Threads of Loveliness

Treading the path.

2012-02-12T12:48:00.000Z

Sometimes I have a lot on. At the moment there are things I have to do which seem hard and fruitless. I know the end of the process will be sad. I know I will not have my Mum any more. But I have to remember to take one step at the time. A little warm footprint on the cold, cold path.
Part of the process is to continue to make. To keep my hands busy and allow my mind to assimilate and focus.

To remember her as she was when her mind worked. To remember that she will shine like a star inside me.

And that star will have colour and depth. And warmth around it.

Softness and form.

Humour.

Love.

A practical side.

And a hug.
(This is our boy Henry looking at the snow from his hutch - he didn't think much of it on his paws!)

Monochromish

2012-02-05T06:52:00.000Z

Strange, how subconciously I opt for this rather monochromatic colour scheme every January / February. This year I thought it wouldn't happen as we have had no snow, the daffs are starting to bloom and our general landscape has been pretty green and verdant.

And still it happens. After Christmas it's as if the eyes need a rest.

These Japanese woven fabrics are just the ticket for some kind of relaxation and a sense of peace.

Even if they do turn into a chicken quilt without me really thinking about what I'm doing! This one is for the kitchen table as Spring approaches.

Unbidden, this afternoon, six inches of snow fell in six hours. The first of the winter.

More fabrics laid out. More of the same easy hues.

I'm not sure what will happen to them!
But they lie here, winking!

A note in the sketchbook - snow surrounds the terracotta pumpkins.

January's diary shows a little more vibrancy. The month has been a difficult one with my Mum's failing health. After two months in hospital she is taken into a nursing home. We feed and water her. We make her comfortable.

Some solace in the sketchbook as printing is explored. Acrylic pears stamped with hand cut expanda-sponge and a watercolour dye wash.

The snowmen that my very good friend Tracy made me for Christmas are at last feeling at home in the seasonal weather.

Sketchbook Moments in Time.

2012-01-12T15:05:00.000Z

Here's some work from my Creative Sketchbook. Lots of collage, water-based dyes, rubbings etc. Gradual progress I hope. I'm very slow. I'm extremely busy. I do this in the chinks of time between everything else.

It keeps me sane,

provides an oasis

and makes me LOOK

and respond.

New Journal and the Feline Quilt Menace

2012-01-10T07:18:00.001Z

I've decided upon a new diary format this year inspired by Jill. I found last year that my detailed journal ground to a halt after August when there were some family difficulties and I was so pressed for time. This way I can make a brief note every day of what happened in the little 4cm squares with a double page spread for each month and then I can fill in more detailed days in between where I want to.

This snowman fabric quilt has been a year in the finishing, and even then, to the very last centimetre of the binding Smartie was convinced he was helping.

Now where's that needle?

It's under here I think

Or is there a little mouse under this bit?

I must attack and find out for sure

No wait, here's a cave to sleep in...

I've finished!!!!!

Taking Form

2011-12-27T18:53:00.002Z

I was thinking...

...how rain droplets take their form from their surroundings, wherever they happen to be in time and space.

In the NOW we take an ever shifting position - not necessarily relating to our history or our perceived possible future.

I am reminded to be in the NOW more.

In 2012 I will be in the now. More.

Freestyle Embroidery Thinking....

2011-12-01T11:29:00.000Z

sometimes

I need to think

often I need to get inside myself

working with ones hands

slowly...

allows for this

as does looking ... and seeing properly

for inspiration to continue...

...

Tomten Houses

2011-11-29T19:50:00.001Z

Have been making some essential Christmas decorations - little houses for the Tomten (elves) to hand on a tree. It's nice to use these lovely quality cottons and linens.
I hung them on a smoke bush (cotinus) and when I finished and turned around there was this fabulous rainbow - what a reward.

I can never really understand anyone who isn't hugely preoccupied with food. I dream about it quite a lot.

At the weekend I was in London and went to get some picnic items in Harrods as a treat.

Here are some pictures of the wonderful food halls.

...and more chocolate

oh and a bit more...

the lovely lady who made my crayfish and rocket flatbread sandwich and served up my venison and squash pie waving cheerily to me.

some greengrocers!

feast your eyes...

fractal patterning...

a Christmasy basket

exotica...

fruits of the sea...

and if one can peel one's eyes away from the food and look at the ceiling in the fish hall...

... a very friendly squirrel after some picnic in Hyde Park - sorry I ate it all!

In the end, although an exciting time was had it was nice to be back with sleepy Smartie hugging a beloved block of parmesan which is his current gourmet obsession.

The Spirit ... (a frivolous one)

2011-11-20T07:10:00.001Z

I could just possibly become marginally obsessed with making more of these Tomte.

The little fella is of Swedish / Finnish origin and every farm had his own little spirit like this to guard the animals at night.

He brought the farmer porridge at on Christmas Eve.

The Yul Tomte now lives on as a Christmas Elf...

...and this one is guarding my bay tree....

look out for more .....

fabric and food combining

2011-11-16T10:11:00.001Z

Experimenting with fabric weaving and a possible piece with a biodynamic theme. I am interested in how the moon affects growth in all senses.

and there's always a helping paw

and something to consider for tea.

something seasonal...

figs and fabric go well together...

Sketchbook Focus

2011-11-01T17:56:00.001Z

Working in the sketchbook this week. Enjoying it very much indeed.

Thanks for everyone's encouragement I took the plunge and opened an Etsy shop - see top right - it will take me a long time to fill the shelves of the shop - but that's OK!

Which Witch?

2011-10-26T16:26:00.000+01:00

Spent some spare time making Rosemary the dotty witch of Halloween. She has the most gorgeous linen hat and dress and a white linen blouse and pantaloons.

You have to dress up for All Hallows!

She stands 55cm (21") tall and is happy to sit anywhere looking decorative!

Let me know if you'd like to buy her - I haven't convinced myself to open a shop online yet - I need confidence for that. She costs £40.

Autumn Colour

2011-10-07T15:21:00.002+01:00

A little work using the colours of Dartmoor, a place I fell in love with this summer. Using hand dyed threads, silk throwsters waste and scrim.

Evoking the blustery heather and gorse and the big windscuffed sky.

Snatched time to build on the sketchbook - a look at shading in expressive ways.

Making an apple crumble from a nine patch

Autumn spiral

Turkey chilli to keep out the chilly

And a very Autumnal friend asleep on a quilt on the kitchen table in the midst of all the activity.

JOY ....

Stiching and sketching

2011-09-20T06:52:00.001+01:00

I went to a fabulous talk and workshop with Linda Miller - textile artist from Winchester (UK) who creates quirky, naive little pieces of machine embroidery. Many of them are humorous and are often small animals (she is a master of little pets with characterful faces).
Her workshop was in the art of machine embroidery, which I love. We all invented our motif and set to work in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

Linda's sense of humour was the perfect antidote to some of the trials and tribulations caused by recalcitrant sewing machines and tangling threads and we all produced a little piece by the end of the day and gained a lot of inspiration to continue.

OTHERWISE I manage with just the opportunity to grab a few stitches in between family, cooking, shopping, work and household and garden, but it's amazing how much you can fit in in those tiny chinks of time and how much can get completed. Sometimes I only mange five stitches at time!

The garden is preparing to be reborn next year and there are some wonderful seedheads. What potential! Some of them look positively prehistoric.
The leaves are becoming exquisitely mottled and are beginning to fall to provide a winter bed for the seeds to nestle until Spring.

The colours inspire.

The sketchbook continues and is laying a bed for next years seeds of ideas for creativity.

2011-09-11T19:48:00.001+01:00

To celebrate the Harvest Moon a moon feather heralding a storm.

I've moved all the loose pots and plants in the garden into the greenhouse ready for the gale force winds tonight and tomorrow.

My son and I got the ladder and picked as many apples as we could before they fall and bruise tonight.

Likewise the fig tree stripped bare of its beautifully ripe baubles before they scattered as a sacrifice to wasps.

Pumpkins and courgettes lie low with their heads bowed in preparation.

Tonight the season turns with the gale and the moon. The leaves are in a hurry to fertilise the soil this year and put the ground to bed.

The fruits prepare to grow new trees.

And we move to the next decade since another fall...

Exhibition

2011-08-25T22:36:00.001+01:00

It's a relief to get to the finish of a piece of work and it is at last out of the house and in a gallery where I can no longer feel the need to tinker with it.
"Blue Guitar" has gone into Bilston Art and Craft Gallery in the exhibition "On Yer Mettle". The hanging was yesterday and it opens on Saturday 26th August.

The theme is based around metal, although the phrase means be "ready to take action". All around this area there are currently exhibitions celebrating the birth of Heavy Metal Music which happened in this area with bands like Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath - all Black Country boys, many of whom had worked in metal factories and foundries locally.
Some of the exhibitions celebrate the music, whilst others are about the industry of this area mostly up until the 1980s.

My guitar has some metal in it... you can see the washers and metal fabric above and there are Indian Shisha mirrors for the volume, treble and bass controllers. Mostly it is made from recycled jeans - denim was the prominent fabric of the fashion associated with the music of course.
The quilt upon which it is appliquéd is made from recycled fabrics again - lace, silk and cottons, some of which is dyed with rust.

Oh yes - to get an idea of the size of it here is 9 year old Isabel "playing" it before the appliqué began!

Here she is with her brother, overseen by Granny, at the hanging where they were emulsioning a peg board for an interactive family sewing installation for the gallery!
The exhibition runs 27th August - 24th September 2011 - heres a link
Other news is that Linda and Laura Kemshall's online creative sketchbook course has now opened and I am looking forward to some peace when they go back to school, in between work, to get down to that.
Here are some wonderful seed heads (it's an addiction) from the Love In A Mist flowers I grew in the garden. Love those shapes...ripe for drawing!

Oh yes - ALSO I am pleased that my magic feather has flown across the ocean to Jude Hill to her project. Click this link to see.

This Magic Feather

2011-08-15T10:39:00.001+01:00

This feather helped the bird in flight

Then gathered dreams up in the night.

It came upon a shooting star

and carried those visions to a far

and magical place it seems

To sleep perchance to dream.

Jude Hill's (spirit cloth) magic feather came from the USA this week.

This one was on the doorstep upon our return from the sea - pointing the way home last night.

Jude will be sent the top feather - see the side bar, bottom right - The Magic Feather...

Peace

2011-08-07T16:03:00.000+01:00

I have had 24 hours of solitude at home. Since the first child was born over 12 years ago there have always been others here. Boy was it peaceful! I got so much done. I had a clear out of outgrown clothing, I went to the garden centre and bought some plants and watched my very own choice of T.V.
There was even time for some quiet stitching peace.
I am still working on the guitar piece for the exhibition and got a little more of the background completed (see above).

I then made a name badge. I am off to The Festival of Quilts at the N.E.C. Birmingham on Thursday and two of my favourite artists, Laura and Linda Kemshall have said that anyone perusing their stall with a home made name badge will get a little prize.

For mine I used a little scrap of shot silk and some Madeira rayon thread - I like it's sheen.
I also signed up for the Kemshall's Creative Sketchbook online course because for some time I have been feeling like I need some nudging and a little direction. It begins at the end of August. I'm a little scared but a lot excited!!

These aqualegia (columbine) seed heads would make a great sketching subject matter.

When In France

2011-07-28T22:41:00.001+01:00

We have just got back from a wonderful trip to France. We stayed near the Pyrenees in this amazing home - Chateau de La Biste, Marciac.

There were eleven of us altogether. Sharing the cooking, the children and a lot of wine!

I am fascinated by windows and doors. An opening into another world. French windows and their shutters. Then the locks. Keep in the cool, keep out the sun and inquisitive people...

We made a long journey to visit Uncle Dave who lives in a medieval fortified farmhouse with a fascinating history a couple of hours from Toulouse. He cooked us a wonderful meal and is opening the rose wine produced by a friend. Yum.

I did a little sewing and a little sketching but really the company of friends was too much fun to ignore!

Blues Guitar

2011-07-14T22:50:00.001+01:00

It's been tricky finding blogging time - the summer weeks rush by and there is the call of the garden, sports days, end of school year concerts, music evenings and hardly a moment to sew. I have had to crack on in the chinks of time allowed with this piece ready for a textile exhibition at Bilston Art and Craft Gallery which begins in August. The name of the show is "On Yer Mettle" and this can be interpreted however we like. There used to be a lot of metal foundries, lock industries, nail and chain makers in this area and I was initially going to work something related to this but I found it impossible to get started, especially since I am mostly inspired by organic and natural forms rather than man-made ones.
There are, however, a number of exhibitions happening this summer related to heavy metal....no not those oddly named, more recent members of the Periodic Table, rather the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath etc - bands originating in this neck of the woods. It is said that heavy metal music was born in the West Midlands. So I went with that and have been working on this guitar piece - aptly made from old denim jeans.
I am placing the guitar on a background of hand dyed scrim, linen, muslin, silk and lace - some of which have been dyed using rust (to extend the metal theme). I now need to finish the blues guitar and hand stitch into the background...ho hum it looks like a lot of late nights!

Out in the garden the cornflowers are now four feet tall and I am astonished at how many colour varieties came from one packet of seed!

The garlic is harvested and hanging from the roof of the greenhouse. I don't want to cut off it's squiggly roots - they are lovely!

This morning - early - at peaceful 6am these lovely shadows from a wrought iron bench. They would be lovely to stitch....no, no, no, I must finish the guitar before embarking on anything else!

Embroiderers Unite!

2011-06-27T22:03:00.002+01:00

This Saturday our branch of The Embroiderers' Guild was hosting the Regional Day in Wombourne, Staffordshire. I am a new member and was interested to see how it would be.
There was the usual reports and business dealings first, and considering the temptations that awaited us we were all very well behaved through all of that.
As soon as that was over it was flies round a honey pot time. Three hundred women clamouring around the Traders' Stalls eager to get their hands on metal shim, paper sculpy, silk fibres and cloths, felts in all the colours of the rainbow and those in between, transfoils, threads of every sort, fabrics, dyes, paints, stamps and scores of other goodies to feed the addiction so many of us ~~hide~~ have.
Later, after lunch, the guest speaker was Maggie Grey, who delivered a delightful talk on Walls and Frescoes.

She presented a slide show combining her travels, inspirations and resulting work in mixed media and textiles. It was both fascinating and entertaining. She mixed humour and information brilliantly and explained some of her ways of translating images into stitch.
I have a couple of her books and have long admired her as a lead in her field and what I have seen of her Workshop on The Web has been inspiring.
I love the image of Che Guevara with a poodle she has produced - she says, "I thought he needed a poodle to bring him down a peg or two." That really made me chuckle!
She also brought a lot of her work along so that we could see it up close and dare I say, touch some of it (irresistible).

After all of this were the awards. To complement the Maggie Grey talk was a competition entitled "Fragments and Frescoes". I had entered a piece, really in order to support our branch of the Guild and to help create a reasonable sized exhibition.
Here it is "Arborist's Fragments" (A3 size as specified):

Well I was so surprised and amazed that it won 3rd Prize! Wow! I've never entered a competition before - never had the courage! Anyway I was very pleased with my certificate and a lovely big box of Anchor machine threads, perles, embroidery threads, needles and such like. I still can't believe that Maggie Grey judged it as she did. Purr, purr.
I think I might have another go next year!!

2011-06-22T21:37:00.003+01:00

A day out today with my very wonderful friend Linda. We are both texturophiles and shedoholics. Even though everyone else was visiting the house and church at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire we were cooing and shooting and gathering inspiration from bits of brick walls and the contents of the store areas and garden sheds.

What a joy to have a friend with whom to share so much even though we only meet once or twice a year. Other folks would have us down as mad eccentric fools but we know we share a love of similar inspirations.

Trees and Flowers

2011-06-12T19:40:00.001+01:00

Arborist Fragments 2011

38cm x 30cm

Paper quilt with found skeleton leaves, ink, thread, gesso.

More colour??

An amazing field in Staffordshire. Makes the school run a pleasure!

Sew a Little, Sow a Little

2011-06-06T15:07:00.001+01:00

Potential here for a lovely linen quilt.

Really understated. Plenty of plain fabric with a little something of colour. Interest lies in the weave and texture. Something simple. Grown from a little seed.

To compare:- the seeds I planted only a month or so ago. From something so unprepossessing to a rich and varied lunch of twenty or more varieties of salad leaves is very satisfying. Interest here lies in the textures and many flavours.

Apart from a little Welsh cheese added here my food miles for lunch were approximately 30 metres!

I like the connection here between the potential quilt and those little seeds which yielded so much.

Inspiration in Cornwall.

2011-06-01T21:39:00.001+01:00

Collecting inspiration in Cornwall this week. So many images to play with...

Ocean antics in the rollers...

Incredible cloud formations...in fact this scene is the view from our sofa every night!

Finished and Not Completely Up In Flames!

2011-05-17T17:49:00.000+01:00

So the heat tool didn't require the fire brigade to pay us a visit after all. I enjoyed this technique and fancy making some postcards now. I particularly want to do more of that squirly free motion machining -very soporific.
Need to see if I can get some more transfoils at Malvern Quilt Festival on Thursday.

Thinking Christmas in May???

2011-05-13T21:01:00.002+01:00

Why I'm thinking of Christmas cards I don't know. Or am I just being uber organised as when November time approaches I'm still wrapped up in pumpkins of Autumn and am often too late to design a Christmas card.
Anyway I am a bugger for not planning. I cut all this piece free-hand, by eye, winging it in velvet and silks. Adding some little precious transfoils gleaned from somewhere and stashed. Covered in organza. Stitched heavily in between seeing patients today and making the house unusually presentable. It looks great in it's heavily stitched form...and then tomorrow I am to zap the organza with a heat gun to melt selected parts back. Am I set for a fall after a highly productive day?
Will the thread melt, will the foil take it????? Hah I have no idea. As I said, I am the world's worst planner and can't seem to muster energy for samples. City and Guilds qualifications would be the death of me. Samples? My goodness I rarely can do them. No I have to launch headlong into the real thing otherwise I am bored!
Anyway I have loved this dense thread sketching process. Check back here to see if it all goes up in flames with the heat tool!!

One Big Achievement and Many Small Pleasures

2011-05-10T20:35:00.004+01:00

I am very slow at making quilts so when one gets finally finished it's time for a heck of a gin and tonic. So excuse any typing errors!
This one has been a year in the making. It's single bed size and is for my parents. They have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. I missed the deadline slightly, but then the Queen sent them a card right on time. To think they have been married 60 years. The quilt took me 1/60th of their married lives to make!!

Here is Isabel, my daughter, checking for stray threads.

Finally though I have made the decision to give up my allotment. This vegetable plot has been an ongoing ~~struggle~~ project for about 5 years. Finally my back has won with it's slippy disc and my knees protest a little too much and I have given in. I have finally lost the plot as it were!

However I cannot contemplate life without home grown veg so I have installed a small bed in the garden and several crops in pots. I am taking the Alys Fowler approach to having an edible garden. Tonight we had some wonderful french radishes sauteed in butter and garlic, with their green tops and courgettes with garlic.

It looks as if there will be a bumper crop of Victoria Plums this year.

A very small achievement for many, but a giant leap for me is that I have learned to do a colonial knot. Much better than a French knot, which I could never do anyway!

... and finally I thought I'd make something weeny. This little pair of fairy slippers was fun to make from a pattern by Annette Emms. They are about three inches long. Hopefully they'll keep a little character warm whilst they keep the slugs off my vegetables at the bottom of the garden at night!!

Cornish Collage

2011-04-29T22:37:00.001+01:00

Just recently my daughter had been doing some collage on a trip to the art gallery with a group from her Junior School. She had a day off this week (well many; two bank holidays and a teacher training day) and suggested we do some collage together. After some thought I decided to base mine on a sketch I drew on New Years Day for my new journal header page. It's houses along the quayside in a Cornish Village.

I really enjoyed the process and stayed up late last night to finish it. I'm wondering now whether to do another on brown paper, seal it in acrylic wax and stitch into it.

I like the way the magazine shreds combine to give movement, particularly to the sky - a blustery day.

Could easily have an obsession with seedheads ???

2011-04-28T22:24:00.004+01:00

Chocolate Greetings

2011-04-25T10:04:00.000+01:00

Easter Goose

2011-04-15T11:52:00.000+01:00

Eeeeek I have got to the age where my peer group are getting grandchildren! I have really enjoyed making this Easter goose for the grand-daughters of a long lost school friend, re-aquainted through Facebook. We hope to get together in person later this year at a school reunion.
Happy Easter!

Time to paint

2011-04-09T20:16:00.000+01:00

'Birches 1'

(watercolour, gesso and charcoal pencil)

Dicentra

2011-04-07T19:16:00.000+01:00

Just finding ways to ground a heart.

Inspired today by this beautiful dicentra in the garden. It grows so fast. It poked through the soil only two weeks ago and is over a foot tall now with scores of expanding hearts.
But there are still left overs from winter. I picked this amazing seed head on a walk:

And then a lonely heart waits:

Whispering Hearts

2011-04-04T18:09:00.000+01:00

Inspired by Jude Hill's Whispering Hearts group I am experimenting with hand dyed cottons and silks on hand dyed felt. I am looking forward to seeing how the silk melts into the felt.
A heart sampler - 14" square.

The Good Witch of Easter - a stitch witch

2011-03-25T15:52:00.001Z

Any time that has been up for grabs this past week has had me making this Good Witch for Easter. She has her little goose under her arm and has obviously got a secret she cannot tell - maybe chocolate?
She's made from linens and her hair is hand dyed wool from Leicester sheep.

She is 21" (53cm) tall and is for sale at £65. Email me or comment if you'd like her! (Comment even if you don't and let me know what you think her secret is!!)

A Spring in my Step

2011-03-21T11:43:00.001Z

At last the creative sap is rising coinciding as usual with the fresh new growth of Spring.

I have made a series of little geese filled with lavender from my garden last year. They are blushing with excitement at the prospect of some warmer weather. I am wondering whether to sell some?

I have started walking whenever possible at the beginning of the day through some woodland. A stretch of about four miles. A green corridor. To chart and mark these walks an altered book of children's stories will be my record.

This morning the sound of scribbling larks over the open fields.

An echoing machine gun of woodpeckers in the woodland.

Many little hidey holes with wildlife emerging into the warming sun

Written in the stars...

... is our connection with all around us...

... we only need to notice....

... and we cannot fail to be inspired.

Could breakfast be an art form?

2011-03-13T09:46:00.004Z

I have just concocted this. No-one else up, peace and quiet cuisine.
Grilled tomatoes on toast, each piece of tomato soused in olive oil, sprinkled with Cornish Sea Salt - the only salt.
Then a drop of aged Sicilian Balsamic Vinegar on each slice from "The Gift Of Oil" the only Balsamic vinegar. Some fresh chives snipped in the rain from outside the back door, and some freshly ground pepper. Graced with a poached egg with more pepper and chives.
Sometimes it is so good to take the time to cook something wonderful just for oneself and of course to lay a freshly made quilt upon the table.

Stars: tiles and quilts

2011-02-28T21:01:00.000Z

I am lucky enough to have an original tiled floor in the hallway of my Victorian English house. I can spend so much time admiring it that even mopping is a pleasure. Most geometric designs like this were of natural clay colours ranging from red and brown to buff. Hall floors like this were popular in middle class housing of the 1870s - 1890s - and mine has the more affluent people's colours of white and the costly blue. I think our tiles could have been made by Craven Dunnill of Jackfield near Ironbridge, Shropshire. These tiles were only laid where visitors were likely to see them - porches, entrance halls and conservatories. The English were such snobs!!!
I love the star pattern more and more and of course there are no shortage of star quilt patterns. I have just finished piecing this which has helped me to become neater and more accurate...practise, practise, practise. I am enjoying accuracy and attention to detail at the moment, perhaps to the detriment of artistry but technique can give freedom I think. It can only help to get better at piecing!

I look forward to a bad weather day to layer and quilt this one. Bring on the rain!

Peace by Piece?

2011-02-16T16:06:00.000Z

What is it with cats and the very piece of fabric you are trying to lay out? Suddenly this quilt in progress has to become the playground and general scratching, scrabbling, dribbling mat and all round sexual plaything!
In contrast to the serenity of this glorious swan on the River Severn later the same day.

Note to self: must remember to give Smartie the frenzied feline a lesson in poise and grace some day!

Only a couple of borders to go and our double bed quilt for next winter will be pieced. Nice and simple. Warm and snug.

Ready for the All England Feline Quilt Kicking Olympics.

Love is in the air

2011-02-09T22:39:00.001Z

Applique and free motion stitch on linen.

...as is a little warmth to unfurl this over the past week.

Meeting the Light

2011-01-31T08:57:00.002Z

January - nearly over. A pretty uncreative month for me. Somehow the darkness and those blank flat skies hold little inspiration. So to something practical to satisfy those itchy "making fingers," "doing hands."

Just piecing block on block. Like a journey. Taking the steps. Eventually I get somewhere. Life is like this. Taking steps.

This year I seem to be drawn to houses, schoolhouses and cottages. My journal begins with an imaginary Cornish seaside sign. Inspired by January 1st spent at St. Ives.

Today it is bright, sunny and 6 below zero. It is refreshing my creative spirit.

February tomorrow. Moving on and as the bulbs are emerging in the garden so can I. Out from my corm? Ready to meet the light.

Lucky Stars.

2011-01-12T15:42:00.000Z

There has been some exciting activity in the skies over the past week - planets lined up in rare ways, showers of meteorites and a beautiful partial solar eclipse presented a crescent sun.

2011 has a memorable start.

No resolutions this year. More a slight shift of focus and a promise to myself to do more drawing this year.

A focus on stars and houses for textile projects.

Finishing off last years diary with some photos sent to me of a visit paid by some friends from America back in October. I have decided I really like cutting up a photo and drawing in some of the background. Must do more of this!!

Good to fill the lungs with sea air in Cornwall over the New Year. Hope I can sustain that breath until next visit.

Meanwhile the wood burner lit to keep out the greyness of January - all in the kitchen doing our thing.

Indulgence

2010-12-26T15:31:00.003Z

Despite the fact that there is thick snow and -15 temperatures the little waterfall into our pond continues to function albeit only a tiny trickle. Incredibly, the blackbirds still love to bathe there despite the heavy chill.

We have been to the French Alps.

Had a wonderful time....and come home to find more of the same.

Had a merry Christmas at our house with chaos at one point as my father knocked over a large quantity of red wine, panic ensuing as furniture, flooring and walls were mopped, tablecloths hastily whisked away and an 11 year old son resolutely giving his Christmas tuba solo recital oblivious to all around him.
Had a merry boxing day in which we sledged and went to my mother-in-law's for lunch. I drank a little red, knocked over three Christmas displays and poured cream from the jug too quickly on to my chocolate log, rectifying it by then tilting it backwards all over my hands. Too much crying with laughter, I am now pooped!

Have a wonderful holiday and don't drink too much (note to self!).

Jack Frost Stitched

2010-12-06T22:09:00.001Z

Hoar frost strongly delineates the edges of these otherwise smooth branches into sugary spikes. The bells and ribbons have become part of nature.
Freezing temperatures down to -12C extremely unusual for December. Jack Frost is dancing.

He left his tracks upon the summerhouse windows and has claimed it for his own season. He drew barbed wire scratches upon the surface of the glass.

He sugar coated some spiders webs and he laughed as I stroked them - soft but unbreakable skeins

and the crabapples still glow although their hearts are frozen.

I love snow

2010-12-02T21:33:00.001Z

I love the quiet falling snow. Holding the ground.
Here kissing snowflakes anchor the loose scrims and linens

Fairy light rosehips on the Rambling Rector.

I found this fabulously quirky fabric in a shop in Shrewsbury which was crying out for cushions. Et voila!

Sashiko Sun

2010-11-18T21:20:00.002Z

A sun holding a ground base.

Sashiko?

Kantha?

Labels don't matter in the end. I'm enjoying some freestyle embroidery - maybe an Olympic sport 2012? Now that's a good one. An olympic sport performed in a rocking chair by an Aga stove with a cat and some Mendelssohn! I can do that!

Jude style sun - funny we are in parallel at the moment.

Here the sun led me to Tate Modern to the Gaugin exhibition.

I love his Tahitian paintings. Those ochres.

Where Are You Going or Woman Holding a Fruit 1893

THE shop to visit at this time of year for me is Liberty. The top floor has the fabulous Christmas decorations and the windows outside are drop dead gorgeous. The picture below looks like some clever Photoshop montage but is totally unadulterated. Where does the reality and the reflection meet? A good question to ponder in life...

Autumn Stitching

2010-11-15T19:55:00.001Z

a watery pinkish sun struggles to erase the November frost

the last apple falls

whilst the crab apple glows in its Autumn pride.

The threads and fabrics in the picture I won in a Blog Giveaway hosted by Carolyn Saxby at Love Stitching Red.

I love her site, I love her fabrics

and I love that the package arrived on my birthday!

Printing Pilgrim

2010-11-11T20:45:00.001Z

a pilgrim can take a journey for its own sake - with no destination

printing today

without intention for the end product

for the sake of it

for the journey

a pilgrim in paint

sometimes things start to happen...

...and then elements come together and another perspective is gained.

From this I can remind myself not to judge - eventually a better overall picture is gleaned.

I am becoming so much more ME.

2010-11-08T20:27:00.004Z

I have had a birthday. It was nice not to go gadding about but to have my meal cooked for me, the children to do their homework in a peaceful way (as a special treat!) and to be in my lovely home with everyone around me.
I am becoming so much more me.
This year is going to be good. I shall make time to give gratitude, to really LOOK around me and to listen and really HEAR.
I am reading a book called "Earth Pilgrim" sent to me by a great friend. It's by Satish Kumar. He reminds us that some of us are tourists - taking a journey purely to get somewhere, creating debris along the way, whilst others are PILGRIMS who are taking the journey for the journey's sake.

This is the meaning of life! I realise that all this making and recording and doing that I have felt compelled to do for the last couple of years is part of my being a pilgrim and I am going to continue with whatever mindfulness I can muster.

Trees

2010-11-03T16:32:00.000Z

A walk yesterday morning over Kinver Edge, Shropshire with my cousin who normally lives in Brussels and was here for a rare treat. The trees this year ablaze in Autumn glory.

An overwhelming desire to collect leaves. I have discovered that if I stick them into my journal and coat them and the rest of the page with acrylic wax they preserve well. The birds are busy feeding today as the winter edges in.

Stitching / quilting a tree. Still working on a summer one - I can't keep up!

A little snoozle in an afternoon patch of sunlight for a friend who always blends in well with pumpkins!

Mellow Fruitfulness

2010-10-24T22:34:00.000+01:00

Here is the first book that I have made from scratch. I learned how to stitch the spine from Isobel Hall. I decided to make the cover topical as the Autumn colours have been astonishing this year.

The leaf has been glued on to the background of encaustic wax and Koh-I-Nor dye paint and the whole think acrylic waxed before stitching.

My journal has reawakened this weekend. We attended a memorial celebration for a family member at the beginning of October which I do not want to forget. The leaflet we were given stuck on the left hand page has inside it some of the songs we sang and a poem which summed up Brigitte's attitude to life. I need to call this poem to mind often. I don't know who it is by:

I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

I will not die an unlived life

I will not live in fear of falling

Or of catching fire

I choose to inhabit my days

To allow my living to open me

Making me less afraid

More accessible

To loosen my heart

So that it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise

I choose to risk my significance.

To live so that which comes to me as seed

Goes to the next as blossom

And that which comes to me as blossom

Goes on as fruit.

This is the crab apple Evereste which we have just planted in our garden. It will have a wonderful cherry type blossom in the spring. The blackbirds eye the fruit.

There has been an abundance of apples this year. I have two old trees in the garden - they are over one hundred years old and this time have flourished prolifically. There are two more in the allotment - one has huge eating apples and the other is a Bramley type cooking apple tree. Storing and eating it all has been the thing...

I discover slicing and freezing apples on a tray with lemon juice on before bagging for the freezer
shredding and mixing with orange juice for a better alternative to milk on home made muesli
many apple crumbles
more apple pies
compost for the heap
food for the rabbit and guinea pigs
puree for sauce with pork

and today my son picked most of the grapes from the vine as there is to be a harsh frost tonight. They are a little tart but we juiced them with... you guessed it, apple juice, as a sweetener. This drink feels like energy on legs.

All these wonderful edibles need to be remembered and my daughter decorated journal pages with me.

That in itself is one happy, happy memory.

Don't cut my fringe.

2010-10-14T21:52:00.002+01:00

I have been looking at fringes. I pulled, ripped and unpicked some jeans to make a bag and loved the raggedy edges. Like grasses waving, or so they seem.

Since then I notice these little hairy fringes everywhere. There are no straight edges in nature. I love these tomatoes and their hairy legs!

...and the aubergine's hirsute stem and flower

It has got me making some cards using some left over strips of denim.

I like the way the dye has altered when the seams are unpicked.

Little houses in the mountains.

Sailing through some ribbon waves.

Thermofax printing on denim a nice twist.

The bag that started it all.

A fringed paw.

Pondering and Autumn stitching...

2010-10-07T14:57:00.000+01:00

Family matters and the real world of work have kept me from blogging, but today there is a little space and the sun is shining.

We had a first pumpkin soup of the season last night, warmed with cumin seeds, smoked paprika and garlic. I felt like I had a cauldron full of Autumn scents.

The cat lies in the afternoon sun on the pumpkin cushion.

Jude Hill's pumpkins adorn the top of the piano. I touch them each time I go past.

I ponder upon a moving family memorial event in Devon this past weekend. The garlands in the barn. The candles, the shaft of light from above.

And this morning a reminder that winter approaches...

...and with that some more stitching opportunities as bad weather stops play!

Retreating Into Autumn

2010-09-09T15:10:00.002+01:00

These two fellas are finding a place to nest as the Autumn draws in. We have had some terrific rain and wind this week which has blown some cobwebs away and has even inspired me to do some cleaning - almost a feeling of spring cleaning. It's possibly something to do with the children going back to school and having a little peace but probably to do with the season turning to the one I love the most.
Why? Because I love all things "harvest" but my particular fetish is PUMPKINS!
I have several growing, but I have recently been stitching this little cat amongst the pumpkins.

It was a practice for turned edge applique and I have used some sumptuous Japanese woven fabrics which I adore. There is some hand quilting and some machine free-motion wiggling.
To stop my bottom going square, and now that the calm has returned after the storms, I have cleaned the porch and swept the greenhouse and patio where these guys are lurking:

Fine Detail

2010-08-29T20:32:00.001+01:00

Finally my bad back has allowed for a little stitching these past few days. I realize how invaluable my sketchbook work has been whilst I have been incapacitated.
I have been thinking about seed heads for a while and am working towards two exhibitions which have the theme "Memory". Remembrance Day and poppy heads here then worked using hand-dyed cotton, voile, machine and hand embroidery, oil paintstick and acrylic paint.

"In Flanders Fields" 11.5" x 8"

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In fine detail this wing shimmered in the sun today between the showers. It belonged to the hugest dragonfly I have ever seen in my garden. He enjoyed warming himself before the onset of the chillier evenings

Sturgeon Moon

2010-08-24T22:38:00.003+01:00

So, not much sewing this summer since a prolapsed disc in my back has really stopped me sitting down! I can't settle to anything for long at all, so I have made gallons of jam and chutney as I can stand to chop, cook and bottle.
However I have decided how to use my vintage fabrics in blues and whites which I have collected over the past few months. A very summery quilt which will serve to remind me of Cornwall and The Scilly Isles this year. The colours are reminiscent of the white sands, the agapanthus blossoms and the wonderful wide sea and sky - my Cornish Quilt. I have decided on a simple 16 patch block of medium blues and whites throughout which will be sashed by white linen. Eventually. I can only sit to do a block at a time occasionally.

Easier though has been standing to paint and stick in notebooks and journals. Today we have a full moon known as the Sturgeon Moon since it was renowned for the tribes on the banks of the Great Lakes of North America to catch this particular fish at this time of year and by this bright moon.
I bought some Koh-I-Noor dye paints at the International Quilt Show at the N.E.C last weekend and they produce a nice confident colour ideal for journals. This little notebook has been set aside for seedheads which fascinate me.

I am saving seed ready for next year - both vegetables and plants and am finding some quotes to accompany little sketches.

...and here is a journal page from the Quilt Show day consisting of some of the cards of exhibitors I wish to remember which has of course been stitched together. Journals are great to do even with limited time, just adding bits when convenient or when, in my case, the left buttock allows!

A Visit With A Friend

2010-08-13T20:18:00.001+01:00

This week a friend and I met at Twycross Zoo with our children. The youngsters had a great time but there was an alterior motive.... Linda and I only get together about once a year - twice if we're lucky as we now live in different cities...

We originally met at antenatal group eleven years ago so our children have known each other (at a distance) since they were born....

Even though we meet so infrequently Linda and I fall in with each other the same as always. As you can see we wouldn't be photographing anything as obvious as the animals, wonderful as they were. We, of course, would both be training our cameras on bits of fungus, seeds, lichen, bark and ... these bamboo fence posts enclosing the elephants! I love the eliptical shapes and the texture. Both of us take inspiration from the little things around us whilst the children marvel at the sheer "bigness" of the elephants!
She and I will continue to meet and mutually inspire for ever. You can't beat friends like this.

Savouring the day, making it last.

Going To Seed and an unlikely (but delicious) cake ....

2010-08-09T18:06:00.004+01:00

The summer is waning slowly, surely. The garden prepares already for next year. The seedheads are forming and already starting to rattle with the promise of next year's blooms.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going to seed a bit too! With cronky knees and a wonky back I sometimes feel so ancient and very tired. So if I can't dig the garden or weed I shall have to make do with depicting it from the comfort of my desk.

I ripped away at some magazines this weekend, sticking the pale hues I had chosen into my diary and securing the torn edges with Golden Gel Medium. Then I brushed over lightly with a little acrylic paint. The seed heads I sketched using spaghetti dipped in ink. This works well to ensure a wavery, slightly unpredictable line - useful for "loosening up" a drawing.

Doesn't the above picture look delicious? Lovely cake. A great way to disguise courgettes. The trick is to peel them so that there is no green in the cake. Someone might suspect a hidden vegetable that way. It is a beautiful moist cake which has disappeared very quickly down inside my kids!

Recipe for Courgette Cake:

1 medium courgette

150g sugar

100g softened butter

2 eggs

200g flour

3 tsp baking powder.

Beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat as hard as you can.

Add the flour and baking powder and stir in and finally add the grated courgette.

I cooked it in a bread tin, which I had greased, at 180 degrees or Gas 4 until a skewer comes out clean on testing.

Cool on a wire tray and fool the kids it's regular, but very nice, cake.

Finally eat it up with a nice cuppa, with or without the accompanying rabbit!

Remembering Calm

2010-08-04T16:36:00.003+01:00

I am often (nearly always) trying to achieve too much. It can make me feel very racy and I know it's not good for me really, however I believe in trying to fill each unforgiving hour. I have been attempting to remember calm, the holiday feeling of lying on a beach in the sun or walking the cliffs admiring the view or the wildlife around. What here, at home makes me calm? Stitching and piecing by hand is forcing the stillness within. A time to clear thoughts or to think thoughts, whichever is needed. A time to sit, against all temptation. Above is a butterfly. This is what I am. Never settling for long enough to drink the nectar.

Picking produce from the patch. Today aubergines, tomatoes and a first cucumber. Smelling their warmth.

Smartie the Buddha cat, the embodiment of calm.

Flowers from the garden...

Remembering a peaceful beach in The Isles Of Scilly and regenerating the calm....

Some things can wait... choose wisely.

A Wonderfully Scilly Time

2010-07-31T21:24:00.002+01:00

I haven't had time to sew as there has been so much 'doing' time. I try, if I can to keep a journal of I'm not using a needle. Trying to capture some moments so that they last longer...

We have had a wonderful time, my family and I, away from technology, in Cornwall with some very special friends who live on The Roseland.
We took our first visit to the Scilly Isles, which lie 30 miles south-west of Cornwall, on a little 16 seater plane. Below is a watercolour sketch of the island Bryher which I adored. It is barren and remote with white sands and curious granite rock formations.

The best mode of transport is bike on some islands. Mostly there are no cars. Some are only suitable on foot.

We were lucky that Valerie's son, William, skippered a little yacht over to St. Martins one day for us.

Sometimes there was a lowering sky...

Boats filled the horizon. We slept at The Harbourside Hotel on the quay on St. Martin's which a wonderful hub of sailing activity....

One day we had a wonderful trip to Tresco and admired the abbey gardens full of tropical, sub-tropical and Mediterranean planting. Finally we returned for a few more days in Cornwall.

In Portscatho, back on the mainland, I had to go into the wonderful little shop called The Sea Garden where I bought this little jar of treasures - vintage scraps, ribbons, threads and buttons inside - which I must use for my Jude Hill workshop when I finally have time to get cracking on it...

A few photos ....

Agapanthus growing wild by the sea on the island of Tresco

man to man...

contrasts....

Sunset from St. Mary's

Children having fun on the beach.

How lucky we are to have Smartie waiting for us at home as we reluctantly return!

Designer Cat

2010-07-14T17:43:00.001+01:00

I have been itching to make some bunting for a while now. Luckily my daughter, who is eight, fancied some for above her bed. Phew I've got that out of my system at last!

I have been thinking about making another quilt from vintage scraps in blue and white linens and cottons which I have been collecting for a while. Smartie has designed the pattern....

Such a proud cat. He should wear a pencil behind his ear!

Here is one of the fabrics I shall be using in the quilt - it's by Vanessa Arbuthnott who's catalogue I regularly lust my way through. I bought this piece from eBay.

Abundance

2010-07-03T22:34:00.001+01:00

I have been wondering why I have felt the need to journal on paper again. I thought at first it was extremes of weather that prompted it as it's either a summer or deepest winter activity for me. This time though I realize that it's about capturing the moment as things happen so fast at this time of year.

The garden changes daily in response to this most glorious of summers. Sweet peas and strawberries need gathering every day and there are constant watering duties to be undertaken.
I have to try to make some time to sit and look. To notice the tiny beetles and frantically furious bees clambering amongst the blooms. To appreciate the speed of growth of the beautiful curling tendrils on the sweat peas and drink in the heady scent of the roses.

July is certainly bursting forth and I feel really energised. I've been on a diet for 9 days and lost half a stone and feel in control and relaxed. To spend so much time out of doors always does me good and eating all the produce from the allotment is very fulfilling (and filling!).

I am particularly looking forward to Jude Hill's Patchwork Beasts online workshop starting 15th July, but hope I can manage to participate reasonably fully whilst away with my family.

Tomorrow is the village fete and I will probably be inspired to make bunting after it! My mother-in-law has just made some fabulous bunting in pink and green for a friend who was having a party. I may make some for around my allotment shed ... or is that just a little too frivolous?

The Cat On The (Vintage) Mat

2010-06-30T22:57:00.000+01:00

This is the most incredible summer for the gardener. The roses are in full, heady bloom and undamaged by rain. It has been dry and warm, since mid May and the berries in the allotment have been ripening beautifully - it's a bumper harvest.
Here is one of my roses lying on a vintage quilted cushion that I found in a second-hand shop in Ludlow last weekend. The shop was closing down so there were some bargains to be had as the owners were putting the remaining stock into their car!
Below is the edge of an antique linen bolster pillowcase from France. The whole cushion must have been about seven feet long!

I was about to take a picture of this gorgeous linen cushion with it's pretty edge when Smartie got there first and spread-eagled himself all over it whilst making wild passionate cat-love to it's thick textured luxuriousness as it was laid out on the grass!

Funny how cats assess a good piece of fabric so well and claim it as their very own!

Quilts In The Garden

2010-06-24T14:26:00.000+01:00

At this time of year quilts can become quite at home in the garden. They change from being a warm wrap on drafty winter evenings to adornments outside.
I have just finished this quilt made with vintage fabrics in pale autumnal hues and love all the different textures as it made from old flannelette sheets, handkerchiefs, shirts and tablecloths - each having their own napp and feel.

This worn out rose, although faded and papery has it's own charm in the kitchen and these hot days make me feel the same!

Faded and worn ... I like it...

The garden beckons for more weeding and planting of seedlings raring to burst forth, but the quilt waits patiently for a tea break on the bench.

Seiko Kinoshita Shibori Dyeing and Weaving Day

2010-06-09T22:35:00.000+01:00

These two images show an installation at Bilston Art Gallery by the artist Seiko Kinoshita. They are called "One Sunny Day" and "A Walk In The Rain". They are very large - one can walk through the rain in fact.
She specialises in weaving paper thread which she hand dyes.

Today she was doing a workshop there which I attended. We made a simple weaving loom and wove this lovely thread in zigzag fashion howsoever we wished. We could then embellish with copper wire, mesh, beads, wood etc.
I took the opportunity to use the three colours that I mentioned yesterday at the beach. Pale blue, orangey-yellow and red - the sea and the surf flags. I then incorporated some red beads to represent the life guards and a copper mesh wave.

We also worked on some shibori dyeing. Using folded cotton in origami fashion and clamping wood pieces, elastic bands and chopsticks to the fabric to act as resist.
A day unlocking some potential I think!

Link: Seiko Kinoshita www.seikokinoshita.com

Post Holiday Stitching a Vintage Quilt.

2010-06-08T22:15:00.000+01:00

So at last I sew. It has been hard to find time for it as the garden is so prolific as is the allotment, my childrens' exam revision timetable and work.
Anyway today I had a chance to layer and quilt the vintage quilt / throw / tablecloth / extravagance.
Just trimming and binding to do - ready for completion in about 2013!

There are some lovely fabrics from shirts, bits of flannel, sheets, tablecloth and linens. The colours are pale Autumn.
Thank goodness for curved safety pins!

I have just got back from a wonderful holiday on the North Cornwall coast with my lovely family. I am going to use this combination of colours for some future project. I love the juxtaposition of the red and yellow against the turquoise and cerulean blues here.

And this seagull will remind me how lucky we are to have the freedom we have.

Getting A Grip

2010-05-26T22:50:00.000+01:00

So at last after many a moon struggling with Photoshop and not even being able to cope with "Photoshop For Dummies" (I have to admit to not even being bright enough to class myself as a dummy) I have now been able to start to get to grips with it. I have a new book. Another package from Amazon full of promise! "Digital Expressions" by Susan Tuttle.
At last I can do things I want rather than having happy (and sad) accidents with my photos!
This lovely parrot was in a cage in Stafford's Botanical Gardens. He was tying to look very menacing whilst eating a piece of maize.
The budgies below had a distracting background on my photo but I managed to "pop" the colour out of the background reasonably succesfully.

But now for my piece of resistance!

How exciting!! I am now in charge of Photoshop...and my life is complete.

Common Scents

2010-05-19T22:48:00.001+01:00

The most stimulating sense for me at the moment is that of the smells of Spring. Visually I have noted that greens, pinks and purples are exciting me in the garden but there has been an assault of fragrance this week as the weather has melted into warmth.
In fact the smell of the rhubarb and date chutney in the making has been really mouthwatering. It is so good that I have some at any opportunity and have put my recipe here:

Rhubarb and Date Chutney

4lb rhubarb

1lb dates

1lb red onions

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon or a stick

1 teaspoon Chinese mixed spice

1 teaspoon sea salt

1lb cane sugar

1/2 pint white wine vinegar

Chop the rhubarb, dates and onions and place them in a large pan with the other ingredients. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for at least two hours, stirring to prevent sticking.

This can be eaten straight away, which is lucky because it was...

In fact the peelings were even prettier than the chopped up ingredients and could be the basis for a great abstract don't ya think?

The other overpowering scent is that of the two lilacs in the garden. So heady at night it can make me feel quite drunk - oh, sorry no, that's the gin and tonic I'm holding, but anyway...

It's lovely to cut some to have in the kitchen to take away the smell of the endless chutney making!

The garden has somewhat overtaken the sewing as it still shouts at me to keep it in check and plant out, pot up and poke around whenever possible. It's worth it to see (and taste) what beauties the earth brings forth.

Woops! There goes my purse.

2010-05-13T22:38:00.001+01:00

No I haven't been mugged, but there is definitely no cash in my purse. An adventure to Malvern Quilt Show is to blame (my goodness over the years this blog could get repetitious).
End on this bundle doesn't really look that good but it's a beauty. Kim Porter's Washed and Worn fabrics were all the more popular this year so I felt I needed to grab something quick before it all went.

See? The colours are pale golds and vintagey creams. Some are cuddly flannelette. Hmmmm it will make a nice sofa backer for the living room and I'm sure will be very popular with the cat.

This gorgeous set of linens and reds with lots of little buttons and ric-rac was from Mandy Shaw. It's a kit for a Christmas stocking which was featured on Kirsty Allsop's "Home Made" series last year.

...but then, just as I was leaving, the creative side of me tapped my shoulder and said "eherm ... you seem to have missed Oliver Twist's stall" and then these wonderful wool felts leapt into my hand and my purse slid open and all the remaining money fell into their till. I think it was partly the lovely colours, a lot to do with the warm snuggly feel, but mostly because they smelled so nice. Honestly a blind person would have chosen them.

Magic Beans

2010-05-11T17:38:00.000+01:00

May is planting time rather than sewing time as the allotment screams for attention. The nights are still chilly so many seeds are sown in the greenhouse for safety. I have a wonderful neighbour to my plot. Ray has been tilling his patch for about 45 years, and although in his 80's, he tills the land to within an inch of it's life! He has always got a saucy joke or a bit of wisdom to impart. Anyway he has given me a lovely collection of his saved bean seeds. They are beautiful aren't they? Magic beans upon a growing quilt project.

Apparently those lovely shiny black beans are an old Norfolk type - highly prized!

These round beans produce flat beans which climb. They are topped and tailed and eaten after steaming. I would love to know what they are called.

I was watching Alys Fowler on T.V. growing her veg and edible flowers. It's very inspiring. I heard that apparently one can eat the weed goosegrass. We call it Sticky Willy here - it gets stuck all over your legs when you walk through it. When it is steamed or wilted it's just like spinach. I had it for lunch! You can almost taste the iron!!

Memories

2010-05-06T09:00:00.004+01:00

Last night my quilt group were informed about the opportunity to exhibit a body of work with the theme "Memories". This will take place in April 2011 at Trentham Gardens within the "Quilts In The Garden" show.

It kept me awake most of the night. Memories of all sorts of events and feelings came back that haven't visited me for quite some time. Somehow with a piece of art in mind as a framework, with all it's restrictions and textural possibilities, a whole raft of reminiscences floated on a sea of dreams..

sometimes my dreams are like this... a button moon over a textured field...

Results!

2010-05-01T07:08:00.002+01:00

This collage made with Smilebox

Batik fun - fish and feathers

2010-04-25T07:16:00.001+01:00

What a fabulous day. Carol Page, a member of our quilt group and an art teacher, rented her classroom from the secondary school that she teaches in and organised a batik workshop yesterday. It was lovely to be in such a large room with high work benches and plenty of equipment. I think we were all beginners but there was some lovely work produced by the end of the day. I finished up with this little fish which is about 6 inches square, but on the way to that worked on two samples:

This was in order to get used to the rate of flow of wax from the chantings. I was pleased with the clarity of these images on cotton.

We also worked on a really big piece on a rather rough calico which can be made into a shopping bag. I think it was about 24" square:

It's not completely ironed out or washed yet - that's a job for today!
Thanks Carol for a day of instruction, fun and cake!

Batik

2010-04-23T12:12:00.000+01:00

These are cantings. The batik workers wax application tool. They have a teak handle and a copper chamber and spout. I bought myself two ready for my first batik workshop tomorrow. I attended a very interesting talk about Batik from Java and Thailand on Wednesday evening at Wombourne Quilters' Guild.

Diane Gaffney, from Textile Traders in Bishop's Castle (www.textiletechniques.co.uk) came to speak about how she goes abroad collecting Batik work to sell in this country. She has enlisted several villagers in various countries to make Batik in the traditional way and thereby helps their local economies. She has been doing this for twenty years or more.

Here are some of the sumptuous fabrics which she brought with her.

I particularly like this large copper stamp for dipping in wax to make a resist pattern

We won't have such luxury tomorrow on the workshop - we are making our own designs, but I am really looking forward to it.

Some Spring Things

2010-04-19T21:39:00.003+01:00

Sometimes the Slow Cloth gets a bit cerebral and a faster cloth must begin as it's Spring these Japanese taupe flowery fabrics appeal - they are so finely woven and press so neatly.

These little fritillaries have emerged in the garden this week...

You can see why they are called "Snake's Head" as the buds emerge. I like the patchwork effect on the petals!

My daughter has a delightful moment the day before the new term at school. I think this is a green veined white butterfly.

My son even tames the beauty. I love the black and white striped antennae.

...and we discover a little robin sitting upon her clutch of four eggs in an old drawer in the potting shed.

How can we not feel gratitude?

This Quiet Tree

2010-04-12T19:31:00.001+01:00

This quiet tree
stands majestic.
Proud and dignified.
I pass her daily, I note her state,
Adapting to the shifting skyscape, her world,
Moving with the seasons and reflecting...
Reflecting the light upon her.
Taking the surroundings
And shining them back
to all who care to look.
She imposes not,
nor does she hide.
Always changing
But with oaken backbone
...and utter grace.

Silk noile and silk open weave fabrics. Silk perle thread. Part of the growing neutral Slow Cloth. 12"x12"

Slow Cloth begins and some hilarious stitching is had....

2010-03-31T21:28:00.001+01:00

My head gets full, I need a rest
The needle rocks,
Amongst the ripples of the muted fabric.
Soothed as it were
By the silken waves.
Neutral.
Peaceful.
Slow.
A needle chant.

Smartie soothes the flying heart.

I don't think I logged the final piece. The last slow cloth. The one I needed colour in.
Here it is: "The Road To St. Mawes".
***************************************
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
Must show you this picture below:

My son (11) was set the task of making a model of the digestive system over the weekend as part of his biology prep. He needed some help, but what an opportunity for him to use the sewing machine! I think he ought to learn to drive one of these before he ever gets his hands on a car. Anyway we made this fabric digestive system from bits of old curtains and linings and a stars and stripes oesophagus c/o his younger sister's stash.
To be truthful I was quite fulfilled, in a perverse sort of a way, stuffing a fabric rectum!! We laughed a lot, he and I. In fact we were crying with hysterics trying to turn the small intestine inside out. At least he can drive now, albeit with "L" plates!
He received a much coveted Headmasters Award for his hard work. Never has homework been so utterly fun!

A New Slow Cloth is born and some booty gathered....

2010-03-27T20:28:00.003Z

I have paid a visit to the exhibition "Stitching For Pleasure" at the NEC Birmingham UK. I was on the look out for neutral silks and indigos and came back with a very satisfying hoard of booty.
Some silken fabrics from Mulberry Silks and The Silk Route, silk threads in shades of calico, alongside oaty perle, indigo silk velvet and some indigo threads.

I did have in mind a new Slow Cloth in neutrals and indigo, but have adapted this now to neutrals, muted green, taupe and greys.

I love these little "roundelles" which are from Bengal and are sewn on to traditional costumes. I shall use these in a further project, perhaps as corner pieces.

Smartie is sniffing and guarding the roundelles whilst I begin the neutral, muted story quilt which may take some years as I gather the silks needed and tell a tale.

Egg-citing!

2010-03-24T21:38:00.000Z

Normally he's quite a quilter but he's getting the technology bug....

....Just showing how the cat helped me to learn Photoshop. He's dedicated to lying on the table and demonstrating how to press random buttons leading to mass confusion all around. Thanks Smartie!

My daughter has entered fully tonight into preparation for the competition at school to make an egg into a popstar!! I'm glad there are no longer nuns at her school - they'd have 40 fits!!

Wombourne Quilters' Show 2010

2010-03-23T23:08:00.000Z

The quilt group that I belong to had our exhibition last weekend. There was a terrific response from the group and the public who came to see it!

What a show! Congratulations to all Wombourne Quilters and thank you for all the support and hard work that has been put in.

Firstly the work itself - most important - lots of comments about the beautiful quality and high standard with particular reference to the workmanship and use of colour. So stop running yourselves down and be proud of what you can achieve! One lady said that she thought it was the best show she had seen for a while (she was talking about the quality of the work), several were inspired to try for themselves and perhaps the funniest was the lady who said she could not look any more because it was all too good - actually she stayed for a long time and did look very carefully and intently at many of the pieces.

The Workshop section was very popular with interest in the pieces made and the workshops that had been put on. People also loved the demonstrations and enjoyed the fact that they could see techniques and work in progress at first hand. And we must admit that the 'Cakes' were mentioned favourably several times, those that stitch obviously love their cake.

Lots of comments about the friendly and welcoming atmosphere. One lady came all the way from Stratford (by bus and train) and stayed nearly all day on Saturday and she had a long chat about how it was lovely to talk to everyone and see the work close up. I was pleased to see that many men had been dragged in as well and that they were looking at the quilts with interest and one or two asked about technique. Now there's a first.

The Visitors Choice vote made everyone look closely and the comments were often that they thought they had found their favorite and then turned a corner and there was another beautiful quilt! It was difficult for them to make a decision. Jayne Spark's beautiful 'Canadian Bears' was very popular and received the most votes and Jayne won a box of threads and things donated by Empress Mills. Well done Jayne!

Lots of us took photos I know and we are hoping to have a look at as many as possible at our next meeting.

Once again, well done everyone. More pictures to come in another post....

Stitching At Dawn

2010-03-16T13:39:00.002Z

When all around seems chaotic
and nothing makes sense
there is always stitching at dawn.

When the sun is creeping around the trees
creating it's new day.
Before more trials begin
and after a break of sleep,
there is always stitching at dawn.

When the day ahead is complicated,
and the previous one unresolved.
Before anyone else stirs in the house,
There is always stitching at dawn.

I have loved these skeleton cow parsley plants in winter for a long time now. They are especially beautiful with the frost resting on them.

Today all the doors and windows have been open as some renovations are happening on the house. There has been a compressor, a generator, dust and noise. The worst is the whistling men though!

I have stitched these whilst my hands turned blue but it has taken my mind off it all!

Thank you

2010-03-10T18:55:00.000Z

Worked on a little birthday card this afternoon- my first stitching for a while as so many people need my time. This was a way of therapeutically paying into the energy bank! I would like to sell some at a craft fair but am not sure I can produce in quantity.

Last year my in-laws bought me this

Isn't it tremendous and doesn't it offer up so much scope? There is no excuse for not executing an idea is there? The birthday card is for my father-in-law who's idea it was to burden me with such a present (?!).

I love the way pears are so square shouldered. An experiment in acrylic on a black gesso background. Note to self - must investigate further.

Meanwhile here is Smartie, King of The Quilts and master of Tolerance.

Words of Warmth

2010-03-02T13:32:00.002Z

I am a novice knitter but at last I have finished these silk wrist warmers. They are so soft, and the weather is still cold so I shall enjoy wearing them to see the rest of the winter out.

It has been a clod but sunny day and I have actually done some PRACTICAL (rather than fanciful) sewing - I've made my first roller blind - it may not seem much, but for "a bear of very small brain" who learns everything from a book, it's quite an achievement. I've been waiting for a day dry enough to hang out the fabric which has soaked in stiffening solution.

Some years ago I was lucky enough to meet Maya Angelou. She had been a heroine of mine since I was about 20. For some reason I was thinking of her yesterday and found some of her quotations. Think on these and even the worst days can make sense:

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow .

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.?

"I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life .

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'

"I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance .

"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back.

"I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision .

"I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

"I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back .

"I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel ."

....and then doodling something fanciful an idea for a fun bit of stitching after the practicalities!!

Phew!

2010-02-24T14:13:00.000Z

Phew. Finished two projects today and went to work!! This MUST SURELY be a sign of Spring?

I like getting up to these two quilts! They have a lot of flannel fabric in them and just HAVE to be touched every time I walk past!

Smartie has done a lot of "helping". Any sign of thread makes him dribble with delight.

But then, after all is said and done, he needs a cuppa!

What next then?

Back to Slow Cloth

2010-02-21T14:29:00.001Z

So the Slow Cloth has been revisited and after a period on pause the needle's rhythm began again.

There is a deadline!

Saturday and Sunday 20th - 21st March we have an exhibition at Wombourne Library and Community Centre in Staffordshire of pieces by my group Wombourne Quilters.

The exhibition is entitled "Quilts By The Green".

There will be a textile tombola, a bag raffle, tea and cakes, trade stands and demonstrations.

Some of the quilts will be for sale. I'm debating whether to sell this piece - it has been some time in the making.

Please come if you're in the area. The times are 10-4.30pm.

Today my daughter Isabel and I went for a stroll around Bridgnorth in Shropshire. It was a lovely sunny morning with some snow on the ground from last night's fall. There are only a handful of shops open on a Sunday but providence looked down on us! In a little ethnic, crystal healing type emporium there were some lovely quilted jackets made in India from old and over-dyed soft cottons with embroidery scattered upon the cloth. Who could resist?

In our hearts

2010-02-15T21:47:00.001Z

In Memory of a dear relative in our hearts today. A fighter. Brave. A warrior.