Greta and Mike Fitchett. Textile artists

Hello. It's a sunny morning here in North Lincolnshire, I think we should be bracing ourselves for the storm which is heading our way. If you listen to the weather forecast we all ought to be panic buying and stock piling our food. I take each day as it comes, no panic here. What will be will be, I will not starve. 

Yesterday was the Embroiderers Guild meeting, and the guest speaker was Greta Fitchett, a renowned and very talented quilter and textile artist. Right up my street, her talk was very enlightening, and her work was beautiful. 

Greta's husband Mike, accompanied her. They sometimes work as a team, Mike sketching in his book as they travel the world looking for inspiration. Greta also makes her own sketches, her book always close at hand, along with her camera. Can you spot the deliberate mistake in this photo? I didn't notice at the time, but the quilt is upside-down. Oooops.  

Greta talked us through the backgrounds of her quilts, where she found the inspiration, and why she chose a particular subject.

She is drawn towards tall glass buildings, and finds reflections fascinating. This is part of a large quilt inspired by Tokyo skyscrapers.

It's a pity I couldn't get all of this one on the picture, above the foliage is a wonderful landscape.

The reflections in the water of this Japanese garden were just perfect.

Greta does a mix of free motion machining, and hand embroidery.

I was quite surprised to see that on some of her quilts she leaves all the ends of the threads loose at the front. It adds an interesting dimension to her work. A tip that some quilters might like to try.

The quilts are all very large, some of them with the tiniest pieces. It must take an age to complete them.

Each one is different with it's own distinct style.

Here is Mike holding out a section of his concertina sketch book. He aims to fill one of these on every trip.

After the presentation, the quilts were laid out for closer inspection, and they were happy to answer any questions we had. I really enjoyed this, meeting the artist is much better than just viewing work at the shows.

There is a web site you can check out. Heatherleadesign.
Greta is on Facebook.
Greta has more pictures of her quilts on Flickr.
There are links to Mike's work on the web site also.

Garcia is sunning himself on the window sill. He didn't come yesterday, he stayed at home. But he is back today. Little sweetheart.

Thanks for popping in, enjoy your Sunday. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip