I am not sure how much progress I have made but I have made some! My life is still blighted by the lack of a proper internet connection, counting the minutes that I am on-line is really limiting, I have, however, discovered that a little negative feedback works wonders… Hopefully I will be connected before too long…. The good news is that I now have a ‘dirty’ sink so can start playing with dyes and printing again.

I have planned a new class for Birmingham, FOQ, in August and another for EPM, Ste Marie, in September.

I am throughly enjoying living away from the mountains and their snow, yes, it has been wet and windy (the latter really frightened me the night it approached the 120 kph.) but the longer and sunny days make up for it.

I decided to do Journal Quilts again this year, they are more prescriptive than previously and the first 4 have to be made using a sewing technique, I have used appliqué and paper piecing for the first two. They have links to India, the fabric used is sari scraps. The first carried on with my positive/negative thinking from last year and the second one used some pieces I had prepared and not used, it was then saddle stitched with silver thread which was given to me by my sewing machine repair man!

I have done two shows since the beginning of the year, the first was Fil’ Passion at Périgueux. It was a great chance to meet up with other artists. I received some very positive comments about my work, which is always nice and several people called it poetic, there is a first time for everything! I spent the show admiring the Russian rooftops stitched by Le Begonia D’Or I love the gold-work but I think it might have to wait for a future lifetime!

Two weeks later I was at Fils Croisés in Cholet; this was an excellent show concerning interest in my work, I even sold a small piece, I was not only interviewed by the local paper but also by the local television. I also had some very enthusiastic ladies who did a short lesson with me with great results.

 

The extremely helpful sewing machine man even managed to service my machine during the show which was brilliant, I avoided having the lost feeling one has when one’s machine is away from home! Good planning meant that there was also time to visit the Textile Museum which still makes the traditional cotton handkerchiefs and which had samples of old ones, the brown ones were made for those who spat baccy…. There was even one with printed with battle techniques.

And of course there was the centre of Cholet near the hotel..

By walking, almost, daily I am constantly on the look out for interesting things to photograph which could morph in to future designs, whether it is a flower or a leaf, a bit of rusty metal or a building.

This year for Fifteen by Fifteen I am using the subjects to create a series based on the coastline around here. We have a lot of fishing huts on stilts, carrelets, which are very photogenic and I have used them in several pieces. The first Fifteen by Fifteen subject was ‘blooming’ so I used a couple of lines of poetry to kick start me and an old damask napkin and this is the result.

‘Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone.

Thomas Moore 1779 – 1852

I also did two hand stitched pieces, one was a carrelet but the other was a lady I saw in the women’s garden in Gunjur, The Gambia a few years ago. I had wanted to ‘do’ her for a while and it gave me chance to play with stitch to create texture while using some loose woven cotton which is the only fabric still woven in the Gambia.

Now the time has come to return to the workroom and stitch.