Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Stages of work for Hollis class

First we selected a photo and made A3 size. This is my grandson Tenzin aged 15.
Then we traced the blocks of shading on to tracing paper to give a guideline for colour change when dyeing with the procion dyes (thickened with medium and mixed to get the right colours) This was then traced on to the fabric using a light box or against the window.
Then we used coloured pencils to shade in the colours we would need to give a guideline
 We mixed the procion dye colours we needed and painted the picture on to the fabric. We then matched the thread colour to the dyes and noted where we had shaded colour from our picture above to complete the project with thread painting. 
This is a close up to show thread painting.
This is the final result with dyeing and thread painting, not as good as I would have liked but this was my first attempt at this technique.
My second one is still not completed but is my next project to finish. I took a photo of hibiscus flowers in the garden and used this as an inspiration. This is a drawing I made by looking at the photo. I used this drawing to trace outlines on to fabric ready for dye painting.


This is the finished dye painting. One of the challenges is that you can paint shading on but a lot of what you paint washes off so you can't get the effect of shading until you use the thread painting. I aim to use the drapplique technique here and applique the stamen in the middle and use beads or french knots for the bits at the end of the stamen. I think the thread painting will add lots more depth.

I will post a pic of this when it has been thread painted.
 


Been a long time....

It's been a long time since I made a post. A lot has been happening in my life. Last year my beloved husband died of cancer and during his illness and just after his death I did not keep up my quilting really. I got back into things earlier this year with a Hollis Chatelain class put on by our Auckland Quilt  Guild and it was a fantastic opportunity to try new skills. I also took a workshop for my local Bays group at Jackie's wonderful house in Coatesville. It has been fantastic seeing all the different results as quilters have brought them to show on club nights.
Apart from knitting for my grand daughters I have just been concentrating on finishing the thread painting from my paint dyeing efforts from the Hollis class. Only finished one so far.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Mini Symposium

Took a class with Hazel Foote - Indian floral. I love her quilting and attention to detail so am trying to make mine as neat. Unfortunately I am not so good but trying! I will post a pic of mine when it looks more finished.  Take a look at her wonderful quilting.




Village Green Show

Had a nice day out with friends at the Village Green show. Quite small but the quality of quilts was great and a shame I couldn't take any pics but my phone was flat. A miserable wet day so the fab soup went down well. Took home some baked goodies for my darling but sick hubby.  I managed to buy fabric I just couldn't resist at Wendy Oswin's stall. I told my husband that if anything happened to me that he could make a fortune on trade me with all the stuff in my sewing room!
Thanks to the organisers of 3M's retreat, Mary, Jackie and Sue. It was a lovely relaxing weekend and finally got to finish a UFO! Great to have Susan Claire from Toad Hall as vendor, I managed to buy yet more quilting goodies. Thanks to Sue Flego for teaching us how to make the babushka pin cushion pictured.



3M's Retreat 2012 on PhotoPeach

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Calico Christmas

I rushed out of school on Friday to get to the Albany Stadium to see the show. I am working as a white glove lady on Sunday at the exhibition so I thought I would do the round of the shops early. I bought a fabulous book of William Morris inspired quilts - I can always imagine these great finished products but the reality is it will probably take me quite a while to create one. It is a very inspiring book though and I really want to try some of the applique projects. I am looking forward to seeing the exhibits on Sunday. I didn't get time to get anything in myself this year.
Here are some pics of my favourite projects from the book.




Sunday, October 16, 2011

Rosemary Rush slideshow

Rosemary Rush Class Onehunga 2011 Slideshow: Angie’s trip to Auckland, North Island, New Zealand was created by TripAdvisor. See another Auckland slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

Rosemary Rush Class Onehunga Oct 2011

Rosemary shared her impeccable quilting secrets with us at the Onehunga Community Centre on Saturday. I didn't really come away with anything finished (as usual) but some good ideas and strategies for quilting. I took some photos of Rosemary's amazing quilts to see how she used quilting stitches and embellishments. I love the way she takes inspiration from artists such as Klimt and Gaudi.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Bays Quilters Workshop at Knightsbridge Centre September 2011

Will post my finished quilt when finished. I actually made my 70 blocks so all ready to put together!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Bays Quilters Retreat at Vaughan Park 2011

Great weekend at Vaughan Park as usual!

I managed to finish lots of unfinished projects and get my hand dyed batik quilted ready for embellishing with beads and threads.
Diana appliqued and quilted some fantastic Mary Transom design wall hangings. They were really beautiful!








Jackie creating another great design, she does such great embroidery on her projects - this one has a Japanese theme and she is doing Sashiko

Fabric art from the Hamilton Quilt and Craft Fair yesterday!

Australian And nz Craft Fair 2011 Slideshow: Angie’s trip from Whangaparaoa, North Island, New Zealand to Hamilton was created by TripAdvisor. See another Hamilton slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Hundertwasser designs in Kawakawa township

I went here on the weekend and was blown away by the fantastic Hundertwasser designs everywhere and also the train running down the middle of the road - a steam one too!
G bought me a Hundertwasser book (Tashchen publication) for my birthday. I feel a Hundertwasser inspired art quilt coming on....
Kawakawa And Hundertwasser Slideshow: Angie’s trip from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand to Paihia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Paihia slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

More pics for inspiring art quilts!

I am sure it will come to me but one of these pics will inspire me to recreate a memory!




Inspiration from trip pics





Sunday, April 10, 2011

Colder mornings!

Winter
Winter is approaching fast. We had a picnic on the beach last night at 5.30pm with friends but could not stay longer than an hour as it got too cold!
I can't believe the term is nearly finished and holidays are only one week away! To celebrate I have started a new project. It is a wall hanging and based on Hazel Foot's lovely tapa cloth quilt which was featured in the NZ Quilter a while back. She also won best in show at Calico Christmas a couple of years ago too. I got a few books from the library showing tapa cloths from all the Pacific Islands and drew up some designs and also copied some of Hazel's as she must have researched too and found the same tapa cloth patterns.
I have been working on this each night after school and can't wait to finish and put it all together! (I must finish some UFO's in the holidays!)

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Playing around with slideshow creator

Auckland Guild Day

The Pam Holland retreat girls talked about the retreat and the techniques for portraits. We all had a turn at explaining part of the process.

Here I am explaining the quilting process.

Sharon and Chris thought it was a great laugh!

Hand dyeing class at my place

Browns Bay quilters showcase their hand dyed fabric from workshop days at my place.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

OK I have to show off!

This is the little madam of the house. Apparently I am told she is a Russian Blue and I have looked at the images of them and she does seem to have those attributes - her fur is very silky and velvety and she has very expressive ears and an elegant run with her long slim legs!
Here is her Cleopatra look!
And yet another pose!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Getting motivated!

I have finally got the sewing room in my new house sorted and attacking the UFO pile!
Notice my little helper - she manages to find any cotton on the floor and make a real mess of it!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Jane's Portrait

Finally got to hang my grand daughter's quilt portrait in the new house. Completed it at retreat last year with Pam Holland. Such a fantastic week and tutor! I will be showing it at Guild with the other girls soon!

Fabric of NZ Tour website up now!

Check out our fab NZ tour if you are coming to Symposium - what a place to go - Queenstown is just the most beautiful place!
Our web site is now set up! More tours to come - WOW (World of Wearable Art) and next Symposium are just some of our fabric art tours!
Keep up with our Facebook posts too!
Fabric of NZ

New year dyeing fun

We had a great time at hand dying workshops at my house last week. The first workshop I had the great idea that I would mix the dyes and soda ash bath in front of everyone so they could learn how to do it. That was a bit too much with seven people and took far too long so everyone ended up waiting for new batches of dye. The next workshop went well as I prepared everything before they came so all the dye was mixed and the preparation mix was ready as well as the soda ash bath. I had a much more relaxing time too. It was great to have Jackie's son Oscar helping her and creating interesting tie dye fabrics.


Friday, October 1, 2010

Retreat at Long Bay with Pam Holland

These are a collection of images taken on my camera of the works in progress at the retreat - a wonderful time of fabric art creation, great food and wine and especially the fantastic company! A big thank you to Hazel and her assistant Marj for organizing this!
Fabric Art Masterclass With Pam Holland Slideshow: Angie Simmons’s trip to Auckland, North Island, New Zealand was created by TripAdvisor. See another Auckland slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Quilt Art Retreat with Pam Holland

We have had five days at Vaughan Park retreat centre creating portraits with Pam Holland. It has been lots of fun, especially with Glenn and her dramatic stories and the wonderful stories of Pam's travels!

Rocky Shore Long Bay Beach

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Silk work with Judith Ross

I went to a guild workshop recently with Judith Ross as tutor. We worked with silk and created stars and crazy patches using a selection of braids - many provided by Judith from her travels to India. We also used her range of stamps she provided (also many from India) to decorate our silk borders.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Creative by the sea retreat

This was a fantastic retreat at Coffs Harbour, staying at the Opal Cove Resort. Wendy was such a great organiser!
Here is a slideshow of some of my work at the retreat.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Using wool scraps and felt

I really like the use of water soluble plastic to create layers of wool and scraps over material. Here is my kiwi bird under an old tree in the forest.