ups and downs of artists

First of all the "down"..........very disappointed to find out that the coach company have cancelled the trip to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in a couple of weeks time. What is wrong with the quilters in Wiltshire??? How are they all getting there?

On the "up" side, I have managed to get a few things done this last few days. So a quick resume to cheer myself up!

I have finished stitching this by hand in the Kantha style whilst watching TV. I am on holiday so the TV gets watched quite a bit! Here's a close up.

Have also been using my embellisher a bit more, with a background of white wool felt I have been laying on a varitey of different fabrics for their textural qualities and then needleing them with the embellisher. Finding a lot out about different fabric qualities.

I particularly like the way fine silk reacts under the needles of the embellisher.

Wonder what dyes I can use on this mix up of fabrics, as I would love to add some colour to this. Any ideas welcomed? Normally I would probably use paint, but now I have had a real "go" at dying, there must be a way of colouring all the different fibres in one go?

This idea of using different fabrics has evolved from some work I did with Yvonne Morton, the example above is machine stitched and hand stitched and I just love doing this technique, so to be able to do it on the embellisher is a real bonus.

Here's what I am handstitching at the moment another of my Kantha's.