Friday 21 November 2014

One thing leads to the next

When I'm asked where my ideas come from I always say from working. Whenever I am involved in one piece of work ideas for the next thing present themselves unbidden. DMTV members will have seen the small art quilt I made recently when I was inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee. It was such  a rich source of inspiration I couldn't help but have thoughts of the next quilt I would make!


I can show you one edge of 'To the Brim' but I'm keeping the rest of the quilt under wraps because it will be exhibited next year with Through Our Hands. I must keep some things secret for the big reveal!.


I'm combining hand dyes, block prints and digital prints. They all look rather confused at the moment, especially with the gold text I've block printed around the brim of the quilt. I'm confident after making my small quilt that the appliqué, hand painting and of course, the quilting which has yet to happen will bring it all together!


The big excitement today was seeing one of my watercolour still life paintings being digitally printed on Fingerprint's wide format printer.


Here's a single print on cotton poplin fabric. The fabric has to be steamed, washed, dried and then pressed before I can get my hands on it. I can't wait to begin the stitching! Laura will be putting two sizes of the panels in the fingerprint store next week so if you like the look of them you'll be able to buy one of your own. Of course you might be tempted to have your own art work printed instead!


As you probably know if you're a regular reader, I had a purge of my studio recently. One of the benefits of a good clear out is all the stuff you find that you'd forgotten you had. The watercolour painting of the rather oddly shaped apple will now be incorporated into a book I'm altering.


And the tulips drawn with oil pastel with an added wash of intense watercolour will fit right in too! It feels wonderful to find a permanent place for them after they've been lost for so long!

Thanks for reading - I'll be back again soon. Love Linda

Sunday 9 November 2014

New dress, bread and chilli overload

We've been spoilt by the lovely weather this autumn but yesterday was not a good day for the great outdoors. It was dark, wet and dismal but just perfect for spending time in the studio. Don't you love being inside, warm and cosy while the rain beats against the windows? I have several projects all needing my attention but most of them are quite major, requiring the brain to be engaged. I wanted something mindless that I could finish in a couple of hours. I've had this dress pattern for quite a while without getting round to making it up.


It turns out it's the quickest thing I've ever made - took about an hour to put together as there are only 3 pattern pieces and one of those is just a tiny back neck facing!


The pattern is cut very cleverly with no side seams - the front piece wraps round to be joined at the back. The upper back bodice is sewn on at the waist and shoulders and apart from turning hems it's done! Wish I could say it was a total success but sadly it doesn't fit!! Either drastic surgery is required or it will be a surprise present for my youngest daughter. That'll teach me to ignore the small print about this design only being suitable for two way stretch. In my wisdom I'd thought this firm jersey would be less clinging - important lesson learnt!

Onwards and upwards I say. At least the bread turned out OK. I've made two big bloomers ( if you'll pardon the expression bearing in mind the dress wouldn't go round my rear end!) using Bertinet's fantastic olive dough recipe and two 8 grain boules - that'll keep us going for the week even if it doesn't do much for the diet!


Now to tackle the chilli mountain. I've dried them, frozen them, pickled them in brine - we're having them in every meal except breakfast!


He who gardens has no idea about moderation!

Hope you all had a good weekend - talk again soon,
Love Linda

Thursday 6 November 2014

New issue of the mag!

I know I promised to show how the latest crow quilt is progressing. Well, as it happens, not particularly well......


It's not that I've fallen out of love with it - just other things have had to take precedence.


Here's the main culprit. DMTV viewers will recognise the quilt I've been designing and making over the last three weeks. I must admit I've loved working with such a gorgeous colour palette and the PowerQuilter has made the quilting a delight.


I'm quilting with Madeira Aerofil threads to contour the printed, metallic text and 'draw' detail out of the border and into the main body of the quilt. I'll show the finished piece very soon. If you're interested in seeing more of my recent work, I've also added a few of my pincushions to the 'Small Works for Sale' page. They might be just the gift you need for a special friend!

Life has been really hectic chez Kemshall lately. What's new I hear you ask! Well it hasn't all been about recording videos for DMTV, the big news is the latest issue of Through Our Hands - the Magazine is out and you can read it here now!


The magazine has occupied most of Laura and Annabel's time for weeks leaving me free to entertain the precious one. Don't you wish you had so few inhibitions? Who wouldn't want to dive into an enormous heap of autumn leaves like that?


She is in there somewhere I promise! Probably not a great idea to be wearing a white jacket!

I hope you'll take time to have a look at the magazine and pass the link onto all of your creative friends. If you'd like to keep a copy on your computer or be able to print it out you can buy a pdf download for only £3.

Thanks for dropping by. It's often lonely in blogland so I appreciate your company and your comments!
Love Linda

Obsessive - who me?

I don't do things by halves. When I do anything I do it with conviction. Take bread making for instance. I've made bread several times already this week and it's only Wednesday! I usually keep to the recipes I've found work for me but I do like to experiment with different flours and also to compare fresh yeast with dried.


The picture above shows the olive bread I made a couple of days ago from Richard Bertinet's book 'Dough'. It's simple to make, has a beautiful soft crumb and is quite delicious. I make enough of this to keep us in lunchtime sandwiches all week - it freezes well and tastes just as good out of the freezer as on the day it's made.


Last night I tried another of his recipes. The floury looking loaves above have a good open texture and a dusting of cornmeal gives a really crunchy crust. This bread contains nothing more than flour, yeast, salt and water. The process is like alchemy isn't it? So few ingredients transformed into something fantastic and wholesome.


Maybe it's the onset of cooler weather or the darkening days but I find the lure of a warm kitchen hard to resist at this time of year. Tonight, instead of settling down in front of the TV I made another batch of the olive dough and after the first rest period shaped it into a rosemary and sea salt focaccia. We'll enjoy that tomorrow with spicy pumpkin soup - can't wait!

Bye for now - Linda x