Summer School with Chris Gray

We had a brilliant two-day summer school with Chris Gray last week-end, held in the lovely rural setting of Leek Wootton deep in Warwickshire countryside.  Chris gave us two days of expert and entertaining tuition on stamping and stitching, along with lots of tips and anecdotes, to make unique folded books on a theme of our choice, which - if they turn out anything like Chris's own - will become beautiful keepsakes.  

Chris brought everything we needed, from a wide range of wooden stamps, stencils and paints to her vast stash of hand-dyed fabric, beads, sequins, threads and wools.  We spent a happy and very busy couple of days creating patterns, motifs, re-arranging layouts and then stitching and embellishing.  All works to be completed at home, of course, but we felt we’d had a really indulgent and satisfying time. 

Decisions, decisions, which motifs to use?

Deciding on the layout

Preparing to stitch

The fun part is selecting the threads and embellishments

A very varied collection of themes shaping up

Chris is a generous and very helpful tutor, and she has been kind enough to put a very complimentary post about us on her blog, with some photos of work in progress:

I had a wonderful time with the lovely ladies!

 They did some absolutely stunning work...

 ...and I've blogged it this morning...

 ...copied to Facebook page as well.

Chris

Textile Butterfly - Lovely-Leamington