Alice Pattullo, Illustrator and Printmaker

Check out today's ( May 29th 2012)  Spitalfields Life for a feature on my talented daughter. Click HERE for a link.

I have had a wonderful day going by Rigid Inflatable Boat to the Isle of May out in the Firth of Forth. Blue skies and wonderful bird life to be seen there and on Bass Rock. Puffins are cute but I think guillemots and gannets have a bit more style!

I was completely taken with a story I extracted  from our female skipper about events at this very old lighthouse. There is always a story! The lighthouse was built in 1603. In 1791 George Anderson, the lighthouse keeper and his wife and eight children were living there. On January 23 1791 a great storm hit the area. The family went to bed as usual but the coal brazier at some point in the night was extinguished and the family all died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The next day, a Monday, people on the main land noticed the beacon had gone out but due to the storm no one could reach the island till the Wednesday. Rescuers found the perished family but nestled under the covers, barely alive and still at her mother's breast was baby Lucy Anderson. She was brought back to the mainland and eventually married one of her rescuers and emigrated to America.

On the way back we stopped to see some sculptures which I have been longing to see for some time. They commemorate the East Coast fishing disaster of 1881 and are by artist Jill Watson.

Stitching in IKEA

Yesterday I ran IKEA's first textile workshop. More than 40 people had  the chance to do a bit of textile collage using a range of IKEA fabrics. It was great to see so many people ( including several men!) sitting sewing in the store and mixing and matching fabrics, learning stitches and generally having a good time. Hope IKEA do some more.

God Save the Queen

Have been teaching a Jubilee theme course at The Hearth today. If you wish you had come then sign up for my next queen inspired course at Delight and Wisdom in Corbridge on Sat 9th June. More information on my web site www.mandypattullo.co.uk 

Patchworks

Now the vintage fair is over I can get back to my own work. I am  constructing new large wall pieces for an exhibition next year. They keep with the ideas behind thread and thrift and bring together old patchwork and other bits and pieces which I have over dyed, worked into and distressed a bit. Each piece carries with it a lot of decision making. The pink square in the first photograph was just too dominant so the work has evolved into the final photograph where everything is a little more subtle. This last picture was taken by me standing on a chair so its at a slightly funny angle!

Jubilee

I still have places on my JUBILEE course on Sunday May 20th at the Hearth which I am running with my daughter the illustrator Alice Pattullo 

Indulge in royalty and bling for a day. Use textile techniques which we will show you to create a unique textile memento based on a classic "Our Young Queen" picture which we will have transferred on to fabric for you. Alternatively create paper collages ( which you can also stitch in to) using original coronation ephemera mixed with other contemporary patterned papers. Think kitsch and decorative!

The course costs £45 and includes materials. If you are interested then please email me through me at mandypattullo@mac.com

Buying Vintage

Only a week away from the Vintage Fashion and Textile Fair at the Royal Station Hotel ( May 13th 10.30-4.30). Here are some pictures of things I bought at the last fair I went to. I am always on the hunt for lovely old bits of textiles to use in my work or to inspire me.

Ribbon work on to velvet

Applique on to green baize, probably using a cornelli machine

This lovely patchwork quilt. Very worn and heavy..

heavy usually means one thing - another quilt inside! I can't wait to start unpicking as these two torn patches reveal something really interesting going on underneath with appliquéd hexagons and stars peeping through.

Please come and support me and Jayne next Sunday and enjoy a vintage shopping experience that is so not high street.

FREE IKEA textile collage workshop

I am running a couple of  FREE workshops for IKEA at the end of May. You have to have a Family Card member to participate but it is free to join the scheme and you can join online if you are not already a member. If you are interested in  these free textile collage workshops then please click on this link which will will tell you the date and times.  I will be using fabrics from the IKEA recycling bins and the techniques will be simple. Here are some samples of ways that I have worked into some of their fabrics with stitch and collage.