Veronique, Laura and Carol made some beautiful decoupage picture frames last Saturday at a Beetlefelt workshop I was running. Here are the pics of their lovely creations;
Archive | January, 2012
Iona’s elephant!
16 JanYesterday Iona and I translated her elephant drawing into her own unique soft toy. We both cut, stitched, stuffed and worked together for an enjoyable and creative afternoon.
A day trip to York!
16 JanLast Thursday Mandy and I drove to York to install the MIWD10 quilt at the prestigious Quilt Museum and Gallery.
The inspiration to this exhibition actually started over 2 years ago when in March 2010 over 300 people came together at The Monastery in Gorton to celebrate International Women’s Day. The key themes of that day were that small actions can make bigger things happen, and that everyone has their own story.
These ideas were brought together in the eye-catching Manchester International Women’s Day Storytelling Quilt. This quilt was stitched with the assistance of students from Manchester Metropolitan University BA (Honours) Embroidery textile design course and the contributions from the 300+ delegates. Throughout the day all the delegates contributed snippets of fabric to the quilt which were then stitched onto the front panel by our capable team of students. My role as a freelance textile maker and educator was to co-ordinate the whole quilt event.
Photographs were taken of everyone with their fabric and we also recorded their thoughts on why their scrap of fabric was special to them. You can see and hear these alongside the display of the MIWD10 quilt. Hearing everyone’s stories about their snippet of fabric, everything from a child’s swimming costume (my daughter brings colour to my life) through to a vintage silk scarf (style is really important to me, I always wore vintage) really fulfilled the original impetus to make a quilt to celebrate MIWD10 and bring all these amazing stories together stitching them into one artwork.
The fabric all the snippets were stitched onto as well as the backing cloth of the quilt appropriately also has a rich Manchester heritage. We used ABC Wax fabrics which are designed in Hyde for the Guyanese market. ABC Wax fabric incorporate the most fabulous colourful combinations of African prints, so our MIWD10 quilt is truly eye catching, as well as evocative.
Last year the MIWD10 quilt was on display at the People’s History Museum in Manchester to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The finished quilt belongs to The Monastery in Gorton, where it will eventually return to, but not before the MIWD10 quilt’s story has another exciting opportunity to be told in York at the Quilt Museum and Gallery.
The MIWD10 quilt will be on display at the Quilt Museum and Gallery until this years International Women’s Day on Thursday 8th March. Go to http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk for further details.
Lisa Watson; Maker and Educator; My Work. 