Gallery – Maggie Grey's WOWbook

In this Gallery, we show all the wonderful work by our WOWies including pieces from workshops in all WOWbooks and from Maggie’s multi-coloured WOW Course. Click on each photo for full details. Enjoy!

Mara Webb vessel online workshop (WOWbook 07). This is my first workshop and what a joy it was. I have been toying with the idea of doing all sorts of online courses but WOW has what I need without having to commit myself to weeks of studying and I can choose what I want to do! I had to compromise on a few things on this project as I am limited in supplies to hand here in Deloraine!

Just some of my experiments from various WOWbooks!

I really enjoyed making Nikki Parmenter’s beautiful dragonfly bowl from the online workshops of WOWbook 07. I did make too many flowers so I doubled some of them. Then I was very nervous about the final assembly and hesitated for a few days before telling myself to just get it done.

I have always wanted to make a Jan Horrox doll and here she is. I must say that I am pretty pleased with her. I managed to make ‘Doll’ from materials in my stash most of which I dyed. The only thing that I had to buy was the stuffing.

This piece uses a number of different techniques. I would like to thank Janet Edmunds for introducing me to Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons. The background is a length of screen-printed cotton that was sitting in my failures pile. I applied a band of Gesso and acrylic paint using a squeegee and to my delight this transformed the fabric. For the buildings I used an open weave curtain fabric with Gesso applied to the surface. I drew the outlines then used the paper patterns to transfer them onto the fabric with machine stitch. I then added colour using the crayons. The trees are silk organza embellished with machine embroidery inspired by the work of Hundertwasser but with my own interpretation so that they blend in with the rest of my design. The piece is 60 x 14cm.

I’ve made a second book cover. This is an A4 diary. I have deliberately added wrinkles and folds in the subsoil, so it’s more interesting and not perfect. I’ve added mat and shine.

Michelle’s workshop from the members’ club in Wowbook 06 was great. I could make each little section when I had a few hours free. I loved the variety of techniques and have a few bits left over for another smaller piece of art.

After the first attempt with the embellisher machine and breaking three needles, I first had to buy new needles. Continued today. Another three needles broken. I made a book cover out of it.

Here is my mixed media vase from Lynda Monk’s workshop videos. Thanks Lynda – really enjoyed doing it. I think I may have used too much grey at the end as it is darker than I would like – next time!

Rather than stitch the individual pieces together I decided to mount it on a sheer background and also added a few strips of sari ribbon. Thank you Michelle Mischkulnig.

This is my experiment with combining Maggie’s vessel in book one with the left over papers from Amanda Hislop’s trees. It is way too big! I made it as a container for some twigs I have been making for another project.

My finished my ‘one a month‘ for 2020. Fauna in the farm.

Progress with the ecoprinted papers I made following Caroline Bell in WOWbook 1. I used cotton lawn as a backing since I didn’t have muslin. I have lots of air bubbles on the back and have decided that might be why Caroline used muslin – the more open weave might allow the air out more effectively.

Karen Brooking. To make sure we don’t get in a sewing rut, a friend and I have decided to pick ideas from the Wow books for each other. This week I was challenged to do something based on Hillary Beattie’s workshop from WOW 1. Instead of making a stencil, I made a hydrangea stamp from funky foam and stamped on paper and fabric with fabric paint before washing with procion dye. I finished them off with butterflies.

Ineke van Fassen. As a child I often drew pictures out of my father’s wildlife books. One bird in particular had my interest and I drew it many times. Inspired by Holly Hart’s article in WOWbook 05 I started drawing again. The beginning of a new textile project. Next step Bird project: adding colour.

Ineke van Fassen. Second bird stitched and cut. One to go. I also made some branches. After finishing the last bird i will make the composition and decide about the background.

Janice Pound. I have been having some fun with ecodyeing on paper and then outlining with some botanical inks made from boiled onion skins and red cabbage as well as walnut ink. First image is just the printed papers and the other two have been outlined. Eco prints from WOWbook 1 and botanical inks from WOWbook 5.

Jennifer Archer. Leamington branch of Embroiderer’s Guild had their members day last Saturday via Zoom and we had to make something from one of our many books. I chose Wowbook 4 – Amanda Hislop’s ‘Unfolding Story’. I’m not keen on mustard yellows and greys so chose purple and blues like David Hockney’s paintings. When I finished it I cut it up and made it into greetings cards.

Wendy Burgess. I had a lot of fun with Gina Ferrari’s workshop from Wowbook 6. The only change I made was to use fabric instead of paper because I wanted to add some hand stitching to my pieces.

Mara. Webb. Gina Ferrari suggested that leftovers from her collage project could be used for other things. Correct!

Mara Webb. The results of my collage project with Gina Ferrari. Plenty of papers left for another project too. I did my City and Guilds certificate with Gina so I knew that the instructions for this project would be easy to follow. I had all the materials in my stash too. Thanks Gina.

Hannah Wattangeri Made some more coil vessels from Lynda Monk’s Pots and Pods video. Then had the idea of adding embroidered pieces I had done previously. Pleased with the result.

Nicky Smith. Maggie’s video video using painted lutradur overlaid onto a magazine page, with cut out tree shapes in between, which was very successful. This is my attempt of that technique.

Mara Webb. I was browsing through the back numbers of WOWbook at the weekend and No. 4 inspired me to have a go at Amanda Hislop’s workshop. I have put my own interpretation on some of the techniques but here are the results.

Wendy Burgess. I have had a lot of fun with Rachael Singleton’s fern printing workshop from Wowbook 5. I tried all the different tissue papers in my stash for the printing so now have a better understanding of their differences. I stitched the concertina together to make it into a flat book. 2.

Jo Taylor. I have been going through old WOW workshops and Maggie’s Raising the Surface book. I have been having fun with vanishing muslin and puff paint.

Mara Webb. Perfect day for experimenting with Adele Thomas sun printing. Wow book 3.

Mara Webb. I was just reviewing my WOW books and was inspired to create by Isobel Moore in book 5. I love Isobel’s colour pallet but as I don’t have those colours in my stash I just used what I had available. I used my embellisher to make the felt, applied it to a background of black Kunin felt then embellished from the back.

Mara Webb. A by-product of reading through Lynda Monk’s latest course. Transfer dyed luggage tags. Prepared transfer paper and tags both from my stash. More results to follow, just waiting for things to dry.

Wendy Burgess. I made many poor decisions with my wonky blue pot but am happy with the way it looks now. I used thick jute from my stash that looked like it would work but it was not one thickness and as I stitched it flattened out making the sides weak and uneven. Not wanting to start over I covered it with tissue paper which was a good decision and made it strong. Then I tried a peeled paint effect with blue and orange that ended up looking too even, like dots. I covered that with a white wash and it was too bright. My final good decision, was to spray it with brown dye to make it look like an aged pot. The maroon pot is an old fabric covered, hand stitched one that I just painted over and now love its more modern look.

Hannah Wattangeri. Coil bowl and vessel thanks to Lynda Monk’s video.

Marie Bear. I was pleased with how my attempt at Amanda Hislop’s Tree project in book 4 turned out (posted Feb.) I decided to try and adapt it to a larger piece of work 20in x 30in.

Mara Webb. When I was looking for tissue paper I found some posh tissue that I had applied the momigami technique to ages ago. I use baby oil. It seems to work well and smells nice. So here are my samples using various papers and colours. I have given the tags shown in my previous picture a coat of acrylic wax. As an experiment, I ironed them between baking parchment and to my surprise the colour turned much brighter. The middle tag is covered with tissue coloured with transfer dye.

Deirdre Briscombe. I took up Maggie’s challenge back in January 2018 when I read about it in that edition of WOW. I listed what I had in the stash(an amazingly long list!), divided the items into 6 categories (written on little pieces of paper) and randomly chose one from each section. I ended up with – sari silk strips, Form-a-Foam, foils, gold acrylic paint, wooden stamp block and flaked gold leaf. I wove the sari silk fusing it at the junctions so it wouldn’t fall apart. The medallions were made from the Form-a-Foam, some painted and some covered with foils and gold leaf then stamped with the block to give depth. I also stamped straight onto some of the junctions with the fabric paint.

Mary Housley. 6 of the best Challenge. This is my interpretation of the challenge!

Janine Pound. I have finally found what to do with the hellebores I made when following Holly Hart’s section. I have been following some of the workshops put on by Sketchbook Revival and loved Karen Stamper’s Wild Gardens. I made one on fabric rather than paper, sealing the charcoal with acrylic wax.

Wendy Burgess. I have had a lot of fun experimenting with Lynda’s module 1 from WOWbook 5 over the past week. I printed a lot of images on different tissue types to see what I liked best. I used dress making tissue for the blue/green book cover. The white book cover is not finished but I think I may leave it as is. The postcards were great ways to try out some of the various techniques. I have so many more ideas now. Thanks Lynda for a wonderful course full of techniques and inspiration.

Lesley Maw. My Unfolding Story using Amanda Hislop’s tutorial in WOW Book 4. I think I want to add hard covers but generally pleased with the results!

Mary Housley. My version of the winter tree line.. A group that I meet with had a challenge of producing a piece of work with text in, so the words on this piece say “he who plants a tree plants hope”

Jill Hill. I have now finished the first four months of my project with the sublimation printer and heat press. I am really enjoying this.

Maggie Grey. I’ve made a start on Lynda’s course. I have been collaborating with two of my cousins, who live in the USA, on our family tree, especially the time that our grandparents lived in India. I thought I’d make a folding book for each of them while we are in lockdown. Working from Lynda part one I painted some papery interfacing with tea and Brusho – keeping the colours light. Bondaweb was ironed on top. Then came a scanned greyscale photo of my grandma, printed on tissue paper, as instructed. A lightly used piece of foil was scrunched and ironed to the Bondaweb and the tissue pic was glued on with Matt medium. Really pleased with the result.

Janine Pound. I have been trying out a bit of Holly Hart’s section in WOW5. I outlined in India ink and used acrylic ink to colour. I have yellow, cerulean blue and crimson inks so I am somewhat limited in my colours! Is acrylic ink any different from watered down acrylic paint – perhaps a higher pigment? Going to do another flower and will add stitch as Holly shows.

Betty Smythe. I finally got some time in February to get back to WOW stuff and general messing about. Our local group planned a day rusting cloth & paper using assorted methods. I had tried the Carol McFee method a couple of days before, but on the day had a lightbulb moment. I wasn’t planning to embellish it, but was so pleased as it was just a quick trial.

Danuta Petrie. Trees based on Amanda Hislop’s section. A bit heavier and darker than Amanda’s.

Jill Hill. Here is the start of my sublimation and heat press experiments. I have found I can get a second pressing on to vilene which I actually prefer. The background is from an idea by Wendy Dolan but the illustrations are my own.

Mara Webb. I picked up my onion skin ink (Alice Fox) yesterday and found that it was going mouldy. Not wanting to dispose of it yet I decided to look at the work of Holly Hart, also in book 5. This is the result. The poppies were painted with onion skin ink with bicarbonate which gave me the lovely reddish brown colour. I also had some iron water tucked away. Thank you ladies I am really pleased with this piece. Probably worth looking for a frame.

Jill Hill. I’ve actually had time to finish this.

Janine Pound. have been having a play with onion skins. I used red onions having used yellow in the past. Firstly, I layered some flowers and a few leaves between papers, threw in the onion skins and boiled it all for about an hour. When the onion water was cool, I mixed a little with bicarb of soda, vinegar and added rust to some more. Then I boiled it again to reduce and darken and then repeated the adding of bicarb and vinegar. The photos give an idea of what I achieved. The ecodyed paper. The orange specks are lily anthers, yellow are pink rose petals(!) and the blue are red chrysanthemums . The pink lilies didn’t leave any colour.

Wendy Burgess. I love the articles in Wowbook 5. My first experiments were with the discharge technique in Mary McIntosh’s article, Lifes a Bleach. I haven’t done this before and it was a lot of fun. The blue circles was my first attempt. I quickly learnt not to apply to much discharge paste through the stencil and to be very fast with the iron when doing the bleach. My second one on the black was not layered but more of a test to see how much control you could have with the design. I think I will be doing more of this in the future.

Marie Bear. Only recently purchased the WOWbooks, there are just so many things to try. I loved Amanda Hislop’s winter trees so started with them.

Annette Turnbull. I bought a heat press last year after attending a fab workshop at Leicester Print Studios. These are some of my experiments/happy accidents. The chickens were done with transfer wax crayons on top of a background of patched gelli printed transfer paint squares. The lace was used as a resist initially but as the transfer paint coated the strips of lace I re-printed with them and got this lovely background which is begging to be stitched into. The tulip flowers were painted picture like onto paper. Some of the leaves were printed from real leaves and some were cut from painted papers. Lynda Monk’s workshops have given me so many more ideas – I can’t wait for my broken shoulder blade to heal so that I can get pressing………

Mara Webb. Just had to do a quick experiment with my onion inks. I love this technique of creating art. For anyone who hasn’t come across it; dip a length of string into the ink, carefully lay the string down onto blank a page in your sketchbook, ends of the string protruding. Close the book, hold the cover down firmly then pull the string out. The resulting shapes are just amazing and always a surprise. Anyway, I’m done now. Back to course work.

Jill Hill. WOWbook No 5 arrived this morning. May have to take a few hours off! Following on from my flower a month in 2018 and a bird a month in 2019′ this years month by month project is fauna on the farm, machined animals on calico, appliquéd to a painted background. Imagine my surprise when I opened up to Holly Hart’s contribution!

Wendy Burgess. I have finally managed to get some time to create. I had a lot of fun with Amanda Hislop’s Unfolding Story workshop from WOWbook 04. I used a piece of painted fabric instead of white for the backing so it is two sided. I have enough painted pieces now to use in a few projects.

Cath Tyler. A Froebel Star, woven with Lynda’s crumpled, painted tissue paper.

Wendy Burgess. My textile group is doing a fat quarter swap of fabric we have made for our Secret Santa this year. It is very hot today so I made my fat quarter using the solar dye method. I hope the colours are not too wild for the recipient.

Jan Andrews. I had some leftover paper strips from painting papers for the Laura and Linda Kemshall sketchbooks, WOW Book 2. I also had some painted papers left from the Amanda Hislop workshop, WOW Book 4. I combined them with a bit of stitchery to make a sort of story book with no words, just imagination.

Wendy Burgess. My inspiration for this artwork was an aerial photo I took from a plane window as I crossed Australia. I could see a line of brightly coloured salt lakes below amongst all the square farmlands and thought it was a great pattern for textiles. I started out with the pressure stencils from Maggies Course, module 4.The stencilled lakes didn’t work too well so I covered them with coloured metals. I did do the cut back applique for some of the fields. Later I added more colour with pan pastels because I wanted more rectangles to contrast with the circles. It is not as abstract as I was going for but not realistic either.

Sue Baxter. Carol McFee I have had my piece on the wall for a couple of weeks now and thought it was about time I posted. It is nothing like a book cover but I have used your excellent workshop ideas. I am now trying to combine rust, Katy Sue moulds and ideas from CCA …. should be an interesting result…

Sue Baxter. I have finally got my rust pieces from Rusting Away with Carol McFee done. Now I have to engage my creative ideas to use them… it could be a while.. The round one was wrapped around the large cog thing in the tray, interesting result.

Mara Webb. Having recently treated myself to an embellisher machine I have been doing lots of experimenting andI remembered that Maggie Grey had posted a video in Wow book 3. My version isn’t quite like the one that Maggie made but the principle is the same. I started off with a long piece of chiffon. I didn’t want to add felt all along the whole length so I just ran the embellisher over the chiffon fabric. Here is the result. Interesting!

Wendy Burgess. I needed to create a book cover so went through Wowbooks for inspiration. I ended up using the ideas from Annette Turnbull and Pam Bailey in the Wowies Top Products article that was part of the online section of Book 2. I stretched some Kozo bark out, covered it with water soluble paper making a few holes as I went and spraying on colour. When it was dry I hand stitched it to a piece of fabric and used the washer idea from Pam for decoration.

Jan Andrews. Here are the sketchbooks inspired by Laura and Linda Kemshall, WOW Book2. I tried out some new ways of binding using just one pierced hole and ribbon and another using tabs cut from the covers to secure the inner pages. Both methods were taken from an excellent bookbinding book written by Rachel Hazell.

Linda Burgess. It’s all about moths for me too at the moment. After many, many weeks of learning new printmaking skills I needed to get back to sewing for awhile. No gum arabic transfer with these moths (they’re waiting in the wings (get it – wings!)) but simple discharge paste and appliqué. Boy does that discharge paste STINK!!

Jill Hill. Well! I’ve actually found time to finish it.

Deborah Eyre. Thank you Sue Brown for the feature in WoW 4 and all the advice. The holiday snaps are coming into their own! Just need to try it on fabric now…

Jill Hill. I have some pressure stencilled silk samples and a piece of vilene. I think I shall go with the orangey one and am currently doing another piece of vilene in stronger turquoise hues. I thought to use heat treated copper shim for the fiery bits.

Jan Andrews. Now I’ve got the hang of posting there will be no stopping me! These are some pieces I made after using Caroline Bell’s eco dying technique (WOW Book 1).

Jan Andrews. Hello, these are my first attempts at Amanda Hislop’s workshop. I worked with grasses as my theme and kept the same colour in the bobbin so that the reverse was in one colour. Thank you Amanda, I loved the process and have got loads more ideas to work on.

Wendy Burgess. Margaret Beal’s workshop from WOWbook 3 was a lot of fun. I bought her book last year so I have had a bit of a play with the soldering iron before. I decided to see how fine and intricate I could go with my sampler. All the fabric is held in place with the soldering technique. I used a metal stencil to trace the dragonflies and butterfly using a fine tip. Any stitching is purely decorative or to hold on the beads and embellishments.

Linda Burgess. I’ve not been idle with this WOW book 4. Here is my take on a bit of Sue Brown and a bit of Amanda Hislop. Book of trees and birds.

Jill Hill. It’s not much but it is a start. ‘Let there be dragons’. Maggie’s latest course.

Liz Swinbank. These are my attempts at Amanda Hislops technique from the latest WoW book. I used liquids from my eco dying to give the colour and marks and added Inktense pencils as well. Lovely technique and so much potential, thank you Amanda x

Jen Skedd. Just completed my folding book inspired by Amanda Hislop’s techniques. However I used monoprints made using wildflowers and grasses which I’ve machine and hand-embroidered.

Nita Penfold. Scrap Lady: Greening 17” x 21” including Kozo Tree.

Karen Teal. I am new to Wow books but I am making up for lost time and now have all 4 and working through them when I get a moment in between life things……….at the weekend I played with Wow book 1 Caroline Bell Eco printing on a variety of papers, silk and cotton. I have tried it before but never been that successful but following Caroline’s instructions there was a eureka moment … had a great time walking the dog and collecting leaves.

Liz Swinbank. Hurrah, after much trial and error of trying to print useing Sue Browns tecnique in the latest WOW book i have finally cracked it and got results. I must admit i was ready to give up as i was getting nowhere despite having everything i needed. After trying to alter amounts of everything I finally decided to see if there was more than one type of Linseed oil and there is, and that was where my results were falling down. I had one that could be mixed with oil paints/inks but was water based, i bought an oil based one today and yippy i have results. Just need to perfect my tecnique now, but one happy bunny. Thank you Sue Brown for your support. I also discovered that you can get at least two prints from on photocopy, think i might have been pushing my luck here.

Jill Hill. I have also made a little memento of my trip to North Yorkshire with my Grandsons. The steam and engine and one of the amonites were paper castings.

Sue Brown. Just thought I would show you some recent gum arabic transfer printing experiments. Printed over mixed media including Xpandaprint, some on vintage fabric collages and just on ticking.

Jen Skedd. Had a go at Amanda Hislop’s trees project today. As a result, I’ve now got a lovely new picture hanging in the smallest room while the long strip dries overnight. Loved doing this so I’m looking forward to my 4 day workshop with Amanda at Embroiderers Guild Summer School.

Linda Burgess. Having a go at Gum Arabic transfers today. These were the best of the bunch. One on cartridge paper, one on a piece of previously Gelli-printed linen and my favourite (bees) on top of a collagraph print that I’d done some time ago. If I’ve had some failures it’s not the process, it’s my poor judgement of trying to print on a background that was probably too dark. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to become anywhere near as good as Sue Brown.

Gill Griffin. Love how this fungi project turned out. Got plenty more for a different picture too.

Wendy Burgess, I was supposed to be doing something else but got distracted after watching Lynda’s video in the Wowbook 4 members club. It looked like fun so I made this piece of fabric with a two tone nylon scarf for my top layer. It looks more stripey in the photo than it is.

Sue Brown. Starting to experiment with Gum Arabic Transfer printing on eco dyed khadi paper… next stop the fabric samples!!

Betty Smythe. I’ve just finished the distorted image piec. The image is OK, but I’m delighted with the background! Black watercolour paper crumpled, the peaks brushed over with gold wax and ten the whole thing sprayed till it pooled in places with aqua Starburst spray. I’ve always had trouble in the past with these pooling – not a problem here!

Margaret Longino. Had some bits and pieces left over from first fungi ‘offering’ which is now mounted and framed . So used it to make this second one, stitched onto an oblong canvas.

Anne-Marie Bates. Ammonites!

Jane Rouse. Finally completed my collage from WOWbook 2. I printed the flowers on rather than use a stencil. The machine quilting wasn’t nearly so scary once I got started!

Lorraine Fitches. Inspired by WOW book 1, Ferns, Ivy and Bark. I really loved making this and every technique was new to me. I learnt a lot, transfer dies, machine wrapped cord, dissolvable film, an Organza sandwich and further research helped me mount a 3D piece for the first time. Thanks

Mara Webb. This was fun. I haven’t worked with Kozo before. I love the technique of pushing the colour through from the back of the Vilene. Thanks for the bonus workshop Maggie.

Wendy Burgess. I haven’t even finished with Wowbook 1 but have completed my first project from book 2, Sue Dove’s Collage. I chose to only do a little stitching as I liked the fabrics too much to cover them. I thought it was a fun technique and love the thick outlines so will probably do that again.

Alison Banks. My go at Marian Jazmik’s fungi project – have not stitched anything down yet – working on the placement. Just had the most fun – now I am addicted!

Sue Munday. Have cut up my decorated papers to make sketchbooks for Laura and Linda Kemshall’s workshop in WOWbook 02. Can now fill the blank pages.

Anne-Marie Bates. Just tried the bondaweb transfer – it works! How fabulous is that ! Going to have fun with this – thanks.

Mara Webb. Up a gum tree is the appropriate phrase as I didn’t have all the appropriate materials for this sample. Not to be defeated I used what I had in my stash and as a consequence, missed out some of the elements. I am reasonably pleased with the result but feel that it is a bit bright and next time I would like to acheive a more natural look. I didn’t have any coffee pods so my husband suggested that I use tea light holders of which we have loads, including the deep ones. I coloured them with cheep nail varnish. So on to the next project …

Jill Hill. Here’s my take on Maggie’s Kozo tree. Really enjoyed doing this view from my window. Second finished piece in 2 weeks!

Anney Gilkes. I thought I’d share the fabric I’ve just created and used to cover a diary. Lynda Monk s tyvek method over brusho coloured felt with ammonite thermo fax screen print! The original gold ammonites didn’t come out so I over printed with silver after bonding the tyvek.

Anne-Marie Bates. Love the WOW 2 book – first book in ages I’ve read cover to cover! Trouble is, I’ve got too many ideas from it bubbling around in my brain. Couldn’t wait to do Clare Bullock’s nuno felt so I tried printing on a random bit of felt – it works! Was thinking Aborigine on these (with apologies to our Australian people).

Geraldine Mussell. Finally finished – I think – the mushrooms from Marian Jazmik’s workshop. Gave up as I didn’t like them then came back to them.

Mara Webb. Inspired by Jan Beaney, WOW book 3, I though that I would have a go at a bit of pen and wash. As usual there is too much wash but with the help of Photoshop Elements and Publisher I ended up with an acceptable repeat pattern for my Advanced Stitched Textiles design book. The images are based on photographs that I took in the Plantation Garden.

Sandra McKenney. This ismy version of Laura Edgar’s project from WOW #1. I am really happy with it. It is about an A3 size and has West Australian fish leather in it. When I showed my husband (who is a great supporter) his comment was there is a little octopus trying to run away on the left of the picture (that was the fish leather!) He is always good for a laugh… Thanks to Laura for the inspiration and of course the WOW team for making that inspiration accessible.

Anne-Marie Bates. Trying to catch up on the ideas from WOWbook one. My attempt at Angie Hughes piece.

Maria Spiller. I used the tutorial for eco-dyeing by Caroline Bell in WOWbook 1 as the basis for my first attempt.

Jill Hill. Marian Jazmik’s Fungi workshop – I didn’t have any bits left over!

Margaret Longino. Managed to get two out of one long piece of nuno! I have two more pieces ready to make up and then that will definitely be the last for a while. I am all nuno’d out for the moment.

Wendy Burgess. My take on Alysn Midgelow-Marsden’s Up a Gum Tree from book 2. I really enjoyed learning so many new techniques in this lesson. I couldn’t get the coloured metal to look right so I have saved that for another project.

Sandie Bolton. Finally finished Part 2 of Book 1! Loved doing the different elements – especially puff paint – I’ve had some for ages but never used it – will now! Putting it all together was a challenge but happy with it now.

Pam Bailey. Stamping and embroidery completed- loved this felting method from Clare Bullock.

Jackie Ferguson. My attempt at Sue Dove’s collage to stitch in WOWbook 2.

Jan Blight. At last, I have finished Maggie’s tree! Just loved the Kozo method and the colouring. Thanks, for the workshop, Maggie.

Sara Hansson. Hej! After a hectic winter and spring with courses, exhibitons and open studios I have now managed to do some stitching for myself and absolutely loved the Ruth Norbury workshop. Brilliant! Although not great, here are my samples and trials from the workshop. Definitely worth taking forward thinks me!

Jenny Lam. Really enjoyed Marian Jazmik’s fungi project in WOWbook 2. Great book Maggie thanks!

Betty Smythe. Module 1, Part 2: Texture. I ended up doing the centre panel on calico but then worked from the back when I realised I liked the effect better, the effect is paler. The heavy gesso is clearly raised but merged with the background colour. Braids are sari silk threads, tiles are cast paper, finished off with 3 buttons from the inherited button collection.

Wendy Burgess. I have made a start on Maggie’s Course, Module 2. I didn’t have a suitable alphabet for my die cutting machine so I chose flowers and circles for my first motif as I was too impatient to cut by hand. I probably should have sprayed closer to the fabric to get a darker colour in areas.

Andra Fischgrund Stanton. My “mushroom tree” sculpture so far. Thanks Marian Jazmik for the wonderful instructions and ideas!

Jane Rouse. Last summer I tried Clare Bullock’s Nino felting article in WOWbook 02 and failed miserably. Just spent two days in a workshop led by Clare and look what I have done! Thank you Clare for encouraging me to persevere. So chuffed with myself!

Jill Hill. I have now finished the first parts of the letter and motif section of Maggie’s course. Auto embroidered the letters on to felt and cut out with a soldering iron. The feathers are painted vilene and the background spray painted silk with loads of whip stitch over bump and backing to give the undulations.

Tonia Gerrits. My kozo tree from Maggie’s workshop in the members’ club. The fossils are made of silk clay – it feels like foam!

Mairead Holohan. Working on my stash with the help of WOWbook 1.

Christiane de Clercq. Work from Marian Jazmik’s fungi workshop in WOWbook 02.

Janet Patterson. My first example. A textile piece for my grandson’s bedroom inspired by Maggie workshop linked to WOWbook 2: Some great ideas, Thank you.

Linda Turner. My version of ‘On the Surface 1’ by Marian Jazmik. Snow sisal was new to me but it’s giving me more ideas for other pieces. Thanks Marian!

Wendy Burgess. I have been doing a few different things from each WOWbook. This is one of the completed pieces from Hilary Beattie’s lesson in the first book. I did make the gum leaf stencil but got lazy with the other prints and used commercial stencils as I have a lot of them. I really loved the idea of colouring in the stencilled area with pencils for extra shading and colour. I did add hand stitchng as well as the machine work because I like that more.

Anne-Marie Bates. This is what I did with my piece following Clare Bullock’s nuno felting workshop. I feel that the “pearls of wisdom“ in the WOWbooks are starting points for our own work and we need to develop them in our own ways. Think I’ve gone off at a bit of a tangent on this one!

Lynn Collison. I had another go at Caroline Bell’s eco printing from WOWbook 01, this time on fabric as well as paper. Slightly different method as a soaked the paper and fabric in the diluted iron water before adding leaves and onion skins. Looking forward to having another go with green leaves and flowers next year.

Wendy Burgess. My version of Maggie’s little bit more from Maggie’s multi-coloured WOW course. I have only just last month made a booklet with cutouts so chose to turn my experiment into a wall hanging. I had not heard of Archibald Knox but am really in love with his work, partly because I love lettering and also the art nouveau and art deco periods. Thanks Maggie.

Marysia Holmes. At last did my fungi from Marian Jazmik’s workshop from WOWbook 02. While stitching it to the backing on my sewing machine a little spider climbed out. I did not think they were that realistic!

Jen Skedd. Tried Sue Dove’s Collage project from WOWbook 02. It was such fun – I loved it. I used her design from the book for my first example, then did my own using these amazing sunflowers I was given. But it’s been so hot today, my oil pastels are melting! I’ll correct the proportions of the over-large vase when I do the stitched version.

Wendy Burgess. The second motif piece from Maggie’s course. I used up some paper that I had previously created with wax and dye during an Els Van Baarle workshop rather than making a new background. I did initially add some stitched ripples but didn’t like the way they looked so I unpicked them. It has left the marks in the paper that I don’t mind. They are much more subtle than the stitching was.

Mara Webb. Having taken something like 160 coffee pods apart I thought that I had better do something with them. This is a collaboration piece influenced by WOWbook 02. A background of Nuno felting with a bit of printing, Clare Bullock. A bit of needle felting to add texture and then coffee pod leaves Alysn Midgelow-Marsden. Finally in the foreground a few umbelliferers made with kozo.

Anita O’Neill. Marian Jazmik’s workshop. Finished and framed. I love this process and am already looking at what else I can do with it. Thank you.

Ann Cullen. I used Maggie’s WOW course on lettering to make a challenge for my quilt group’s December meeting. I really enjoyed the technique and may be more adventurous next time.

Chris Yates. Eco printing – Caroline Bell’s workshop. I left most of them with the flowers on until they were completely dry this morning. The colours have faded a little but am still pleased that there is a little of the pink showing from the fushcias. The larger darker pieces are my first batch and were baked for 60mins in just water and vinegar. The smaller pieces with lime/yellow are my second batch baked for 30 mins in water and vinegar and about half teaspoon of turmeric – I just have to experiment – I can’t help myself! Want to do more with maybe some paprika too and definitely some fabric bits.

Wendy Jackson. Here is my concertina book based on Maggie’s ‘Doing a Steph’ – one of the online Bonus Workshops for WOWbook 02. I love making them and have several more on the go.

Alison Milne. My version of the kozo tree from Maggie’s online workshop in the members’ club.

Jane Rouse. I have been busy playing with my eco prints. I made a small book taken from the Alice Fox book. I then started to work over some of the prints with black pen before cutting them up to make some gift tags, a bookmark and a card.

Sally Westcott. I made these sketchbook covers as gifts using the Lynda Monk videos with some influences of Maggie Grey. The presents were a great success. Thank you both for sharing your techniques.

Betty Smythe. Working hard to try and catch up on the distorted motifs exercise from Maggie’s course. Ended up stitching rather than a paper exercise. (Also forgot to put a partial frame in and had the motifs to far apart – so yes plonked!) However I did find some useful thngs 1) There is another Photoshop filter “Twirl” that works well too 2) If you’re lazy and just want to get a smallish bit into a roller frame to lightly tension, you can quickly secure it to the tapes with small safety pins 3) The overlay on this was strips of distorted gauze and I want to just stick it in place – I was pretty sure Vliesofix would show. So I spayed it with Freeze Hold (strongest) Hairspray. Probably only good for temporary stuff or an exercise. I have also used it in the past to secure the surface on copper patinated with ammonia. Anyway “Its Life Jim, But Not As We Know It”. Background – batik patchwork material; Life & overlay ice dyed.

Kerri McArdle. WOWbook 3 arrived so thought I had better get to and finish this project that uses the bottomless vessel & kozo tree workshops from WOWbooks 1 & 2. I’m naming this resolved work “Birdsong”. Inside of vessel painted to symbolise earth/dirt/ ground with the outer side painted blue for sky & green for foliage over musical notes printed on paper; birds and leaves then stitched into the outer side. The kozo tree sits loosely inside the vessel with tags stamped with the word ‘tweet’.

Wendy Burgess. I thought I would share the book I made from the eco-dyed papers from WOWbook 1. I used procion dye on some of the paper instead of the iron water expecting it to dilute during the process. It didn’t so the colour is a lot bolder than I thought it would be. Initially I outlined some of the leaves with coloured pencils but later decided to add more lines and doodles for more contrast. It has been an ongoing project but is now complete.

Jane Hayward. A metalwork piece I did with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden. She inspires me so much.

Jane Rouse. Finally completed my collage from book 2. I printed the flowers on rather than use a stencil. The machine quilting wasn’t nearly so scary once I got started!

Anne-Marie Bates. Thought you might be interested in how it turned out. Had a problem as I’d used the only photocopy of these ducks that I had and couldn’t find the original ! had to “wing” the free motion machining, hoping it looked something like. Found the transfer wrinkled a bit so doodled over that. I learnt a lot – will make two copies next time!

Wendy Burgess. I recently finished my Brusho landscape for Maggie’s course. I learnt a lot during my first experiments with the Brusho. Number 1 was to wear rubber gloves when you open the containers because that pigment stains hands for days! I chose to hand stitch this one as a way to unwind in the busy lead up to Christmas. Love Maggie’s technique for printing the designs and this has already lead to another three landscapes. I can see so many possibilities with other paintings I have thought would make good stitching backgrounds.

Jo Taylor. I have been working on my fabric book for a while now and have eventually finished it

Pam Bailey. Based on Jan Evans’ workshop. Quite pleased with how the picture has turned out. Cow parsley doesn’t show up well on the picture.

Lou Threapleton. I finally had a go at something (bought all the books of course!) Clare Bullock Nuno Felting in book 2. It takes some work but I think it worked! Just silk I had and next time, less stripy. It’s very soft.

Tracey Fernandes. Miles behind as always but I have enjoyed making this little book, the cover of which is based on the technique shown by Lynda Monk using Tyvek (if you can remember that far back!).

Birgit Friese. I had much pleasure in working “distorting scripture”; three small works and one large work were created. Here’s a sample: Business – Scills – ‘Leidenschaft’; font distorted and curved with Photoshop Elements, Vilene S80, Gesso, Gloss Medium, Pebeo Moon Hammered Effect. People: felt background: spunbond on acrylic plate.

Mara Webb. Just finished my interpretation of ‘Amo’s Amonites’ from Amo House’s online workshop I haven’t got an embellisher (yet) but found needle felting quite relaxing. Had fun doing a bit of hand stitch too.

Wendy Burgess. This is Module 3 Part 1 of Maggie’s course that goes with Wowbook 3. I must admit I did groan when I read about the mark making but it’s been a while since I altered a book and I did enjoy it, even the mark making. I used Brusho (my latest obsession) for the colour and ended up with water and colour going through the book so I will be more careful in the future. I used pen only for these but will try other mark making tools too.

Mara Webb. I am fortunate to be the keeper of my mother in law’s artwork from when she was at St Martins. She was Margaret Timmins then and unfortunately, her studies came to an end at the outbreak of the World War II. I am now looking at using copies of her designs whilst following the work of Cas Holmes, Stitched Stories and Found Objects. Using the technique in Maggie Grey’s video, Wow book 3 I have transferred a couple of photo copies onto a piece of old cotton sheeting. The next stage will be to add some stitching and incorporate them into a bigger piece of work so this is work in progress. This shows Margaret’s orignal artwork, photocopied and transferred onto the sheeting.

Anne-Marie Bates. I went to a Jane Betteridge workshop – the lady that wrote the book recently reviewed online in the members’ club. This is my piece – hope to transfer it/or something similar onto fabric when I’ve re-read Maggie’s instructions in her online workshop!

Wendy Burgess. I recently had a go at Dale’s Paper, Cloth, Transfer, Stitch workshop that is in the online WOWbook 3 Members club. I haven’t made silk paper that way and was pleasantly surprised at how thin and strong you could make it. I used an altered photo of the Forest floor piece from a previous WoW edition for the transfer. I added hand stitching as well as the machine work and joined it together with large jump rings.

Lynn Collison. Used the leftovers from Clare Bullock’s nuno felt to make two more cards.

Lynn Collison. Had a go at Clare Bullock’s Felt Print Stitch from WOW 2. I used sari silk and some odd bits of silk fabric but some of the thicker bits did not felt into the fibres as well as I hoped. I have to admit wet felting isn’t my thing and I’d rather be using my embellished machine! I decided to add lots of stitching to secure all the silk and used the end result for a card. Will try again making sure the silk is not too thick.

Kerri McArdle 2. This is what I have done with the Tyvek samples I made from Lynda Monk’s video from Wowbook 01 members’ club. Really happy with how the cubes turned out. Have also purchased Lynda’s book ‘Beautiful Bonded Surfaces’ which is so inspiring.

Kerri McArdle. This is what I have done with the Tyvek samples I made from Lynda Monk’s video from Wowbook 01 members’ club. Really happy with how the cubes turned out. Have also purchased Lynda’s book ‘Beautiful Bonded Surfaces’ which is so inspiring.

Tonia Gerrits. Ammonite made using transfer paint and stitch.

Lynn Collison. Just finished and mounted this, inspired by Sue Dove’s workshop in WOW2. I even worked it first in my sketchbook – usually just dive straight in. Really enjoyed taking time hand stitching.

Mara Webb. Thank you so much Maggie for your idea of creating a sampler of squares. These are some of printed and painted papers that I made last year. I had loads of fun putting the squares together. I lost count of the number of times that I re-arranged them!

Anita O’Neill. My take on Nikki Parmenter’s online workshop. Not a fish but it does lend itself to many shapes.

Jill Hill. Bits and pieces from my UFO box which have now been completed.

Mara Webb. Someone reminded me about Margaret Beal’s workshop in WOWbook 03 so I had a little play today. Great fun.

Wendy Burgess. I had already done the cover for my journal so I used Maggie’s technique from Module 3 part 2 to make this mixed media piece. I added colour and a few beads but other than that, the technique is the same. I haven’t used a lot of dissovable paper before and am now a convert. It adds so much texture!