In my most recent series of works, Garden Stories, I drew inspiration from a workshop I did in 2017 with British textile artist Anne Kelly. These new works are a series of folded stitched books in response to the exhibition challenge by NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists). We were challenged to print from wood blocks created by a local artist, Bob Seal. The blocks were stylised natural elements - a bird, a fish and a flower. When I saw the flower block, I immediately thought of a sunflower, so the plan was born... I have also recently become a fan of reverse applique so I knew I wanted to incorporate that as well as develop the layering and stitching approach we took in Anne Kelly's workshop. I used only one of the blocks - the flower for this set of books, but added one other feature on each - bees, birds, or butterflies. The background is an old , recycled cotton table cloth with a stamped, unworked embrodiery pattern)...
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