Something on Saturday

Cow 76
'Moo Selfie'

While we were on holiday, I fell in love with some paintings by artist Lucy Tidbury.  I bought some cards of the paintings so I could enjoy them at home. I will be showing the cards I bought in the next few weeks.
If I could afford a painting of this one, I would definitely get it! Cow AND Castle!! (Corfe Castle)
But I would basically get it because it would make me laugh every time I saw it.

I like Thankful Thursday

Coming across things you 'must have' on holiday.

-If you have been in Dorset,  you need fossils

...and because they are also selling gemstones, you get those,too.

This is restraint! I could have got loads more. Sort of thinking necklace, so I tried to remember what colour necklace I keep thinking I need. Not so good at the remembering part. But I can always use blue and I think I have been wishing for green. The blue one is marbled with white on the other side.

I think the fossil looks like an abstract painting. Or a smiling fish if you turn it another way. It is a straight tube fossil, related to cephalopods. I don't know what the round spot is. Maybe a cross section of another one?

-coloured twine - not for the garden, but to be considered 'thread' or to make a net with.

-a wonderful thing for only £8! and even a Thoughtful Man thought it was a good idea. ie: didn't frown about me buying it.

A shoemaker's last.

But not just any old shoemaker's last...one for the whole family. 😃👞👟👠

There was another also in the shop with just two shoe forms...also £8. So, that wasn't a hard choice. 😀

The shop owner said people buy them for door stops. Sensible. So, that is what it is doing til I need to use it for shoes!
Actually, it has given me an idea for how to depict or record something I have been wanting to make about the refugees in so many places.👣

and finally - a photo of a blue flower. Don't take the flower, just a photo.

It was too near the edge for me to attempt a photo, or even to get near enough to look at it closely. So a Certain Young Man, who came over from Sussex university for a few days with us, did the bending and trying to get just the right photo. It only took a couple tries to do it. Lovely.
Not sure what it is. They were scattered on the banks near the dragon.

Check out more likes from the others taking part...links on LeeAnna's blog.

Batik

I am working on a lovely, simple summer dress. I bought this blue batik from Lady Sew and Sew. I believe it is a Fabric Freedom brand batik. It will be a sheath dress.

Looking forward to this one! I just have armholes and hem to do!

In the long back garden

While we were in Dorset, we took the Steam Train to Swanage.

Here is a story...
Holly was so funny. When she runs out in our back garden to be sure the magpie isn't landing or to see if any cats have got in, she doesn't exactly bark. She kind of does a hoarse  "hooff hooff" as she runs around sniffing through the fence and the back gate.
In the long back garden at the cottage, you could hear the chuff, chuff of the steam train heading out on it's journey from the station to Swanage or to Wareham. You could even hear the toot as it sounded at different times of the day.
The first evening, when Holly heard the chuff, chuff of the steam train; she ran out in the garden vigorously saying, "hooff hooff" "hooff hooff"!  Well, if something was hooffing that loudly, she sure didn't want it getting near her people!

However, it was quite different when she was inside the big hooffing machine! She dived under the table when it started chuffing to head out of the station to Swanage. Unfortunately her back end was in the aisle, but still! So, we got her underneath properly and she stuck close to her 'dad'.

So, that was the story to get to the point where I show photos we took of the headland by 'Old Harry'. We didn't walk out there, but on the promenade in the opposite direction and along the path near a public garden where it had more shade.  Swanage has a lovely beach, but the tide was right in, and the one beach with a bit of space didn't allow dogs.

We were far enough along the other side of the curve the harbour made, to be able to see the chalk cliff and with zoom get a photo of the area around the stacks which make up what is called 'Old Harry and his wife'.

In the backgarden there were some lovely flowers. One section seemed to be planted specifically for the bees.
Love in a Mist

Purple Cranesbill (of the pelargonium family?)

pink Sweet William - (I had only seen red and white ones before)

White yarrow (Not cow parsley/Queen Anne's Lace, I don't think.)

I just wanted to take a photo looking at them from the same height. I had seen photos like that on a gardening show. I like the little touch of purple from another flower.

Bead on 17-23 June

week 25 - 2018

bead on fabric


I haven't got any further on the trim as I have been working on a summer dress.

Something on Saturday

cow 75

Seen on our holiday

Meant to make you want ice cream?
Clever idea for a bench, but the eye is a bit scary. At some point the proper looking eye must have fallen or taken out with force. But I think it would be a bit better if they painted in an eye or even painted it black.

Thankful on Friday instead.

Lots going on right now. It might seem odd, but some days it is a bit too much to add to coping levels for the day by turning on the computer.

Anyway, I like that the new physio I have been referred to, who is meant to help me with leg pain and mobility, looks to be prepared to really help and not just want me to 'manage the pain'.

and that going to hospital means I could pick up some more books in the bookshop and going to the library means even more!

I like I have had some time to work on some clothes for me. One I cut out is an eyelet lace, which will have white underlining.

I love the thatched cottage we stayed in when we were in Dorset on holiday the other week.

Our bit is on the right. The left side is where the owner of our self-catering cottage lived.

The whole street had houses with climbing roses up and over the door.

I really liked that it was amazingly sunny and warm enough to read at any number of spots in the garden there.

and that there were signs which said I should be there.

I love that Dorset has a Dragon drinking water.

I like castle ruins and finding out the story about them.

Corfe Castle ruins

The wheels worked really well, but I didn't go up to the castle. Normally that would be one of the first things I would do. But, this time I decided to listen to reports from the Thoughtful Man and his dog.

hot and tired

This was at a cafe in a little courtyard. Every time we walked past the entrance on our way here or there, Holly decided we should go down there. Even though there was no real reward for her. We did eat there 3 days and saw the model village there on one day. We called it Holly's dinner place.

More holiday photos on another day.

Also, during these past few weeks...
 I very much like that my Fly Me to the Moon piece 'Moonlight Groovin' has been used in publicity for that gallery by the organisers of the Festival of Quilts.

and that my Ramshackle Suburbs will be part of the Fine Art Quilts Masters.

and that it is still a bit of a secret because they only used the detail photo for the publicity. People have to go to the gallery to actually see the whole of it...unless they follow my blog. But still, a little photo on a blog and standing in front of a piece nearly 2metres by 1.10 metres, two very different experiences.

Check out more likes from the others taking part...links on LeeAnna's blog.

Father's Day

My Dad and tiny me.

I am the oldest of 6 children.

Bead on 10-16 June

week 24 - 2018

bead on fabric
With my walker, I managed several days on holiday with much more walking than I had done before. So, I am trying to continue. Going out with Holly for about 30 min around the houses...but not down or up hill at this point. (Holly is still trying to work out just where we are going, as it isn't her regular route. And how to go fast enough to keep me from running over her lead or hitting her backside, yet slow enough that I can get up and down curbs safely.
Anyway, I wanted to keep track of this...sort of an incentive to continue.  Little purple bead at the top of the square following the day's bead stack.

Is this too much stuff? well, although I am 'filling' the fabric with a 'random' pattern, I am also recording things for this year. So, that is the true goal.

Taking Saturday's off, for the most part, because it is already busy.

Next week I will be turning the corner for the next row.


trim
Having completed the length - 40 cm - I started up one side with little black beads.

and now that is finished and I have begun going up the other side.

Something on Saturday

Cow 74
also fridge magnets

Bead on 3-9 June

week 23 - 2018

bead on fabric


on holiday this week, so I wanted to mark it in a way that would be obvious when you look at the whole at the end of the year.

no trim this week

Something on Saturday

cow 73
a few more fridge magnets spotted for this week and next

Contrast - Cow with attitude (Red eyes?)
and calf with the innocent look

I like Thankful Thursday

I like being on holiday with Mr. Thoughtful and Holly the dog.
But you will have to wait to next week for those photos!

However, you know I like showing you the growing things.

The plant that looked like this a few weeks ago...

Looks like this now...

Compare the chives you can see beneath the plant to get a better understanding of the size.

You see what I mean about the leaves staying the same, but being larger. I think that is amazing! Ok, yes, other leaves do that, too! But the fact that these are such an interesting shape and grows proportionally (I think that is the word.) to still retain all the shaping on the edge is a wonderful thing.
I still don't know what it is called.😄

Next to that around the corner is the red climbing rose. First year it is really blooming.

Then there are the first clematis growing in the jungley bit under the apple tree

So, I like indoor plants, too. Although, I don't do well at remembering to water them unless they are right in my face!

At the moment, my son's lemon tree is a bit sad. Well, more than that. There are one or two leaves and one green lemon. So, it has been put outside to see what the summer can do for it. (He should have taken it to uni.)
When I was at the shop the other day, I saw a coffee plant. Oh! Lovely surprise. so, I have picked that up for a replacement.

I know I can grow these because I had one that got very big quite a few years back.

Also, I had a thought about a day or so before going down to the shop, about wanting to have a Tradescantia pallid plant again. (Sometimes called Wandering Jew).
Lo and behold, they had some!

and so one came home with me.😄

And...
One more new thing I like very much.

wheels! My legs have got to the place where I am not steady - or I feel I am not steady. A couple weeks ago, I went on a walk with some of our friends. One friend has MS. So, she was pushed round in a wheel chair. I asked if I could try out her walker/scooter. It was great! Somehow I walk differently so that my hip and foot don't hurt so much. Ok Still tired, but not hurting badly is a good thing!
Then Last week, a delivery. I had a suspicion when a dining room chair came to live in our bedroom and there was a clear space next to the dog's toy bed.

Mr. Thoughtful had bought one for me! I chose blue because my friend's is red and then we don't get them mixed up.
So, imagine me actually being able to go on small walks with Mr. Thoughtful and Holly on my holiday.
This is a very glad thing!😍

Bead on 26 May- 2 June

week 22 - 2018

bead on fabric


A look at all to the beginning of June - the little purple bugles show the new month beginning.


trim
starting to go back along the sides to begin building a wider trim

Something on Saturday

cow 72

a gift from my husband some time ago.

I 'couldn't find' the farmer and cow when I was doing the other cow knick-knacks. Then they other day I 'found' it on a higher shelf that I used to keep it. 😵

Exciting news!

Last week I received a letter from the lovely people who run Festival of Quilts to say my entry was accepted for the Fine Arts Quilt Masters section!!!!!

This means it will be shown in a separate area from the other competition. There are 23 who have been shortlisted. On the first day of the show, at the Awards Ceremony, a winner will be announced.

In the past, names of those who have had work accepted include some of the very top European and International quilters. I am overwhelmed to join them. This year also, they will be producing a catalogue of the Artwork. So, that gives a way for visitors to take their memories (and my name!) back home with them.

It is a prestigious honour to be accepted. I was never sure I had anything good enough! But this year, the piece I entered into the 7th European Triennial was not excepted. So, I decided to enter this. You don't 'lose' if you don't get in, you just select ahead of time which category of the regular competition you want to enter instead, like Art Quilts or Pictorial or whatever, and no one need to be the wiser.

The blurb from the Festival of Quilts website says:
An international juried competition, the Fine Art Quilt Masters Gallery celebrates
the finest examples of art quilts with work that has powerful artistic expression
with abstract and figurative elements.

I asked if I had to keep it under wraps, but I was told "Shout it from the rooftops! " So, I am.

Ramshackle Suburbs
My 'Ramshackled' series explores neighbourhood. In this work, differences in housing are revealed through 'accessories' (trees and plants, building extensions, window type, etc) for each home. 

Housing choices can be personal, voluntary or due to restrictions: income, social or political. With each structure there are certain freedoms and certain limitations.

Here is a detail photo.

I thought I might try lightly striped fabric for the background this time. I really like the look. And so they must have, as well!
Also, this involved me being brave enough to make something 'large'. It is around 200cm by 110cm, (2metres by the width of the fabric.) You might remember me showing the back at different stages while I worked on it. Not the easiest to do!
Now I need to put a sleeve on it and find a box big enough.

Actually, it is slightly scary to imagine it all!