Workshop with Cefn Burgess at Ruthin Craft Centre

I made this panel - using an embellisher machine and adding extra straight stitch machine embroidery over the top. It is Algot's "summerhouse", the old farmhouse where we stayed in 1995 that used to belong to my dad's Swedish friend and former work colleage. The "trees" on either side of the door are branches cut down from the forest (birch I think) and used to decorate the doorway for Midsommardagen (midsummer's day, the great Swedish summer festival). It is slightly smaller than A4 size.

Cefn uses embellishment machines in his work and we had a chance to use three machines - a Babylock, a Husquavarna and a Janome. Each gave a slightly different look to the finished needlepunched fabric, as the number of needles varied. Working from the back of the piece was also useful for giving a softer look to the design. I really enjoyed working with the embellisher and can see lots of possibilities for one!

We started by making drawings from our photos. The yellow house in the bottom corner is Algot's daughter's home, but I decided to do the older house instead.

You can see more of Cefn's work here or visit his studio at Ruthin Craft Centre. If you have a chance to do a workshop with him, I would recommend it.

Cefn works with Welsh flannel. There were several other local quilters at the workshop and we were all drooling over the vibrant colours of the flannel fabrics. Of course, these are the fabrics that Welsh quilts are made from traditionally. They give a quilt a very different appearance from cottons. Being thicker, detailed patchwork isn't easy and the hand quilting stitches on a lot of old Welsh wool quilts are also larger than modern quilters aim to achieve.