I participated in my first ever Artwave this year. It's an event which I've been aware of for a while but had never been involved in before. There are many different versions of it and it's effectively an open houses or artist studio event, but kind of set as a trail so there is a booklet printed with all of the venues and their different opening times and you can walk between them or make special trips. I was invited to be a part of it at The Stitching Post in Isfield and, more excitingly, because The Stitching Post is all about stitching and fabric and gorgeous textiles, Kelly (the lady who runs and owns TSP) turned it into Stitchwave!!
Isfield is on what the Artwave organisers have called 'The Rural Trail', which basically means it's not in Lewes, Seaford or Newhaven where the majority of their locations are. Anyone register to join, either in a hired space with other artists to make more of a mixed exhibition, or in their own studios or houses. Some give over their houses quite completely and throw open the front door, hanging their pictures from every part of their walls and selling postcards off the dining room table.
There were actually quite a few different venues open in Isfield so it was worth a trip out of the bigger towns and into the much more rural setting because you could make a day of it (especially as there's a nice pub in the village).
TSP was open for two weekends, although our tables were set up for the whole time so weekday visitors to the studio could see and buy whilst they attended their workshops and bought fabrics from Kelly. The exhibiting artists (including me) were on a rota to come and sit and greet people, make tea and coffee, offer cake (Mr DT made a very nice banana cake for us!) and give demonstrations. Between visitors, there were some lovely opportunities for us to sit in the sunshine, listening to the chickens chooking in their pen, chat stitchy things and work on our own projects.
I took my BIG project that currently lives next to my sofa waiting for small snatches of time to do a couple of stitches on it. It's not anywhere near finished but did draw a lot of attention with the different beads from Old Bicycle Shop that I've added and the big shells. Although interestingly, there were a lot of comments and questions about my floor stand rather than the Stitchscape clamped into it.
In case any of you have questions about the stand, I don't know where it came from originally, or how old it is as I'm fairly sure I inherited it from my Nanna (or pinched it, I can't remember now). I would think really a more modern frame would be better, this one is just slightly too short and could do with being a bit higher, or adjustable to go up and down, and the wooden screw pegs are loose so it doesn't tighten up properly which means it could suddenly collapse at any moment. Who says embroidery isn't thrilling?
I do love it though, and have recently had it fixed by my uncle (thank you Steven!) because the whole 'head' section with the clamp snapped off where the dowelling had rotted in the middle and just gave up. I'm really pleased that it's back in action again.
I did really well over the two weekends and, not only that, I had several visitors who I've previously taught in workshops, a lady who brought along her finished Fire Flower II kit (pictured below), a couple of ladies who wanted to book me for future workshops and someone who has just joined my Stitchscape swap (who brought that month's card with her to save on postage - savvy!). Thank you to everyone who made a purchase; there were lots of kits, cards and prints sold so I hope that you all enjoy your projects or pieces.
There were nine of us exhibiting there, including Kelly herself showing the quilts she has made and selling some of the older projects or samples. We were all different but complemented each other beautifully, and Kelly had done a really good job of organising her space so that we sat nicely next to each other.
I would love my own space like TSP has. Mainly just the gorgeous shelves of wonderful bright fabrics so that I could hoard more metres and metres of fabrics without feeling guilty for taking up space in our home. (I have fabrics tucked away in every available space - plus a spare room at The Parent's house.) Kelly was making a quilt from the new Kasumi fabric collection from Makower, which I also have just bought to make a Koi kit with (watch this space) and it was nice to see her in action, as well as the beautiful finished articles she had hanging up. Some were for sale because they were previous collections or examples for kits she no longer has, and others were promoting upcoming workshops or currently available quilt kits. She's a busy lady, attending all of the major quilt shows and travelling the country with her fabrics!
Marilyn has a range of different embroidered items, some upcycled, some created from scratch, and she also teaches workshops at The Stitching Post on various embroidery and textile courses.
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