Happy New Year. I reckon with the weather that we are experiencing at present things can only get better. I did end the year by doing some snow dyeing, it was meant to be the first of a batch for my stash but the snow is now so saturated and the thought of going out in the rain has dampened my enthusiasm. I decided to play with primary colours and black;

I tend to leave it outside until it melts but this time after a couple of days I finished it off inside as the temperatures didn’t rise sufficiently!

I am conscious that I have not written anything for a while, it is actually due to the fact that I have been producing work, I am working for an exhibition at Biennale Internationale d’Art Textile in April and I have decided to keep my work under wraps until it has been exhibited. I have been printing and stitching to produce a body of work inspired by my visit to India. I did my largest lino print to date, not easy in a  small space as I had to print it 12 times to get the required size; I am now finishing it off. More of that in a future post.

The last 15 by 15 quilt was on the subject of water and I decided on the subject of Lake Beringo, in Kenya, which a few years ago had an unprecedented rise in water levels which destroyed the lakeside. Working on cotton/silk fabric I painted the background wrapped round a jar and then machine stitched the paint lines. I added rocks by cutting the fabric and inserting them, the trees were stitched separately and then inserted in the same way.

My journal quilts were finished off, one using painted fabric and appliqué and the other quite simply hand stitched both were inspired from Moroccan tile designs. They were designed for hand-stitching during the show at La Roche-sur Foron.

The end of the year meant that I could photograph all twelve of my 11 inch journal quilts together. I really enjoy producing a small quilt each month, it allows me to try new ideas which I can use as teaching samples of inspiration for larger work.

To finish off the year I did a portrait of a friend’s dog for her Christmas present, normally I just stitch bu this timeI added paint beforehand which gave more depth to the picture, it was a small 10 cm square mounted on a frame.

Now back to stitching….