The best laid plans of mice and men, Go oft away….. (Robert Burns)

Firstly Happy New Year, I hope that there will be good health, peace and creativity for everybody.

I have been hiding with the excuses that the computer needed updating to have better access to my blog and that I had nothing new to show, both problems are now remedied so watch this space…

In June the exhibition space and conditions at the Chateau de Lacaze in the Tarn were excellent and I was able to exhibit all the 38 quilts that I took with me. As planned I stayed the first week; stormy weather but two lovely walks and a visit to Albi which I had wanted to visit for a long time. I wasn’t disappointed. The Saturday of the first week I taught a class which was well received by enthusiastic students, the accompanying textile weekend was sadly not well attended but it was really hot….

Two weeks later I returned with a friend, we set off early and managed to visit Moissac, Grauhlet and Lautrec before arriving at our accommodation. I first visited Moissac when I was on 16 and on an exchange visit and had always wanted to revisit, I wasn’t disappointed. Grauhlet was a thriving leather producing town sadly now rather sad but the museum was interesting. We walked all week discovering different small areas, the countryside was for the most part wooded and shady (thankfully as it was very hot) and the paths were at time rather steep. We managed to visit churches and small museums along our routes.

In August I took part in a three day village arts festival not far from Cognac. The entire village joined in and the exhibitions were held in people’s barns, courtyards, gardens etc, we were given lunch in the village square and there were evening entertainments which I didn’t attend but the whole event was really well attended and I returned home with fewer quilts than I took with me.

In September I took part in the local fete des arts, based with friends as per the last few years it was a great weekend and once again some of my work found new homes. It was then off to Alsace to the European Carrefour with the quilts for our on-line group Fifteen by Fifteen. It is a really long drive bt we were rewarded with excellent exhibition space and it was really well received by the general public.

Not long back from the show and I headed off to Sardinia with a group of walking friends. Due to lack of flights we had a couple of extra days to spend in Cagliari, two of us ventured off and saw most of what the town had to offer and we also took a bus south to visit the old ruins of Nora. The walking was wonderful, rocky and relatively wild although we did take some well worn hiking trails.

My Fifteen by Fifteen series were finished with the second bird, a griffin vulture and two quilts of vegetation that I saw.

I also finished my journal quilts, having produce six types of different leaves for the first six I then went to the shape of the tree adding quotations about each. The idea was to work with words and I tried to produce them in different ways. I have never really connected to adding text but I found the exercise a useful one and now know which methods I prefer.

The latter part of the year I started producing new work again, the pieces that sold during the year were, for the most part my newer ones so I need to build up new stock, I have finished two and there are more in the pipeline alongside a wedding quilt which I won’t show until I have delivered it in November

That rounds up 2023, now I need to work out how to be more adept at creating each post but the essentials are there, thank you for reading to the end!