One almost down, several more to go!

Deadlines have a habit of creeping up on you don't they? Our work is due to be delivered to the gallery at Cynon Valley tomorrow and today we've been frantically busy packing and labelling everything. All the framed or mounted pieces are now swaddled in layers of bubblewrap and the quilts are rolled and packaged ready for the trip.

The exhibition will include work both old and new. Here's a new panel of mine that hasn't been shown before although it may look familiar to some of our online students. It was inspired by one of the course activities! Making work to illustrate the course was really a good incentive to me - I ended up with lots of new pieces that wouldn't have happened otherwise!

The panel is mounted onto a stretched canvas and the detail below shows how I've combined lots of contour quilting together with fabric painting, applique and painted fusible transfer onto a hand dyed piece of linen.

So, fingers crossed we're ready for one deadline at least! Of course, the very minute one potential crisis is averted, it's time to take a deep breath and move on to tackle the next! You all know by now we're taking part in the Fashion Show at Festival of Quilts this summer so I won't bore you with the details of that deadline - they're just ongoing! I get a shock every time I catch a glimpse of the tailor's mannequin through my studio window! She's currently festooned with bits of airbrushed fabric and chopped up quilt as we audition design ideas!

Just to keep us on our toes we also produce a new video each week for members of DesignMatters TV. That's not really a deadline is it - more a way of life!

One of the subjects that had been requested by viewers was drawing with coloured pencils. Seems lots of people have them but aren't sure how to get the best from them. The little apple on its twig was a suitable candidate for a sketchbook drawing but once I'd done it I loved the effect so much I wanted to develop the drawing into a textile piece.

The sketchbook video goes live tomorrow but here's the fabric version I made with some of its free motion quilting completed. Isn't it amazing how a simple bit of quilting makes everything look so much more substantial?

I worked in cream on cream to keep the background quilting very low key. Then I hand embroidered the fruit and leaves with bold, colourful stitches while still trying to keep the look of a botanical illustration. Laura says it wouldn't look out of place in a National Trust gift shop. I'm not sure if that was meant as a compliment but I shall take it as such! Members of DMTV will be able to see the finished version of this in a video in 2 or 3 weeks time but I plan to have it and its sister piece on the stand at Festival of Quilts in August.

I hope you'll come and see them both!

Bye for now - Linda