Odd but good day.

So where to start. It has been a very odd day. The sort which keep threatening to go wrong but always comes out right. I quite like this kind of day. I started by trying to pay a bill in cash. Apparently this isn't something people do anymore and the company I was paying had no idea what to do with someone handing them cash. I was starting to wonder what to do if they refused it. I mean, money is legal tender, and I think there is some law that say it has to be accepted? After 10 minutes it was decided they could accept the money as it was the exact amount. I am so glad I thought to take the right money. I wonder if they will now be thinking about what to do with customers with cash?

I then discovered that my favorite sushi place had closed. It might be gone of it might have moved. If it has moved I don't understand where the sign said they have gone. Maybe I will find it again in the future. At least it beat being out in the rain. Boy did we have rain today. I kept finding flooded roads trying to get home. It isn't ideal getting this much rain this fast. On the other hand the news is talking about people flooded out of their houses by a burst watermain. That is really horrible.

I had a productive sewing afternoon. I now have a test garment of the blouse I was drafting yesterday. It looks interesting in the shiny blue fabric, but shape wise I am quite pleased with it. I hope my customer will like it too. I then went to start sewing the skirt. Turns out I have never had a need for ivory thread! I do now so off for an emergency thread purchase. At school rush hour. Unfortunately I needed the thread so there was no way to avoid it. Also I was driving a Chevrolet Camaro, in England that is pretty unusual and the roads around here aren't designed for cars this size, especially with double parked parents everywhere. Still like I said nothing for it but to go, so expecting the worse I did. Sure enough first set of lights a car tries to get through on my inside. Except as he pulls alongside he slows down and stops, he is just looking at the car! The lights change and he waves me on with a big grin. Cool! I should point out that there don't seem to be that many people interested in cars anymore so this isn't that common. I do however take great pleasure in stopping for zebra crossings. I can see the pedestrians don't expect me to (the car is matt black with a Motorhead skull on the bonnet) so I do, for a man who also looks at the car, grins and waves. OK this is wired, but good. On to the next crossing (yes we have a lot) two young girls this time. Who are so busy staring the forget to cross for a while and try to put their heads on backwards as the stare at the car as they cross the road. When the reach the other side they stop to watch me drive away. Girls noticing a car is really bizarre, but very good. As you can imagine this really cheered me up. A far better journey than I could ever have hoped for.

Hobbycraft, my nearest thread store, has a sale on. I managed to get some more of the plastic boxes I use as palates. Four assorted boxes for four pounds. I was pretty pleased with that. I got my thread, the nice cashier remembered me and wished me a happy new year and they opened an extra till to server me. It had even stopped raining when I walked out of the shop. Perfect. Oh yes I also have two of their largest polystyrene spheres, they aren't big by my standards but they might make nice cuddly globes.

Having got home the skirt has come together well. The fabrics are selected for a friends quilt, and tomorrow I have another gallery day. I think it's all come out rather well. Even if we get seriously rained on tomorrow, I think I will still be ahead overall.

Oh yes one other thing. I was sent this link today, http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/01.html. It is another artwork inspired by a Monet bridge. I had a good look at the site and I rather like a lot of his work. There is a lot I don't too. It is quite political and may cause offence to some. I especially liked his drawing of a rat with a paintbrush, and some of the concepts he is trying to show. I could see me making quilts inspired by this site.

Busy day

Well the entry forms are on their way and I am assured they will be there on time. They had better be given how much time and effort they cost to send. Still I have the account now so hopefully it will be easier next time. I can hope right. I suppose I aught to see what my package is doing really, do you suppose the online tracking will really work? Wow! It does, and apparently my letter is on a plane heading to Houston. Yay. I feel much better now I know it is on it's way. I have been very disappointed with tracking recently, it just hasn't worked. In some ways I think it is worth the extra cost just to have working tracking.

I've been stunned at the traffic here today. I am so sorry for anyone who was disappointed by not being the 10,000 visitor. I didn't expect it to be so popular. I think I will probably do this for another milestone number. I'll give it some thought and let you know.

Once I finally got the forms off and on their way, I got down to drafting a Gibson Girl blouse. It's quite a nice design, lots of scope for fitting a large bust without having to worry about the shoulders being altered. There is a front and back yoke to keep the shoulder area a smaller size, then front and back panels are gathered onto the yoke. Adding or subtracting from here is relatively straightforward. Of course there are still sleeve, armhole and neck adjustments, but I really like this style. Of course the other advantage of this style is that it isn't very fitted. Just what I need after dealing with couriers.

We have a winner

Well I have a winner, visitor 10,000 as judged by sitemeter. I now need them to get in touch with me. I suggest going here and it will email me.

The winner is in Switzerland. Apparently near Ecublens, Vaud. Their ISP is Swisscom Fixnet AG. I have a partial IP address, but given I only see a few visitors from Switzerland I think this should be enough to identify them.

However given there are a lot of regulars out there I thought I should give you a chance to get one as well. I've decided to take part in the Art Share Meme. I am hoping I got the last spot on Nellies Needles, so now it is my turn to pass it on.

Basically I have five pieces of art up for grabs. I don't know quite what they will be but, if you're reading here you have an idea what kind of work I do. I also make no promise as to when I will ship them, I will try and get them out sooner rather than later but as you now I am pretty busy and I have to do it when the muse takes me. If you want one you leave a comment on this post, and you then have to offer five pieces of art you have made to people on your blog. The first five to comment and put up their offer will get one each.

Not only does this let you get a piece of work you want, but it also lets you show off your work. Everyone wins. So who is up for giving it a go.

Couriers!

I just can't believe the time and effort required to set up an account with a courier company. I spent most of the day yesterday dealing with them, and so far all of today. I can't settle to do anything else (and I have a lot to do) while I keep getting phone calls. It is so frustrating. The fact that I am stressing about the forms going out today doesn't help either. Argh! I know it will all be easy once it is collected but that may not be until 4.30pm so I may end up losing the whole day. I can't even go out because I have to be here when they do send someone to collect the package. Still once it is done I should be able to book collections easily and it will mean I can get my quilts to America in a sensible time frame. I know how couriers keep their customers, it is just too painful to change.

Almost there

After having a fairly quiet day yesterday, I decided to make the little quilt for the 10,000 visitor last night. It isn't bound yet, but the quilting phase is done. Hopefully it will be recognizable. It it a baby version of the nude in my triptych. Yes it is a mirror image, and no I didn't mean to do it. If everything goes to plan in the future it should be unique :) I plan on making some more in this style, but this will be the only reversed image. It is about 11"x 9". It is stitched in two shades of grey on a plain black background.
I am hoping it will be subtle enough to suit anyone.

Good luck, and I should be posting the winner later today.

Visitor Celebration

I have a sitemeter counter on this site and it will soon hit 10,000 visitors since July 2006. I know this isn't an accurate count but it's what I use so it is important to me. I would like to celebrate by giving a small piece of my work to that visitor. I will be able to tell roughly where in the world they are and what time they were here. When I know who it is I will post a description on here and I will then need you to get in touch to claim your prize. I think it will be sometime tomorrow when the 10,000 comes up.

I really love talking to you all, and I thought this would be a good way of saying thank you for all the support I get here.

In Full Bloom

Well it is finished, and we have a title. I even have a name for the technique, impressionist quilting, well the form asked so I had to put something. Now I just have to wait and see if the jurors think it looks like celebrate spring. It does to me, so hopefully that counts for something. It was also one of the easier artist statements to write. I guess being inspired by famous paintings and techniques has it's uses. Of course I do have a few other inspiring works to draw on in the future as well, which will require variations in technique and thinking. Should be fun.

However don't talk to me about courier companies. I am sure everyone who moves mail is just out to get me. I still haven't managed to arrange a pick up for my entry and there is only so long I believe it will all be OK. It is looking like I will have to pay a premium for not having an account because they don't have anyone to open an account for me! Not impressed. Still if I am going to be shipping quilts internationally I need a courier account so I guess I just have to keep trying.

Bridge - Day 4

Yay, it is off the frame and all trimmed up. It is quite large and loud in our house but in the pictures I am quite pleased. I suspect that in a show it will hold it's own without being too over powering.

I've included some pictures of the back. It is very hard to photograph, but it looks great. I know you aren't supposed to have the little dots of the front colour on the back, but don't they add something to the design when seen from the back? I think so and I like it. If I didn't I would worry more about loud backs to hide them I don't think it is possible to avoid them completely when there is such high contrast between the front and back. I think you can tell where on the back each of the pictures is.

I think I am going to put on a black binding with a pink piping. I figure that if the quilt is hung against a black background it will stand out well and the binding will blend in. Against white, I think the quilt will tend to blend in, the black binding should help it out. Well that is my theory anyway, I guess I just have to get on and do it.

Bridge - day 3.5

Ok, so I have some photos now. I've completely finished the background. I just need to put in the tree in blossom. Funny that the most important part has ended up being the last thing to go in.

I've put in some more closeups of the different quilting patterns. I was really pleased with the brown rocks. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to do rocky, I knew I wanted sharp and irregular but for some reason it wasn't coming together. The angular stipple seems to do the job nicely. I used a variation of it for the underside of the bridge, but there I made it less pointy. The underside of the bridge would be smoother and wet, I wanted the quilting to say that.

The rather strange blob in the water is some sort of plant. You will have to believe me it is pretty accurate. Even the quilting with the curly tops. Don't know what it is but I kinda like it.

I couldn't unwind the quilt from the frame enough to show the whole quilt, so I have just photographed the lower part of it. It's a shame as the top of the bridge is the better bit (more of the bottom will be covered by blossom). Still it should give you the idea.

Now to cut my branches and start getting them in place.

Bridge - Day 3

Sorry for the late blog. I was working on this quilt until three this morning and then I just had to go to bed. So I didn't take any pictures. Don't worry I will get some later today.

I came very close to finishing the background. I have a narrow (maybe 6 inch) band of water and vegetation to do at the bottom of the piece. I will try and take pictures when I get that done. Then I can move on to the fun part of putting on the trees in blossom. This is going to be the only place where I significantly change the shape of the pieces I use. I want to use long wiggly bits to make the branches. I see the painter taking a thinner brush and making flowing strokes here so I will try and do that. I also think it will allow me to shade the branches more and hopefully give a better sense of form. Who knows, it is yet another new to me thing :) I like trying new techniques, but I really should learn to do them in less critical pieces.

Still the branches and blossom should be fairly quick to put on, and I worked out last night that I can actually post the entry form on Tuesday and have it arrive for Friday, so I have a little less pressure. I think that taking things a bit slower should help, given I still haven't managed to shake the cough and cold I have had since before Christmas. So back to it.

Bridge - Day 2

Well I have spent the day working hard on this and my back is now telling me all about it. It is very hard to stay motivated when you can only see a small part of the picture. Believe me I only got to see this about half an hour before you guys.

Anyway as requested, some close up shots, and bigger pictures.
This one shows part of the background trees and bushes. It is quilted with a leaf pattern. I have put the hopping foot into every close up to give you some idea of the scale. For those of you not familiar with these machines I have an APQS Discovery, and the hopping foot is about half an inch in diameter.
This is part of the path. If you look carefully you can probably see the edges of the pieces of fabric. My machine doesn't have a stitch regulator so I am trying to get my stitches even myself. I tend to get it pretty well for a given design but it changes from one patterns to another. I can live with that, but I suspect American judges will be more critical. So be it, it's art not textbook quilting.
Here is some of the grass, both shades are grass, one is in light the other in shadow. Part of my reasoning on the quilting patterns is to convey essence of thing. I am trying to give cues for people to fill in the details, rather than just supplying the detail myself. I suspect I am technically giving too much information, but for a first attempt it will do. Maybe in future I will be able to put more trust in my audience.

This is the edge of the base of the bridge. The one I am using as source is formed concrete, and I think the pebble texture says that quite nicely. I wish I had taken some pictures before I quilted it. It was very different. I am also thinking about trying to get some action pictures. I tend to have my left hand guiding pieces under the foot, I knock my knuckle pretty regularly trying to catch misbehaving bits, and I think it would make for some interesting pictures.
Finally, this is where I have got to today. Remember I have to have this completely finished by the end of Sunday. I have the fabric cut for the bridge, which will be the next thing to put on. I am quite pleased with what I have so far. The largest blocks of green will be mostly covered by blossom. There will be a tree on the left of the picture spreading branches over most of the quilt. Covered in pale pink blossom. It will be the pinkest quilt I have ever made, possibly ever will make. Oh and of course I hate green too. Who would have thunk it? :)

I still don't know it's name, or how I am going to deal with the water. Fortunately there isn't too much water.

Bridge in progress.

I hadn't realized but I don't have a name for this piece yet. I had better get a wiggle on with thinking of something. Maybe it will let me it's name tomorrow. I wasn't sure how it was working, but having seen the photograph I think it might come together. This is a serious departure for me. I usually aim for ultra realistic. It drives my art teacher nuts. He keeps telling me I am not a camera and that I should get over the fact my drawings don't look like photographs. So I've been brave with this I have got rough guide lines on the base fabric, but mostly I am making it up as I go along. I am hoping it will be the essence of a bridge over a stream in the spring. This part is just the trees in the background. I am assuming that even on something this blurry it will look better if I make it from the most distant objects to the further forward. I guess I will get to test the theory won't I.


I am making this directly on the longarm. I have the three layers pinned to the frame, and all the pieces cut ready to use. You can probably see in the picture the pencil lines I have as guides. So I just fill in areas with an appropriate colour. Well that is the theory anyway. I haven't marked the different greens on the cloth, those I just place according to my source image. I use a tiny amount of spray baste to make the base fabric a little tacky, then I lay out an area of colour. To hold everything in place I quilt it quite densely. For the trees and bushed I have been using an leafy pattern. I rather like it, and I finally seem to have got the hang of it. There are always a few pieces that try and leap out of the way of the foot, but I am getting better an spotting them and holding them down long enough to quilt over. I could have just covered it all with wash away stabilizer, but I don't really want to get this quilt wet as some of the fabrics are batik and bound to run. I think I have done about a quarter of the quilt today, and I think it is going quicker as I do more, so it looks like I should be able to get it finished in time.

Successful day?

Well I ran all my errands today. 'Under the rainbow' went down well. Hopefully it will inspire people to make it. My Dragonfly quilt is up at Patchwork Corner, advertising the class I will be teaching there in March. The nudes are back home, and taking a rest. They seem to like being stored flat for a while every so often. Finally the car covers went to their owner, who seemed very pleased with them and the washing instructions. I settled on printing them on fabric and sewing it to the bag of the cover and the inside of the engine cozy. It seems to have done the trick.

Can you hear a but coming? Well there is. As I pulled up to the garage to deliver the covers I managed to break the exhaust on the car. Not so surprising, it is a lowered car and tends to catch on things. What is impressive is I broke the manifold! For those not familiar with cars, this is not normal. The exhaust itself is fairly thin metal, and usually corroded so pretty easy to break. The manifold (on this car at least) is cast and very thick. It is usually quite strong. I am guessing it already had a fracture in it which is how I managed it. Either way it meant I had to get the car trailered home, it was too loud and likely to fill the car with fumes for me to want to try driving it. I did get very lucky with my recovery service, they picked me up in about 20 min and got me straight home, no fuss or complaints at all. Good enough that I called them to say how pleased I was, which seemed to make the day of the call center staff I spoke to. So if you get great service, consider telling them, we are all quick to complain when it goes wrong, it's a shame they don't hear more about the success.

Now I can get down to some serious work on the Monet inspired bridge I need to get done by the weekend. Oh yes, I checked on when I can show you all 'Under the Rainbow', I will put a picture up just before the magazine with it in comes out. As I said I have plans for a couple of similar quilts, so you might get to see them first.

Finishing feels so good

I am feeling very satisfied. I have two quilts bagged up ready to deliver to various people, and I have an engine cozy and a show cover ready too. Tomorrow is a delivery day. Although, to make best use of petrol it is also the day for me to pay bills. I don't think I got that bit quite right.

Anyway, the warm glow of having lots of things sewn and ready to deliver is fantastic. I think I will bask in it a bit longer before bed. I also took some pictures of some of my note book covers so I can put them up on my Etsy shop. The first couple are there now. I have more to go up tomorrow.

I also got another answer from AQS about the size restrictions at their shows. Apparently if is a security issue. They feel the risk is too great for small quilts. Scary to think crime is so high at American quilt shows.

Grump

I know this is pathetic, and I should get over it but I am miffed. I was planning on entering the AQS show in Paducah, but when I looked at the form carefully I found my quilts are all wrong. They have very specific sizes you have to meet to enter. So I can't enter, but I thought I would ask why. It seems to random to declare all quilts much be over 40" long for example. Today I got an answer, well sort of. In their Nashville show they will accept quilts as small as 30" square. Well how nice. No explanation nothing. I shouldn't be surprised, it shouldn't bother me, but it does.

I feel that they have decided that a lot of quilts aren't valid, and for a quilters society that feels wrong. I hope they don't look at it that way but given they won't explain how would I know. I have a year left to run on my membership, which I will not renew, and I don't really want to have now. See said it was pathetic. This has just pushed my wrong button big time. I know a lot of people were disappointed by these restrictions, so maybe the restriction could be reconsidered. Are there really no valid quilts between miniatures and 30"? Can we all apply for bigger houses from the AQS so we have space to hang 'right' quilts.

Now I have work to do, and just today I got an artists newsletter discussing how easily artists are put off. How little things can bug them for ages... Hmmm, did he have a time machine and read my emails :)

What a short Day!

The down side of being up all night is getting up late and the next day being rather short. Still I did manage to do my audit of achievements. I am pretty pleased with last year, but I have so many plans and ideas for this one. I can tell already there aren't going to be enough hours in the day, days in the the week, or weeks in the year.

I've updated my white board with the next batch of shows I want to enter (and a couple I haven't decided about). Just the ones I am sure about will mean entering 14 quilts into shows, by the end of March. Fortunately some of those will be quilts I have already made. In particular, I have a deadline for the end of this month, and two quilts I would be quite happy to enter there, having checked the rules I think either would be accepted. Yay. That takes a little pressure off.

Under the Rainbow, is all packed up ready to go. It took forever to de-lint. The Hobbs organic cotton wadding seems to get everywhere. I love it, but the clean up is distinctly sub optimal. Maybe I can come up with a way to reduce it's spread. I haven't taken the photos yet, so I suppose I will have to unpack it tomorrow morning and do that.

I got an email from SAQA today. "and fly away" didn't make it into the Transformations show. I didn't think it would so I wasn't too surprised, though not the best start to a new year. On the other hand they only accepted 24 quilts out of over 340 entries, so there are a lot more disappointed people than happy ones. It does mean it is free to be entered elsewhere. Also I am trying to work out if I can enter the same quilts in the IMQS show and the Festival of quilts. Theoretically it should be fine. In fact there should be most of a month between them coming back from one show and going off to another, but what if anything goes wrong? Also am I tempting fate at that point? If them getting back late doesn't matter they are bound to get home safe and on time, but if they could cause real trouble by going missing... Well I can postpone that decision for a while.

Achievements 2006

I've just finished my audit of 2006, and the first thing we noticed is that I need a Polaroid camera. I have quilts listed in my diary we don't even remember now. It's scary. I also have several ongoing projects I need to get on top of. To those of you in my mystery quilt groups, I am really sorry, expect another part in the post ASAP.

I did make 38 quilts this year. Only one was a postcard. 6 were bed quilts. I entered 26 quilts into competitions and won 6 awards from that. I visited four galleries, and went to eight quilt shows. I think for next year the best I can do is try to manage the same again, with bells on. I want to put more quilts into the Festival of Quilts at the NEC. I also plan on entering the MQS this year. I guess if nothing else this will increase my total number of quilts entered. I don't think I will beat my total for January last year, 6 quilts. That is a tough one. Unless I can count all the postcards. I want to get at least 20 made this month.

I am really pleased with my achievements for last year. I just need to keep building on it. I would like to try and get an exhibition together this year. I also want to put up some online galleries with ArtUK and a couple of other places. I need to go and visit all the local galleries and see if any will take on my work. I want to expand the number of places I teach, and maybe work on other talks. I want to start work on a book, and publishing patterns. I was using a pantograph yesterday and realized I could have designed on I would have liked a lot better, so I guess I should, and try selling it. I also want to start expanding my mailing list. I suppose the good news is I now have a mailing list, but it is very select at the moment. How do I approach people to get permission to show them my new work, courses and news? Anyone found a good way to do this. I think this will be my main area for improvement next year. I aim to have so many people on my list I have to get a printer to do my Christmas card run for me, ambitious but what the heck. I suppose I had better aim to earn enough to pay for it too.

Thanks for all the support you guys have given me in the last year. I've not been writing this blog that long, and I feel I have got back far more than I have put in. That is entirely down to all of you who read this.

Goodbye 2006

Well I got 'Under the rainbow' quilted but not bound. I was really hoping to have it completely finished today but it wasn't playing ball. As you can probably guess I didn't manage to finish the car covers either. Still tomorrow is quite soon enough, if not so neat for the calendar.

I am on the artbiz mailing list and a few days ago it suggested taking an audit of teh year. Taking note of things like how many shows you entered and how many pieces you have made this year. I got ill right after this arrived so I haven't had time to do it yet. I think this will make the perfect task for first thing tomorrow morning. At the same time I can plan a list of things to do next year. Some are going to need some though to get worded right. For example I can enter a certain number of shows, but I can't be sure I will have quilts in that many shows. I would also like to set a target for magazine coverage, but again it is largely outside of my control, it has a lot to do with luck. Maybe I need to think about what I can produce that could be published. I do know that I beat my target of 20 show quilts this year, so I guess I need to set a similar goal for next year. I did find it helped encourage me to get things done in time for shows, and it made me start researching what shows there are in the world.

For those wondering I am at a party. I am standing by a large bonfire writing this on my phone. So you will have to excuse the spelling and formatting errors. It is a tradition here to set fire to things to see in the new year. Possibly the most important thing we burn is the book of hate. It is where people can write all the bad things that happened in the past year, so they can be got rid of. Hopefully all these bad things are gone and won't bother us again. There is a second book which is kept safe, the book of love. It has all the good things that have happened in it. These are to be kept so they can be read in future years, hopefully by remembering them we will encourage them. It also gives a positive outlook to the year, even if you can't think of anything good in your own life.

So now you know how dedicated I am to this blogging lark. Or perhaps it just shows how poor I am at partying? Hope you are all doing whatever you want to be right now, see you next year.

Blogging frustration

It isn't fair. Here I am working hard and being creative and I can't show you. I think we should all sulk together. I have nearly finished a quilt in the last two days but as it is a commission for a magazine and a fabric supplier I really have to let them see it first. I am very pleased with it though. I was handed a pile of fabric and told to design something simple and interesting with them. I got very lucky, they were perfect for a recently orphaned (I ran out of time for a competition) idea. A quick redraw and we were off. I will definitely be making another quilt to the same pattern, but with different colours, and another in a slightly different pattern but the same fabric range. It's turned out to be quite inspiring.

I have it almost finished on the frame just in need of some frog stitching. I decided to use a pantograph (it suits the quilt, what can I say) but I have managed to get this row in the wrong place. I didn't realize how hard it is to remove well formed stitches. I certainly have no concerns about my quilting coming out by accident now. So far I have spent an hour removing this row and I am only about a third of the way through. I guess this is the cue for me to get back to it. I really need to have it completely finished tomorrow, and the car cover as well. At least I am mostly enjoying the work, and that certainly wasn't the case when I was working for other people writing computer software.

Lets hear it for good customers

I see lots about all the bad customers people have so today I feel I should put in a word for the good customers. I've deals with two of mine today, and felt better for it. That is saying a lot given how ill I still am with this cold.

My first one was to rearrange and appointment. We had got mixed up over the day, but as there is pretty good communication it isn't a problem. We will meet up tomorrow and have a fitting. Hopefully I will be able to get her excited about her outfit, and not stress her out. I'm looking forward to it.

My second customer was a fitting. An engine cozy and a slinky car cover. Friendly helpful, and he had even warmed the garage up. Lovely. Even better everything fit pretty well. I just need to make a couple of small adjustments and they will be perfect. I should get them finished tomorrow. For those waiting for pictures it will be a couple of weeks. I can't put up a picture until I can have the car wearing it, and I can't do that until the car has been revealed to the world. So patience folks, the pictures will come. Oh the best part of the fitting, was that the customer is happy. Happy enough to have an outdoor cover made too.

Now I have to give some though to how I present washing instructions on things like this. I think I might make a pouch to fit the slinky cover in and I can fix instructions to that. I don't know how well printed fabrics will stand up to life in a working pit though. How do you deal with washing instructions for custom projects? I could just print everything on a sheet of paper, but that is so easy to misplace, even if you know it is in a safe place. He is such a nice chap, I would like to make this as easy as I can. Maybe I can laminate some kind of care instructions?

One Sock finished

Yay, I have one blue and grey stripy sock. It even fits :) I have just weighted it and the wool I have left. I think I could make three matching socks. It is tempting, it would confuse the washing machine I hope and they would all last a little longer. Or I could just make a pair from this ball and save the left over to combine with the next ball to make a different pair entirely. Tricky decision. Still probably not one I will need to make for a while. I am going to Bournemouth tomorrow, so I will have about 5 hours knitting time just in the car. I may get some in at the other end too.

I got some work done today. I need to get a very large piece of quilted black for an engine cozy. I have it on the frame and about half stitched. Once I get this finished I can start on the next art piece, which is going to be done completely on longarm. I am seeing a theme with my work these days.

I also have a new challenge quilt to think about. I have two books I am considering using, well maybe three. Starship Troopers, and Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein, or Callahans Lady by Spider Robinson. They all have good first and last lines, and they all given me great images to work from. Problem is drawing what I need. I can probably draw what I want for the last one, but it will be really tricky to make so small. Puppet Masters I might be able to draw and might fit OK. Starship troopers would fit best, but I don't think I have a hope of drawing it. I guess my brain will play with the options for a couple of days.

The days are getting longer again....

...and so are my socks. To stop me working for a day or two I had to find something else to do. I can't just do nothing. Knitting socks seems perfect. I will be spending a lot of time as a passenger in cars over the next few days so a project I can do in the car is a real bonus. Also being small I think I can finish a pair before I run out of traveling to do. I've nearly got one sock so far. I am making them with wacky wool again. It makes a pattern for you as you knit. Very effective and very simple. I love it.

I also got a fabric shipment today, including silks I will be using with a piece of fabric a friend brought back from Morocco. I've been thinking about to for quite a while and I finally have a plan. It will be very tactile and slinky. I am looking forward to it. Of course being silks and brocade I am not going to be able to leave it lying around, the cats would have a field day.

Midwinters Eve

I am finally getting into the holiday mood. Just as well given tomorrow is midwinter. I've not got much done this evening, but I guess I get some time off. I am going to try really hard not to do any work tomorrow, I don't see me managing it but I'll try. Thanks for the suggestions about my Etsy shop. I've followed up on most of them now. Including putting a link in my side bar.

Tomorrow we will be doing our festive thing. We have a goose thawing and all the vegetables. This year for the first time I won't be doing all the cooking, which is exciting in it's own right. I've got a new quilt on the bed, well an old quilt but it is the first time we have used it. It is Ginko Typography, the quilt I made this time last year in preparation for the really cold winter we didn't have. It looks great on the bed.

Too holiday and distracted to write more now. Have a good day tomorrow folks.

Quilts for sale.

I've been meaning to do this for ages, and today I finally listed some of my quilts on Etsy. It is an online retail site for handcrafted items. I have no idea how well it will work for what I sell but more exposure os probably a good thing. If you are interested it is here. I like the idea that is sets up Paypal for me, and I hope that it will get to be known as the place to find real craft items. I am also working on setting up online galleries with various groups. It is surprising how much time each of these things takes, but if I want more people to see my work it should be time well spent. I think the Sacchi Gallery will be the last one I get around to doing. Whilst it is likely to be the most viewed of the online galleries I also feel it gives me the most scope for making a fool of myself. I think I want to have a good body of work to put up there from day one. I am working on that though.

I guess it is a mixed blessing selling work. I need to be replacing everything I sell with pieces at least as good if I am to have a good amount of work to show. On the other hand the money from the sales lets me buy more materials to make the new pieces I keep thinking up. Tricky this art business.

Yesterday I had another gallery day. We started at the Tate modern. I always leave there feeling faintly cheated. I guess my expectations are just higher than it can deliver. I don't really like much of the art there, but the few things I do like, I love. After the Tate we went on to the National. Which is always far more inspiring. I wanted to go and see the Monet bridge paintings. I am currently working on something inspired by these and refreshing my memory has me really keen to get started. I have a couple more mundane things to do first, so I guess tomorrow I will be quilting up a plain sheet of black fabric for an engine cover so I then won't need the longarm for anything else untill I finish my Monet inspired quilt.

I remembered to take pictures.

I went up to the Christmas Party at Patchwork Corner today and I remembered to take my camera. See I can learn. I also remembered to take my last Linus quilt with me. I am given quilt tops and backs, and I put them together for them. I got really lucky with this one. It has my last piece of 80/20 wadding in, which was the perfect size for this quilt. Given how few quilts I make this size I was impressed. When I am quilting the linus quilts I try to work quickly and make sure it will stay together. I expect these quilts to get a fair amount of abuse, especially the ones intended for young children. This one I left till last because I just couldn't see what to do with it. I don't really like quilting over animals, so a pantograph was right out. At the same time I needed a decent amount of quilting on it. I settled for a big meander in the borders and embellishing the center panel. I added rays and echo to the rainbow, and quilted all of the leaves. Further down where the animals are more dense I quilted the lions mane, and the outline of the elephant. Overall I am very pleased with it, the tension drifted at times and as the backing is plain calico it shows. Still the most important feature of a Linus quilt is that it is finished, and ready to go to someone who needs it.




I also took some pictures of my longarm sample. I made it quilting along with a DVD. The DVD is Advanced Artistic Freeform 2 by Linda Taylor. I love this DVD as it gives you a scheme to lay out a lot of different designs in a small space. It is easy for the quilt shop to display and give people a lot of ideas for things that can be done on their quilts. I enjoyed doing it and people seemed to like it. I don't know how much work it will get me quilting for others but it seems to have made people think more about how they want things quilted. That in itself is a good thing so I can't complain.

It was a really good day up at the shop. Doug's catering was stunning as usual, and the demos were interesting. Now the new workshop is finished the shop is much more spacious and it seems to encourage me to spend more money. Like I need encouragement. I also got to meet several new people. I love how friendly quilters are, how many places can you go to and talk to everyone you see and get on with them. It's pretty amazing.

Thank you

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of comments I have had for my nude. Thank you all for taking the time to leave me a message. You've really motivated me to get working on more quilts. Tonight I have been preparing patterns for three more quilts, two of which are nudes. One of them I am going to do in warmer colours. This nude says decadence to me, and that has to be warm colours, I thought it would be interesting to get working on this one to see how the colour effects the way people interpret the image. I think that some of the more negative interpretations of 'Nude with Rope 1' are influenced by the color. Blue is the colour of dead bodies I suppose. I hasten to add, this isn't how I see it or what I was thinking when I made it, I just accept that is a possible interpretation. If I am right I would expect green to be problematic as well, so at some point I will have to try it. I guess I will grow past this at some point but I do find peoples reaction to colour fascinating, so for now, I see colour in my future.

I will put up some more pictures of 'Nude with Rope 1' but it might have to wait until I am ready to quilt it. It is huge and I don't really have anywhere to display it. I will try and take some pictures before during and after quilting. I think I have now decided how it will be quilted, I just have to find the time to do it.

Yay another productive day.

I am feeling very smug tonight. I've got a corset ready to be tried on tomorrow. Christmas cards ready to print and send, and a new brochure prepared for my longarm quilting service. Not bad really. Oh yes and I sent off a mock up of a quilt design and had it approved by the person commissioning it. Fantastic. All the more amazing, given I think I am fighting off flu. I am determined I can't be ill right now, so I am trying really hard to look after myself. My friends seem to be having a really bad time of it with flu at the moment and I have far too much to do. So keep your fingers crossed for me.

Doh! Failed to take pictures.

So I spend two days working on a longarm sampler to take up to my local quilt shop, then I forget to take a picture to show you guys. How daft can I be? Never mind I remembered on the way to the shop and I had my phone with me. The phone has a camera on it. Do you think I remembered when I was there? Nope. Brain like a sieve today I think. I will try and get a picture on Saturday when I will be going to the Christmas Party there. If you are in the are you might want to come along and grab some extra supplies for the holidays.

I've been stunned by the response to 'Nude with Rope 1'. The positive reception has really motivated me to get on with some more nudes. I've ordered the fabrics for the next one I need to make a pattern for and I have the fabrics for the next already sorted. Hopefully next week sometime I will be able to get on with 'Nude with Rope 2'. First I have a corset to finish and a car cover to work on.

I've also been looking into other shows where I might be able to exhibit my nudes. I am trying to work out if I can enter one to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. An artist friend of mine suggested it a while ago and I have been meaning to investigate. I don't even know if I understand the categories. I guess this is where a traditional art education would come in really handy. If you are interested the information is here. I am guessing that when they say glazed they are talking about whether the frame has glass? Do I need to frame my work for it to be considered though? I do intend the 'Nude with Rope 1' to end up in a frame but not in time for the summer exhibition. Once it is framed it will be really hard to ship. On the other hand maybe I should frame one of them to enter here and at other more traditional venues and just keep the other for shows that understand soft art. I don't know. I think I might have to try and find a way to contact the Royal Academy directly and see if they have any advice.

Read the entry form.

OK so as I child I was told to always read exam papers carefully because people, apparently, often fail because they don't do what they are asked. So why did I entirely fail to read the instructions for the AQS Paducah show.

I was planning on entering 'Nude with Rope 1', but I can't. It is too small to be large and too large to be small. In fact having read the instructions it seems I don't make quilts at all :( All of my quilts fall into gaps in the sizes so can't be entered. I might be able to find a bed quilt that I could enter but it wouldn't be my best work. I could add more background to the nude, but I don't want to. It's shape is a deliberate part of the design and I don't think I want to change that just to please a show. So I guess I now need to find an image that will work 60" to 110" wide and at least 40" long. Oh and of course finish it by Christmas. Yeah right.

Equally none of the 'small' wall quilts I was thinking of entering are the right size either. They have to be 40" to 60" by at least 40". Again not really a shape I want to work with but at the same time I really want to enter this show. I am very disappointed that all my quilts are wrong. Or perhaps I am just sad they only allow such a small range of sizes. To think people have complained at how big I work, my work is too small.

Oh and knowing it is my fault for not reading the forms really doesn't help.

Nude with Rope 1

Well this has been a productive weekend. I've managed to finish the top of my next quilt. This one is called 'Nude with Rope 1'. Yes there will be at least a second, maybe more. I love this image. It is from a photograph taken by Alex Treacher, a friend of mine. He very kindly gave me permission to use some of his images, which has been invaluable as at them moment I don't have anyone to model for me. The image is about lifesize, so it has been a bit of a squeeze. I have a large board I can put on my ironing board to get a bigger pressing surface, but it is only half the size of this quilt.

I was especially pleased with being able to make the image in two parts. This meant that I didn't have to add any extra joins in the pieces. Even the biggest areas can be cut out of a 1m cut. All the fabrics in this quilt are Moda Marbles. I find this range works especially well for these quilts, so I went to the Moda site to see the whole range. There are 199 fabrics in it. It is amazing. Unfortunately there isn't anyone locally who stocks them all. I think one of my goals is to have enough spare cash to get a couple of meters of each fabric in the range. I would love to have that kind of palette on hand.

While I was making this quilt I found it very hard to see the image. For some reason the rope looked like a spine to me, hopefully now it is finished it won't have that effect on other people.

Just before I made it I showed the source image to a friend. She felt it was a bit too racy. What do you guys think, is it too provocative? I would like to be able to enter it in quilt shows, but I don't want to upset too many people. I know that the female form will always upset some people, 'Miss Baltimore' was considered very shocking by a significant number of people who saw it at Sandown last year, but I thought this was quite tasteful.

Yay pictures

Yay at last blogger and my net connection have let me put up some pictures. I am sure that shouldn't be this exciting but after this long it really is.

First up is '...and fly away'. This is my entry for the SAQA transformations competition. Having looked at the curators work, I don't think this will be to her taste, but at least I put one in. I was going to make two other quilts but the deadline was just too tight. The other ideas were mathematical transformations and a butterfly emerging. I think both may get made in the future.

The background of the quilt is quilted with the main fold lines of the origami crane. To give the impression of it just being one sheet I didn't want to have a binding, so the quilt is birthed. I think it has given me the result I was looking for. Having made the background I added the cranes. The first one is two layers of cloth fused then stitched with the fold lines. From there each step is shown. I chose to leave the worst one each time to try and improve the quality of the finished cranes. Overall I am pretty pleased with it. All the cranes are just single sheets of fabric well pressed into shape. I have noticed from moving the quilt that it needs a little more stitching to hold the cranes in place. I start with the minimum I think might work and increase if I have to. This helps to keep the look of the cranes only just being part of the quilt. It is the same principle I used for 'Golden Storm'.

For those of you who couldn't remember what the quilts going to Road 2 CA look like, here they are.

Hmm, busy day and blogger not playing

So I am still trying to upload pictures but I am still haveing problems. In fact it has taken nearly an hour to get the create post to work. I do know that my net connection is having problems, but is this me or blogger?

I've spent the day working hard. I have been very lucky to have had the help of The Road Warrior for the day. It means that I have drafted and completed toiles for a skirt and a jacket. I've also redrawn a corset pattern and have the pieces cut ready to sew tomorrow. I might do some arty sewing tomorrow as well. I need to get a new nude ready for Paducah and I think that might be a fun break from this more serious work.

I am also thinking about turning one of my life drawings into a quilt. We went to a gallery this weekend where we saw some very similar drawings for sale. If they are good enough for someone else to sell as drawings, why shouldn't I try it as a quilt? It is hard to know how well my drawing is doing and just maybe this is the way to do it. I even found the perfect fabric for it while I was working today. It is one of my hand dyes with some very pretty mottling effects. I think it would be perfect and it isn't really going to take long to test the theory.

Where to start?

Blogger hasn't liked me the last few days, it isn't letting me upload photos at the moment. I have finished the origami quilt, it is called "...And Fly Away". I will keep trying to put up the pictures, but I don't know when blogger is going to start working again.

I have also been doing more drawing. It was recommended that I do life drawing so I have been giving that a go. I haven't been thrilled with my results but I have finally got one that I am prepared to share. Of course I can't upload that either at the moment. Rest assured that you will get to see it sometime. I have also been reading a new book on drawing, and specifically shading. It has an interesting exercise in it, to check that you can draw accurately. You are given a drawing in little squares out of order and have to redraw them in the right order. I loved this, but I had nearly finished and couldn't see any kind of image. This was rather worrying so I asked the nearest friend if he could see what I was drawing. Yes he could, and it was funny. He did say there was a reason I couldn't see it. Great, so I carried on, two squares from the end I got it, the image was upside down. Even worse I KNOW I couldn't possibly draw that picture. Hmmm, I've been outwitted by a book. At least I think the book was written by a human so technically they outwitted me.

...and finally I have heard from Road 2 California. I think I mentioned that I had a rejection letter a few days ago, and I have been trying not to get my hopes up for the other two quilts. Well I needn't have worried, I have two acceptance letters. I am amazed. I never expected to get one in let alone two. So all of you who have been asking to see my work in person, if you are in California, this is your chance. I have to wait for the hard copy letter to get here to have all the details but at least I know I need to start looking into ways to get them there on time. The two quilts going are 'Wait' and 'Miss Baltimore'.

Regional day and Chrysler finds a new home

Yesterday was a regional meeting of the Quilters Guild. It was a winter themed sewing day with several demonstrations. A great chance to socialize with other quilters. It was great to get to talk to so many like minded people in one day. The meeting was help in Great Missenden, which wasn't was far away as I thought. Also Great Missenden is the home of Rainbow Silks. It is either a great shop full of wonderful things that will be great for your art, or a terrible shop that will have a bad effect on your bank balance. On the other hand, I think it is probably both. I strongly suspect I will be going back there in the not to distant future. This time I was fairly restrained, I didn't buy any rubber stamps or screen printing inks. I did however get some sort of yarn, and some more proto socks (sock wool). I also bought a small amount of friendly plastic to play with. I have been looking at it for a while but it was always far too expensive, Rainbow silks have it at what I considered to be a sensible price, so I got some to play with. I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet, but rest assured I will let you know when I do. I also managed to get some pretreated fabric for sun printing. I've been trying to get the chemicals to make my own for a while, so this was a real find. Now all I need is some sun.

In the afternoon, there was a speaker. Mary Mayne talking about her experience of having a book published. She went through the whole process, from the idea to the finished book. The talk was very entertaining, but also very informative. One of the things I really love about textile artists is how keen they are to share information. I don't have enough experience to know if this os common to all artists, but I do hope it is. It is so different to other industries I have dealt with and I think far more productive. After all we are far more likely to move forward when everyone is sharing information.

Chrysler has headed off to a new home. It will be heading to America, and I hope it's new owners will enjoy it. It was nice to have it back for a while, but I think selling it so soon after it returned was easier. I haven't had a chance to get used to it being around. It's funny how nerve wracking it is selling a piece even though the fact that someone wants to buy it should be reassuring I still worry that in some way it will disappoint. Is this something that all people feel when they sell their creations?

It's been a busy weekend but I think I have a lot of new inspirations and I hope I now have time to work on some designs I have had waiting. I think another nude is demanding me to make it, and I want to make some smaller pictorial pieces too, maybe some car related works. I also have a new book of pictures of the cosmos, there are so many images that inspire me I can't even see where to start, but as a reformed astrophysicist I guess at some point these will turn into quilts.

Oh one other thing, I don't think I will have time to make the challenge quilt. Well with the deadline having passed and me not having had time to start, it isn't looking good. I will hang on to the idea though, I love it and at some point I am sure it will come together.

National Gallery - again

Ok I admit it, I really like the National Gallery. It seems that each time I go I see new things, even in the same paintings I have studied before. This time I had a really good look at insects painted on flowers. I think I will have to take along someone who knows about them and can tell me how they scale and colours compare to the real thing. They are just amazing.

I managed to get a postcard of one of the paintings I really like. I am sure they didn't have one before so I was thrilled to see it listed on the blurb with the picture this time. It is Orpheus by Roelandt Savery. I love all the animals and birds in it, the picture is just full of little details. The herons are a particular favorite of mine. I love the way he has painted their spotted necks. It is hanging with another of his paintings, darker but still full of fantastic animals. I get the feeling he really loved wildlife and enjoyed painting it.

I found a whole exhibition I had missed the last two visits, Cezanne in Britain. I do like seeing a large range of work by one artist at the same time. It is interesting to see how their work develops and changes. I was really taken by a simple drawing of a shed. My pet artist was with me and pointed out something very interesting about one of the paintings. It was a still life of apples, and not terribly exciting to me. However someone was sitting drawing it, using coloured pencils and taking great care over their drawing. The interesting thing is, the painting was going to be really hard to copy the way the student was doing it, but it would have been quite easy to do with marker pens! The paint had been applied in lines which did look very much line the result you get with marker pens. Who would have thought it. It's definitely got me thinking about what tools might make my life easier when I am trying to copy something.

I am still really enjoying going and looking at art. There is so much out there, so many techniques, styles and ideas. It gives me so many ideas and things to think about.

I am still trying with the drawing but I am finding it increasingly frustrating. I want to see some improvement. It occurred to me today that the things I do I enjoy the process as well as the result, drawing is different. I am looking for the result, but I haven't learned to enjoy the process. At least I hope I can learn to like it.

Thanks Folks

Thank you everyone for your comments they are appreciated. It's interesting how different pieces appeal to different people. I have one friend who doesn't really like the Jabberwock, but them he doesn't like abstract, so it isn't really surprising. On the other hand he loves some of my less popular quilts. I guess with art each piece finds it's own friends, and that's cool. I hope it is a good sign that I am now happy for some people to not like some of what I do.

I've get a head full of the next challenge quilt now. I can't believe they picked a theme so perfect for my last quilt, but I will play along and make a new one. If it works it might lead on to me entering a wearable art competition, something I never thought I would do.

Now I am going to try and take a night off, any bets on me managing it. How do you stop your brain coming up with ideas anyway, and would you really want to?

Jabberwock - finally

Well I thought I would at least get this posted before the next challenge, it was my last target, and I missed it. On the other hand I would have made it if the challenge hadn't come out early. This was a really difficult quilt to photograph and show the texture in it. It is really very scaly. It is also extremely three dimensional. Hopefully by taking pictures from many angles you can sort of see that. I thought the shadows in the first picture were really cool, and they do show how much the tail curves out from the wall.

You may remember I wanted to have the tail at an angle, as it now is. The solution was to put wooden slats in pockets at the top and bottom of the quilt. This holds the quilt firmly so it can support the wings and the tail at an angle. This is also a quilt the really needs a hanging sleeve to hang. The weight on it is very unbalanced so it needs to be supported along it's whole width.

The idea behind this is the view you have as the Jabberwock attacks. When it is up close all you can really see is scales, claws and teeth, but the human brain is very good filling in details you can't actually see, hence the wings and tail. I don;t normally do abstract at all so for me this was quite a stretch. I really enjoyed making it and I do love the finished quilt. It did bring up a lot of new problems for me to solve, cocktails sticks, balsa wood and invisible thread all played their part in making this work. I would love to hear what you think of it now it is done. I feel I missed the boat for the official challenge blog, so it will just be here.

It did occur to me I could enter this as the third challenge. After all it is an unusual shape, so it would fit. On the other hand that it cheating really and I do have something else I would like to have a go at. I do also have a lot of other work on right now, so no promises but I will see what I can do.

You can click on the photos to get a bigger image.

Inspiration, funerals and wings

It's been really odd recently, we just seem to get ourselves sorted when there is another death or funeral. Today was I hope the last for a while. It has lead me to some thoughts about quilting though. I want to do a black wholecloth quilt. I have a design for a 'death angel', and I think quilted wings on black would look fantastic. Oh and of course most people see black as a funeral colour. Now I just need to pull these ideas together and I am sure I will have a very special quilt. 'Just' that is one of those words isn't it. Like 'simply' they somehow imply it is both easy and impossible at the same time. Watch this space, I am sure this quilt will make it out.

I've also take advantage of spare moments to work on the Jabberwock wings. I have one finished I hope other will not be far behind. I would like to at least get it posted here before the next challenge comes out on Friday. Still I guess I can't beat myself up too much about how fate take up my time.

Paper and wool

It has been one of those days for catching up on paperwork. Businesses really do produce a lot don't they even when you try to reduce it. Still I have discovered that knitting makes it a lot easier. I can do something creative while thinking about what I need to write, how to organize data and while waiting for the printer. Of course I am not a fast knitter so I only have a couple of inches of ribbing for the bottom of a one piece sweater but that is more than I would have otherwise managed, and I got the more tedious work done. I feel a weight has been lifted so I can get back to more creative work again.

On the subject of paper, I have been doing some drawing recently. I have been told by several people to try life drawing, so that is what I have been doing. I have found journeys on the tube to be very good for finding subjects to sketch. It also helps that I can only be sure I have until the next station so I tend to work faster and less carefully. Given one of my problems is hesitation I figure this is a good thing. I can even see what some of my sketches are. Even better some are recognizable to other people. I'm not sure I am quite ready to inflict them on the whole of the internet though. Maybe in a week or two.

Teaching or Learning

Today I was teaching a small group my technique for textured art quilts. It was a fun day and I think the students were pleased with their results. We didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but they all seemed happy to carry on at home, which is great. It was fascinating watching how the different fabric choices came together, as well as how each person placed the pieces. You could tell they had all started from the same drawing but they very clearly put their own mark on it. This is what I really look for, student's who take the idea and make it their own.

We also talked a bit about choosing pictures to use a source material and how to convert them into a pattern. Even the most nervous of them came up with a range of fantastic ideas to try. I hope I will get to see some of their future projects. I think this is what I really like about teaching. Seeing people moving on to do things they either hadn't considered or hadn't thought possible before. If nothing else it inspires me to try more things, and inspiration is always valuable.

If any of you put up pictures online, please let me know so I can have a look, and share the links here.

Chrysler comes home

I just got a very odd package. It was all squidgy. I haven't ordered any fabric recently, well not that much anyway. Turns out to be my quilt returning. I had completely forgotten it was due back. Which could have been a bad thing if it had gone missing, but it didn't so all is well.

I had been rather dreading this moment, I've not had good luck with this group of shows. So with some trepidation I opened the package, the well sealed waterproof package! Inside the quilt was very carefully packed. Most of the folds were padded with bubble wrap and the whole quilt then wrapped in more bubble wrap. OK it wasn't perfect folding, but such a huge improvement. I have already rung Grosvenor and told them how pleased I was and how much of an improvement I think it is. I am still very sad that they didn't address any of my concerns directly when I wrote to them, but it does look like they have tried to make things better. I might even try entering another one of their shows next year.

After a very quick press (the first fold was vertical right sides together) Chrysler is up on the pole over my bed. It is a nice quilt, but I have come on a lot in the last year. I could do so much better now.

Fabric Origami

I've been taking my first attempt at fabric origami today. It doesn't sound too tricky does it. There are lots of quilting techniques that involve folding fabric. Well I have very singed fingers my back aches and I haven't got very far. I think part of the problem is that I am being very picky about my folds but even so. To make the crease I have to get the iron pretty close to my fingers, and then coordinate moving my fingers and blasting the steam. I haven't quite got that maneuver sorted yet. I also realized that I have to avoid pressing the whole length of creases that intersect, as doing that wipes out the crease I put in before. It isn't something you have to think about with paper. On the other hand I think the design is going to work. I am laying things out as I go and I like what I see. It does look like I will need a lot more origami than I expected, but it should still be a two or three day project, and I can't complain at that.

I am still kicking one of the designs for the SAQA show. It still isn't quite right but I don't know why. So much it how I want it, but I just have a feeling that something isn't happy. At least I am sure I am happy with the background so I can get on with that as soon as this current quilt is done. From past experience I will figure out the problem just in time, but it will be close. Why is it that my brain works best under significant time pressure?

Finally if you are the person who bought my Priority Azheimers Quilt at Houston I would love to hear from you. I know this message might be a bit late, but I keep forgetting to do it. I am pretty sure it did sell as Ami said she had sold the same number of quilts as she said she was taking. I would just love to know where it ended up. I am quite interested in which way up it is too. I couldn't decide which was the top.

Covers covers everywhere.

I've spent a productive couple of hours measuring a rather large car for covers. It's nice working with cars, they don't often change shape between fittings, and they don't need to be able to move in their covers either. On the other hand the covers are very big. You thought I made big quilts, but no they are quite small and easy to handle. I expect the full length covers to take over 30m of fabric each. They are really huge. They are quite satisfying though, and it is really nice to see a car wearing one. It looks far better than an unfitted tarpaulin.

During the day I got one of my SAQA designs sorted out. I though it was simple but I just felt I should see it before I started so I drew it out half scale. I discovered that it is going to be pretty big, 53" square. I hope that is OK, I need to find the guidelines. I also found that very few quilt block are entirely asymmetric. I've had to design myself a new one to get all the features I want, and of course it is more complex than would be idea for a quick project. Typical.

However I did make a good discovery today. I like ink. A lot. I had some ink and brushes on my desk waiting for an art lesson, so when I needed to fill in large areas on the design with colour it seemed to obvious solution. Wow it's good. I love the way it feels on the brush, I love the way it moves, and it even smells nice. What more could I ask for? I am really looking forward to getting some advice and ideas on what I can do with it.

Artistic revelation

I have a large lump of plastacine sitting next to my desk. The idea being I should try sculpting. It's not a bad idea actually, it is indeed easier than drawing for some things. I made models of all the parts of the jabberwock (yes it is deliberate that I leave off the y). Which made making a pattern really easy. I've been wanting to make some thing for a couple of days now but I couldn't think of anything to make so I haven't. Then tonight it struck me, I can think of things, lots of them. What I can't do is think of things I think I can make. What a lightbulb moment. Even more so when I realized that is why I don't draw things without being told to. I don't think I can, so I have an idea then drop it because I can't do it. Repeat until bored. I don't know how I am going to fix this, but I guess knowing what the problem is makes it a lot easier to fix.

Busy busy

I guess a lot of people believe the saying, 'If you want something done as a busy person'. It seems that the busier I get the more people who get in touch with things for me to do. I just wish they were all paying work, I'd be rich :) It took me two hours last night to try and jam everything into my diary this week, but I did it. Even better I have almost finished today's list, and I am sure I will get it all done. I might even get a couple of extra things done too.

I've finished the quilting on Che, I decided that I wouldn't quilt the red areas. I like the way it is raising up and enhancing the fuzziness (is that a word?) of his hair. It is currently being blocked before trimming. I still can;t upload my pictures on my own so it will be tomorrow before you all get to see it. Sorry. Given that time is limited I am thinking about a machine sewn binding. If I use a Ricky Tims style piped binding it might work rather well. With a fine black line to frame the piece. I'll have to wait overnight for the quilt to 'set' so I can let my brain work on it.

I think I have finally settled on a couple of designs for the SAQA show at the NEC next year. I've been thinking about it for a while but I couldn't get the ideas to firm up. As ever a close deadline has done the trick, and I think I should be able to complete two in time. I would love to do a third but it would be quite a slow project and I don't feel I can risk making it the first one I try. We shall see. I guess I will have to check how much I am allowed to tell you before I enter them as well.

Che Guevara top complete

Well while I wait for my thread to chill and rehydrate I thought I would show you the finished top. It is now on the frame and about half of the black is quilted, but the thread isn't playing ball. It is now breaking every inch. I have been through all the usual checks and found nothing obvious. I suspect that the house has been very dry for the last week though as we have just turned on the central heating, and the spool of black thread has been sitting on my sewing machine the whole time (I have been using it). Hopefully after a rest it will behave better and I can get the quilting finished. I've decided to do a stipple over the black, and possibly the red. I know it isn't very exciting but I needed something really dense and dull. I didn't want the quilting to talk on this quilt. If I hadn't needed it to be washable I might have gone for something less solid, maybe a series of diagonal lines? It does though so everything needs to be very secure and stipple will do that nicely.

On the other hand...

I did manage to get quite a lot done today, which always makes things better. The most important thing on my agenda was getting the class quilt quilted, and as you can see I did it! I thought about doing a nice safe pantograph, but well. It was just such a good canvas to play with. I wanted to keep the feeling of movement, so there are lots of spirals and flame patterns. I had a lot of fun with it. The borders I am not thrilled with. I used a stencil to mark the design of feathers and stars. It looks like a very cool stencil but I had some problems. Firstly I couldn't see a way to do it as a continuous line, by the last one I had worked out a way to do it in only two lines. I also found it very difficult to follow the feather design. I thought free hand feathers were tricky, but this was much harder. On the bright side I have learned something. I don't like pre-marking feathers. I can see that saving me a lot of time and stress in the future. There is no way I would choose to make a design that I had to mark to make it work. So I suspect any wholecloth designs I come up with will be largely feather free.

I am thinking of offering a discount on quilting services to my students, or at least those doing classes where the end product is suitable for longarm quilting. Do you think this would be a good idea? Would it be something you would appreciate if you were taking a class?

The other thing I have been working on is the road warriors house warming present. He asked if I could do a Che Guevara wall hanging for him. You may have seen my earlier post with the pattern for it. Today I finally got round to prewashing some black fabric for it. I don't know why but it always seems like a lot of hassle when I have to wash the fabric. Really, even though I do it by hand, it doesn't take much time or effort. Still after an hour of cutting out this is where I have got to. I am so thrilled with it. While I was cutting it I was getting very nervous. The hair looked far too rounded and the face too craggy, but suddenly when you can step back and really see it, it all comes together. Hopefully I can get the rest of it done tomorrow, and maybe hand sew the binding while I have some friends round. Keep your fingers crossed for me (unless you are trying to quilt/craft of course). Funny, for a design that wasn't really my bag when I started, I've got really quite attached to it.

What a difference a day makes, take 2

OK, did I not make myself clear. STOP DYING! Enough. Yes, I like wearing black, but no I don't like needing to go to funerals. It now looks like there will be a second next week. My partners Uncle has just died from cancer. He was one of the first people to see the potential of my work in interior design. He was kind enough and interested enough to put me in touch with an interior designer he knew. He was also one of the few people to understand my pricing, even though he had no previous experience of quilts or quilting. It meant a lot to have someone outside of the industry understand what I do. I guess this is even more reason to be making fiber postcards for various cancer charities. If you are interested in doing the same leave a comment and I will email you the details of the latest challenge.

I know it is winter, it is the season when things die, but honestly I've had enough for now. I've just found out that the biker I met at Sandown Quilt Show has died as well. His funeral is Thursday, I hope his family are OK, he was very much one of the good guys and I know he will be missed.

Folks, please look after yourselves, your friends and you family. I am sure we all have people we should have got in touch with, maybe now is the time to do it.

What a difference a day makes

Well things seem to have improved a bit today. I got to have a lovely chat with a fellow quilter, who might be interested in me basting her quilts for her. I've got the borders on the class sample and most of the quilting done, and I had a couple of phone calls from friends. All in all a much better day. To round it off we had tickets for a concert, and it was good.

Now to open a can of worms. I have an art question. I recently saw Van Gogh's Chair for the first time in the flesh. I've seen it in books a few times and been utterly underwhelmed by it. I've learned that that doesn't mean much. Art doesn't translate into books at all well. I could never see the big deal about Rubens until I saw his work not only in the flesh but in context with other work of the same period. Wow, he is amazing. One the other hand, the chair leaves me cold and somewhat confused. I just don't see what the big deal is. It is wonky, with cartoon outlining and the pipe and tobacco on it look really flat, maybe unfinished, maybe an after thought. So can anyone explain what the deal is? Why is this a great piece of art? I've tried asking all the arty people I know but they seem to be as bemused as I am. Is it just luck of the draw? Once you are famous all your work is good by association maybe. In a similar thought I wonder what Rodin thinks of his sketches being on display in the Royal Academy. Some of them look like the very preliminary sketches I do when I am just trying to hold on to an idea. I think I would be mortified if they ever escaped into a gallery. If I ever get that famous, I must remember to burn all my sketch books.

Square in a Square class sample

Finally, I got the sample done. I don't believe how many things I got wrong today. I can't even claim it is difficult, it just isn't. Maybe that is part of the problem, if it had been harder I might have paid more attention and made less mistakes. It does still have an error in it but that one will stay. I guess it shows everyone can have an off day. Tomorrow I will recycle some of the wrong blocks into a border and then get it quilted. This class will be at Patchwork Corner on the 5th December. The idea is to give the people who bought the ruler some ideas what to do with it. This top will be the pattern we work to and is 36" square. Once I add the extra 9" borders I think it will be a great sofa throw. While I was taking a breather today I decided to catch up on some blogs I like. Coincidentally I found an article that explains why I am just keeping on working despite the other things going on and the silly number of mistakes I have been making. Have a read, she says it so much better than I could.

For those who have been asking, yes I am still trying to draw. A combination of doing lots of exercises and not having a way of uploading the pictures have stopped me showing you what I am up to. Once we get normal service resumed I will let you see what new work I have done. I have discovered that some things really send me into a flat spin. I can't see any common theme to them but boy do they stop me in my tracks. It's weird. I tend to agree with my teachers that a lot for the problems come down to confidence, but how can you be confident you can do something when every part of you tells you that you can't?

Finally having managed to get some more pictures onto a computer I thought I would share this picture. It was taken without even a tripod so I am really pleased with it. We were at Santa Pod last weekend for the Flame and Thunder show, and the moon came up early while I was waiting to photograph the bonfire being lit. They light their bonfire with a jet truck so it is a pretty good photo opportunity. Enjoy.

Argh, stress does effect thinking

As you may have gathered by the frequency of posts I've been having rather a lot of life recently. I think I am mostly coping fine, but every now and again I realize that I am not applying as much quality brainpower as I need to. This morning I have just fluffed a whole stack of blocks. Fortunately I did realize before I ruined all of them, and although what I have isn't what I need I should be able to reuse them. It's just frustrating when you have lots of work to do and a brain that really isn't playing ball. I would love to be able to just wait for life to calm down, but I have commitments I have to meet, and I am not sure life is planning on calming down.

So I guess it is time to remake these 8 blocks, which between them took over 1m of fabric. Alternatively I could go and get my package of fabric from the depot. Hmmm, maybe the break would help and new fabric makes everything better.

Hopefully later I will be able to show you what I have been working on, if the computers want to play. See what I mean too much life happening.

Challenge quilt two, Jabberwock

Sorry it is a bit late but it has been a rather full week. Including one computer giving up the ghost. Of course it is the computer I use to upload my pictures. Not a problem, we managed to get some pictures off the camera. Shame the lighting and focus was so far off. I will take some more pictures once we have the computer sorted but I thought I might as well let you see how far I got, as best I can.

The challenge this month was to make a piece based on the poem about the jabberwocky. It had to be abstract and include texture. Straight away I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to show the Jabberwock as it might appear to the person it was attacking. The rectangle is what you are really seeing, all the embellishments are supposed to be the details you noticed before it got so close. The base quilt is made of a solid panel quilted to be the belly scales and individual scale shapes lightly quilted to allow them to raise up, it gives a good scale texture but doesn't seem to photograph well. The binding is also made of individual scales which radiate out from the centers of the sides. The claws and teeth are three dimensional embellishments added after quilting. This allowed me to tuck the claws into the scales. The back isn't the neatest I've ever managed, but how much art is judged on it's back?

The tail is very curved, and sticks out a long way from the wall. It is stuffed with wadding I inherited. I would have liked to have been able to have it hang at an angle but when I tried it pulled the quilt out of shape and still hung straight down. I think this is something I will come back to, maybe I can come up with a way to avoid this. Perhaps by using a stretcher frame? The wings are the only part not quite finished. The ribs are stuffed but not fully sewn closed. I will do that and then hand sew the webs between the bones. I am going to use the belly fabric for the rest of the wings. The wings will then be sewn into place over the stitching for the binding, which is how the tail is held on. This method seems to be pretty secure and unobtrusive.

As ever comments would be welcome. I think in a normal week I would have had time to finish this quilt, but it would have been tight. The wings took a silly amount of time because they are so skinny to turn and stuff. Anyone know at what point an abstracted image becomes abstract?

Another crafter leaves us

Sonia Beatrice Shooter nee Tregaskis, painter, stitcher and engraver left us this morning at 1am. She will be greatly missed. Her supplies will live on and create new pieces of art.

Me and my bright ideas

So I have this great plan for my challenge quilt. It is really good honest, well I think it is. It sprang into my head ready to go, and it doesn't look too tricky. On the other hand I seem to have greatly underestimated the time needed to make it. The body of the quilt is only A3 and is complete, but the embellishments are taking forever. I think I put in nearly 8 hours yesterday on them and so far another 2 hours today. I think another 5 or 6 might do the trick, but this is supposed to be a fast quilt. Whups. I guess it has been a learning experience regardless. I now know one more thing that will take longer than I could ever have imagined. The quilt has also consumed a surprising amount of fabric, something else I will be aware of next time I try something like this.

Time Travel, and perfectly timed support

Ok, so what has blogger been up to? My last post seems to think I posted it Friday, and yet I already knew what I had done over the weekend. Kinda strange really, and of course I would claim it is currently Tuesday but I think blogger will say it is Wednesday.

Firstly, I would like to thank Nellie for her very kind email. Unfortunately it came through with an invalid return address so I will try and find the correct address tomorrow. I just wanted you to know it was appreciated now. Today has been one of the days my brain doesn't play ball on the drawing front. It had been going so well. I drew two recognizable trees with scribble and that was good. Then came an avocado. Crunch, just like hitting a wall. I can't see how I am supposed to be able to achieve that. I did call on my artists technical support line, and I now see what I am supposed to do, but not how to do it. Major crisis of confidence followed. Then coming home to such a supportive email was just what I needed. So I guess over the next couple of days I will be returning to the avocado. Sometimes it does seem like the world is helping me go in this direction, and that's a really great feeling.

It's been a pretty productive day on the quilting front too. My challenge quilt is now quilted. It just needs the embellishments adding and the binding putting on. I relished in time that I need to put the binding on first if I want to use the sewing machine, as once I have the embellishment's on there is on way I will be able to get it under the arm of the machine. It is going to be a very wacky piece, but I think I will rather like it. I hope I can enter it into the NEC next year in innovative small. We shall see.