched some leaves around the edges and others just through the middle.

I added some of the lovely silver leaves from Ruth

The finished product!

 and a back view

I'm planning on using my cushion in my newly decorated( well nearly ) sewing room, I have  gone for a green/grey colour scheme with splashes of orange and pink, so it will match perfectly.