Summers here and Lydiard Park

Its a wonderful sunny day today and very warm even though its only lunchtime. After the cloudy and rainy week it is quite welcome, as long as it does not get too hot.This is a photo of the everlasting sweet peas which originally came from my parents garden.... they need little tending other than tying up and watering and rarely get the dreaded black or white fly. Just my sort of plant.

In fact all the plants are coping well, and are making a wonderful show. So I suspect it will be the sort of day to sit out in the garden and enjoy a restful afternoon.

I shall be expected to perform a final fitting for the Irish Dance dress early afternoon, as I have made the " shawl" that hangs down the back. The next Feis is next weekend in Oxford, so it will be ready in time for the Feis.

I shall not be putting on the Celtic decorations and embroidery until after Oxford, as I do not want to rush it. I have made a lot of prototypes and samples and they will be available at today's fitting to decide which would look best.

This is a photo of the Walled garden at Lydiard Park... taken about 10 days ago. The lovely group of Stitchers.......Great Western Embroiderers.. have been invited to exhibit at Lydiard House again in 2012... an honour indeed.

We are calling the exhibition " Traditions" and so were invited to spend a day with Sophie and staff at Lydiard as a preparation to our work. We had access to all parts of Lydiard House and Park.. and the weather was wonderful. If you enlarge the above photo enough .... you may just glimpse the back of Jennifer sitting on her chair sketching the flowers.

The Church in Lydiard Park is St Mary's and they have just launched a fund to help restore this wonderful church. It is truly magnificent. It featured heavily in my work last time and also influenced John Piper when he visited the family at the house.

There is a good website about the history of the church and house here

You may recall this image from my wall hanging for the previous Exhibition we did. I was surprised that I had taken a photo of it again this time... obviously a strong influence for me.

After a wonderful lunch in the newly opened tea rooms. We met in the house with Sophie the curator and she had assembled some textiles that are not on view to the public for us to handle, sketch and photograph

The object above was really interesting in its construction... the beads had been attached to felt
to create the form, underneath there was evidence that it was actually a needle book.

Irish Dancing and flowers

My Granddaughter has been taking part in Irish dancing competitions for about 4 years and this year instead of birthday presents asked for money to help her buy an Irish dance competition dress. They are extremely expensive to make, but she is delighted with the outcome.

She also delighted me yesterday by visiting to show me the outfit. I have been asked to make the "shawl" that hangs at the back and the decorations and embroidery. An honour indeed.

I dashed out in the morning to pick up hubby's new meds, and when I returned this box was sat in my studio, having been delivered in my absence. Poor hubby thought I had a secret admirer.

No.... I assured him... I was intrigued though.... and then on reading the accompanying card found out.....these wonderful blooms had been sent by my very thoughtful and special Internet chums... thank you so much....I have to confess an emotional tear was shed.
Aren't they beautiful? I feel so lucky and so privileged to have such kind friends.

Carers week UK

(click on photo for more info on Parkinsons)

A very interesting if emotional week for me, when official offers of help have been discussed over the telephone all this week. It was not until yesterday when I took hubby for an emergency consultants appointment at the hospital that I realised it was Carers week see here. Might explain some of the activities going on.

I have been a carer for a long time..... but did not recognise the "title" as applying to myself. I struggled last week as I was not very well myself, and was so worried as my assistance is constantly needed.

My personal experience is that a medical diagnosis is made on the ill person.....( or in this case two separate diagnosis) and left to the carer to deal with. I had no idea that I could even ask for assistance. I thought that only those who were permanently in wheelchairs or in bed qualified for any help.

I think the reason I am talking so publicly about this is please do not struggle like I did/ have been/still am. Absolutely no-one will tell you about what to do, or what is right for you or the person you are looking after, or for you. You have to do everything yourself.

I think if another person says to me there is information on this website or here is a leaflet........ I will scream out load ---- I do not want information ... I want help in sorting it all out!. What I actually needed was some one to look at us and after discussion say... here is what you need and here is what we can do for you as an organisation.. and I will get X and X and X to phone you with these areas they can help with. Are you happy with that. As a society we are so frightened of taking responsibility for helping others and are always offering opportunities to pass on information but not actually doing anything. Perhaps I am guilty of this too... by writing this post.

I was so lucky in finding that wonderful person on the end of the telephone at my Local council.. and to her I say a huge thank you....... a number of phone calls have happened since she became involved.....I am still waiting for any real physical help to materialise.... but I do know the ball is rolling, and all this could take up to 6 weeks to get going.

In the meantime I just hope I can still handle the situation. Thank goodness I have my stitching and art to keep me sane.

Good for you ! Improves your health!

Well its official, creativity is good for you, it improves your health. Read this article in the Daily Mail for confirmation ( here), but I think we knew that anyway... didn't we?

My daughter has certainly been creative and using my studio a great deal. She has agreed to take a Sales table at the local School Fete this Saturday........ and has been making lots of "goodies" and I get the job of sewing the buttons on! Also helping at the stall on the day will be a task for me.

I really hope it goes well, that the sun shines and she sells out of all the lovely pin cushions, cards, lap quilts, cushions, bags and brooches she has hand made. I wish her well in her creative endeavour.

Flowers from a thoughtful friend

These beautiful flowers were a big surprise from a very thoughtful friend. It has been a very hard few weeks for me, but these have really cheered me up. Thank you so much... I know you will read this, just want you to know how much I appreciate the good wishes.

Stitching.......and Japanese textiles

I have been machine stitching onto my hand dyed fabrics.. just loved moving the colours with stitch.

Not sure exactly how I am going to use the result yet... might end up as a book cover.

Had the monthly branch meeting of the Embroiderers Guild at Marlborough today..... a very thought provoking talk about Japanese Textiles by Jennifer Hughes. Jennifer showed us some wonderful original textiles - this first one is stencilled and so is the second one below.

Then here are some examples of tie and dye.. some pieces of fabric have been tied but not dyed...... lots of indigo as well.

Beginnings and Endings

I have had an enjoyable week by revisiting my painting on fabrics experiments.
This is quite a large quilt, well in length anyway, and I am not totally sure about the best way of mounting this for exhibition purposes. I think it may need a large frame on the back for support.
The good weather has helped the process of painting with dye, as the drying times have been halved. In theory this could mean I can do twice as much work... but my brain does not quite work like that.


Completed Journal quilts for the Contemporary Quilt Groups challenge 2011. Feb - May

These are the first 4 of 12 - the challenge for these 4 was to use circles. The fabrics are hand dyed, and then I appliqued the shapes and used lot of quilting as a surface texture. They are individual, but I prefer them together in this chequerboard pattern which accentuates the complemetary colours. At the moment they do not have any bindings.... when the challenge is complete we are given the details for binding by the organiser. Its now time to think about the next 4 Journal quilts.

There are times......when.........

It turned out to be one of those days.... My haircut was booked 9 weeks ago.. and an extra week (to my normal 8) was added as hairdresser was having a well deserved holiday in Malta. No problem... except it turns out he is still in Malta today.
Malcolm took pity on me as I could no longer see. The fringe had overtaken the glasses, so he kindly cut the fringe, and bless his cotton socks... would not take any money for it. However I shall have to phone again on Tuesday when my hairdresser is back.. we hope!

So I decided to use up the rest of the time I had purchased at the parking meter, to go and visit the Art Gallery in Old Town... and I was well rewarded. The Gallery is still showing some of my favourite works... a Lowery and a Sickert Drawing and my all time favourite by Gillian Ayres. Here are the details.........

and here is a photo of the painting taken at an angle to try and show the surface texture Gillian has achieved with the paint..... but if you want to see it for real... go to the gallery. Well worth the trip in my humble opinion.

Amazing use of colour and paint......just love it.

Swindon Open Studios 2011

Last night was the official Opening night for the Swindon Open Studios. It took place at Artsite in Swindon ,where the Substance exhibition is still running at the moment. The Substance Exhibtion made a good backdrop to the evening. Video here... Gordon Dickenson made the video, afraid I had already left the building!
A most interesting evening, meeting some of the other interested artists. The Open Studios is taking place on 2 weekends in September -- 10-11 and 17-18 September.


A powerpoint slide show was running of participating artists work as a taster.

I am considering opening my new studio for the weekends in question. I am not sure how many visitors there would be to my studio, as I do not live in the centre of town and do not know any other artists living nearby. Could be an interesting experience.. .....well I hope so anyway.

Substance Exhibition- open evening

I attended the open event to the substance exhibition last night at Artsite in Swindon see here.. a most interesting event. I forgot to take my camera... typical... but this is one of my pieces of work. My work was in response to my admiration for Julia Caprara. textile artist, who I greatly admired and was so fortunate to be able to work with.

My Batik work from a previous post is now ready to stitch into. all the wax has been removed and the colours are a bit pale to photograph well, so I have the paper work design to the left to give you a hint of what I am up to.

At the moment I am still a hospital visitor chauffeur, my good friends' husband is still in hospital, and as she does not drive and is disabled I have very willingly driven her to the hospital twice a day for the last eleven days. It does infringe on my stitching time.... but some things have to be.

Substance Exhibition

Have just delivered my work to the above exhibition.. it opens on Wednesday 18th May. I am stewarding next Monday (23rd) and Wednesday ( 25th) afternoons if you would like to pop in and have a chat.

Have a look at the Swindon Open studios blog for a photo of my submission of my work- here

GWE meeting

Isn't it wonderful to work with like minded stitchers... we had our GWE meeting today( click here for blog) and we had a very good mini workshop on Batik and dyeing... great fun.

Have a look at the new edition of Workbox magazine ( June /July 2011) our latest 2 exhibitions Meadow Larks at Cirencester and Fritillary Tearooms at Cricklade are featured in an article. I am particularly pleased with the layout and photos. Really good article. Thank you Workbox. ( click here)

Dyrham Park

Had another wonderful day with some of the grandchildren when we visited Dyrham Park near Bath. We really enjoy ourselves there, the deer in the park are a big favourite, as are the cakes in the cafe.. ......there's a surprise! The park is wonderful for getting rid of a lot of excess energy and the views of the surrounding countryside are great. The tour of the house is aways of interest and the tiles from the dairy are fascinating......it is always cool in there.

Here we are in the house.... enjoying a moments rest.

Ta Dah... 500 the post.....results

Amongst a great deal of excitement...a family member pulled the following names from the hat for the 500th Post Giveaway :---- Congratulations to the winners .... who are:- The fabric postcard is won by quilthexle and the sample of hand dyed fabrics by Angela. Please email me your address and I will mail your goodies to you.

Frittilary Tearooms

I have just returned from sampling some wonderful tea and cake at the Fritillary tearooms in Cricklade. The cakes are home made by the Cricklade Bloomers and I had Strawberries and Cream, sponge cake.... Yummy! As you can see I was not alone, such a good choice on the menu as well. In the photos are the 5 panels of work we ( Great Western Embroiderers) created in textiles for display in the tea rooms this year. All the designs are based on the North Meadow in Cricklade.

We are delighted that Cricklade Town Council have also made a request to display the panels in the Council Offices after their time in the tearooms. The panels will also be displayed in the windows of the town council offices for 2 weeks in August, when the judging for the Britain in Bloom competition takes place. Cricklade are finalists this year and very proud they are too.

They have been made Champion of Champions a high accolade indeed. Well done Cricklade Bloomers.

Textile Tearooms

Had a great meeting of the Great Western Embroiderers yesterday. We have been working with Natural England to create pieces of work for the tearooms in Cricklade to show what a wonderful resource the North Meadow can be for the community.

The work will be on show this weekend in the tearooms and for the next 2 weekends as well. Here is a photo of one of the banners of work.. there are 4 more. If you would like to know more about the North Meadow and the fritillaries click here The fritillaries are just blooming now.. so are a wonderful sight . Do take your camera if you decide to visit. If you manage to go this weekend, then please drop into the tearooms for a cup of tea and a slice of cake and of course enjoy our pieces of stitched work.

Just to catch up, went along to the West Country Embroiderers Dorset Day last week... most enjoyable and a good talk in the afternoon about Palestinian textiles. ( Photo above is of Salisbury)

I have been working on a new piece of work, and thoroughly enjoying myself. Here is just a snippet.

500th post giveaway

Thought it would be good to celebrate my 500th post with a couple of give aways. The first is in the photo above. One of my stitched postcards and the second is some samples of my hand dyed fabrics. They are in the photo below. If you would like have one of these.... please leave a comment for me and a name will be chosen out of the hat on 16th April 2011. I think spring has finally arrived too, the garden is starting to wake up and the flowers are looking truly wonderful.

I washed out all my space dyeing and shibori yesterday evening, and by time I was ready to hang the pieces on the line to dry , it was dark! At least the neighbours could not see me.

Fortunately we had no rain overnight, and so this morning I bought the dyed pieces in and ironed them. I have to say I am very pleased with them.

Mad March and Space Dyeing

This dyeing of fabric and threads has been quite a mission this mad month of March. Lots of preparation, thinking and waiting is required to complete this technique. Now I have a recipe that works for me, I really enjoy doing it and the results are worthwhile.

Here is the batch I have managed to get going for this afternoon.... some shibori too. I have not used that technique for a long time, wonder if they will be OK?

You may remember me doing a lot of my dyeing in previous blog posts ( click here) I still use the same recipe. I find it works well for me.

Here are the all over colours, so useful to have.

Here are also some space dyed I dyed last week. Just love the way the colours run and fuse in together.

Now just have to sit and wait overnight for the latest dyes to batch. Then wash them tomorrow..... a bit of patience is required for that as well!

Quilting

I have been using my dyed fabrics, and practising my free machine quilting, as well as rotary cutting. All my own design..... but obviously you will recognise that it is just an arrangement of squares and rectangles. I have learnt a lot by doing this piece... patching or is it called piecing(?) and quilting too.

Stitch and Craft show Olympia

Went along to this show with my daughter. I used to go last century, but have not been for a long time. Was not sure if I would enjoy it or not, but viewed it as a day out. But enjoy it I did. There was lots to see and do and we finished the day sitting at this table making small cross stitch buttons to wear... you can download the charts for the buttons from the Cross Stitcher site here. They are simple designs, but fun to do. As we went on the Sunday it was not overbearingly crowded... so very pleasant to walk around.