Foxgloves abstracted - The Foxglove glade at Hidcote Gardens

Both the A2 pieces this year have been based on a photograph taken in the Foxglove glade in  dappled shade at Hidcote in Warwickshire. I abstracted down to the shades of colour for this second piece based on foxgloves - still working with hand dyed silk - some overdyed to get the shades of mauve and purples for the range of foxgloves. How this will develop for others in this years series - I am not sure - I have also been screen printing  with discharge paste some Foxglove imagery so who knows......

Detail

Cotton

For my second quilt this year I focussed on a seed pod, and more specifically a cotton seed pod. With Photoshop I was able to make an inspirational photo more abstract and that was my starting point for this quilt. Fabrics used are my own hand dyed ones and some discharged fabrics. Funny enough, for the white cotton in the pod I had to use raw silk as real cotton was too smooth for the effect I wanted to create.

Taiwan

Here are the pictures of my Taiwan quilt:

I is a combination of hand dyed/painted and commercial fabrics with added plastic and rusty objects. Title is 'Be careful with your trash'. 

First Piece

I have finished my first piece but like others I am not sure it will be the one that I will finally use.

I have used the same technique that I have used in my Pomegranate quilts,  working on the placing and light and dark fabrics.
Whatever I decide I am keen to continue working in grids and follow the repetition idea.

Here is my turnip quilt. When the quilt was on show recently at the NEC most people seem to think they were beetroots. It doesn't really matter.

I have used commercial Batik fabrics and transfer adhesive.

Gillian

Abstracted Nature Foxgloves - warm up piece

For my series this year I am using photographs from English gardens as a source for the design. The piece below is a trial  with materials and colours for the actual first piece which is almost complete.

I am working in silk this year - not really sure why as it is a very challenging material to stitch ( and to photograph well! )but I love the handle and the way it takes dye. 

The silk was coloured by painting a single colour dye directly on the surface, letting it dry, fixing it and then repeating the process with a second colour etc. I used Jaquard silk dyes. 

 I sketched the outlines of the foxgloves freehand with the sewing machine,  Given the slip nature of silk, it has been quite heavily quilted. As I do not usually use whole cloth pieces of silk in my work - this has been a good learning experience for the actual first series piece, based on a macro photo of a foxglove which I hope to finish soon.

Detailed piece  showing various coloured rayon threads