February Already and Nearly Gone

Time has done its usual trick of rushing past way too quickly and now it's nearly the end of February.  Since last checking in here DH and I have fought off two horrible snotty colds each but have still managed to achieve quite a bit for this time of year. 

Weaving has kept me busy both on the new Saori loom and on my little SampleIt rigid heddle.  I've done about 2 and a half metres on the Saori but the light is too poor to photograph it today being as it's 5.00pm and getting dark.  I have made a scarf on the rigid heddle though and forced it onto my stepson's partner.  Happily she liked it, enthusiastically!

On the quilting front I have made two smallish quilts since Christmas.  One for our impendng grandchild and one for the dog!  Sadly the only photograph I have is of the dog's quilt in progress.

In fact I only used the left section of 4x5 squares and have 16 remaining to make a Linus quilt with.  I did it QAYG with a fleece backing and it turned out really well and was well received.

Returning to Saori, at the beginning of February and despite being full of colds, I dragged DH to Norwich to see the display forming part of Makers Month at Norwich Forum.   The first week of Makers Month focussed on Fibre and as part of that The Saori Shed displayed all the banners people, including me, had made as well as letting the public have a play on Saori looms.

 You can probably see from the photo above how vast The Forum building is.  My skinny banner is up there next to the blue banner.

 The White and Blue banners above were made by the same lady and interpret Air and Water. 

 The red and the brown banners above were made by the same lady as above and picture Fire and Earth.  I particularly like the sectioned parts of Earth.

 Other fibre crafts were featured and there were more through in the auditorium.

 This technique was fascinating.  The banners have remained on display all month and can still be seen up to this weekend. 

Norwich is a beautiful city and we stayed over so we had time to explore.

 Click on the image above to see how lovely this view is of Norwich Cathedral across the field.  It reminded me very much of Salisbury Cathedral from this distance.

 Norwich Cathedral has some beautiful stained glass,

 from modern,

 to mediaeval.  The glass above is mediaeval made from recovered broken pieces.

On our way back to the station we passed some interesting shops, 

 and a beautiful art nouveau arcade which housed the Colmans Mustard Museum.

If you're not fed up yet I'll just mention that we also saw Brian Conley at Norwich Playhouse while we were there (very funny show) and have since been to the Royal Albert Hall in London (on a coach trip) to see Cirque du Soleil in their amazing show Amaluna.  Wow!  What an experience!  I think I might believe in magic!



Do watch the amazing video above, it's worth the time.  Suffice to say, in the atmosphere of the Albert Hall we were mesmerised.



Last but not least, today we've watched The Flying Scotsman on its inaugural journey through our home town on its way to York.  I'll post that separately.

Repurposing

February has been a very mixed month with some projects worked on and work laid aside while we emptied the lounge for a new carpet.  Like many friends online I have had the decluttering bug and have been sorting and moving things around to try and create some order in all the chaos that my stitching bug brings with it.  More of that another time as it's still a work in progress.

I've posted some photos on Facebook today of a cushion that I've been working on and thought I would share it here.  Last year a friend brought me a large quilt top made of hexagons that she had worked on many years ago while her husband was working nights which meant she had to be quiet during the day.

The quilt is made of many different fabrics from cottons through satins to upholstery fabric.

Val, by her own admission, wasn't an experienced maker and had left a lot of fabric on the reverse of each hexagon amking the whole quilt very heavy even without a wadding and backing.

In some ways the reverse is more interesting than the front.  Some of the hexagons still have some of their papers in place.

Despite the many, many hours of work in the quilt Val had no sentimental attachment to it and left it to me how to use it.  She did point out that some of the fabrics had figured in her wedding and bridemaids' dresses.

I had a really good look at the quilt and offered it to someone who works with vintage fabrics and decided that it could be re-purposed into other projects.  However, as Val had put so many hours into the piece I offered to make her something from it, incorporating her wedding dress material and have just finished this cushion.

You probably can't see it too clearly but I inserted a placket (if that's the right word) to carry the zip as I didn't want to put a strain on the textiles.  I chose the section above as it has a variety of fabrics and some deliberately designed groupings.  I loved the two hexagons that hold a memory of a trip to Malta.
 

This side is intended to be the front of the cushion and incorporates the velvet wedding dress fabrics.  We don't know how the blue dye has migrated into the pink velvet as I don't believe those fabrics had been washed.   The cushion is approximately 19" square.

As all the hexagons were obviously stitched by hand I have bonded each cushion front onto vilene to provide some stability and then added a cotton lining to stop the vilene being rubbed off in wear.  I have tried to honour Val's original work so that she can see it is her own work returning to her.  Now I just have to catch her at her painting group as I don't have a phone number for her. Duh!

The hardest thing of all was cutting into such an old quilt, especially knowing how much work had gone into it and the age of all the fabrics.  I enjoyed looking at all the fabrics and recognised the style of many from my own youth.  I still have quite a lot of the quilt left to play with or share and do plan to extract some hexagons to include in the memory quilt that I plan eventually to make.

An Ending, a beginning and Christmas

Since my last post life has taken on a very hectic feel, brought on by some, to me and my friends, devastating news.  If you follow me on Facebook you will already know that the place that has been my second home for two years went into liquidation at the beginning of December.  No-one died but it felt so much like a bereavement and I think the full effects are only now being felt by me.   Stitchcraft was the most amazing place and brought so much friendship, laughter and learning that it left us all numb when we heard the news.  

After the initial shock and disbelief we all agreed that we wanted to carry on meeting up for our Wednesday Sit & Stitch sessions and some how I turned overnight into Little Miss Bossy Boots and took it on myself to find somewhere for 20+ people to meet and sew.  Well, happily we have found a very comfortable venue at the local Bowling Club (level green not tenpin) and have already had two get-togethers there.  All our thanks are due to the girls who had been there socially and recommended it.

These are not our sewing ladies but another group using the room. Sadly the bar is firmly locked!  I havn't told the group but they're trying to recruit us all for the bowls club!

So, as well as chasing a venue I've been busy with some actual sewing!  Yes, really!

I really enjoyed making this quilt/throw for my friend.  I made it in Quilt As You Go with 12" squares and found instructions for a way to do all the sashing on the machine.  It was a relief not to have to stitch it all down by hand.

Next job was Scissor cases for my bezzy mates at Sit & Stitch.  These were fun to make and I made an extra one for myself and two more for other presents. It also helped reduce my stash by the tiniest bit.  I am on a mission!

Finally I had to make another little bag to keep my new mini Gelli plate in and had a ball making it in the orange colourway.  The larger purple bag was made some time ago in a workshop and I simply reduced the squares that the bag is made from down from 12" to 10".   If you'd like to make on the tutorial is here on Fabric Mutt blog.  Did I say "new mini Gelli"?

As you can see the plate is just 3"x5" and I'm really looking forward to having a play.  I bought it from Hilary Beattie who is a powerhouse of Gelli printing.  I'm hoping the Acrylic Markers will work with the plate as they are water based.  I can't believe I havn't ripped the thing out of its wrapper and thrown paint everywhere but I've been totally exhausted over the last couple of weeks so I'm hoping to get some play in over the holiday period.

Talking of the holiday period we are having a quiet Christmas Day with my Mum and my stepson.  I have everything crossed that Mum will be able to enjoy tomorrow and not sleep through it all.  I hope that however you are spending the next few days you are spending it with people you care about and who care about you.  Have a very special Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Thank you for all your friendship and comments here and on Facebook.  It's lovely to know so many caring people and to share our creative happenings.  Love to you and yours xxxx

Hockney and Saltaire

A couple of months ago DH and I took a trip up to Yorkshire (God's own county) to visit the village of Saltaire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The village was built by Sir Titus Salt for the workers in his textile mill.  Production at the factory has now ended and one of the main buildings now houses artworks by David Hockney and others and also various shopping outlets. 

Salts Mill has a long association with David Hockney through his friendship with Jonathan Silver who saved the site from dereliction.  Part of the reason for our visit to Salts Mill was to see the Hockney paintings as there is a plan for quilters living in Lincolnshire to make quilts inspired by Hockney's work.  So, what did we see in Saltaire?

I don't know a huge amount about David Hockney's work and intend to do some research but there is quite a variety of styles in the work on show.  The top piece is a folding screen and the piece below is made up of fax prints.  I supose that appeals to me because of the wave structures in it. 

This huge room would have been one of the mill workooms but now houses many of Hockney's works and many and varied artbooks.

This is part of another fax work and there are obvious connections with fabric.
 

These blinds which line one of the galleries were designed by Hockney too.

 Saltaire village is not a museum, it is a normal community albeit in beautiful victorian buildings.  The building above is the renovated part of the site containing the galleries, shops and restaurant.

 This is typical of the houses in the village.

 The unrenovated parts of the mill have wonderful decaying surfaces that fire the imagination.

The mill sits alongside the Leeds and Liverpool canal and there are plenty of opportunities to photograph reflections.  Just watch out for all the cyclists!

I don't yet know how my Hockney inspired quilt is going to develop but I've got a lot of inspiration here and this week I get to go back for another visit with my pals Wendy and Tina.  You know the ones!

Festival of Quilts 2

Where was I?  Oh yes, the exhibition quilts.

 I was very intrigued by this little quilt above and the clever way the animal is integrated into the background.  This quilt and the one below are by Elena Folomyeva, a Russian quilt artist who had her own gallery. 

There are more of her quilts from the show here. 

Ann Johnston has made many beautiful and detailed quilts of the Sierra Nevada.

Christine Chester 'Story of an Eastbourne Beach' appealed to me with its intricate surface detail.

These three quilts above are part of the 'Identity'  theme explored by members of Art Textiles: Made in Britain and are by Ineke Berlyn.

This whole gallery had a wonderful feel to it and the work was inspiring and stimulating. 

These beautiful embroidered panels are by Rosie James in the same gallery as Ineke and it was interesting to see the stitched figures overlaying the real figures moving through the gallery space. Other artists in the group included Hilary Beattie, Cas Holmes, Christine Restall, Jenny Rolfe and others.

These lovely textures are just details from work by Judith Mundwiler whose work I must explore further.  Her website is written in German but I thought I would include the link.

There were so many beautiful quilts at the show this year and I was really pleased that I did at least manage to get there.  I hope I have brought you a flavour of the show.