Here are a few of my favourites.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monoprinting
I was able to spend all day to day in a community centre in Manchester at a newly formed local group linked to the Contemporary Quilt Group of the UK Quilters Guild. We played all day at monoprinting. Well, actually most people payed for a couple of hours or so then worked on some sewing they brought but me - not good at stopping! I was having FUN!
Here are a few of my favourites.
If you want to see all the cloth I produced I have put a Flickr set together here of all the dry ones ( the last ones got carried home wet in layers of bin bags and are still drying upstairs. Now I have to make something with them. I already have an idea......
Here are a few of my favourites.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Blind up. Quilt up
The title and the photo say it all.
Save that Dennis wishes you all to notice that today he chose bananas in a perfect state of ripeness to match the tones of the quilt for the photo.
Oh and to say that today I am the featured artist on the Lark blog - the are doing features on the Twelve by Twelve group in the run up to our official book realease date.
Oh and to say that today I am the featured artist on the Lark blog - the are doing features on the Twelve by Twelve group in the run up to our official book realease date.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Kitchen quilt
I finished another little quilt tonight. This one is destined for my kitchen wall - I'll show you it in situ when its hung which will be after my pelmet and blind are fitted this coming week. It measures 14 by 14.5 inches.
The fabric on the left is commerical but I made the fabric on the right and I am very proud of myself as its the first time I've done anything like it. I quilted the pattern, and rubbed some silver oil pastel into some of the lines. Then I made freezer paper stencils and overlapped green markal stenciling, rotating and altering the stencils as I went. then I did the same thing with silver metal leaf. Then I hand stitched a similar set of symbols.
Ironically it is inspired by my latest Twelve by Twelve quilt but I can't show you that until my reveal on 1st March!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Journal Quilt
This year I signed up for the Journal quilt project run by the Contemporary Quilt group which is part of the UK Quilters Guild. It started this month and the first four 10 inch square quilts must contain a circle. This is my first one:
Despite my experience of working with square quilt in the Twelve by Twelve project and despite very careful measuring it measures 9 3/4 inches square. Sigh. I don't suppose anyone will shoot me for it. The wonky botton edge is far more to do with my cropping on Photoshop skills than my quiting skills. (And my lasziness in not correcting it). I wanted to experiment with some surface design. the copper is Jaquard paint, the sliver is a metal leaf which has actually dried a little scrubby - I shall probably give it a second coat. The greens are Inktense pencils.
Talking fof Twelve by Twelve - my copies of our book arrived yesterday:
I understand that Amazaon.com and Barnes and Nobel are shipping it already in the States. Amazon.co.uk are still on pre-order ... but why not place an order now so you get a nice suprise like I did?
Dennis was excited to see that he got a credit for the photography he did for the book.
PS Did you notice our kitchen walls have been painted now? Thanks Mum and Dad :) I think I spent about £35 on tester pots trying to find the sage colour that was already in my head. No luck. In the end we mixed, on an easy 1:1 ratio, the two Farrow and Ball paints we used in the dining room and sun lounge- exactly what I wanted.
Talking fof Twelve by Twelve - my copies of our book arrived yesterday:
Dennis was excited to see that he got a credit for the photography he did for the book.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Olympics 2012
Today the athletics schedule and pricing came out for the London olympics. I am the least sporty person going in terms of participation but I love to watch athletics. We have been toying with the idea of getting good tickets ( for who wants to be at the back of the wrong side of the stadium for the 100 m?) for the whole tournament and making the olympics our summer holiday. Much as we did for the athletics and rugby at the Manchester commonwealth games.
Then today I found out that the best seats for the whole of the tournament would cost us £11,550 for ticket alone plus accommodation.
Are they having a laugh?
I shall be watching ( with close ups, replays and helpful commentary and no travel problems ) from my sofa for free.
Who exactly are they marketing to? Oil sheiks?
Then today I found out that the best seats for the whole of the tournament would cost us £11,550 for ticket alone plus accommodation.
Are they having a laugh?
I shall be watching ( with close ups, replays and helpful commentary and no travel problems ) from my sofa for free.
Who exactly are they marketing to? Oil sheiks?
Quiltfest 2011
On Sunday Dennis and I drove to Llangollen. I went to meet up with Magie Relph, to divest myself of money in exchange for more of her African baskets, to discuss future kits and to see the quilts at Quiltfest. Dennis went so that he could drive and I would not kill myself or other road users when I fell asleep most of the way back home. I was ill last year and missed the show, which, because of renovations to the usual venue was split betwene three buildings. that arrangement was retained this year and personally I found it a great shame.
The first display was in the Pavillion where the famous Eisteddfod takes place and where the traders were. I don't wish to disparage the quilts of others but the fact that I have no photos to show you perhaps itself illustrated best what I thought of the quality of that show. We then had to trapse in cold rain to the museum where some very good quilts based on the theme of trees were displayed in an upstairs gallery. It was very hard to stand back from the quilts and see how the details played from further away.
I thought the premise of this exhibition was fascinating though. they quilts came in pairs. One was made entirely by an individual. The other was collaborative being started to the same inspiration source by the same individual then passed through the hands of three others before being finished by the originator. The 'intervening' members often did rather drastic things to the part work they received but on the whole it worked very well. I was interested to note that it was often not apparent before I read the accompanying notes which was the individual piece and which the group one.
As I bought a photography permit I can show you an example set with the explanation and artist credits: Posting these information sheets was a great addition to the display.
The first display was in the Pavillion where the famous Eisteddfod takes place and where the traders were. I don't wish to disparage the quilts of others but the fact that I have no photos to show you perhaps itself illustrated best what I thought of the quality of that show. We then had to trapse in cold rain to the museum where some very good quilts based on the theme of trees were displayed in an upstairs gallery. It was very hard to stand back from the quilts and see how the details played from further away.
From there we had to go another half mile or so in more cold rain to Plas Newyd where an excellent exhibition was displayed in a very small space with some quilts almost at ground level because of the shape of the room. As you can see it got very crowded and I did feel that the artists were not given the opportunity to show their work off to the best effect. It was hard to stand and really take in the work because you felt that you had to move aside quickly for others to see.
As I bought a photography permit I can show you an example set with the explanation and artist credits: Posting these information sheets was a great addition to the display.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
First room complete!
Yeah!!!! One room in my house is actually complete. Well, I'd like a picture on the wall and the lamp shade on the table lamp is temporary, but for such minor details how can one resist blog-celebrating?
Of course it is the least necessary room in the whole house - my dressng room:
And the paint is on the walls downstairs. I ignored all your advice (but thank you for it anyway) and went with the recommendation of Best Quilting Buddy who knows best, having slept in the rooms concerned. She recommended placing the the darkest colour on the two window walls and the small wall in the dining room backing onto the kitchen and she was dead right.
Its hard to photograph the colours accurately, but we went with Farrow and Ball Green Blue ( or it might be called Blue Green, I forget) in the lounge with Pavillion Grey in the alcoves. The carpet ('Silverstone') was laid today.
In the dining room and sun lounge we went with Ringwold Ground and Lichen which I absolutely love. It is perfect and a touch darker and earthier than the dreadful lightbulbs we inherited make it look in this photo. And in fact, despite deciding not to go for two shades of green, when the sun is shining in, the sun lounge looks lighter than the dining room which is what I wanted to achieve anyway.
We had a slight wobble when the lounge was first painted as the colours looked slightly different to me and I was disappointed. It transpired that when the decorator said he would get us the Farrow and Ball paint we chose trade, he actually meant he (and all of his decorator freinds who he rang) had never heard of Farrow and Ball, didn't know that it was a traditional paint company with no acrylics which gives a better depth and chalkier, longer lasting finish and that he would take our paint chart have it scanned and buy a close match in trade standard Crown Paint.
It was in fact an interesting experiment because it confirmed that the use of a company like Farrow and Ball is not just a middle-class affectation but really does produce a different result from the standard DIY store paint. And that scanning a colour gives a very close but not exact match. The grey in particular was very, very close but to my eye had a taupe undertone compared with the blue undertone of the F&B paint. The decorator redid the lounge and was duly educated!
Of course it is the least necessary room in the whole house - my dressng room:
Its hard to photograph the colours accurately, but we went with Farrow and Ball Green Blue ( or it might be called Blue Green, I forget) in the lounge with Pavillion Grey in the alcoves. The carpet ('Silverstone') was laid today.
It was in fact an interesting experiment because it confirmed that the use of a company like Farrow and Ball is not just a middle-class affectation but really does produce a different result from the standard DIY store paint. And that scanning a colour gives a very close but not exact match. The grey in particular was very, very close but to my eye had a taupe undertone compared with the blue undertone of the F&B paint. The decorator redid the lounge and was duly educated!
Ineptitude
It should have been so simple. The carpet for the lounge was fitted today and furniture is arriving Thursday and Friday. So last night we decided to watch TV and just before bed to take the old 3 piece suite out to the garage to store it, because Best Quilting Buddy has kindly agreed to assist by getting a van and is coming in a few weeks to take it off my hands. All we had to do was take the furniture through wide double doors into the front end of the hall, through the porch and into the garage next to the porch. The exact route the furniture came in by.
Only, to do the turn between lounge and porch it is actually necessary to take the sofa backwards into the hall straighten it up then come out straight into the porch because the angle between lounge and porch is too acute a turn. No problem. Big double doors make that a breeze. Or it would have been had we not earlier temporarily placed a bookcase full of heavy tomes about Churchillian history and Aboriginal woven baskets right where we now needed the sofa to go. So, we set to and removed all the books to the nearest resting place, which was the stairs, hefted the book case backwards, and swung the sofa into the hall. Now its a straight run out of the door.
Only, will it go it that way? Will it heckers like. ( The TV, which by this time was a good 30 minutes earlier, was the Pete Postethwaite film Brassed Off ,so excuse me if I come over all Yorkshire in this post). After about thirty minutes of huffing and puffing and 'up your end ,no up your end -ing' we concede defeat. The ***** thing is wedged in the porch door frame.
OK. Lets not be Bears of Little Brain. It came in, it will go out. I stand and think. I measure. I mentally tilt it and rotate it. I kick it and tell it to move. Nope. Fine. So the removers are clever little people and we are sadly inept idiots. No problem. There are large patio doors to the rear of the living rooms and a wide side access. We'll just go the long way around. So we push and huff and puff some more and get it unwedged and carry it into the lounge and through the dining room to the patio doors in the sun lounge (Note to BQB: undamaged. Do not worry).
We go outside in the pitch black, because we are waiting for the electrician to fit the oustide light in the side access area and find that we cannot open one of the double gates because the cotton brained previous owner thought it would be a good idea to build a brick base for the rain water butt right in front of one of them. Dennis votes for going to bed and asking the carpet fitters to help. Oh no. I am not going to be defeated now. I am Woman.
I get the wind up torch, two kitchen bowls and start to drain the butt through the tap at the base of the butt into one bowl and scoop from the top wth the other, letting the water run free momentarily free inbetween moving the bowl from under the tap and putting it back, having sloshed it's contents down the drain because Cottton Brain did not build the tap over the drain, did he? Twenty five minutes later and a lot of sloshing of cold rain water later, the butt can be moved.
Now all I have to do is demolish the brick base. For once I am glad about the prevous owner's shoddy workmanship becuase it is easily pulled apart and the gate is opened. Now, we have to carry the furniture all the way around. Only we will need to rest because its now way past midnight and we have weak and tired muscles. But we can't set the furniture down in the said access because its all wet from the sloshing and BQB will not thank me for wet furniture. So I go to get towels to give us little rest points. Only the towels are upstairs and the stairs are now completely covered with books. So we then have to move the bookcase back refill it to get the towels.
We heft and puff some more and - look. All stored. It only took an hour and a half.
And I still can't work out how they got it through the front door. Or indeed in and out of the same sized door at our previous house. As I say. Inept.
Only, to do the turn between lounge and porch it is actually necessary to take the sofa backwards into the hall straighten it up then come out straight into the porch because the angle between lounge and porch is too acute a turn. No problem. Big double doors make that a breeze. Or it would have been had we not earlier temporarily placed a bookcase full of heavy tomes about Churchillian history and Aboriginal woven baskets right where we now needed the sofa to go. So, we set to and removed all the books to the nearest resting place, which was the stairs, hefted the book case backwards, and swung the sofa into the hall. Now its a straight run out of the door.
Only, will it go it that way? Will it heckers like. ( The TV, which by this time was a good 30 minutes earlier, was the Pete Postethwaite film Brassed Off ,so excuse me if I come over all Yorkshire in this post). After about thirty minutes of huffing and puffing and 'up your end ,no up your end -ing' we concede defeat. The ***** thing is wedged in the porch door frame.
OK. Lets not be Bears of Little Brain. It came in, it will go out. I stand and think. I measure. I mentally tilt it and rotate it. I kick it and tell it to move. Nope. Fine. So the removers are clever little people and we are sadly inept idiots. No problem. There are large patio doors to the rear of the living rooms and a wide side access. We'll just go the long way around. So we push and huff and puff some more and get it unwedged and carry it into the lounge and through the dining room to the patio doors in the sun lounge (Note to BQB: undamaged. Do not worry).
We go outside in the pitch black, because we are waiting for the electrician to fit the oustide light in the side access area and find that we cannot open one of the double gates because the cotton brained previous owner thought it would be a good idea to build a brick base for the rain water butt right in front of one of them. Dennis votes for going to bed and asking the carpet fitters to help. Oh no. I am not going to be defeated now. I am Woman.
I get the wind up torch, two kitchen bowls and start to drain the butt through the tap at the base of the butt into one bowl and scoop from the top wth the other, letting the water run free momentarily free inbetween moving the bowl from under the tap and putting it back, having sloshed it's contents down the drain because Cottton Brain did not build the tap over the drain, did he? Twenty five minutes later and a lot of sloshing of cold rain water later, the butt can be moved.
Now all I have to do is demolish the brick base. For once I am glad about the prevous owner's shoddy workmanship becuase it is easily pulled apart and the gate is opened. Now, we have to carry the furniture all the way around. Only we will need to rest because its now way past midnight and we have weak and tired muscles. But we can't set the furniture down in the said access because its all wet from the sloshing and BQB will not thank me for wet furniture. So I go to get towels to give us little rest points. Only the towels are upstairs and the stairs are now completely covered with books. So we then have to move the bookcase back refill it to get the towels.
We heft and puff some more and - look. All stored. It only took an hour and a half.
And I still can't work out how they got it through the front door. Or indeed in and out of the same sized door at our previous house. As I say. Inept.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Just over two hours left
Just a final reminder that you have a touch over two hours from the time of this post to get your final bid in for my Woomba Woomba quilt. I close at 12 midnight Australian time.
Bid by leaving a comment here
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Interactive House - Help needed
Who would like to help me decorate my house?
By which I mean, who would like to help me decide which walls to put which paints on so that a man can come and do the actual work?
If you want to play you might like first of get hold of the relevant paint chart. I know colours will look different on each screen ( they are vastly different between my home and work laptops and different again when I painted with tester pots) but at least you will get the idea of how one paint relates to the other.
Then here are the rooms. In the photo above I am standing my pation doors in teh 'sun lounge' looking into the dining roon and to the doors leading to the lounge.
This one looks the otherway
And this one looks slightly sideways so you can see how the kitchen flows off the dining room
Also, over the sofa which is temporarily plonked in the sun room there is a large window.
So, we are more of less picked for paints.I am still debating a couple of close choices between brands but for your purposes and advice you need only consider Four Farrow and Ball Paints from the above chart : Green Blue, Lichen , Pavillion Grey and Ringwold Ground. On my screen the latter looks very pink but it is not in real life - it is creamy.
The idea is to make the lounge, dining and sun lounge work as three distinct rooms but also to make them all flow together if the room is opened out.
We have chosen to use the Green Blue on all the lounge walls save for two big alcoves by the chinmey breast which will be Pavillion Grey. We have chosen a plain teal fabric for curtsians and an off white and silver blue suite and light grey carpet. The kitchen will either be in lichen or another brand similar but very slightly lighter. It is cream with black tiles.
So my question is - which of the following three options for the sun/ dining rooms would you choose:
(a) paint the dark colurs on the arches and the light on the long walls. (I.e Green blue on the wall leading dining room to sun room then lichen on the arch and pation door wall, ringwold everywhere esle
or
(b) reverse that ( i.e) paint the arch, the diningroom to lounge door wall and pation door wall and the wall with the window and adjoining the kitchen ringwold and the two long solid walls (in the top photo the one with the brush propped up against it and the one next to it with the paint samples on) Lichen.
or
(c) none of the above - please specify.
In terms of furniture, it is all an ash that looks very much like light oak and there will be a sideboard on the dining room long wall and a sofa and lamp table on the sun lounge long wall. under the window lamp table and two swivel chairs, nothing on the wall by the kitchen, and on the left of the door going to the lounge a tall display china cabinet.
Opinions quick please- I have to choose at 8.30 on Monday morning.
By which I mean, who would like to help me decide which walls to put which paints on so that a man can come and do the actual work?
If you want to play you might like first of get hold of the relevant paint chart. I know colours will look different on each screen ( they are vastly different between my home and work laptops and different again when I painted with tester pots) but at least you will get the idea of how one paint relates to the other.
And this one looks slightly sideways so you can see how the kitchen flows off the dining room
So, we are more of less picked for paints.I am still debating a couple of close choices between brands but for your purposes and advice you need only consider Four Farrow and Ball Paints from the above chart : Green Blue, Lichen , Pavillion Grey and Ringwold Ground. On my screen the latter looks very pink but it is not in real life - it is creamy.
The idea is to make the lounge, dining and sun lounge work as three distinct rooms but also to make them all flow together if the room is opened out.
We have chosen to use the Green Blue on all the lounge walls save for two big alcoves by the chinmey breast which will be Pavillion Grey. We have chosen a plain teal fabric for curtsians and an off white and silver blue suite and light grey carpet. The kitchen will either be in lichen or another brand similar but very slightly lighter. It is cream with black tiles.
So my question is - which of the following three options for the sun/ dining rooms would you choose:
(a) paint the dark colurs on the arches and the light on the long walls. (I.e Green blue on the wall leading dining room to sun room then lichen on the arch and pation door wall, ringwold everywhere esle
or
(b) reverse that ( i.e) paint the arch, the diningroom to lounge door wall and pation door wall and the wall with the window and adjoining the kitchen ringwold and the two long solid walls (in the top photo the one with the brush propped up against it and the one next to it with the paint samples on) Lichen.
or
(c) none of the above - please specify.
In terms of furniture, it is all an ash that looks very much like light oak and there will be a sideboard on the dining room long wall and a sofa and lamp table on the sun lounge long wall. under the window lamp table and two swivel chairs, nothing on the wall by the kitchen, and on the left of the door going to the lounge a tall display china cabinet.
Opinions quick please- I have to choose at 8.30 on Monday morning.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New Year Goals (or Oh How Life has Changed)- Part Two
This post follows on from New Year Goals (or Oh How Life has Changed)- Part Two. which you may want to read first.
As I said in that post, I was intrigued by Lisa Call's habit of choosing two words to represent her focus for the year. I didn't think I was going to copy her thing but, in my Zen reflection days ( I told you - you need to read the last post if you don't know what I am talking about,) I found two words rising to the fore: nesting and preparation.
Unless you have stumbled on this blog from nowhere just today you will know that I currently live on a building site. In my head it looks like Buckingham Palace only with less Louis XIV bling. But to outsiders? A big pile of dust and workmens tools. Getting it to an abode more fit for the spoiled Princess I am involves shopping ( no hardship but time consuming) and actually making the lap, bed and wall quilts we want to have on the walls. So given I work full time it is unlikely that I am going to both make the shortlist for House Beautiful and say, fully stock an Etsy shop, enter one quilt no older than 12 months in every category at Festival of Quilts in one year, write an quilting article a month, make a quilt based on each room in the Blackburn museum and have them exhibited in the museum, enter quilts in European and US shows attand two residential retreats the other side of the world, and and start to teach. All of which I would sort of like to do. (And yes, in regard to Festival , I know that is a crazy idea. But wouldn't it feel like a real achievement?!)
Hence the nesting. There are I think, a minimum of 24 places in the house for which I would like to create a sewn item ( ranging from bed quilts through wall quilts to coffee table runners). Now do you see why entering every category at Festival sounds achievable? Of course I could fling together some log cabins and the like and I could do all that fairly quickly. But I don't want ('I don't WANT said the Princess, stomping her feet') to spoil my beautiful new house by slapping fabric down and calling it art. Or even slapping fabric down and calling it a liberated log cabin. I want to make stuff that gives me satisfaction so I feel it is enough of an achievement and good enough quality for me to want to live with it. Although, I like liberated log cabins and they relax me to make them so there might be some of that whilst I cogitate on my next Great Work of Art. Ok. My First Great Work of Art.
Which is kind of how the Preparation part links in. For so long as I have to spend a good time of myweekend precious quilting time choosing taps and admiring the tile grouting, I am not going to be producing as much as I will when my new, shiny, fit-for-a-Princess studio is ready. And what time I have should go mostly to 'nesting quilts'. But I will not be able to keep myself from other exciting possibilties. And why should I? After all I do this for fun, not to challenge Bobby Sands in the self-denial stakes. So this year is also about preparation for when I have time to do more. I have visions of quilts in my head that I know I do not yet have the skills to actually produce. So I choose to start to learn them now. I choose spend time on small projects in preparation of making larger ones later. I shall start to record ideas and sketches to come back to later. I shall set myself up to get better.
In my last post I talked about making choices not goals and about preserving the feelling of balance and relaxation I have finally achieved in life in general. So I give myself permission to choose to change all of what I am telling you as and when I feel like it.
But my starting choices for 2011 are:
* to make house quilts that have meaning to me
* to write up those which are suitable for a magazine pattern/ article
* to make a series of quilt kit patterns as commissioned by Magie Relph
* to continue to participate in the Twelve by Twelve group
* to join in the Journal Quilt Challenge for the UK Quilters Guild Contemporary Quilt Group
* to use the last two as ways to develop new technical knowledge and to breakaway from opting for the easy quick and mediocre and to head towards deeper more meaningful ( to me at least) work
* to keep a sketchbook and basic art kit at work and try to get a few lunchtimes in at the museum for future quilt preparation
* to buy as many quilt books as I like. Its not frivolity. Its education and preparation.
* to keep ( a la Lisa Call - I swear she is not paying me!) I records of the time I spend on tasks to better inform me of what is achievable and what prevents me from achieving what I set out to
* to finish a quilt I started in Lisa Walton's crystalisation class last August and enter it at the Utoxeter Quilt show in April
* to make one quilt to enter at Festival of Quilts (not counting the fact that out Twelve by Twelve quilts will all be there this year)
* do a little dying and screen printing even if I have to wait until summer and do it outside because my wet studio will not exist for a good while yet.
I might choose to actualy keep my website a little more up to date and to go back to the By Design articles I started. But I am not sure about that one yet. Feels suspiciously like work :)
Oh and right now? I choose to sign off and go to bed with a book.
As I said in that post, I was intrigued by Lisa Call's habit of choosing two words to represent her focus for the year. I didn't think I was going to copy her thing but, in my Zen reflection days ( I told you - you need to read the last post if you don't know what I am talking about,) I found two words rising to the fore: nesting and preparation.
Unless you have stumbled on this blog from nowhere just today you will know that I currently live on a building site. In my head it looks like Buckingham Palace only with less Louis XIV bling. But to outsiders? A big pile of dust and workmens tools. Getting it to an abode more fit for the spoiled Princess I am involves shopping ( no hardship but time consuming) and actually making the lap, bed and wall quilts we want to have on the walls. So given I work full time it is unlikely that I am going to both make the shortlist for House Beautiful and say, fully stock an Etsy shop, enter one quilt no older than 12 months in every category at Festival of Quilts in one year, write an quilting article a month, make a quilt based on each room in the Blackburn museum and have them exhibited in the museum, enter quilts in European and US shows attand two residential retreats the other side of the world, and and start to teach. All of which I would sort of like to do. (And yes, in regard to Festival , I know that is a crazy idea. But wouldn't it feel like a real achievement?!)
Hence the nesting. There are I think, a minimum of 24 places in the house for which I would like to create a sewn item ( ranging from bed quilts through wall quilts to coffee table runners). Now do you see why entering every category at Festival sounds achievable? Of course I could fling together some log cabins and the like and I could do all that fairly quickly. But I don't want ('I don't WANT said the Princess, stomping her feet') to spoil my beautiful new house by slapping fabric down and calling it art. Or even slapping fabric down and calling it a liberated log cabin. I want to make stuff that gives me satisfaction so I feel it is enough of an achievement and good enough quality for me to want to live with it. Although, I like liberated log cabins and they relax me to make them so there might be some of that whilst I cogitate on my next Great Work of Art. Ok. My First Great Work of Art.
Which is kind of how the Preparation part links in. For so long as I have to spend a good time of my
In my last post I talked about making choices not goals and about preserving the feelling of balance and relaxation I have finally achieved in life in general. So I give myself permission to choose to change all of what I am telling you as and when I feel like it.
But my starting choices for 2011 are:
* to make house quilts that have meaning to me
* to write up those which are suitable for a magazine pattern/ article
* to make a series of quilt kit patterns as commissioned by Magie Relph
* to continue to participate in the Twelve by Twelve group
* to join in the Journal Quilt Challenge for the UK Quilters Guild Contemporary Quilt Group
* to use the last two as ways to develop new technical knowledge and to breakaway from opting for the easy quick and mediocre and to head towards deeper more meaningful ( to me at least) work
* to keep a sketchbook and basic art kit at work and try to get a few lunchtimes in at the museum for future quilt preparation
* to buy as many quilt books as I like. Its not frivolity. Its education and preparation.
* to keep ( a la Lisa Call - I swear she is not paying me!) I records of the time I spend on tasks to better inform me of what is achievable and what prevents me from achieving what I set out to
* to finish a quilt I started in Lisa Walton's crystalisation class last August and enter it at the Utoxeter Quilt show in April
* to make one quilt to enter at Festival of Quilts (not counting the fact that out Twelve by Twelve quilts will all be there this year)
* do a little dying and screen printing even if I have to wait until summer and do it outside because my wet studio will not exist for a good while yet.
I might choose to actualy keep my website a little more up to date and to go back to the By Design articles I started. But I am not sure about that one yet. Feels suspiciously like work :)
Oh and right now? I choose to sign off and go to bed with a book.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
New Year Goals (or Oh How Life has Changed)- Part One
I have been using keeping my Queensland Flood Quilt Auction at the top of my blog as an excuse for not posting recently. But really it was because I wanted to do a New Years post and got stuck in a debate in my head : ( put the kettle on at this point- you might need it).
To go out of order, part of the debate ended up being did I want to post my nineteen days worth of musings for the world to read at all? Not that they are particularly secret or personal but because I fear thaye are boring. But I decided I did want to, because I have gained so much inspiration from other people's musings I thought there was the odd chance that it would help someone else. And hey, if I am boring you, go do something better. No offense taken I promise you. As long as you come back another day to see if I am being more interesting.
I have long had a New Years habit of getting out my journals from previous years and looking at my New Years entries to give me a sense of what I was concerned about then, how life has changed, what I wanted to achieve and what I actually have achieved. I then write a new journal entry for the next year. This included personal goals and tasks but also lots of professional ones. Indeed, back when I was a self-employed barrister life was all about goals and self-set targets. It was up to me to find much of my lecturing and writing work and my executive looking leather filofax bulged with plans, targets and to do lists. I needed a system to keep track of multiple clients, deadlines, up to four different sets of travel bookings a week, tax and VAT records and personal tasks. I have to say, I was pretty efficient at it.
And pretty done in by it.
If you look at my journals for 2005 - which of course I am not going to actually let you do :) - it is all desperate scribbles about finding balance and debating whether financially I could afford to only take bookings four days a week and keep one for admin. Eventually I did this and, whilst the filofax stayed the same, the journals became less frantic. With the caveat of keeping balance then, I'd say that the lifeplanning standard advice to set short and longterm life goals and keep then under review probably played a very large part in me being where I am now in my professional life and a vital part in my never finding myself in Cardiff when I should be in Leeds. ( I am aware that any lifestyle in which that is real and ever present danger is probably not all that normal).
Then, in November 2009 I left work, set off to travel the world for three months, took another month off at home and started an employed job. The job itself is demanding but in an entirely different way. My work lists are presented to me. I have hardly any tax records to do. My travel arrangements now consist not of booking multiple trains, flights and hotels a week, but of remembering to fill the car with petrol now and again.(And thats not hard because the sweets I keep in the armrest usually need replenishing at about the same time). The filofax was replaced by a hardly used diary with pictures of Aboriginal art for 2010 which so far has not been replaced at all. So lots more time for quilting, making setting art making goals easy. One would think.....
In fact, when I looked for last years Goals, there were none. There was a vague New Years entry in my travel journals but none of the life planning of prevous years. There was a picture of the secluded beach in Tasmania where I stood on the sand on New Years Day and realised that for the first time in many many months it was not going to matter today if I dropped a ball because there were none I had to keep in the air that day. So I kind of had a clean start to start again setting different kinds of goals and plans. I feel no compulsion or need to do that at all for my professional life this year but I do see my 'arriving' in that area as the opportunity to fully develop my artistic life.
In December I discovered Lisa Call's various posts on goals and the debates between not setting goals at all, and the merits of having targets and aims. (She started with the latter, flirted with the former and reverted to the original goal setting.) I was particularly interested in how she chose words for each year to live by. So, on New Years Day I pulled out my pile of journals, put on the Viennese concert and start to write. Or started to think about writing becuase suddenly - not so interested in goals. Did I need them? Was this the stage in my life where finally I could cast all that off and just be?
I decided to just live with that debate for a few days and see what feelings arose. (How very Zen of me!). I noticed that I felt resentful if I thought about scheduling tasks in the studio but quite interested if I thought about words such as 'focus' and 'choices'. I felt very reluctant to make to-do lists (which then created a kind of self-set obligation) or 'goals' which seemed to set up the pressure not to fail. But I felt rather lost without any plan. I like not being stressed. I like having time to relax. I like beeing free to potter. I don't like aimlessness and lack of direction.
So this year I am not making Resolutions. I am not setting goals or targets. But I am going to make some good choices. Choices that are about filtering out what I do not have time to do despite me really liking the idea of them. Choices that keep me relaxed and chilled but also enthused and enriched. I am going to focus on studio tasks that givem me real not part statisfaction.
And what are those choices you ask?
Ah, well, I shall tell you, but I think that's for another post don't you?
To go out of order, part of the debate ended up being did I want to post my nineteen days worth of musings for the world to read at all? Not that they are particularly secret or personal but because I fear thaye are boring. But I decided I did want to, because I have gained so much inspiration from other people's musings I thought there was the odd chance that it would help someone else. And hey, if I am boring you, go do something better. No offense taken I promise you. As long as you come back another day to see if I am being more interesting.
I have long had a New Years habit of getting out my journals from previous years and looking at my New Years entries to give me a sense of what I was concerned about then, how life has changed, what I wanted to achieve and what I actually have achieved. I then write a new journal entry for the next year. This included personal goals and tasks but also lots of professional ones. Indeed, back when I was a self-employed barrister life was all about goals and self-set targets. It was up to me to find much of my lecturing and writing work and my executive looking leather filofax bulged with plans, targets and to do lists. I needed a system to keep track of multiple clients, deadlines, up to four different sets of travel bookings a week, tax and VAT records and personal tasks. I have to say, I was pretty efficient at it.
And pretty done in by it.
If you look at my journals for 2005 - which of course I am not going to actually let you do :) - it is all desperate scribbles about finding balance and debating whether financially I could afford to only take bookings four days a week and keep one for admin. Eventually I did this and, whilst the filofax stayed the same, the journals became less frantic. With the caveat of keeping balance then, I'd say that the lifeplanning standard advice to set short and longterm life goals and keep then under review probably played a very large part in me being where I am now in my professional life and a vital part in my never finding myself in Cardiff when I should be in Leeds. ( I am aware that any lifestyle in which that is real and ever present danger is probably not all that normal).
Then, in November 2009 I left work, set off to travel the world for three months, took another month off at home and started an employed job. The job itself is demanding but in an entirely different way. My work lists are presented to me. I have hardly any tax records to do. My travel arrangements now consist not of booking multiple trains, flights and hotels a week, but of remembering to fill the car with petrol now and again.(And thats not hard because the sweets I keep in the armrest usually need replenishing at about the same time). The filofax was replaced by a hardly used diary with pictures of Aboriginal art for 2010 which so far has not been replaced at all. So lots more time for quilting, making setting art making goals easy. One would think.....
In fact, when I looked for last years Goals, there were none. There was a vague New Years entry in my travel journals but none of the life planning of prevous years. There was a picture of the secluded beach in Tasmania where I stood on the sand on New Years Day and realised that for the first time in many many months it was not going to matter today if I dropped a ball because there were none I had to keep in the air that day. So I kind of had a clean start to start again setting different kinds of goals and plans. I feel no compulsion or need to do that at all for my professional life this year but I do see my 'arriving' in that area as the opportunity to fully develop my artistic life.
I decided to just live with that debate for a few days and see what feelings arose. (How very Zen of me!). I noticed that I felt resentful if I thought about scheduling tasks in the studio but quite interested if I thought about words such as 'focus' and 'choices'. I felt very reluctant to make to-do lists (which then created a kind of self-set obligation) or 'goals' which seemed to set up the pressure not to fail. But I felt rather lost without any plan. I like not being stressed. I like having time to relax. I like beeing free to potter. I don't like aimlessness and lack of direction.
So this year I am not making Resolutions. I am not setting goals or targets. But I am going to make some good choices. Choices that are about filtering out what I do not have time to do despite me really liking the idea of them. Choices that keep me relaxed and chilled but also enthused and enriched. I am going to focus on studio tasks that givem me real not part statisfaction.
And what are those choices you ask?
Ah, well, I shall tell you, but I think that's for another post don't you?
Circling back
Herewith * the first completed quilt of 2011. Which would be an achievement had the fabric not been bought in the last month of 2009 with a view to immediate use on my return from Australia! I am not all that good with quilt names but (unless you all have better ideas) am contemplating Circling Back for all the memories of quilt shops Down Under it invokes. This is the front.
And this is the back.
And this is the second completed quilt of 2011. A seventeen inch shack quilt which may well bcome a kit in a series of little shacks. I am not sure now about the roof. It is a Shaman (medicine man)'s shack.
I know I have been blog deficient lately so I have some longer more thoughtful posts lined up. In my head that is, not actually posted, but it is ia start!
Finally, Don't forget to visit my Quilt Auction in aid of the Queensland Floods and snag yourself another Aboriginal inspired quilt.
* Herewith is a good word don't you think? Along with aforesaid, thereunto and hitherto mentioned. Do I sound like a lawyer?!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Woomba Woomba
Even with my house in a hopeless state of 'destroy to rennovate' disprepair, I cannot help but realise how much better off we are than the people whose homes hae been flooded in Quuensland. Accordingly I am particpating in the Queensland Flood Appeal auctions to raise money for the relief effort.
This quilt - now named Woomba Woomba (that being one of the names thought to be the original Aboriginal name for Toowoomba, one of the areas so badly affected and meaning Reeds in the Marsh) is for auction. It measures 31 1/2 inches by 49 12 inches and features both machine quilting and hand embroidery together with Aboriginal designed fabrics. It h as a 4 1/2 inch hanging sleeve
(As ths photo was taken in artificial light in a hurry this morning,the colours are more truly represented by the detailed shots) I will ttry to get a better photo up soon.
This is how it all works.
1. Bidding starts at $75 Australian
2. Place your bid by adding a comment here stating how much you are willing to offer to own Woomba Woomba.. Your bid must be greater than the previous bid.
3. All bids must be in whole dollar increments.
4. The auction is open to all and the price will include postage to any address worldwide.(Although I reserve the right to send by surface to a non-european address depnding on the cost).
5. The auction is now open and closes at midnight on the 24th of January 2011 (Sydney, Australian time).
6. I will contact the winner at the conclusion of the auction. The winner must commit to sending their bid to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal and provide an email receipt as evidence of payment. Non-austrailan donors can still donate by credit card using the online payment link or there is also information about how to do an international bank transfer.
7. Once I have evidence of payment Woomba Woomba will be posted to its new owner.
My thanks to Toni Coward for organising this and Brenda Gael Smith for drawing my attention to it with her quilt auction.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Icicles
Dennis took some great pictures of the icicles hanging off our guttering by the bedroom window. I thought he had done it merely to show me the icicles because it was dark when I got home. But no - he did it because he thought the lines were interesting for quilting purposes. Got to love that man!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Virtual Christmas presents for you all
I can't buy you all a real present but I have been shopping to give you a choice of virtual presents that I would love to buy for you and myself as well! They are all under the tree - pick what you like best!
I am sure I will not be the only one to be fascinated by the really interesting baskets forms here by Joe Hogan
If you need wall art and share my love of African items you too will covet a framed print of these fabulous photos from a trip to Mali here or one of these fabulous portrait shots by Laurent Rappa - this one is my favourite - I think you will see why!
If Africa is not your thing, the food or still life photos of stylist Nan Witney would look great in a kitchen.
Or maybe you prefer patchwork on your wall? Or embroidery on paper from the Missouri Bend Studio?
Maybe you prefer ceramics? Try these Beautiful bowls with marks to inspire stitch by Lidia Serra
These ceramics by Catherine Brennan remind me of the ceramics by Pollie and Garry Utley in that they both appear to have textiles imprinted into the clay.
Or for something in a different media how about an altered book by Raymond Papka?
Maybe you have been shopping too and need a bright bag by Yda Walt - I love her street scenes too: a very fresh approach to an old subject.
I found all these things simply by stumbling on a blog by South African artist Robyn Gordon and reading back a few posts and folliwng a few links. I shall be reading more of her blog that is for sure! And maybe in the future funding a space for one of her carvings.
I am sure I will not be the only one to be fascinated by the really interesting baskets forms here by Joe Hogan
If you need wall art and share my love of African items you too will covet a framed print of these fabulous photos from a trip to Mali here or one of these fabulous portrait shots by Laurent Rappa - this one is my favourite - I think you will see why!
If Africa is not your thing, the food or still life photos of stylist Nan Witney would look great in a kitchen.
Or maybe you prefer patchwork on your wall? Or embroidery on paper from the Missouri Bend Studio?
Maybe you prefer ceramics? Try these Beautiful bowls with marks to inspire stitch by Lidia Serra
These ceramics by Catherine Brennan remind me of the ceramics by Pollie and Garry Utley in that they both appear to have textiles imprinted into the clay.
Or for something in a different media how about an altered book by Raymond Papka?
Maybe you have been shopping too and need a bright bag by Yda Walt - I love her street scenes too: a very fresh approach to an old subject.
I found all these things simply by stumbling on a blog by South African artist Robyn Gordon and reading back a few posts and folliwng a few links. I shall be reading more of her blog that is for sure! And maybe in the future funding a space for one of her carvings.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Girl maths 3
Daine wanted to know my response to Terry's question in her comment on my Girl maths posts. Basically - how does Girl Maths help her get an affordable ipad?
This is the response I emailed direct to Terry:
"Ok it works like this:
"Ipads here cost £429.
"Running across the road is free. But if you run across the road you might get hit by a car. In fact you surely will if you choose a freeway. Which will result in serious injuries and will cost you a small fortune in your mysterious USA insurance co-payments and medication obtained by stealth from Canada.
"So I advise you not to run out into a freeway and you thus save enough to buy an ipad.
"Simple.
"If you need extra money to buy kindle books for it advise all the people who would have brought you flowers in the hospital that they should buy amazon gift vouchers instead. But only for half the cost since it is nice to share."
This is the response I emailed direct to Terry:
"Ok it works like this:
"Ipads here cost £429.
"Running across the road is free. But if you run across the road you might get hit by a car. In fact you surely will if you choose a freeway. Which will result in serious injuries and will cost you a small fortune in your mysterious USA insurance co-payments and medication obtained by stealth from Canada.
"So I advise you not to run out into a freeway and you thus save enough to buy an ipad.
"Simple.
"If you need extra money to buy kindle books for it advise all the people who would have brought you flowers in the hospital that they should buy amazon gift vouchers instead. But only for half the cost since it is nice to share."
Cabin fever quilt
Last Wednesday I set off of work, hit black ice and crashed Dennis car ( mine was already in the garage). the car required a new wheel and tire. I missed a cyclist by inches. (No I have no idea what he was doing on a bike in that weather either.) I ended up shaken and wrenched my shoulder and back a little with referred aching into my elbow. But no major injuries. I had a couple of days at home, went in on Friday to find all my colleagues were also off with various ailments and the staff had cancelled almost all of the appointments. So I got a slightly early finish and got home just as the snow was starting.
Overnight 8 inches of snow fell. Essential travel only was the official advice. Well, I had a hair appointment and I graded that as essential so Dennis drive me and it was grim then. Not a wise journey. Then the snow froze and we have ice over the roads. My sister spent the whole weekend at the hospital (she is a nurse) because she came off nights on Saturday morning to find she could not get home. An on foot inspection of local roads this morning, the discovery that the grit bin at the top of the estate is empty and the fact that not one of the local taxi firms were running pretty much ruled out getting to work by either car or train.
So, a snow day. It started thus:
I dressed and made fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast and washed up. I made two calls to work to sort the schedules out. I took a call from the builder to say he could not come and so I then put all the furniture in the lounge back where it belonged and took the dust sheets off. I made two onion and rosemary foccacia and washed up.
I received two phone calls from work to deal with specific cases. I made red lentil and chickpea soup and washed up. I marinated the fish for todays tea and - yes you got it- I washed that stuff up too. I looked at the clock. It was only 10.25. Really - what do stay at home childless wives do all day??? Dennis had to stop me baking because we haven't eaten the mocha cake, Christmas cookies and loaf of bread I made yesterday yet. And, I may have mentioned this once or twice, but I don't even have a sewing machine to make the most of this time!
So I was pretty, much pacing the house fired with guilt at being (more or less)healthy but home and with unresolved creativity, when one of my colleagues rang to say that he was only at work because he happens to live right on a gritted bus route, that many other people were not getting in and that he would really rather I didn't even try.He had taken an executive decision that things were not going to get better by tomorrow and he had cancelled my work for then too. Just then a very sturdily shod and somewhat blue looking postman slid down the drive bearing not just Fibre Arts but Studios magazine. Suddenly I felt so much better - permission and reading matter!
Of course I didn't ger very far reading before the inspiration and need to create took over. I cannot machine sew my existing projects but I can fuse ready for when my new machine arrives as and when the van can get here. Then I thought I could maybe hand blanket stitch. And hang it - I might as well hand piece. Which is how this little quilt top came to be almost, but obviously not quite, finished. The red shape is the Adinkire symbol for creativity. I know its not exactly high art but I thought it would be something to stick up on my temporary studio wall. And it will - as all tops do - look better finished and embellished. It is about 26 x 24 inches.
It is only after I emerged from 'down the well' that I realised I had sewed so much my shoulder was bad again. But I still had fun.
Overnight 8 inches of snow fell. Essential travel only was the official advice. Well, I had a hair appointment and I graded that as essential so Dennis drive me and it was grim then. Not a wise journey. Then the snow froze and we have ice over the roads. My sister spent the whole weekend at the hospital (she is a nurse) because she came off nights on Saturday morning to find she could not get home. An on foot inspection of local roads this morning, the discovery that the grit bin at the top of the estate is empty and the fact that not one of the local taxi firms were running pretty much ruled out getting to work by either car or train.
I dressed and made fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast and washed up. I made two calls to work to sort the schedules out. I took a call from the builder to say he could not come and so I then put all the furniture in the lounge back where it belonged and took the dust sheets off. I made two onion and rosemary foccacia and washed up.
I received two phone calls from work to deal with specific cases. I made red lentil and chickpea soup and washed up. I marinated the fish for todays tea and - yes you got it- I washed that stuff up too. I looked at the clock. It was only 10.25. Really - what do stay at home childless wives do all day??? Dennis had to stop me baking because we haven't eaten the mocha cake, Christmas cookies and loaf of bread I made yesterday yet. And, I may have mentioned this once or twice, but I don't even have a sewing machine to make the most of this time!
So I was pretty, much pacing the house fired with guilt at being (more or less)healthy but home and with unresolved creativity, when one of my colleagues rang to say that he was only at work because he happens to live right on a gritted bus route, that many other people were not getting in and that he would really rather I didn't even try.He had taken an executive decision that things were not going to get better by tomorrow and he had cancelled my work for then too. Just then a very sturdily shod and somewhat blue looking postman slid down the drive bearing not just Fibre Arts but Studios magazine. Suddenly I felt so much better - permission and reading matter!
Of course I didn't ger very far reading before the inspiration and need to create took over. I cannot machine sew my existing projects but I can fuse ready for when my new machine arrives as and when the van can get here. Then I thought I could maybe hand blanket stitch. And hang it - I might as well hand piece. Which is how this little quilt top came to be almost, but obviously not quite, finished. The red shape is the Adinkire symbol for creativity. I know its not exactly high art but I thought it would be something to stick up on my temporary studio wall. And it will - as all tops do - look better finished and embellished. It is about 26 x 24 inches.
It is only after I emerged from 'down the well' that I realised I had sewed so much my shoulder was bad again. But I still had fun.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Girl maths Part 2
This post will make no sense until you read Girl Maths Part One but for those of you who have, could I just apologise - I have made some basic errors in my previous calculations.
Dennis says I can 'magic money'. Since I posted I started to wrap Christmas presents and realised that I had, in error, ordered two of an item from Amazon. The money I get back when I return it less postage? £11.28. So now I am only pence short. And that was when I suddenly realised.
I made a very, very small income from quilting this year. Tiny. But still taxable as self -employed income. Which means I can tax deduct the machine as a cost of my business and set the cost off against not only my quilting income but my other taxable income, which reduces the cost by £199. Before its starts paying for itself.
Oh and I have now found a shop selling it for the same price but with a special offer kit with free feet and extension table (which I always use on my existing machine). £99 worth of stuff for free. And free next day delivery still guaranteed to my area despite weather.
And I paid with my cash back credit card which gives me 1% of the price back.
Forget the coalition. Vote me for Prime Minister. I'll get rid of the deficit in no time.
Dennis says I can 'magic money'. Since I posted I started to wrap Christmas presents and realised that I had, in error, ordered two of an item from Amazon. The money I get back when I return it less postage? £11.28. So now I am only pence short. And that was when I suddenly realised.
I made a very, very small income from quilting this year. Tiny. But still taxable as self -employed income. Which means I can tax deduct the machine as a cost of my business and set the cost off against not only my quilting income but my other taxable income, which reduces the cost by £199. Before its starts paying for itself.
Oh and I have now found a shop selling it for the same price but with a special offer kit with free feet and extension table (which I always use on my existing machine). £99 worth of stuff for free. And free next day delivery still guaranteed to my area despite weather.
And I paid with my cash back credit card which gives me 1% of the price back.
Forget the coalition. Vote me for Prime Minister. I'll get rid of the deficit in no time.
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