quilt in a day

so for our new course project we have had to choose a place in London to produce work from. ive choosen Deptford flea market where i have been collecting bits furniture and fabric from curtains, cloths, tea towels, handkerchiefs, table cloths, bed lining etc to redo objects.

my first piece is this quilt.

first i cut up all the squares from these curtains i had and from the middle built out around it in strips

then i lay it down with wadding in the middle and the brown back piece of fabric

i then quilted in pink thread, with the square pattern in the middle

then i blanket stitched around the edge the pink bits or fabric to neaten it up

i couldn't stop stitching and worked straight through the night to make this quilt in less then 24 hours!

it is the perfect size to pop over your knees, ready for these wintery nights that are coming up writing my dissertation!

mission accomplished

prick your finger

i helped out and a wonderful little haberdashery in east London called Prick Your Finger by Rachael Matthew's and Louise Harries, who both studied and CSM

the shop is like walking in to a menagerie of yarns, fitted themselves with old bits of found wood and shelf's made out of doors the shop is full of everything you need to knit, crochet, embroidery etc and make something yummy.

all the yarns they sell are UK based were most haberdasheries sell synthetic. they also hand spin their own yarn from different fleeces and make new out of recycled cottons and silks. each ball of wool you see has its own little story of how it got on its shelf.

here is some yarn i was getting ready to dye

first i made them into skeins from the bobbin then tied rag yarn around them like tie dying, ready to dip dye.

here i was combing the fleece ready to spin

knitting planks for the bench

http://podprojects.org/projects/current/a-flock-of-benches

learning how to crochet...

prick your finger has a different window display each month, when i was there they were getting ready setting up for Celia Ward, with East London textile arts. Women from many different faiths, joined together at St. Barnabas Church, to embroider alphabets and animals.

wall hanging

then with their embroidered pieces they then photograph and reproduce making decorative papers and greeting cards to sell which then goes back into the community fund.

t

www.eastlondontextilearts.org

the shop:

http://www.prickyourfinger.com/

http://prickyourfinger.blogspot.com/

Rachael and louise are super duper girls who know exactly what they are talking about, i've picked up many tips and hints from them to help with my projects, and also met and found alot of contacts through them.