Tuesday 22 October 2013

crochet blankets

the previously posted... charity blanket, another charity shop find 9-7-13,
 reworked.....
and another...while I was in the mood... wool from my stash... This is much bigger, the large squares are about a foot square.
 
I went wrong with one of the four small square blocks....I'm not a perfectionist...I  am not taking it out to correct it...it can stay that way...My youngest son has got his eye on this one... wonder how long it will be until someone notices the mistake...lol

Saturday 12 October 2013

Science and Goddesses combined.

Helen Cowans, artist, tutor and lecturer was the speaker at EYES today (and the tutor at tomorrows workshop.) Just type in her name on google and all sorts pops up.
An engaging speaker, keeping our interest all the time. When going to university she had to chose between art and science and so she trained as a scientist. When magnifying her work she often saw textile opportunities ....she showed us the plaque on teeth, magnified and translated into stitch. On her blog she has a folder of science subjects in textiles. She had a love of the cups and rings engraved into the stones in the wilds of Northumbria and the prehistoric goddess shape all of which she translated into textiles. Her dissertation has been serialised on... historyofembroidery.blogspot  Look up her blog to see more of her work....www.textilegoddess.blogspot.com   web site www.helencowans.co.uk where you can see close ups of her work and her gowns.
To some she is known as the tower lady....landscapes, seascapes, gothic style and some vintage style. the small ones on the bottom right are the workshop for tomorrow.The towers were featured in a magazine.
they are quite sculptural using a variety of techniques.
this is a large piece, pieced, shaded velvet leaves at the bottom, hand dyed fabric with goddess shapes.

combined goddess and tree of life figures...a small patchwork piece from the outside part of a large hanging which was difficult to photograph to do justice to it.
there were several of these goddess shapes, this one all hand embroidered the flowers all done in minute bullion stitch. the influence of the stone markings on the piece on the right.
variation of the moon goddess and tree of life.
Helen also is influenced by all thing Indian and in particular.... Kantha, a form of quilting using  the running stitch ..I think this is a landscape with a weathered fence.........
please do look her blogs