Catch Up

Last weekend I attended the Urchfont Manor College open day - I had a couple of my costumes and my texture books on display as part of the two groups I belong to - Textile 21 and MEG. It was an interesting day - there were some fantastic pieces and I came away with some great ideas.

There were a couple of ladies finishing the Historical Heirlooms course this year who live local to the area who asked if we could start up a local group. There are ideas in the planning stage - so if you live close to Devizes, Chippenham or somewhere in between and would be interested in getting together once a month to stitch, chat and share our textile creative ideas please email me - I will let you know when things have been formalised.

A couple of items on display in the Historical Heirlooms exhibition caught my eye --- see below. This tassel was just awesome and look at the rust here.... On a different subject - Look at the Pizza I have just made for myself - it is vegetarian and I used Courgettes (Zucchini) I have grown myself. I am glad that I am 90% vegetarian because of Human kinds insensitivity to animals..... Why - you ask ? Well yesterday I walked into town and discovered that Devizes is holding its annual Food Festival. In the market place there were lots of stands offering cheese, fudge and other delights. There was a farmer displaying --- chicks being born in an incubator - I stood and watched for ages as the tiny might pushed its way out of the shell. Sorry the pic is not too good but you can just see the three chicks and the remaining eggs. What I thought was incredibly insensitive was this - in a van two beautiful piggies - hid in the corner and squealed and in a pen stood this most beautiful cow - lowing (mooing) sadly Sadly ? Yes because they were standing right next to this...... a tent with a local butcher - cooking bacon and (at the back of the photo) demonstrating how his staff cut beef joints!!!! Those poor animals - some would say they know no better but I think they knew what was going on! How Cruel!!!

Today and more of the Urchfont open day

I took today as a day off work, following the Urchfont weekend, with the usual great intention of doing some sort of art work in order to keep the momentum going after the end of the course. Have I done any art work???? Of course NOT. I did look at one side of my 'studio' and thought about the pile of sketchbooks I have from recent courses. Soon this....... became this....... It has taken all day as many of you would understand once you start looking in boxes you can't stop and it becomes a bit exciting to see what other old delights you can dig up. At least now my sketchbooks are easier to get to for when I want to remind myself of a project or continue with one. Back tot he Urchfont open day.... I'm sorry team if you are reading this, I cannot get my camera to upload some of the pictures I took when all the exhibition was up and ready. So I hope these will give you a taste of the works...

Adrianne.... her three poster pieces showed a lovely progression of destruction... Pauline.... had a lovely concertina book for her samples... the next two are both ends of Maggie's stand - her work was so vibrant and the sketchbooks were just fantastic.... Anna ... I'm sorry but the photo of the left side was too dark to upload. Anna had to travel to Urchfont by train so her works were delightfully small. Lots of lovely little books of samples. Next again only one side of Hazel's stand, followed by her awesome bag..

Jane.. is one of our Machine Embroidery students, I think she is definitely no beginner - her work was such fun and so well colour coordinated. The sheep brought a smile to all faces. And finally Molly the other Machine Embroidery student.... As you can see Molly's interpretation of Wootton Basset's old hall has such depth.- all in all a lovely exhibition.

What a GREAT WEEKEND

I have had a brilliant if sad weekend. It was our final weekend of the Historical Heirlooms course, our 'graduation' weekend and the Urchfont Manor Open day. The whole course has been fantastic, inspirational and tremendous fun. Janet Crowther, our tutor said she bet I'd get something up on my blog even before she got home... so Janet here you are!! I know I will have managed as I only live 10 minutes from the college whilst Janet has several hours to drive!!

Anyway THANKS VERY MUCH for everything Janet. I would also like to thank my fellow students: Hazel, Anna, Maggie, Pauline, Adrianne and our two machine embroidery students: Jane and Molly for all being such a wonderful group to work with. We MUST meet up as discussed.

Anyway enough waffle or you'll have the tissues out soon.. let's get some pics up for now - I will be posting more over the next couple of days as I would but for now I'll show you my assessment pieces - not because I am big headed but because some of you have asked and I have sort of kept them secret until now, but firstly the whole group from the left - Jane, Maggie, Anna, Adrianne and Hazel peeking at the back, Pauline, me, Janet and Molly. Next a view of our exhibition from the door as a work in progress yesterday afternoon, the room looked absolutely brilliant and visitors today were very impressed with all the work. A couple of quick views of my 'stand'...

And... finally my two assessment pieces - one you have seen already and here is the rust one based on an 18th century costume - the fabric is all rust dyed - now you know why I have bored you over the last few months with my rusting!!

Must finish here to unpack the rest of the stuff before it rains again. More in the next day or two.

That's it all set for the weekend

This is my last post for a few days - ok so I've not been posting much anyway lately. I am off work tomorrow as I go to college late afternoon. This weekend is our final weekend of the Historical Heirlooms course with Janet Crowther at Urchfont Manor.

This weekend we exhibit our years work and should have a lot of fun (if the weather holds) on Sunday when the college holds it's open day. I hope to take photos, not just of my own work (for my portfolio not for some big headed notion) but of work produced by my student colleagues. As I have a day off work on Monday if I am not too shattered or so inspired that I hide myself away working in the Studio I will post the photos here for you to enjoy.

Of course, I would suggest that if you can, do please come along on Sunday - there will be some fantastic textile work on display and suppliers who will gladly help you spend your money!!

On a final note - if you are reading this post Janet - I would like to say a very big, public, global THANK YOU for this last year - I feel I have learnt a lot both techniques and about my own working, its been a fantastic group and I will miss the atmosphere. Looking forward to taking part in the new group in the autumn though!!

Working Hard !!!!

So what have I been up to? I've not kept you informed for a while. Well I have been busy, busy, busy!! The results of my recent rusting experiments from the May 12th posting..... the fist picture is the fabric that I folded over the top of my lantern... bit disappointing. The second is the table top - this is lovely but I have no idea what I am going to do with it. To answer the first question - what have I been doing and explain why I have been working hard - well I spent 5 days over last weekend helping my daughter with her 'Proposition' module for her degree. She is just finishing her degree in Drama and Theatre Studies and has been specialising more in costuming (I'm so glad she gets that from me !!!). Her inspiration came from the play Wedding on the Eiffel Tower but instead of making a 'theatrical' costume she wanted to prove her skills and really challenge herself so she decided to make a wedding dress - which obviously had to be 'perfect'.
Guess who had to help ??? In fact I think if we worked out the time taken I actually did more work on the final construction - which I guess is how a costume 'designer' would work -they do all the paperwork, drawings, research etc but then get the costume 'makers' (mum) to do the prep - cutting, tacking, ironing and hand stitching - esp the hem!, holding pins when the designer was stabbing the model during fitting, calming designers nerves when she panicked about how to display the dress, helping select the music for the display and even dashing to the local supermarket to buy flowers and making the posy to help finish off the look!!! I am multi-talented!! (but that is what mum's are for!!). I must admit my daughter did do a lot of the machining some of it tricky too!!

I am extremely proud of my daughter's achievement as the dress did look stunning when displayed - modelled by her house-mate Amy in a dark studio with just spot lights highlighting the dress. The tutors, examiners, technical staff and students all came to see it and her main tutor even brought the Dean of the University to see it!! They all suggested that my daughter should make wedding dresses for a career - great idea but I don't think I could cope with any more pressure!!!

I however, would like to make costumes (- perhaps even ball gowns). You have already seen my first assessment piece - the tutu - well here is a teaser of the second assessment piece for the HH course - another 'costume'. Recognise the fabrics? Yes my favourite rusting - lots of it!!! This is definitely a work in progress - I have lost track of the number of times I have pinned and re-pinned the pieces (I have kept a photographic record of each try out). You will have to wait to see this one complete!!Whilst making these two assessment pieces I have done a lot of research into 'recycled and distressed' clothing and I have been inspired with lots of ideas for future 'tutu-esk' garments.

Have a look at Gibbous Fashion, especially the 'Savannah sweetheart skirt' this is very much in 'my' style. Or look at Skull and Bone for distressing!!

Musing over Bonefolder and Art stuff

Thanks to Sharon B (visit her blog by pressing link over her name) I have spent a happy couple of hours browsing The Bonefolder online magazine for Book binders and Book Artists. The link to their site takes you to my favourite article - it is awesome.

Anyway Sharon B started a discussion about Rules or rather No Rules and I just have to add my two penneth! I am a great believer is breaking the rules or following the route of No rules. I would never break serious rules like not wearing a seat belt whilst driving but I would happily break artistic rules. I guess the tutors I have had over the last 16 years or so would agree !!!!! For example when 'the rules' ie C&G rules, say you need to have lots of samples to show how your ideas change - I have always asked WHY - why when in my mind I KNOW what the final piece will be like and my hands, heart and head all say just DO IT. WHY waste time sampling? So I have always just done it!! I appreciate it most when tutors (and I have been really lucky) have allowed me to bend/break these rules.

You see I think it all stems from when I was a child aged 11 - My Art teacher broke the 'rules' of teaching -dictionary definition: the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge by not doing any of those things and telling me I could not draw and should go and do something else. Why should I follow rules???? She didn't - she should have taught me to draw - shared her knowledge and instructed me in the art of holding a pencil or paint brush - my work would have been very different!!!

I'm glad she did what she did though - I still don't work with a pencil - I cannot get my 'head ideas' onto paper but I can work through what is in my head (or at least most of the time - I have had many a creative block over the last couple of years).

No Rules - you can stitch through anything, using any tool to construct whatever is in your head.

Enough I hear you say - What have you been doing artistically recently....... well I am still working on my second HH assessment piece and over this last weekend I think ideas were beginning to form. Also as the weather was so nice I started some more rust dyeing - what more??? Yes more - my HH piece will be made from rust dyed fabrics so watch this space. Anyway here pics of the fabric brewing outside. These were set up on Sunday (bit of an after thought really considering the weather) - I used masking tape to hold a piece of fabric down on our garden table.... Sprinkled with water several times on Sunday and then again today when I got home from work it now looks like. this - difficult to see a change but there is - really I will leave it for a couple more days the other pieces of fabric were wrapped around cans, shears, my scythe and various long nails - I put them in open plastic bags to hold the damp and to help with heat ... and I also wrapped my Moroccan lantern (which has rusted nicely) to see what happens to that too... if my neighbours look into my garden they will think I am mad -but NO - I am a NO RULES person - are there any rules about wrapping garden utensils with fabric soaked in vinegar?? - I think NOT !!

OK- I GIVE IN

Having given a close up pic of my first HH assessment piece as a 'teaser' a couple of blogs ago I have had several requests to see the comple piece. I had wanted to keep it as a surprise for when I blog extensively after our qualifiying exhibition but I give in.... Here it is in all its glory. Am I proud of it??--- YES YES YES - it has given me a lot of inspiration and ideas for future work. Hope you like it too!

Back

I know I have not written for a long time now. I'm honest enough to say I have not felt like keeping in touch! I am now ready to come back.

The boring bit.... Mum... she was transferred to the 'local' hospital The Great Western on 12th March - she was meant to be there just for a day or two!!! She had several UTI's and long spells of major confusion - the hospital were all for sending her to a home as a sufferer of dementure - until I made a major fuss for them to re scan her brain - although she was very very confused, doing and saying some of the strangest of things (v. upsetting) I knew she could not have become demented so fast!! They finally agreed to a scan earlier this week. The result - fluid build up on the brain !!! See I knew it would be something other than a UTI!! She was transferred back to the John Radcliffe Hospital last night and will have surgery today sometime. They hope to put in a shunt (?) some sort of drainage from brain to stomach to naturally remove the fluid. I'm hoping that she comes back a little better. Much as I love her I sure disliked my mother when she was well and I am not prepared to have her hidden away and ignored. I want her back the way she was so I can continue to dislike and disagree with her !!!

Nicer bit ....... my baby was 21 on Thursday 17th April. She is here on the right with her 23 year old brother!!I took her out to dinner and she had a party last night (I was not invited!! THANKFULLY)!! For the last 19 out of her 21 years I have made her a Harriet Hedgehog birthday cake and still had to take one this time! Only to make her laugh instead of using only chocolate buttons for the spines I added about 12 white chocolate buttons - after all when you get this old you do have grey hairs !!! (We did take a photo but it's till on the camera with her so I will show you another day!) Have just spoken to my baby a few minutes ago - she has the worst every headache!!! but she did have a great time!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY my love!

OK the interesting bit (??) Textile art ...... Well I have been working on my first assessment piece for the HH course. I'm not showing you it yet - but here is a close up to tease you!! I have a couple of minor projects on the desk at this time too but I will show you them as soon as I get going!!

It's good to be back and feeling less guilty!!

Exhausted

Thanks for all the kind message of support over the last week or so. I really appreciate knowing I have so many friends out in blog land!

My mum is fine and getting better by the day - she is definitely back to her old sadly unpleasant self! I know she is my mum and I do love her because of that but on the other hand I really dislike her as a person. I am absolutely exhausted, having been trying to work at the day job, going to the hospital every afternoon and working on HH homework!!

I had a great weekend at Urchfont on the HH course weekend. I am now so inspired with my assessment pieces. However I am so exhausted I want to sleep for a week!! Perhaps I should?? :-)

In the post the other morning came a lovely ATC from Helen S - in response to my latest small challenge - it is just delightful - sorry the photo is on its side. This is truly delicate and lush. I have looked at it so many times and each time I notice something different . THANKS HELEN.

TIF February

Sharon B has set the Feb Take it Further challenge . This time the concept is a question. What are old enough to remember? Well I personally don't want to remember that far back - for personal reasons. So I have no option but to work with the colour this time round.

OK - I have several things to do for Feb now:

1. Historical Heirlooms homework and design work for my first assessment piece
2. Preparation for a workshop I have been asked to do on Feb 9th on making postcards.
3. This TIF challenge.

When am I going to get the time to do anything????? HELP

At Home

It's odd but really nice to be at home rather than in the office. I have already had two phone calls from them - one woke me this morning - See you can be indispensable!! I decided to have a few days at home in order to get some art work done for college but as usual I have managed to find many displacement activities instead. I've been tidying up the house again, vacuuming, taking the wardrobe contents to the charity shop, booking a hair cut for this afternoon and now am blog surfing!! May be I will get there later!!

For now I want to say Thanks to Becky for your comment and having read your blog I would also like to point people in the direction of Christine Kane - and the Resolution Revolution here - this is a very interesting concept and really fits in with the mood I am in today. So rather than one word I think I will choose two and they are FOCUS and COURAGE. I won't explain why at this point but I guess most of you can see where they have come from!!

Aussie Jo - to answer your question (As I can't find an email address for you) - HH stands for Historical Heirlooms - the course I am doing at the moment - see previous posts.

Today's mail was a lovely parcel from Myra- it's a shame it did not arrive before Christmas but that's down to the postal service here!. Anyway Myra took part in my rust challenge and has made two lovely usable items - a tissue holder and a keyring charm for me to use daily - the tissues are definitely in use now!! ..... the second part of the parcel had this lovely Christmas stocking with a little pack of bits and bobs inside. I will keep this safe until next Christmas. Now I must switch off the Internet connection - FOCUS !! (before I go to the hairdresser - I have a short while!!).

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing you all a ....... What have I done since 22nd Dec when I last blogged - answer is really NOT A LOT !! I had hoped to go to Germany to visit my son but the cost of the trip turned out to be too great so he came home. His travel is funded by the company he works for. I hope instead to go out there in the spring when hopefully the cost will be lower and days are longer, so I would be able to see more!!

Anyway it was great to have both the young people home for Christmas - my daughter was only able to be here for Christmas Eve and Day as she has managed to find a part time job for the holidays and as a student she needs the money. Presents included a new mobile (cell) phone, as the screen had switched off on my old one, and some lovely clothes. My son left on 29th to visit some friends and I had a chance to visit my daughter to go shopping in the Sales on 30th.

I spent yesterday alone sorting out my wardrobe - it needed a good clear out and I read somewhere that you should tidy up at the end of the year so that you can start the new year clear. I spent the evening alone too but that was fine as I was working on my distressed book which holds my distressing samples for the HH course........It will not close so I may have to think of a fastening when I finish off the cover. Today I am full of flu like symptoms - headache, sore throat, bunged up nose. I think I will try to continue with some HH studies! Research on laptop with TV just muttering to itself in the background as I guess there will be nothing to watch and I would rather TV than radio today.

Lovely post and Historic Heirlooms

I have received another one of the pieces from my rust challenge... This lovely piece of work is by Arlee and is so clever! It is larger than I expected A5 and is a joy to behold! THANKS. Historical Heirlooms - Since getting back from Urchfont I have been too exhausted to do anything. Tonight, however I decided to start unpacking the boxes and I must admit I did have more samples than I had first thought! At the weekend I thought I had done very little work but when you see the rust pile and the first distressed pile you can see I did really do some homework.... Here is the rust pile and here the distressed pile... I have separated out some samples to show you - these now need to be put into my book - which is part completed - it is an old text book distressed ! (Of course) I will show it to you once it is ready for the samples. These photos show two samples - the before and the after. After being either coffee stainrf, attacked with a grater or grilling (or various combinations of all three) - YES Grilling - as in putting under the grill, alongside the bacon!! One sample I grilled rather too much and it ended up in the bin as a pile of black soot - flames and smoke filling the kitchen!!
This last sample is newspaper woven through an old dish cloth which was then grilled. Making my pile of distressed samples has been so much fun I am really looking forward to doing the latest list of homework - and in fact doing some of hte homework from last time that I have not done yet. I am definately re-inspired!