.... result!.....

Saturday was the closing date for our Ebay Auction and we are delighted to announce that our beautiful Textile Quilt of Words raised over £500 ($800) for the Cambodian Children's Fund.  The highest bidder was a  Les Soeurs Anglaises' past (and hopefully future) participant who had the advantage of seeing the quilt whilst she was at one of our workshops earlier in the year.  We are thrilled that it has gone to such a worthy home and thank you again to everyone who contributed. LSA's Calendar for 2015 is currently being uploaded onto our website, so it shouldn't be long before you can book on-line ( we promise to let you know the minute it's up).  We are delighted to be introducing two or three new workshop leaders to Les Soeurs Anglaises, as well as featuring our second Open Studio (with a yoga option this time).  And to add a little frisson to 2015, there'll be an amazing Fete de Boogie Woogie for those who just want a few days of brilliant live music, gourmet food and vintage wine in a spectacular part of France at the best time of the year.  A great  Christmas gift for that special someone. While you wait for the Calendar to go up, here are a few things that might keep you entertained: Well known stitcher and collagist, Cas Holmes is currently exhibiting at Memory Cloth at the  Lace Museum in the Netherlands. It opens on the 12th October and she will be giving a weekend workshop on 13th & 14th December.  The exhibition also features the work of  Cherilyn Martin, Els van Baarle and  Glenys Mann.   On the subject of quilts, read this one about quilter, Leslie Morgan.  The Textile Artist newsletter is also a great way to keep up to date with what's going on in the world of textiles. The enduringly kooky and gifted machine embroiderer, Linda Miller, is exhibiting Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th October at at the Festival of Crafts at Farnham Maltings, Farnham Surrey.  Don't miss It! There will another Clerkenwell Vintage Fair this weekend in Central London if you visiting the Big Smoke.  Really worth a visit if you love vintage clothes. Which is why it's good to hear that one of my all time favourite on-line shops, Donna Flower, has just opened a "proper", real-life, shop in Barnstaple, North Devon, UK.  Lucky Devonians can now pop in and rummage through her eclectic stock whenever they need a pick-me-up.   Our resident monoprinter and all-round wonderful artist, Emma Whigham (you'll see her new drawings on our updated website soon), has started making bright and beautiful jewellery in colourful, geometric designs, soon to be available on her Etsy shop.  As a one-time professional jeweller, she embraces the delicate, handmade techniques and is most happy involved in the slow process of making and designing; an antidote to the fast and hectic pace of our lives nowadays.   We love, love, love Kate Bowles' work!    Having recently had an Open Studio event here where the resident artists, Alison Kuller and Jone Hallmark, were both involved in the art of making books, our eyes have been opened to the painstakingly difficult but utterly satisfying work of creating and stitching a book together, whether it be a journal, sketch or memo pad.   Kate's work and colours are just gorgeous and we hope one day to get her down here to lead a workshop for us. Finally, if you feel you just can't let go of winter, we have a dear French vintage, sleeveless, fine cotton shirt for sale.  It is definitely a UK size 10 / Europe 38/ US size 8, and could be worn over a long-sleeved vest and would great with jeans or a full 50s skirt.   £30 / 38€ / $48 + postage

I'd like to buy it

.... textile jigsaw quilt auction.....

You may remember that earlier this year Les Soeurs Anglaises mounted a competition to win a place on one of our popular workshops (see previous blog).  Interested participants were asked to submit a jigsaw shaped patchwork piece, stitched with inspirational wording, to be made up into a quilt – the finished quilt to be auctioned to raise funds for the Cambodian Children’s Fund, an amazing charity based in Phnom Penh that provides life-changing education, nourishment and healing to vulnerable children from some of Cambodia’s most destitute communities, most of whom live on the rubbish tips around the city.

With a prize worth over £1000 on offer and a great cause at the heart of it, the skilfully stitched ‘jigsaw’ pieces by textile artists from all over the world started to pour in, and once our workshop leaders had chosen the winning piece (not an easy decision) at our Ray Stitch Reception back in April, Les Soeurs had the task of sewing all the pieces together into the one beautiful quilt.  We then backed it with cotton and lined it with vintage French linen and the unique finished quilt, incorporating every one of the wonderful submissions, is now available for auction on eBay.  For the next ten days only, you can add your bid to win this amazing one-off, textile jigsaw - which would look equally good covering a favourite bed or decorating a wall - and at the same time help raise a substantial sum for CCF.

Backed in vintage French linen by Les Soeurs the quilt measures 110cms by 160cms 

    

We'll be posting developments and letting you know the final amount raised, but meanwhile, thank you to everyone who contributed to this beautiful piece - for their hard work and creativity.  Inspirational!

We'll ask be announcing our new website, with all the workshop dates for next year, very shortly.  There will be a few surprises, new faces, and unusual developments, so make sure you watch this space!

We know there were a few disappointed people around last year when we had to cancel Julieann Worrall Hood's workshop, so we thought you might be interested in her upcoming exhibition at the Bath Spa University.  It's bound to be a cracker and we're just sorry not to be near enough to visit ourselves.

Here's a little about the show in Juliann's own words:

"In my capacity as part time lecturer and tutor on the Creative Arts Practice degree course at Bath School of Art, Bath Spa University I have been working on a project with second year Mixed Media Textiles students developing new work in response to the collection at The American Museum in Bath. We will be exhibiting the resulting pieces, a wonderfully diverse collection of contemporary responses including laser cut plastics, tapestry, print and alternative taxidermy, from June 3rd -5th in the Stables Gallery at the American Museum. Please find attached an invitation to the private view on the evening of June 2nd.

I will be exhibiting a tapestry and a mixed media piece entitled The Goldilocks Principle, which I have made inspired by the folk arts, rag rugs and navajo weaving techniques in the collection and the aesthetics of Mennonite Ledger Drawings of animals. These will be the first in my new Golden Ark series of tapestries, drawings and mixed media work, raising awareness about endangered species. I am fortunate to be the recipient of a Theo Moorman Award 2014/15 to develop this new work in tapestry."

And here are a few more of the wonderful Textile Jigsaw pieces that we're slowly sewing together into the quilt to be auctioned and the proceeds of which will be donated to the Cambodian Childrens Fund

Suzanne Wright

Jone Hallmark

Isabella Simpson