Sunday, September 30, 2007

Next!


Today I am actually taking some time to work on a quilt for me, my birthday quilt. It hasn't told me it's name yet, but it is coming together quite well. This is the center of the quilt.Which I guess is about 60" square. There will be three boarders added to it now. The first two should be quite quick and will use the rest of the panel the red blocks came from. The last border will take a bit longer as I want a spiky curvy boarder so I will be foundation piecing it. Still it will be fun and I will have a new huge quilt for the bed. I would love to know what the characters mean in the sashing, and indeed if I have them the right way up. It is worrying working with unfamiliar alphabets, you never know what you might be saying.

Yesterday I went to the Natural History Museum. This was a little disappointing as I had hoped to see lots of displays of fossils and animals. There were very few fossils there now. I get the impression that the things I find interesting have been declared too boring or difficult to be on display, both at the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. I think it is a great shame how dumbed down they have both got. I remember there being a lot of things in the museums I didn't understand but I liked that, it gave me things I could go and look up and learn about.

Still the building is just as amazing as ever, they aren't allowed to change that as it is a listed building. I wished I had taken my camera as now it is clean it is just one big design source. I will have to go back and take a lot of pictures, hopefully soon. I suppose I might be able to combine that with a trip to see the terracotta army which is currently at the British Museum. I am going to have so many ideas I really won't know where to start, but I suppose that is better than the alternative.

7 comments:

Penny said...

Have you been to the Museum for the History of Science in Oxford? It sounds like a museum you might like, with lots of scientific instruments, polished brass and ivory.

Ferret said...

No I haven't but you're right it sounds like my kind of place.

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

You might also like the Museum of Mankind

mad elena said...

Wonderful birthday quilt for yourself. Your instincts are spot on. Despite my remedial Chinese, I know you do have the characters standing upright. With some inkling their meaning, found this to confirm:
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_peace.htm . You can rest easy about their meaning.
Are the flower-like forms on the outside squares printed? They look like free-motion embroidery.

Ferret said...

Cool, thanks. I do wonder, I've hung around in tattoo shops long enough to know how unconcerned some people are about which characters they use.

The fabrics are all printed there is no stitching on them yet. I am thinking of quilting them with Japanese family crests (who's correct name is currently hiding in my brain). I think if I get it right they will look gilt when they are finished.

Anonymous said...

I think the word for family crest is Kamon?
TP

Ferret said...

Yes I think you are right.

Funnily I was trying to remeber it again in my class tonight.

Thanks