No Stitching Time For Me :( !

Hi everyone,

Its been non stop since I got back from my holiday, hence the lack of blogging.

Two days after I arrived home it I was straight off to Gotham for the Quilters Guild Regional Day. An amazing day filled full of quilting, demonstrations, talks and shopping……… I came away with lots of goodies.

I also become an Area Representative for Region 10. I really excited to part of the guild and it’s an honour to be a representative for them.

Following that I’ve set up a new quilting group in Swadlincote. The Making Memories quilting group will run on the first Monday of every month…..

Shortly after that I joined Sue from Stitchery Stories in a lovely interview which is all about what I’m up to, confidence issues and what the future holds. My podcast will be available from the 4th October and I’ll post the link as soon as I can.

The weekend after I took part in Melbourne Festival. A weekend with artists from all over the country. I met lots of inspirational people and artists. The hosts house was absolutely stunning….

I was joined in the Sewing Studio this week by lovely ladies wanting to master the art of free motion stitching. I’m extremely proud of this workshop and the popularity.

I’ve managed to grab a little bit of time to start updating my Etsy shop….. and I mean a little bit of time as there’s still not a great deal on there but my shop is ……….Textile and Yarn

but here’s a little look what’s available

So after all of that I’ve had no time to sit down and get creative…..I’m feeling that needs to change quickly. This is a far as I’ve got …….. I didn’t even thread my machine but at least it’s ready to go ……

Thanks for reading me waffling on, I really appreciate everyone’s support.

Ami

xxx

Bishops Castle Lie of the Land Exhibition

Hi everyone,

Yes my first exhibition with Midlands Textile Forum started yesterday at Bishops Castle. I’m so excited to be part of this and I’m hoping to get to see it soon….

I had such a fantastic week last week. On Thursday we made the journey to the International Festival of Quilts where two groups of my sewing students entered.

I’m pleased to say both groups did amazingly well, the theme was ‘free’. The younger primary school aged group made a quilt of hot air balloons and kites and named it ‘Up, up & away. They received a highly commended.

My older group of secondary school ages made a 4 panelled quilt called ‘ Natures Wardrobe’. They won 3rd place.

I’m so proud of them ❤️

I’ve been busy hand stitching recently. I bit different for me and a break from machine stitching.

Thread painted landscape. This is a hand stitched version of my machined landscape.

And I finished my botanical fabric journal. I’ve loved making this sample book ready for my new workshop dates. Made from vintage fabrics, lace and threads and inspiration from garden centres and countryside.

All of my new workshop dates are now on the Haberdashery website, all dates, times, details and booking is available to see. Places are filling extremely quick…….Please see here

Its been a busy time and I haven’t managed to catch up on coursework so that’s the next task……hopefully.

thanks for reading

Ami

xxx

Busy Behind The Scenes!

Hi everyone,

I’ve not had chance to blog for a few weeks, things have been a bit hectic here.

My son started the summer holidays by dislocating his knee. He been very brave and in a lot of pain, so everything else took a back seat.

The Lie of the Land exhibition start on the 16th August so my piece has been packed and shipped to join the exhibition at Bishops Castle. I’m slightly nervous as this will be my first exhibition with the group. If your near or passing pop in and have a look.

I’m also getting ready for Melbourne Festival which takes place 16th and 17th September. I’ll be located at 52 Blanche Croft. I’ve still got a few pieces at the framers but a couple have already been returned ….

At the moment I’m concentrating on my hand stitched botanical fabric journal.

im using upcyled and vintage fabrics, lace and threads. I’ve still got plenty to stitch but I’m making good progress…

My latest workshop in the Sewing Studio was the extremely popular, free motion for beginners workshop. I was joined by four lovely ladies who were eager to get to grips with free motion stitching.

I love this workshop, it’s fun, creative, inspiring and everyone leaves feeling very proud and rightly so……

I organising more workshops in free motion and many more in textile art and quilting very soon.

I promise to blog more often, I’ve got to learn time management I think 🙂

Thanks for reading

Ami

xxx

Learning is always my therapy!!!!!

I love coursework……. learning new techniques and methods is a great way to stay intrigued.

At the moment I’m nearing the end of a City & Guilds Level 3 in Design and Stitch with Sian Martin at Distant Stitch.

The module I’m working through at the moment is named Textures in Landscapes.

I’m working my way through stitching textured samples which is great fun and addictive.

But I’m also taking part in the new course, Exploring Textures with Sue Stone. I’m finding this very relaxing and therapeutic. Using basic hand stitching and threads to make samples………….

On a personal note, I’ve been stitching and thread painting landscapes…..

still needs to go off to the framers

hopefully over the next week or so I’ll be planning which pieces are coming along to Melbourne Art Festiva.

have a lovely weekend

Ami

xxxx

I’m Back Behind My Sewing Machine

Hi everyone,

At last I’m back where I feel most comfortable…… behind my sewing machine getting relaxed by stitching.

I always roughly draw up a design and plan……..however 9 times out of 10 it never looks like the original idea 🙂

I’m focusing on landscapes at the moment …. so I’ve started stitching, with plenty more to do.

It’s been a hectic few weeks as Derbyshire Open Arts took place and the shop became a gallery…..

I’ve been busy preparing for the Midlands Textile Forum exhibition at Bishops Castle in August. The subject is ‘Lie of the Land. My piece in the exhibition is called ‘Mother Earth’. It still needs mounting and framing though…….

Some extra news –

I will be exhibiting at Melbourne Festival, Derbyshire in September which I’m very excited about. It’s a fantastic festival.

Melbourne Festival

and i’ll also be at Bank Mills Studios in Derby 24th – 26th November

http://www.evolvederby.co.uk/os2017

I’ve managed to take some time off this week and carrying on with the landscape theme I decided to go a walk in the woodland national forest close to our house. I’m not the best at drawing without a visual example so it best for me to take photo,s……..

I’m planning on having a calmer week next week so I can get plenty of coursework and stitching done……..fingers crossed. I’ll let you know how I get on 🙂

Thank you for reading

Ami

Derbyshire Open Arts…… This Weekend

Good Morning Everyone,

So it’s finally here……Derbyshire Open Arts starts Saturday and runs until the 4th June.

Its been manic preparing for the events but I’m finally near the end.

Saturday the shop will be open 9-4pm unfortunately I won’t be there for most of the day. However I’m here Sunday and Monday -10-3pm to meet visitors to chat about my inspirations, methods and techniques.

Hope to see you there..

…

Doodles

So this week I’ve carried on with the inspiration from the garden centre….

A lazy afternoon pottering around a garden centre has been so inspiration to me.

I find that doodling out designs and ideas really help me to decided which processes will work…….however it doesn’t work at all the time 🙂 and I’m not great at drawing.

However I try my best and here’s my version ……

Drawing it out also helps decided where to stitch and how to stitch.

Using Calico I thread sketch the outlines of the design and then I rummage through batik and hand dyed fabrics to audition them.

Freemotion embroidery, raw edge appliqué, thread painting, quilting and six hours later……

It still needs a frame before it goes on display at Derbyshire Open Arts on the 27th May until 4th June.

My work will be displayed at Simply Needlecraft Haberdashery, 64-66 High Street, Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

For details are on my website and http://www.derbyshireopenarts.co.uk/

Sometimes I admit it’s nice to spend some time stitching smaller projects and having a doodle with stitch. So for a break I made some greeting cards and using scraps of fabrics …….

Last weekend I exhibited at Belper Art Trail….

I had a perfect spot on the trail with the lovely ladies at the White Wardrobe.

This week I’ve also had chance to sit down with my diary and plan more workshops in the Sewing Studio at Simply Needlecraft. The workshops cover June and July and offering a various range of processes including quilting, free motion, hand Embroidery and art canvases.

We are very lucky to have another guest tutor with us too.

Rachel Patrick is joining us for a Lace course- a three part Course for beginners.

All details of the workshops are available to view on http://www.simplyneedlecraft.com

Thanks for reading.

Ami

xxx

Shiny New Blog…..

Hi everyone,

Yes this is a new blog, I’m still blogging over at Simply Needlecraft a Haberdashery but I felt as I’m progressing more as a Textile Artist I really to keep you updated.

So here it is…..

If you don’t already follow me I better introduce myself.

My name is Ami (obviously). I’m 36 years old and live in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire with my hubby, son, Rowley the Beagle and Olivia the Pygmy Hedgehog.

I own Simply Needlecraft Haberdashery and Sewing Studio and I’m a Textile Artist.

My creative journey started in 2011 when I learnt to sew and became addicted to quilting.

Since then I’ve gained City & Guilds certificates in Hand Embroidery and Machine Embroidery – both techniques I use quite heavily in my work.

But at the moment I’m currently heading towards the end of a level three City & Guilds in Design and Stitch with Sian Martin.

I’m part of Midlands Textile Forum, which is full of very talented ladies. I’m honoured to be part of the group and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Art Quilts are my passion and I tend to stick to it but have been known to try different techniques.

All of my past work can be found on http://www.amijamestextileart.com

However now my blog is up and running I can now keep you updated with projects on the go, inspiration, methods and of course the parts that didn’t go to plan.

So this week my inspiration has been…..

Over the weekend we had a visit to Staunton Harold and Ferrers Centre and popped into the garden centre too.

I couldn’t help myself so I ended up taking lots of pics. So this was one of my favourites, the colours and textures are fascinating.

I really find drawing and painting the design out roughly really helps me to think of techniques and steps I need to take to get the design I want……

Two days of fabric dying, cutting and stitching I finally ended with an art quilt I’m happy with…..

I have lots of doodles in my sketch book to plan further floral quilts but time is short at the moment. But it’s definitely something I’ll come back to at a later date.

This week I’ve been in the Sewing Studio teaching Free Motion Embroidery for Beginners.

This is a great class. We start by making samples of different designs using straight and zig zag stitches. At the end of a two hour session they have created masterpieces to take home and gained experience and techniques that hopefully they will go on to use…..