What day is it?

Where did the last week - and a bit -  go?  In a haze of frantic stitching mostly!   I was determined to get my Festival of Quilts entry finished if I possibly could so I set aside the best part of two days to get on with the quilting.  I appreciated Sandra's suggestion that I make printouts of the photo of the quilt top and try out some quilt patterns and thread colours on it but in the end I just made a couple of samples and trialled some threads before deciding which to use.  In the end I settled on a pale lemon and blue variegated thread and a wavy line design. 

The quilting took two days as it was very tiring with all the pushing and pulling through the throat of the machine.  The binding is one of the hand dyes I had used in the quilt. 

You may be able to see the colour change in the thread in  the photo above.  Some of my wavy line stitching got a bit erratic but I've chosen not to let that bother me.

I'm really pleased that the back of the quilt came out neatly, despite a slight drift in the vertical line.  (Note to self, don't use a clearly vertical pattern next time!)

I'm really pleased to have got the quilt made and I feel freed up to play now that it's finished.  I just have to remember to post it on time! 

When I haven't been working on the quilt I have been busy making a fabric postcard for Emma who lives on the Isle of Skye.  Emma is celebrating her 50th birthday this week and asked for 50 people to swap postcards with her.  As Emma has now received her card from me I can now show you it.

You will notice a bit of a similarity to my quilt.  I also decorated the envelope for Emma which you will see if you click through to her blog.  It's worth having a look at all the beautiful cards Emma has received so far, there is so much variety from so many very talented artists.

I had a lovely surprise a couple of weeks ago.  I received an email telling me that I had won a book in a prize draw.  My first reaction was that it was spam as I couldn't remember entering a prize draw but I suddenly spotted a name I recognised and followed the link to the original posting and the light dawned!  I had won! 

This was my prize.  This gorgeous and inspiring book is by Joanne B Kaar who lives in the far north of Scotland.  The book is beautiful in itself as well as being informative and has some beautiful images inspired by the sea and shore.  So it's definitely my kind of book.  Joanne has a blog which promotes a crofter's cottage museum in Caithness and she has recently staged a huge exhibition in conjunction with an artist in New Zealand inspired by the voyage of the 'Westland' from Tail o' the Bank Scotland to Port Chalmers in New Zealand..  The book covers paper making and book making and I fully intend to try some of the projects in it.  Meanwhile I shall enjoy the beautiful illustrations.

Now that I've finished the quilt project I thought I would join many others in becoming part of the Sketchbook Project.  For a fee you are sent a Moleskin Cahier notebook to work in according to a theme which you can choose yourself or have selected for you by the organisers.  The idea is to send the sketchbook back by a date in January next year (so no keeping the work you make) and the sketchbook will then form part of a permanent collection at The Brooklyn Art Library.  I have chosen the theme "This is not a Sketchbook" as I thought that would put the least amount of pressure on me and give me plenty of scope.  Apparently my sketchbook is in the post so the fun can begin!

I don't have a photo but my DH does so if you click here you can see our lovely baby blackbird that fledged about a week ago and is still hopping about the back garden.  His Mum brings him down to our pond to get a drink and it's lovely to watch them.  I don't often look at my DH's blog as I am so busy with all the other blog's I look at (shame on me!) but you might like to have a bit of a look around while you're there as he has some lovely birdie photos lately.

I hope you're enjoying a bit of summery weather wherever you are in the UK and if you are not in the UK I hope the extremes of the weather systems in certain parts of the world are not affecting you too badly.  I won't be blogging again for a few days so have a lovely weekend and I'll see you soon.  (It's pleasure not pain to explain my absence.  DH and I are going to Durham to visit the cathedral and Crook Hall for his birthday this week.  Tell you all about it next week when I get the photos organised.)

Strike While the Iron's Hot!

It's been a long day today!  I decided to get on and attack my quilt while I was feeling brave!  You would not believe how long and how much effort it has taken to measure everything umpteen times, cut it, pin it , stitch it back together, trim it and pin together the quilt sandwich!  I am totally drained and unfit for anything but I have a great sense of achievement and a quilt ready for quilting. (And a glass of red wine to fortify me!)

I now have to give a lot of thought to how I should quilt it and particularly to the colour of the thread(s) I will use.  I think it's going to live on the back of the door for a few days while I recover and think about the next step.

In between working on this quilt I've managed to finish my Journal Quilt for May. Not unsurprisingly it bears a strong similarity to my main project.

I was using this JQ to try out some quilt patterns before I decided to cut up the big quilt so, while I've practised free-machine quilting it hasn't helped me decide on how I'm going to quilt my main piece. Ho hum!

I'm not much of a football supporter but I feel I have to say "Go England!".  (Sorry if you're a USA supporter.)  If you are a football supporter, enjoy the match!

I'm Excited!

I have been to my art group this morning and took some printouts of the quilt top with me and had a play at chopping it up and rearranging it.  Sandra Wyman had suggested that I cut the strips to different widths so I experimented with that.  Thank you Sandra, it was a good idea.  

So, first of all I tried the cut strips arranged with the middle sky strip pushed higher than the other two.  No, not so keen on that.

Then I tried cutting it into 4 strips of various widths.  I definitely prefer this arrangement to the original 3 strips and the varying widths is more appealing too.

Finally I cut 4 uneven strips and flipped two over.  I think this is the one I am going to go with!  I am really excited by it as you can still see that it is about the sea but it makes you look further.  Soooooo, the next step is to make some samples to sort out what colour threads I should use for the eventual quilting.

Funnily enough, I feel less worried about the quilting now that I have made my mind up to cut it up.  It feels less precious somehow.

Thank you all for your comments.  It's wonderful to be able to share your creative problems and get advice so quickly.

A Mixed Bag

I don't seem to be blogging too much lately but I have a hotch potch of bits and pieces to bring you today.  First of all is the new life that is growing in our garden hidden in the pyracantha just outside my studio.

  

You should be able to see 2 of 3 baby blackbirds that are keeping their parents busy.  I think from the look of their feathers they are not far from fledging.  We have been charting their growth by the volume of noise coming from the nest when the parents bring food.  It has been getting progressively louder as the birds have got bigger.

Diana asked the other day if I could show a couple of pages from Ineke Berlyn's book.  I wasn't sure about doing that but Ineke does allow a view inside her other book on Amazon so I thought in view of the fact that it might encourage sales for her I would put up some excerpts.

Basically the book shows pages from Ineke's various sketchbooks and some of the works (Journal Quilts) she has made from them.  It is a beautifully colourful book and as ever it is always informative to look at other people's sketchbooks, especially when they are as talented as Ineke.  The more you look at the photos in this book the more you notice.  The words are mostly only the ones in the original sketchbook entries but there is a wealth of information in the images.

My work on my entry for the Festival of Quilts is continuing apace.  So far I have pieced the top and have it hanging on a door (hence the door handle in the photo).  I continually get glimpses of it as I go through the hall and it is beginning to tell me what it wants.  I was hoping it would tell me how I should quilt it but instead it keeps saying this to me

This is a sketchbook trial of what I would like to do but I don't think I am going to be brave enough to take the scissors to it!  I have a very small margin for error across the width as I am committed to working to a size that I had to set for myself when I sent the forms off.  What happens if I cut it up and then can't piece it back together and it all goes wrong?  I have about 4 weeks left to complete this so I really don't want to have to start again.  Hmmmm! Further thought is required.

While I was trawling through umpteen blogs tonight in a tired stupor I came across a great way to waste time/indulge your creativity at the V&A site.  If you've ever fancied making a quilt from one of your photographs you can now get a ready made pattern.  My photograph of a sunset in St Ives became this in patchwork

I'm not sure if I'll ever use it but it was fun to play for a while and divert my tired brain from wrestling with quilt patterns.  

I'm in Love!

Our beautiful great nephew!  Just 14 weeks old.  We had a lovely time today seeing our family and playing with Max. :o)

Repeat After Me.....

I must not buy any more fabric!  I must not buy any more fabric! LOL  Of course, now I've said that you'll want to see what I've  been buying and I've forgotten to take a photo and I'm in a rush now so I'll have to show you my sins later.  

So, where have I been shopping?  Today was our local Quilt group meeting for Region 10 of the Quilters Guild and, horror of horrors, they have traders there to tempt you!  "It wasn't my fault mi'lud!".  Oh, hang on a minute, I'll go and photograph my stuff.

These were all (mostly!) going cheap from a lady who was closing her shop or from fabrics brought along by group members to sell.  I thought the letters might come in useful for something and it was only £2.  If anyone wants a bit let me know and I'll fussy cut some for you (don't all rush at once!)

Then I got tempted by Ineke Berlyn's book which I have seen several times and resisted but I was feeling weak today. ;o)  I do love Ineke's work.  I bought her book of Landscape in Contemporary Quilts long before I started sewing seriously just because it was so beautiful to look at and I thought it might inspire my paintings.  

(This photo above doesn't look as if the group was very well attended but I think everyone was off getting drinks and chatting somewhere).

Ok.  That's the confession over with!  This is the second Quilters Guild meeting I've been to and I really enjoyed it again today.  The days tend to be informal and friendly and there is time to natter and see what everyone has been working on, as well as chance to stock up on a few things if you need to.  The morning soon drifts into lunch and then the invited speaker makes their presentation.  Today it was the turn of Liz Hands who lives near Lincoln and who was a very entertaining and informative speaker.  (Sorry I can't find any internet links for Liz but I have her email address if anyone wants to contact her for classes).

Liz is a most generous quilter in that she was happy to share her work methods with us and also wasn't precious about us handling the quilts after her talk.  As you can see from the photo she covers a wide spectrum of work and, even though I may not wish to take up all the things she is able to teach I could see how some of the skills would enable me to make the kind of non-traditional work I am interested in.  In fact, attending the group today has solved several problems that I was having with the construction of my quilt for the Festival of Quilts.

Liz's 'face' quilts are quite dramatic and this quilt above was her response to the events of 9/11.  

I think lots of people wonder whether to bother joining groups, especially if they don't see themselves as traditional quilters, but I am enjoying my membership of the Quilters Guild.  I joined the guild in the hope that it would link me up with people locally who were involved in quilting and art quilting and that it would be a way of finding people to teach me the skills to get me where I want to be.  I'm pleased to say that so far I've not been disappointed.  Lincolnshire is a bit spread out and Region 10 covers a large area but the meetings move around to give everyone a chance to go without having to travel too far.  If, like me, you are new to textiles, you could find it useful to join the Quilters Guild.  On top of local groups there is the Quilt Museum in York which offers workshops at very reasonable (cheap!) prices and there are special interest groups within the guild like the Contemporary Quilt Group which has a Yahoo group so there is always someone to answer questions and share things with. (here endeth the advert for the Quilters Guild! lol)

I'll keep this vaguely short as I am off out tonight for a couple of hours for a reunion with work colleagues, some of whom I haven't seen for 14 years or more.  Hope I can remember their names! :o))  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Oops! I nearly forgot.  Look who's living in our garden,

There are three baby blackbirds and they're getting bigger and noisier every day.  Sweet!

Sunshine, Friendship, Inspiration and Cake!

This has been a bit of a hectic week but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet up with the very talented Jackie who makes the most beautiful pieces in velvet and tweed amongst other things.  Wendy and I travelled down to Ely as Jackie had come down from Lancashire for a few days and Ely was a good central point for us all.  It also had a textile exhibition on!  Well, how could we resist?  

First port of call was Babylon Gallery for an exhibition by stitch-links.

This is the first exhibition staged by stitch-links, (follow the link for their website and better images of their work) a newly formed group of established artists from London and East Anglia and it was a very exciting experience.  The exhibition space at Babylon is airy and interesting and the gallery has a friendly atmosphere.  Stitch-links had based their exhibition on the area round Docklands in London and the different interpretations gave the show a great diversity.  

 

The work varies through sculptural pieces to variations on quilts and this piece above is by Maria-Theresa Fernandes whose work I have seen at one of the big Shows last year.  Her work is felted and is rich with stitch.

I was particularly struck by the work of Sheila Cahn whose work is very close to my heart and who works in layers.  

This piece has beautiful sparkling blue organza which hints of reflections on water.  

My photo doesn't do this piece justice but it has a  wonderful flow of colour throughout and beautiful delicate slashings of sheer fabrics surrounded by hand stitching.  

The artists had provided boards with samples showing some of their processes and thought connections in preparing this exhibition and it was interesting to see some of their preparatory work.  In addition as the gallery is a charity it had set up a flower tree and a table so that you could make your flower and add it to the tree in exchange for a small donation.  The whole thing gave the gallery a lovely friendly and welcoming atmosphere and I will definitely keep an eye out for any future exhibitions.  This exhibition continues until June 13th so if you live near enough you still have time to visit.  Ely is well worth the trip.

I'm not sure whether this was an exhibit or not but the railings outside carried this adornment which made me think of Clootie trees that I have seen in Scotland.  I'm pleased to say that Wendy has blogged about our day out too and is showing different parts of the exhibition on her blog so do pop over and have a look if you'd like to see more.

Needless to say, after a journey and viewing the exhibition we were all well ready for a cup of tea and adjourned to the adjacent Peacocks Tearooms who have a national reputation.  We had a lovely lunch and were joined by Emma who had been delayed but finally made it in time for tea and cake,

Yum!  I can still taste that gorgeous chocolate cake!  Everything was served on lovely delicate china and the Tearoom has a big display of teacups.

The difference being that they will actually sell you a teacup if it takes your fancy!  The very pretty yellow cup in the middle at the top left in the company of Emma :o)

Isn't it funny how time flashes by when you are in good company and having a lovely chat?  All too soon it was time to leave to return to projects (Emma), a visit to the cathedral (Jackie) and home via a very tempting shop on Ely station (Wendy and I).  I have to admit to making a postcard each for the girls on a whim yesterday from the scraps from a quilt I'm working on,

and I brought home some lovely gifts and postcards to remind me of a stimulating exhibition

not to mention a piece of rusty something that caught my eye and I just had to pick up! (Can't take me anywhere! lol)

I always enjoy meeting the real people behind my favourite blogs and today was no exception.  Jackie and Emma are both lovely ladies and we had a really enjoyable day.  Wendy is always good company too and I bless blogging for bringing such gifts of friendship into my life.  I'm lucky to have a lovely husband too who not only likes me having these days out but cooks my tea for me when I get back.  I am spoilt!  But I like it! ;o)

Alicia Merrett Workshop and more blogging friends

The Quilt Museum in York currently has a great exhibition on until 3 July (well, 2 actually) and I arranged to go up and see it and to meet up with Sandra who blogs as The Dyer's Hand and a friend of hers, Penny, who I hadn't met before.  Luckily for me Sandra happened to mention that Alicia Merrett was running a workshop in the morning of our planned visit (today).  I contacted the Museum and was delighted to find that there were places available.  I could not believe that a two and a half hour workshop, including admission to the exhibition, was only going to cost me £10!!  If you live within travelling distance of the Quilt Museum it's worth checking out their website for workshops.  Even if you are not an actual quilter you can still acquire very useful skills for textile artwork.  

Our two and a half hours were packed with tuition from Alicia on the theme of ' Fine Line Magic'. Alicia's work includes quilts which look like beautiful aerial maps with suggestions of fields and demarcations. 

These fine curved lines that make up the walls, hedges, rivers etc in her work were the subject of our workshop.  The method for making these lines was surprisingly straightforward although my poor confused brain did struggle just a little as we were working fairly quickly. 

You'll have to excuse the rough edges but this is just a sample but you can see the general idea.  You can see that some of the lines are indeed very fine and narrow and with a little more finesse and thought there are many directions that I can take this technique.  I made a couple more samples and will be carrying on with these pieces to make a larger piece so I'll post about that when I get it done.  

Quite a few years ago, when I was painting regularly, I made a small watercolour painting based on a photograph in National Geographic of an aerial view of an island off the coast of Ireland.

I would love to turn this little painting into a textile piece and hopefully, with Alicia's helpful instructions, I may be able to realise that ambition........but not till I've finished my Festival of Quilts entry!   

After the workshop I met up with Sandra and Penny and had a lovely chat and catch up and then got treated to a demonstration by Alicia to reinforce the morning's workshop.  I also had the chance to look at the Breakthrough exhibition which was truly inspiring.  Similarly to the exhibition at Quiltfest in Wales of one half of the Breakthrough quilts (which had all been made by members of the Contemporary Quilt Group of the Quilters Guild) the quilts were accompanied by samples detailing how the quilts were made. This is such a valuable addition to an exhibition as the structure of a quilt is always fascinating.  Unfortunately the Quilt Museum doesn't allow photographs so I can't show you any details.  However you can see Sandra's Breakthrough quilt here and Tina Slipper's entry here. Cath Stonard had an amazing quilt titled Kisses on Concrete which really grabbed my imagination.  You need to see it close to to appreciate the texture in all the little 'kisses'.  Liz Drake's 'Chesil' caught my eye, as did Mags Ramsey's Bexhill Breakwaters (hope I've got that right). Mags has included a lot of detail on her blog of how she achieved her quilt.  There are so many beautiful quilts in this exhibition so do go and see it if you can.

Ok, enough blogging without pictures!  Look what I received in the post this week

This lovely mixed media postcard is from Emma who blogs as A Little Bit of Everything The postcard is on a paper base and includes fabric, woven ribbon, collage, printing, stamping and stitching.  Emma reaches the big Five-O in June and decided to offer to swap postcards with 50 bloggers.  She has been much quicker off the mark than me and I have to get busy and make my card for her now that I have received her card.  Every time I look at Emma's card I see something new.  It's a lovely card for my collection.  Thank you Emma. :o)

One Bead At A Time

Good Morning!  I should be in the shower but I had to pop in here and tell you about the amazing generosity of Robin Atkins who set up the Bead Journal Project in 2007.  I discovered the BJP that same year but didn't officially join.  However, I worked alongside and it was a major factor in my picking up a needle and starting to sew and consequently starting my journey as a fibre artist.

Robin has decided to make the first book she wrote about beading available free on line and you can download it here.  This hard copy book was reprinted five times so this is a great opportunity to have your own copy and enjoy Robin's beautiful work.  If you go to Robin's blog and leave a comment you have the chance of winning one of the last four bound copies of the book but you have to comment before June 1st.

Have a lovely day!

Unique Cottage Studios

Did you have a good day today?  We had a glorious summer's day here in Lincolnshire and I spent a very pleasant leisurely day at a local craft studios that were having a Sheep Day.  Unique Cottage Studios are in converted farm buildings on the outskirts of Spalding in Lincolnshire and the day was full of all things sheep.  There were demonstrations of felting, spinning, weaving and dyeing and you could try your hand at all these crafts.  In addition a stained glass studio was open for you to make your own sheep in stained glass.  

The day was well attended and the weaving/spinning/felting tent kept busy as did the girls from Expedition Quilt Art group who were demonstrating dyeing wool with acid dyes.  Unfortunately I was so busy talking to  Angela, Tina and Trudi that I forgot to take any photos!  I also didn't manage to photograph Wendy  who very kindly took me in her lovely air-conditioned car and who has blogged about the day too.

 

Obviously, the stars of the day were the sheep, some of whom suffered the indignity of being shorn.  I don't know which breed this handsome specimen is but she has a lovely face.  Some of the fleeces were brought straight across to the dyeing shed for display:

I couldn't help but laugh at the poor fleece above whose origins were unknown.

Memories of the original farmyard were still around in the shape of this gorgeous cockerel.  I absolutley love the cockerel's head!

So, can you guess what this is?  My DH had 6 or 7 goes and still couldn't get it.  It was the sun shining through a beautiful plum coloured dish onto the concrete below.  Amazing what you notice when you're sitting in the sun chatting.

The bonus of going to the Sheep Day is that I am hopefully going to have a go at stained glass and Wendy and I are going to start going to the monthly textile group that meets at the studios.  It consists of spinners, weavers, embroiderers, dyers and quilters, not to mention art quilters so there will be a great chance to exchange ideas and inspiration.  I can't wait!

Have a lovely Sunday whatever you are doing and whatever the weather in your part of the world.