Monday, 11 October 2010

Birthdays and inspiration...

The big project I've been working on recently has been a fibre art piece for my sister's birthday, which was on Saturday.  

My sister chose the general colour scheme - a mixture of blue-grays and greeny-turquoises with a hint of pink - inspired by some beautiful silk laps we picked up from the Oliver Twists stall at the Festival of Quilts.

So, first of all, using a natural linen background, I felted the silk laps along with cotton scrim, silk/metal organza, silk throwsters waste, abaca tissue, silk fabric, silk cocoon fibre, wool nepps, silk carrier rod fibre and silk threads.

 I left some silk threads loose so that I could stitch them afterwards:
Then I added my current favourites - tiny 2mm sequins...
...and very many glass and metal beads:

 ...and finished off with lots of hand embroidery - running and detached chain stitches:
 bullion and colonial knot stitches:
 detached fly stitch:
 seed stitch:

...to make the finished piece:

Apart from working on this project I have been busy being inspired on a short trip to Skye - breathtaking!


7 comments:

Heather Woollove said...

Oh, lucky sister!
I am enthralled by your subtle and
intricate embellishments!

Rosi said...

What a fabulous piece of work! And I love the colours.
And I also like Skye!

Zoe @ Playing by the book said...

Yes I am indeed a very lucky sister :-) And as of yesterday it's now hanging above my bed (and also FINALLY the name plates you made for the girls are on their doors!!). *Thankyou* for such a lovely present.

Kate said...

Thank you Heather and Rosi :)
and you're very welcome, Zo - I'm so pleased you liked it!

Kate x

Anonymous said...

great post thanks

Lindsay said...

A friend sent a link to this post saying I'd enjoy it. I can definitely see why. Lovely work!

Kate said...

Thank you :)