Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Close up of fabric owl - Wilma Simmons, Empress Wu Designs 2015. Abigail Brown   is described as a creature textile designer extraordinaire, and having met Abigaill recently, I would add a very talented, generous, spirited  and beautiful artist. Her vibrant work rejoices in the amazing beauty of nature ... here is what Abigail says about her stunning soft sculptures .... I am excited by the opportunity to create life from these flat pieces of cloth, working with their weave to mould shapes, fraying their edges to form feathered breasts, creating stiffened tail feathers from something that was limp. That final placing of the eye and a new life is born...The Animal Kingdom is the inspiration behind all my work. I am fascinated by its rituals and language, a world of mystery and secrets on which we can but speculate. My fabric bird sculptures are a celebration of textures, patterns, colours and forms that delight me in nature. Abigail Brown with work...

 I’m still catching up from the hectic but great time we enjoyed during my birthday “weeks” and family visits. Before my mother left, I finally finished the black bag I promised last Christmas.  I was finally happy with it, and I think it will be good for Mum when she goes out at night, as it is large enough to fit her folding walking stick. It is a “scrumbled” bag, and although I have now made quite a few, the last two – Ruth’s green bag and this one took ages. I started them both with great enthusiasm, and then came to a sudden standstill, just adding a tiny bit week by week without making any real progress, creative or otherwise!. Anyway both are now completed, and feature lots of bullion crochet, fluffy and sparkly yarns in various knitting and crochet stitches. I made this one on a base of tapestry mesh canvas, and I found it a better and firmer base for this kind of handbag than rug canvas. And a happy surprise - I accidentally found a fake suede “cord” which made perf...