Magical Mystery Tour

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These photos are about 10 or 12 years old (it only seems like yesterday) so DH and I are off to this beautiful part of the world with Dorothy Bear to take some new ones. See you when we get back! BTW, my baby was launched into the world today (well into the care of the Post Office) so fingers crossed it arrives safely.

Blink and you'd miss it

Earlier this evening, while we were watching "Britain's Got Talent", my DH happened to notice the light outside and the sun shining on my shed (this was at 20.44 BST). I could see that the clouds looked interesting so I went out with my camera and was greeted by this dramatic sky:

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The shower didn't last long but the rainbow looked beautiful against this dark orange-tinged sky. The cloud shapes remind me a little of the marks you get with snow dyeing or low immersion dyeing.

Post and a Monster

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I have been remiss in not sharing with you the beautiful little brooch I succumbed to on Jackie's blog last week. They sold like hot cakes so I was lucky to have one and it is now gracing the front of my handbag. Jackie's work is beautiful and her blog is well worth a look if you don't know her already.

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I'm not sure where the time is going at the moment but the days seem to be getting shorter instead of longer. I finally got round to reproofing my jacket today ready for our upcoming trip to Wales. The can said 'use in a well venilated space'. I tried working in the conservatory with the door open but after the first spray I realised I wasn't going to survive the experience! Drastic measures were called for

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If you have a delicate disposition you might want to look away........

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Thank goodness the neighbours couldn't see............

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Are you ready?

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Scary isn't it? The masks as big as me!!! Who said Darth Vader?!!!! It's really weird cos I covered my nose up but it made everything sound funny. The answer to that is not to talk to yourself all the time! It was hot too! But at least I got my coat treated without gassing myself lol!

Disintegration

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On 1 May I showed my bundles for Seth Apter's Disintegration project but I did not open up the bundles as they had not been out in the elements as long as some of the other participants bundles had. Today my curiosity got the better of me and I undid 3 of the parcels.

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The bundle above had been hanging in a lilac bush and the one below had been hanging on a trellis. As you can see so far there have not been many changes other than a little bleeding of pigment and some transfer of rust from the can to the paper. The bundle below shows even less obvious change, just some transfer of dye from the handmade paper to the watercolour paper and various damp/mildew marks.

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The bundle in the collage below is the one that I am really excited about. This has been laying on top of plants in a container and has absorbed much more moisture than the other parcels. There was a cut up photograph in the package and its surface has altered and taken on the imprint of the outer fabric (couldn't get a photograph of that part). There are some lovely colour and texture effects and I can't wait to dry this bundle out and have a proper look.

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However, we are shortly going for a break away so I will wait till we get back and then dry out all three bundles and see what inspires me. Whatever happens we have a deadline of 1 August to reveal the artwork coming from this experiment. I wonder if the various spiders that crawled out of the bundles would like to be part of the resulting art?

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It is a holiday weekend here in the UK and for once we have had scorching weather today. DH and I have spent the day clearing out a shed for an elderly friend and then watching blue tits in the garden rushing backwards and forwards to feed their young. More of that to follow.

Dorothy and the birds

I am so delighted that our nest box has been visited again this year by a family of blue tits. DH and I have spent quite a lot of time watching the comings and goings from our conservatory. If you enlarge the photograph below you should be able to see Mr blue tit doing a little DIY to adjust the size of the entrance hole into the box. This seems to be a regular pastime for him when he's not flying around hunting for bugs for his offspring.

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Our American visitor took a turn at box watching and was rewarded for her efforts as you can see if you click on the photograph below.

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It was hard to pull Dorothy away from her box watch despite the beating sun and the blue tit kept his eye on her from the safety of the box.

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I feel so privileged that the blue tits have decided to use our nest box this year. It is on an east facing fence which I think they must like as it gets the sun in the morning but does get shade as the day goes on. In previous years the clematis has provided rather more shade at this time of year but I think it had a severe pruning last year so it's a bit slow getting going this year. The blue tits don't seem to be bothered by our comings and goings in the garden and when I do pass near to the box I can hear the babies' tiny sqeaks calling out for food.

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Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we are planning to take a walk round our home town with Dorothy to take some photographs for South Haven Elementary School as our home town has a significant place in history being the home of the first woman Prime Minister of Britain and the place of education of Sir Isaac Newton. It was also once called 'the most boring town in England' by a radio DJ but I believe that mantle has since passed to some other unsuspecting location. Whatever you are doing tomorrow have a great day!

I've Done it!

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Modelled by my lovely assistant, here is my quilt for a child in Italy! Yay! I've finished it! Well, except for a label. Now that I have finished it I am friends with it again. I've even thought of a way of making another quilt without having to heave it all about so much but I don't think I'll be rushing in to make one just yet as I've got my other projects to catch up with. I've put in a request to my brother to encourage my nephews to have some children so I can make for them ;o)

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Don't look too closely but this is the reverse of the quilt. It's a little bit rucked in one or two places but I am quite pleased with it. (My poor DH was manfully holding it while battling the wind and feeling poorly, bless) (The blowing wind in the air not the other kind, just in case you were wondering lol).

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There is still time for you to make a quilt for the children affected by the earthquake in Italy earlier this year. Follow this link for details.

Batik Display

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This is the beautiful batik which we went to see yesterday at Corby Glen. The display is the work of Barbara Melling and her students who meet at Barbara's studio near Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast. The vessels and bowls in the foreground of the photo above incorporate tissue and wax and found objects. The largest bowl at the top is lined with beautiful silk scarves and the wire across the top has been wrapped in a very fine bead encrusted red wire.

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You can see how vibrant the colours are from the scarves above.

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I really like the green scarf in the photo above, even though green is not usually my colour. The lamps are lovely too and I'm sure would give a lovely soft light in a room setting.

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This was a beautiful exhibition and I didn't realise that this learning resource was so relatively close to my home. It would be very tempting to treat myself to an overnight stay and a workshop. Hmmmmmmm!

We Have a Visitor!

An Elementary School in South Haven Kansas has sent their school mascot on a journey to help them understand about Geography and other communities and my DH invited the mascot to come and spend some time with us in Lincolnshire and here she is!

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This is Dorothy who was very keen to get out of the brown parcel that has been her mode of transport from her last hosts in Timber Ridge Needmore, Pennsylvania.

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She had her first glimpse of an English garden on a cool, showery day (good job we'd tidied it up a bit!) As my DH was still at work and as the idea is to take Dorothy on a few adventures, I took her with me to see an exhibition of batik at the Willoughby Memorial Gallery in Corby Glen, not far from us.

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As you can see Dorothy enjoyed the beautiful works on display and I will give a few more details from the exhibition in my next post. (Dorothy sat very still so that she did not touch the lovely batiks).

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She particularly liked this elephant with all its lovely embellishments.

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Dorothy is having a little snooze now as jet lag has set in but she's going to be going on lots of trips to find out all about life in Lincolnshire and will soon be finding out about Wales too as she is coming on holiday with us. If you check out my DH's blog you will see the Journal she has brought with her for us to record her visit in and photos of her adventures so far. She left Kansas to go to Florida and then went on to Needmore in Central South Pennsylvania. Her travels will end in January 2010 when she is due to arrive back in South Haven. I wonder where her travels will take her before then? I know a certain bear and dragon who will be expecting a visit in a few weeks time.

Quilt Progress

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Yesterday and today I have been working on the quilting of my quilt. I have to say, this work is so tiring! I have manhandled the quilt backwards and forwards through my machine as I have battled to sew all the various bits and I am exhausted! Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I've only had to unpick one piece of stitching where I snagged the backing so not bad so far.

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The border at the top has been bondawebbed instead of being pieced as I would have preferred, and I have run a zigzag round to secure it and stitched along a couple of the horizontals to hold everything in place. The wadding is only polyester and seems to split easily so I don't want it to disintegrate in use but I don't want to quilt it too heavily either. The centre and side panels have been lightly quilted with some random (very random!) free machining. I hope the quilt police aren't watching!

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I have made a start zigzagging round the appliques in each of the four corners (which involves a lot of pushing and pulling the quilt through the machine!). Once that is done I just need to trim it to size and add the binding, if I've got enough fabric, that is! It's going to be a close run thing!

I'm Getting Behind

with blogging! I've had a very busy weekend and start to the week and the weekend already seems too long ago to blog about, not that anything wonderfully exciting happened after our day out to Lincoln.

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First things first! My floor in the studio is fixed! Yay!!!!!!
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Look at that! What a wonderful sight! My friend came round on Monday and after a couple of hours I had a complete floor and ventilation holes drilled all round the plinth to let some air in underneath, hopefully without letting any mice in too! All I have to do now is get everything put back. "Simples!" I've now got three of the lovely shelving units to play with so hopefully I shall eventually be more organised. Can't wait to get my dyes sorted out!

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I was going to show you the fabric I had bought for the children's quilt for Italy but I've already started making the quilt so here's your glimpse at my first efforts of piecing the top (with copious use of bondaweb! * under the top and bottom panels and the 3 cutout motifs at each corner) :

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I spent lots of time sorting out the design based on the fabric I had bought, not the best idea trying to make the design fit the fabric! At the last minute I had to change the design because I thought I had got my measurements wrong only to find, having cut it all outt o the new design, that they were right in the first place! Doh! There should have been much more piecing instead of the large blocks but never mind, I have to live with it. I have started stitching in the ditch and and quilting along the horizontal lines on the top and bottom panels. As experienced quilters will probably have realised, I am having problems with the material creeping and bunching up. I have tried to turn the quilt and machine in opposing directions to ease things out but it's not working 100%, partly because of the bulk of the fabric and the short throat of my machine. I am now at the point of wondering wether I should hand quilt the small motifs as I don't know how I can machine round them on an ordinary sewing machine. I'm not sure that my free machining is up to it! Watch this space!

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I've finished the next two pages for the Flower Book Swap at MixedMediaATC_UK. I'm sure Kate will spot that I have used some orphan blocks that she sent me (cheating a little) and have handstitched and added buttons. I am really enjoying these little 6" square flower pages, they are easy to pick up in a spare moment.

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So, I now have to finish the animal quilt, do my May Journal Quilt and make the quilt for Kate's ALQS. Oh, and finish a Ruby Doll for Mags for the end of the month. Not to mention Seth's Disintegration challenge, which I won't cos my head's already spinning!

Embroiderers Guild Regional Day

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Saturday saw my friend A and me heading over to Lincoln for the Embroiderers' Guild Regional Day and what a day it was! We had a great time and came home with a little shopping. Drat! I've put it all away so no pics! ;o)
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The image above is part of the Lincolnshire Branch Kickstart project which I think was titled Canals. My photo is not wonderfully impressive but I wanted to show you the long piece on the table. It is absolutely beautiful and full of layers. It must be about 6 feet long and is hand embroidered/stitched. You can see a detail below. The surface has a wonderful array of stitches. I believe the artist's name is Mary Hart and it is titled "Canal Bank".
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(c) Mary Hart

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There were several displays and exhibitions but unfortunately I didn't photograph many of them. However, I was particularly struck by the display which you can see below. This is in fact less than a quarter of the bonnets displayed.
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13000 bonnets will be on display again at the Festival of Quilts in August next year by which time they hope to have over 25000 in total in commemoration of the women who were forcibly migrated to Australia in the 18th century. Norma Bean of the Embroiderers' Guild will be at the FOQ this year to publicise the event.
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There were examples of work from previous Summer Schools organised by the EG and this stunning lamp is an example of work by Kathleen Laurel Sage, one of the tutors (who doesn't seem to have a website).

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I think we shocked the exhibitors and stall holders who were there as my friend and I were probably the only attendees who didn't go into the lecture which was given in the afternoon by Jean Draper, a noted textile artist (a missed opportunity no doubt). As it turned out the lecture went on for the best part of two and a half hours and my friend couldn't have sat for that long. Instead we had a lovely leisurely wander round the exhibitions again and the trader's stands. We ended up leaving before the lecture had ended as I was rapidly running out of steam and had yet to drive home. All in all a very pleasant day!

Help!

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Gratuitous photo that has nothing to do with the post but I had to put something here!

Some time last week I came across a blog that had a link to someone who was collecting quilts for the children affected in the Aquila earthquake in Italy. I went shopping for suitable fabric, came home and.......you've guessed it, I can't find the post! Has anyone else come across this in their meanderings? I don't know what size to make the quilt or where to send it. Doh! If it rings a bell or you spot it in your meanderings this weekend please point me in the right direction. Thank you!

Meanwhile, Have a lovely weekend!

Today's Title is...

I am part of a group that is reacting to a title provided by Helen over at Hebart. You can see other people's ideas over at 'Today's Title..' My Mum took this photograph on one of her days out and I really liked the shapes and colours of the old bottles. Some time ago I did a painting exercise with a selection of bottles in mixed media and I keep intending to translate the drawing into a textile piece.

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Several drawings were made using the reflex/contour drawing technique and then the drawing above was made using different media, ink, oil pastel, chalk pastel and watercolour.

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This image was made by preparing sheets of different textures using mixed media. The bottle shapes were then cut out and collaged in place and the background added with faux bottle shapes and added marks to pull it together (I think. Memory is a poor thing).

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Maybe I could convert it into a Little Gem?

Bank Holiday

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I'm sure there's a 'natural' conspiracy in the UK. Mention the words 'Bank Holiday' and 'market' and the temperature plummets and the heavens open! Fortunately we British are made of stern stuff and are undetered by a little rain. We made an early start to go to Denton Street Market this morning. It's only a few miles away but we like to go early and get parked (sad or what?). There was a good variety of stalls selling everything from bric a brac to burgers and lots of plant stalls. My DH will probably have a much fuller report on his blog later today.

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Anybody with a stall under cover was on to a good thing. I'm not sure how this band were managing to play as their hands must have been freezing! I think the chap on the right is actually playing a harmonica not blowing into his hands! They are called The Ono Band and are based locally. All their efforts raise money for charity.

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It's not often that I buy paintings but I couldn't resist the colourful and vibrant paintings on Mike Thomas Monroe's stall. He used watercolour and collage to paint really happy pictures and at only £5 (less than 3$) he was giving away the little French boat that I bought (below). Mike was telling us that he used to work for the Northern Lighthouse board ferrying people out to the lighthouses near Oban, Scotland. What he didn't tell us was that he had found Spanish Treasure from a sunken ship in 2006 and is a published author. He was selling his work far too cheaply imho but what a charming man!