Another Day visiting the Cotswolds

So lucky to be driving to the Cotwolds in the sunshine today, on such a beautiful morning. We drove to Burford to visit Cupcake Cottons, its becoming quite a habit ! Daughter needed some more supplies, and I could not turn down the request to go with her, that would have been so mean.

Its a lovely shop, and there were lots of preparations going on to take  their shop  supplies to the Malvern Quilt Show this week . I am going to visit the Quilt show for the first time this Friday, so hopefully I will see Steph and Jacky  again at the show. Lots going on at the show, so it should be fun.

Patchwork and Annette's Angels

The second quilt using African fabrics has been completed. It  came together quite easily and so I am quite pleased about this, as it has cleared my studio for some newer work I want to get on with. The newer work will have to wait until next week however, as I have quite a busy week ahead of me.

Today, I went along to  the Marlborough Branch of the Embroiderers Guild as  Annette Emms was giving her talk about Gargoyles, Ghosts and Angels. It was lovely to catch up with Annette again and see her latest work with Angels. She has written a workshop for the next edition of Stitch magazine. Cannot wait to see  the article, called Create Heavenly Angels.. see here .

I am busy getting my supplies and teaching materials ready for the Workshop I am teaching in Hampshire on Thursday and have some new ideas as well. Should be fun!

Man of the Match

Well done Pete... Man of the Match as well as beating the RAF 6 - 4. Brilliant!

Cotswold Woollen Weavers

It was a lovely sunny day yesterday for the GWE visit to Cotswold Woollen Weavers. The sun certainly made the Cotswold stone buildings glow, a beautiful sight with the fresh spring greenery of the countryside. We were met by Richard the owner, who gave a short talk about the Cotswold woollen industry and Filkins the village. A good start to our new exhibition theme.

The looms have ceased to work here, but are very much in evidence in the weaving sheds, now mostly a museum. Lots of inspiration available for our design ideas, and members were busy photographing and sketching.

The cloth for sale in the shop is of a wonderful quality and woven in very traditional patterns. Needless to say I did buy a few bits that caught my eye.

  

 I even spotted a smock hanging from the rafters in the museum area, unfortunately I could not get any closer to have a proper look, but if you click on the image ... it will enlarge

We finished the visit by having lunch in the cafe on site.... absolutely delicious.. .especially the scones. What a treat! We then made our way back to our normal meeting place in Cricklade, and were buzzing with ideas. Great time.... and lovely weather.

Today I am busy celebrating the birthday of "him indoors" .... daughter baked a delicious cake.... no photo of cake .. sorry .... we have eaten it all!

Bank Holiday Monday... and more rain!!!

A Bank holiday Monday in England and so naturally enough its raining for most of the day. Found this rather old photo of a family outing to the then "new" Changi airport, and as you can see .... the photo was taken during a short lull in the monsoon rains. Rather relevant to the weather we have been experiencing lately.

 So we decided to break from family traditions and stayed at home all day today. No special holiday outings for us, we did not fancy the prospect of getting soaking wet, even though I fancied checking out the garden centre.

So to console myself, I spent the day working in the studio with the leftover African fabrics. I am really pleased with the results and it is now ready to quilt with the machine. I also managed to tidy up a bit in there, at least I have some space to work again.

Hope it doesn't rain again tomorrow........ as I am going on an outing and would like to be able to take some photos.... so please order some sunshine for me tomorrow. Maybe a sun dance will do the trick?

Ice Hockey

After the birthday party this afternoon at Daughters house, the whole family went down to the ice rink to watch youngest son/brother/uncle play hockey against Cardiff.
Great, entertaining and enthusiastic game played by both teams. However the star of the game for me  was defenseman No 10.... well done Pete... great game.
 It bought back many wonderful memories of the times he played for Great Britain in the under 12's and then under 14's. Of course in those days he also played street hockey for Great Britain as well.  Good to see he still enjoys his ice hockey.

Patchwork hexagons

( hexagon patchwork pin cushion)

This is a pincushion I made from some left over fabrics manufactured by Rose and Hubble. I found them in my stash from dressmaking days, so a real blast from the past. 

These hexagons of course are a very traditional English Patchwork design. It is generally called Grandmothers flower garden. The hexagons are first cut out of thin card, then covered in fabric and the fabric is tacked into place, the edges are then oversewn by hand. A lovely activity when sat in front of the TV.

( view across Lydiard Park from the house)

Or an ideal activity when stewarding exhibitions, my stint of stewarding at Lydiard House was very busy as we had many visitors that day. It was a lovely opportunity to talk to everyone about what we like to do at Great Western Embroiderers, because we have lots of fun as well as being very creative. The local Link magazine attended the Mayors opening of the "Traditions"  Exhibition at Lydiard House and the article is   here ....

GWE are also featured on the BBC website see here which features the national Museum Night in which you will be able to see behind the scenes at Lydiard House at night. GWE and the Traditions exhibition is featured as a highlight.

( daughters finished hexagon cushion)

Thought I would also post a photo of the finished hexagon cushion made by daughter, so lots of activity again this week in the studio. Also her birthday today... so Happy Birthday!!!

Very green drought conditions

This is the wettest drought I have ever experienced.
The rain finally gave way to some sunshine and warmer weather today. The flowers in the garden are doing very well, and I managed to get to the garden centre and buy a few more bedding plants. So if the sun should ever appear again this summer, we will have some colour to enjoy whilst sitting in the garden

Trees and grass are very green and have obviously enjoyed the downpours deluge of rain. It was good to see the sunshine today. Most areas of England are on flood alert, and even here on our hill we have had a flooded road. Rain is due back again this evening and for most of the week.

Stop the closure of Urchfont Manor

Urchfont Manor Adult Education Centre in Wiltshire is closing in September.

 Wiltshire County Council are making a big mistake in undertaking this closure.

 If you agree with me, please fill in their online questionnaire and in the box at the end of the questionnaire, please let them know why they are so so wrong in this decision.
The online questionnaire is available click  --------   here
If you want more information then please google.... Wiltshire Council, adult education questionnaire.

Time for reflection

I had a great time to day at our Losing the Thread exhibition at Bampton Gallery. I spent the day stitching and talking to visitors. I find talking about my work helps me to reflect on my own practice, about what I am doing and why I work in a particular way. It is always a rewarding experience when visitors appreciate some of the hard work and thinking that goes into my work.

A few of the visitors to West Ox Arts gallery today had travelled quite a distance to see the work on display, which was much appreciated. The last day of the exhibition is tomorrow, wonder if there will be many visitors, the weather is supposed to be awful. Its the wettest drought I have ever known.

It feels quite odd that this exhibition is closing, as it has been one of the best we have staged to date and the response from the public has been so positive.

 Now is the time however for me to reflect on the response and take this work further. With all the positive responses to my ideas I cannot wait to get back the studio, I still have the enthusiasm and passion to take this subject matter a lot further. So exciting.



More Patchwork

This is daughters next patchwork project, she has already started the stitching of the hexagons, all by hand. This will be made into a cushion cover for grandsons bedroom. I love the colours they are very masculine. He's a lucky boy.
 I have not had much time for my own work at the moment,but lots of ideas in the notebook. Stewarding the Traditions at  Lydiard exhibition yesterday, gave me the opportunity to think about my work. That was in-between all the visitors to the exhibition.It was really lovely to meet everyone and get some ideas together about m work..

Quilt is finished !

My daughter has spent quite a while making this quilt, and has had to learn a lot of new skills on the way.. however today she managed to finish it.

 My studio has been working overtime this last few weeks with all this activity.

 Needless to say daughter is absolutely thrilled with the quilt and I must say it is beautiful. Well done indeed.

She purchased the fabrics from Cupcake Cottons in Burford--- click here for their blog, Steph and Jacky have been wonderful and the quality of their fabrics is hard to find anywhere else.

Do I get my studio back for my own work?... well no... its being booked again for a hexagon quilt for grandson.

This morning I also managed to service and sort out my Bernina 730 (old green version) that I gave to her ages ago. as it need some oil....... I must say it stitches beautifully and I also showed her how to Free Machine Embroider. This old machine knows how to do it with ease.... it had years of practice with me.

I'm back...... yippeee! Bampton Gallery this Saturday?

I am absolutely thrilled to be back, I have been lost to blogland since my last post.... and the new interface imposed on us all by blogger....and the result was  my blog had no functions. I did ask for help on the Forum..... and basically was ignored.
However I am not one to be beaten by technology. The answer was to use my new computer that I have been ignoring for the last year..... serves me right for being such an old stick in the mud. First try on the new computer and here I am blogging on the new interface.... looks good to me ..... just hope there will be no problems when I try to publish the post.
This new keyboard is a bit strange, so any typing errors , you can blame on the new keyboard.

The reason for using the photo, is I am stewarding and demonstrating at Bampton Gallery again this Saturday (28th April) and it would be lovely to see you there.

Collograph printing

Had a great day in the studio last Saturday when Anna came.

She also bought along her Big Shot machine and we did some collograph printing. I had made a few collographs plates the day before to make sure the glue and varnish was dry. I also put one of my old lino cuts through the Big Shot machine.
Wonderful results as you can see.
The thicker lino would not go through, but the thinner did. I was very pleased.
We also treated ourselves to lunch at the local hostelry, a most enjoyable occasion. Thank You Anna.

A talk to Swindon Antiques Society

Gave a talk to the Swindon Antiques Society yesterday evening at Lydiard House. Sophie the Collections Manager asked if we would. It was really interesting to see the exhibition in the evening artificial light ..... The talk was about the Traditions exhibition we have showing at the moment and how the social traditions of large country houses and our textile response overlaps and enhances the experience for viewers of today. I took along my sketchbooks to help illustrate my ways of thinking and the inspiration I derived from Lydiard House.

For younger viewers to the house, we have made peg dolls in characters of many well known traditional stories and nursery rhymes.... you probably recognise this one as red riding hood. Perched on the four poster bed !!! Where else?

This is my cushion of my interpretation of the colourful flowers in the walled garden ( pleased to say it has sold)

Here is my Blackwork Swan, looking very regal in this setting. Again the inspiration taken from the swans on the lake in the park. This exhibition is running until the 10th June 2012. So plenty of time to enjoy.

Bampton - stewarding and demonstrating

I was stewarding all day today at the West Ox Art Gallery in Bampton, and shared the duty with Mair.
I demonstrated in the morning and Mair in the afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many interested viewers attend. I loved talking to everyone about the inspiration and techniques I used in my work. I shall be there again on the Saturday 28th, this time with Margaret Charlton and would be lovely to see you and chat.

Buscot House and Park

Despite the rain, hail and dark skies overhead, we had a great time at Buscot House and Park today. Luckily we were in the house when the heavens opened and then glorious sunshine whilst we strolled through the gardens. The daffodils are still holding their own, but the trees are spectacular..

For more infomation about this National Trust property....... click here.

The Art collection at Buscot House is well worth seeing, especially the Salon which has so many Burne- Jones Paintings, quite amazing....... have a look here

The Oxford Times had a wonderful review of the "Losing the Thread" Exhibition at Bampton today.. you can read it here. I was very pleased by it.
Erin at West Ox Arts has posted some great photos of the private view here on her blog.

Meet the Artist- Lydiard House 2012

We spent the day at Lydiard House for a "meet the artist event".... most enjoyable, and almost all members of the Great Western Embroiderers attended, so lots of opportunity for chatting.
In the Education room in the stable block a children's workshop was also taking place making peg dolls. The peg dolls we had made for the children's trail in the house were proving a very popular attraction today. Not surprising really! Photo shows one of my pieces of work inspired by the blue pottery in the house.

Easter Painting

After an enjoyable family dinner, it was time to use the studio..... and paint. After completing 10 masterpieces of painting, 5 year old announced quite boldly..... " Nanny , I am an artist!

I was speechless...it was one of those precious moments.

Private view - Bampton

Today was the private view at the Bampton Exhibition, we had lots of visitors..... in fact this photo was taken early on.. before the official time to open and we already had visitors.

No Chance of photos later,as the room was full of people. I really enjoyed talking to friends and visitors about the focus for all my work, and the techniques I use to get the emotion of my thoughts and passion across in my threads and fabric.

I had interest shown for me to talk to two different groups about my work. Needless to say I would be thrilled to talk to others about my work. What an exciting day.... I am buzzing.

I am stewarding and demoing next Saturday(14th April) at the gallery.. so if you fancy a day out in the Cotswolds.... come and say hello. Bampton is one of the oldest towns in England... on the edge of the Cotswolds. Pubs by the river... great walks and a lovely cafe nearby. Something for everyone.