Today was a lovely day

Today I went with friends to a Ladies Christmas event. It is something I look forward to each year because it is a way of getting perspective back before heading into all the events of the Christmas season. It is also a lovely time greet ladies I haven't seen for a whole year and to meet new ones. and it was just special to sit round the table with my friends singing the carols and just doing something special together.

then tonight I came across Lyric Kinard's post on Quilt Art about posts she is doing on her blog this month about thinking of others this season. It is really quite inspiring to read the comments from readers seeing what they are doing randomly and sometimes anonymously.

I have added her blog link as a Featured Blog in my sidebar so you can keep up with the ideas easier. What sorts of things can you think of doing for this holiday season?

Next weekend, we are getting involved with something to cheer up shoppers in our local parade of shops. We set up a table with mince pies and Christmas biscuits and a hot drink. Here is a photo from last year.

I am looking forward to it!

Blog award!

So, I was going through the Featured Blogs on my sidebar today. (I find it easier to keep up with the ones I am interested in that way.)

I got to Linda McLaughlin's blog - Thru Linda's Eye's and discovered she had passed on a blog award to me!

It is the Liebster Award. The idea behind the award's beginning was for appreciation to be passed on to blogs with fewer than 300 followers as a way of giving back for the enjoyment you recieved from them. It started in Germany, and so the name - Liebster Award - which means "favourite."

The encouraging part for me was with Linda's comment that I was one selected 'because of the variety of work she does'. Sounds good doesn't it?

Sometimes I think anyone who reads this blog must think I am a bit all over the place! But honestly, if it involves textiles and sewing machines I am interested. So it is nice to find that someone enjoys the variety. It is much better than someone might say 'she is unable to focus!' My focus is broader than some I guess!

Anyway, Thanks Linda. Some of the blog award stuff is a bit sugary, but I value this one because it was totally unexpected.

And I am meant to pass it on to 3 - 5 others.

So, since the award has recently gone to a few others in my blog list like Margaret Cooter and Kathy Loomis I have had to think.

One is Sarah Wyman. She may almost just qualify since I notice her blog says a little over 200 followers. But I love her work. It is so like the mood of the Mona Lisa to me and I will buy something one day. But I also like the way she shows the progression of her work.

Another is Sarah Jacobs. I have only recently put the link in the side bar, but I have followed her blog for sometime. I like the way Sarah thinks outside the box and makes it up in her head (even cooking) like I do. I like how she embraces 'mistakes' to make them design features. I like how she tells stories with her textile work. I like how the meaning of what she believes flows through her work. I'd like to get a bit more of that kind of meaning into my work as well. okay...go there and see.

and the last would have to be Ruthie in Scotland. As she describes her blog, A Faerietale of Inspiration, 'It is an eclectic weave of creations from artists and designers near and far that inspire, amaze, intrigue and fascinate me'. If she hadn't done all the searching I wouldn't have discovered all the many wonderful artists and craftsmen who are able to put their imaginations into their work. and the thing is, Ruthie shows the images and lets them speak for themselves in such a way that you HAVE to go look and then discover what else the person has done.

I will do Jackie Morris, too. But I won't disturb her for she is on a very tight schedule for the artwork for her next book. I am still in a bit of awe that such a wonderful children's author-illustrator opens up her life for people like me to peer inside. I love it that she shows the struggles of actually sitting down to do the work. And in light of that, I don't want to take up any of her valuable time with having to pass on awards and things. But go look there too, okay?

I am not sure if I need to tell these people or let them discover it. What do you think?

PS I don't always reply back to a comment, but I read them all.

Mystery item

The answer to yesterday's mystery item...Rhonda started getting there with stretching and Kate got it right. A glove stretcher!

How about this one then...

If you know, leave a comment.

a clue One of the ladies said they had to use these when she started nursing for a particular decoration on their nursing hats.

All of these items were part of one box in the handling collection from the Slough Museum.

As you might remember, the Thames Valley Contemporary Quilt group will be doing an exhibition next summer. We are making work in response to the artefacts belonging to the museum and also about things which interest us about Slough itself...even present day Slough.

If you are interested to see what some of the members are thinking about or working on, you can check out the blog... Whatever floats your boat. There is also a little slide show of photos taken in the Museum and around Slough.

Off on adventures!

Today I am off to the Festival of Quilts! I will be there til Sunday. So, I am writing posts for the blog and scheduling them to be published on the different days I am there.

For the first time this year, I am doing one of the 3-day Masterclasses. This one is with Rayna Gillman. I follow Rayna's work through her blog. In fact, some time ago when I was regularly doing a Featured Blog, hers was one of them.

Rayna has written a book, Create Your Own Hand-printed Cloth, which I have. Very practical explanations. Normally I am very good at learning on my own or from books. But for some reason, surface design is one of those things that I would just like to take sometime to have someone show me. There are some very good UK artists who teach surface design (and I have some of their books, too!) I was already considering treating myself to some sort of class like this for my big birthday, so when I learned Rayna was going to be coming to the UK, I jumped at the chance! From what I have seen about classes she has taught and from what she says on her blog, she sounds like someone who would help you not to feel intimidated.

So I have been collecting the bits and pieces from the class list, hoping it goes in this suitcase, because I can lug it from the car park to the classroom alot easier! There is fabric to go in there, too. As I write this, I still have to make up the printing surface.

Should be fun!

Featured Blog

This Featured Blog is a bit different in that it was only set up for a year. However, Jane Dunnewold's blog, Daily Visuals has inspired several others (including some I have featured) to take daily photos for inspiration.

As Jane says, "On November 10, 2008, I committed to a year-long photo-journaling practice. As an artist, I believe it is valuable to spend time every day looking at the world around me. To this end, I committed to posting a daily photograph and a few thoughts when applicable - on color, design, spirit and making. While this is primarily a witness to processes that help me go deeper into my own art-making, it is also a practice worth sharing."

So, while you have a few spare moments over the Easter break, go and see the sorts of things Jane has found to be of visual interest. Some of the photos were so popular, Jane is offering prints of them on her website. The website, Art Cloth Studios, also has quite a few other items of interest, so it is worth going over to have a look at. The tutorials about art cloth are very helpful.

As you may know, Jane wrote the surface design book, Complex Cloth. She also collaborated with Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan here in the UK, from Committed to Cloth, to produce Finding your own Visual Language and Paper and Metal Leaf Lamination.

Jane has a new book coming soon called Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric . You can find out a bit more about the books here.

And for my own bit of visual interest today?

A fascinating pattern on the staircase at the British Museum. I think it is patterning in the marble.

Featured Blog

1 May was the reveal day for the latest challenge on the TWELVE BY TWELVE Blog. As the ladies description says on the blog..."We are twelve quilt artists who have embarked on an art challenge together. Every two months or so, we each make a small quilted art piece -- 12 by 12 inches -- on a designated theme. We use this blog to share our process, progress, and results. We're from different places throughout the world and our artistic styles vary, but we share a love of art quilting and a desire to play, experiment, learn, and grow."
The members of the group are:
Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Helen Conway, Kirsten Duncan, Terry Grant, Diane Perin Hock, Francoise Jamart, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips, Brenda Gael Smith, Terri Stegmiller, and Nikki Wheeler

The group has had great success with the first series of 12" x 12" square quilts made to a different theme each month. In fact, the quilts are now travelling...currently on display in Australia...and the stories of the group and the quilts are going into a book.

The current series is called Colourplay; and the quilts revealed today were to colours connected with volcanoes, set by a member in Hawaii before the recent incident with the volcano in Iceland.

On the blog, you can find links to the members website where they show more of what was involved in the design process for their individual pieces of work. If you have questions for or about the group, use this contact email info@twelveby12.org


I have found it to be very helpful to work in a series alongside other artists, as you know from the examples I have shown you from the EquilARTeral group. I am sure the ladies of the TWELVE BY TWELVE group never thought it would become a world recognised group. Perhaps our group has great things ahead as well.

EquilARTeral at our recent exhibit

Featured Blog

Last week I posted about a blog addressing some of the various issues of quilt art. Recently, another blogger has begun to cover these type of issues as well. The Art with a Needle blog was only started recently, but already has quite a following. Kathy Loomis writes in a way which is easy to understand, even if you haven't got a background in Art and haven't read much about Art issues previously. I find I often agree with her, even though I may not have thought about the issue before.

Whereas the subject matter of Elizabeth Barton's work is mainly architectural, Kathy's work is very abstract. Her method of construction usually involves using very small pieces of fabric pieced together to make the whole. It gives the work alot more texture than using larger pieces might do.

Her current discussions have been about finding your voice, working in a series, and trying other methods of working as a way of experimenting to see how you might take your work in new directions. Kathy also talks about evaluating the experiment to see whether it can be used.

As for me, I am NOT very fond of piecing at all, but I do like trying to develop my work further. I think I have been stretched alot through the Fast Friday group, trying things I would never have attempted. In some cases, I have gone on to use what I learned and in other cases, I realised I never want to do that again! (like the Fractured Quilt challenge!)

My dragon series was started by responding to a challenge with Fast Friday. The Rain Forest Dragon was the result.

Then during the series I did the thread painted dragon claw which lead to more thread painted dragons and fire creatures. This year I am continuing the series using thread painted dragons for the journal quilts I am doing for Contemporary Quilt. I may not do thread painting for the whole year, but I know I am not done developing dragons and fire creatures. I am also experimenting with colour taking further some of the other things I started to learn with the Fast Friday group.

So, anyway, go check out Kathy Loomis' blog. She also does a post once a week with inspirational photos she has taken.

Featured Blog

I'd like to intorduce you to another blog. Art, Quilts, and cogitations thereon is becoming a place to go to for quilt artists to stop, think and consider various aspects of making art quilts. Elizabeth Barton discusses topics such as composition, making and selling, and showing your work.

Elizabeth, originally from England, often works in a series. Subject matter is generally architectural landscapes, ranging from her native York to ruins of industrial factories and mills near where she lives now in America.

Although she often uses her own work as examples of the topic she is discussing, Elizabeth also has a website, where her work can be seen better. or you can go to the Festival of Quilts in Birminham this summer and meet her! Within moments of the tickets for classes becoming available, Elizabeth's masterclass was fully booked. You can read about the exhibition she will have at the Festival of Quilts from this pdf download from Twisted Threads.

I haven't got to the place where I can fully comprehend all the matters of discussion at Art, Quilts, and cogitations thereon, but I do appreciate her willingness to share her ideas. I think I am still cogitating and by no means do I feel that I have anything that really relates to what Elizabeth says and does.

But, just to connect slightly, here is a photo of the only piece I have done that is somewhat architecturally related. Maybe it is time to look at all these archictectural photos I have taken and actually do something with them.

This is Ratna's Limited Horizon..my version of the inside view of an Indonesian jail, where Ratna and her 2 friends (one a doctor) were held for 2 years away from their families with threat of death. All because they were teaching muslim children, at the request of their families, in their school.

I used a corded pintuck technique to make the bamboo print more realistic. Through the window, you can see the guard and shadows representing the children of the ladies.

Featured Blog - Monday Artday

One of the blogs I like to look at regularly is the Monday Artday Blog run by Mike Baker. It has prompts to which illustrators and cartoonists respond. A challenge word or phrase is given each Monday for the members to illustrate and they post their work.

What I like about this is being able to see how artists from a different part of the art world work and think. And because alot of it is cartoon like, it is usually lighthearted. If you get a chance, you should go over and have a look.

I like this idea of working to prompts, not just limitations of a challenge that stretch you like the Fast Friday Blog, but words or themes. You may remember, I took on the admin of the Ideas for Inspiration Blog in January. There have been some pretty cool photos and work posted there in the past couple of months. As it is about ideas for inspiration, it has been a good place for those photos we all seem to take of random things. or about catching the start of an idea which we may or may not get back to sometime in the future.

Here is one of my latest photos which I manipulated and posted to the blog. Another lady then took my photo and manipulated it more! That was interesting!

We are having a new prompts on the 1st and 15th of each month. In the first part of the month, the prompt has to do with a colour and in the last part of the month it is a letter. You are welcome to have a look, and then if you want to join us, you can send me an email.

Featured Blog

Here's another blog I am enjoying. It is 365 Happy Things Project. Lynn Krawczyk is posting something which makes her smile everyday in 2010. Although some of the posts are of things she has seen outside or photos of buildings, alot of them are of bits and pieces she has in her home.

I think this might be a good idea. At first you might wonder just how you could do 365 things. But actually, part of the reason we keep little trinkets and knic-knacs is because they give us pleasure or because we remember someone when we see them.

I went to look for a photo of one of my happy things, but stopped when I saw this.

My friend Pepper in the warm sunshine.

What makes you smile?

Lynn also has an ongoing "photo essay" called Where I Stand. As she says, it "examines the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell." Every Sunday a new photo is posted on her blog.

Does it give you some good ideas?

Featured Blog

As you know, I do an Inspiration Monday photo each week.
On her blog, Thru Linda's Eyes, Textile Artist Linda McLaughlin has been posting a daily photo since the end of November.

I find them quite inspirational. It is good to see interesting things through someone else's eyes.

This is what Linda says about her photos.

"This blog was inspired by Jane Dunnewold's blog Daily Visuals, and my goal is to post a picture a day. This blog is also dedicated to my Mom who passed away five years ago today (Nov.30). When I received my first camera about fifty years ago, I was reprimanded because I took a whole roll of film of "nothing" and it cost too much to get it developed. Well I'm still taking pictures of nothing, it doesn't cost anything to develop them now and I'm going to share them with you."

And here is one of my own recent photos taken as I was out and about in my neighbourhood.

I am not very good at just posting the photo, though. I have to say something about it!
The above photo is of part of a gorse bush. I was looking for something colourful. The spring is taking too long in coming! The link to gorse says Between the different species, some gorse is almost always in flower, hence the old country phrase: "When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion".

Sometimes you can smell the scent of gorse. It is quite amazing really, it smells so much like Cocoa butter suntan lotion that it can make you feel like a summer day even if you are on a windswept, overcast moor!

Featured Blog

I haven't done a Featured Blog for some time, but there are several blogs I keep track of that I haven't added to the side bar.

One of those blogs is that of Celia Darbyshire, whose blog is called Cheshire Cheese.

Celia regularly posts images of the samples she made when doing C+G Embroidery. She is now doing the Stitched Textiles programme. I find it interesting to see how she interprets her ideas into a variety of contemporary embroidery designs.

If you want to get encouragement to do bits and pieces with your ideas, I would suggest checking out the Cheshire Cheese blog. Celia often visits exhibitions of textile art and embroidery, so I hope you will also find her comments about those visits of interest.

And to link with interests of my own, here is a photo from a page in my design research project I did on the Tudors. You may recognise this as a starting place for alot of the corded work I have done. It was also a starting place for the ideas which I developed to design the rust dyed skirt for which I won the award at Festival of Quilts in 2006.

Featured Blog

I haven't done a featured blog for some time. I was running out of interesting ones who posted regularly!

Anyway, one of the blogs I have a look at fairly regularly is 5 Orange Potatoes. Like the Magic Onions, it is an interesting blog about the sorts of things Lisa does with her 2 daughters. Very crafty nature type things and most are not childish at all. There are a lot of interesting things you can do with herbs and flowers. Fascinating.

So, the reason I wanted to tell you about it is that I am not the only one who enjoys the blog. 5 Orange Potatoes has been nominated for the Best Unschooling Blog 2009! If you go over to 5 Orange Potatoes and think you like it, too, then follow the link for Best Unschooling Blog 2009 and go vote for her! When I did, I saw she was at the top!

And here is one of the many learning things we used to do with our boy back in the day.
It is great to have a kid who loves to learn. You learn allsorts with him!

Things to Investigate - wanderings on the web

Have a bit of a wander with me...

On India Flint's blog, she has posted links and a photo to an interesting care label.

Links take you here, where Leafcutter Designs has developed a clothes tag that crafters and sheep-raisers could sew into their handmade woolen items.

and then of course, you want to see more about Leafcutter Designs, so you follow the trail.

So, you click on the Art Blog, and find what she was interested in investigating.

A cool ice cream plate with a snowshoe image on it!

Curious vintage items being sold on ebay. I'd love the vintage fabric ruffler! and My dad has one of those toothpick dispensers! I see one currently on ebay is already up to about $20!

and so you think, enough of that, and you go back to find more about Leafcutter Designs

and you discover her projects. Now this is fascinating.

All sorts of global community online type projects to participate in...all of which are tempting. but the one that catches my eye is the Changing Clothes . A series of sculptures that explore the everyday world of producing, wearing and discarding clothes. OKAY...this is something I plan to explore further. I like the idea.

How about you?

And here is my attempt at the Miniture Map shirt - the link is at the bottom of this page. I think the Crafts @the Library Students would enjoy this! You could use them for gift tags for men's parcels or whatever comes to mind! and for the C+G design, the students could fold up any papers they had coloured...cool! Whatch think?huh?

And what if I hadn't gone on the investigation?

PS This is sort of how I discover cool things on the internet...(and waste time, I know). However, if Things to Investigate - wanderings on the web works, I may make it the feature for busy weekends rather than Featured Blog. (I was running out of sewing/art related blogs with frequent updates!)

Vote for Pumpkin Mouse

Pumpkin Mouse - by Fairyfolk

I don't normally post 2 times in one day, but I thought I would tell you about a voting going on for a sweet little mouse in a pumpkin made by Fairyfolk from one of my Featured blogs - Magic Onions. I have borrowed the photo from her blog so you could see it.


To vote for Pumpkin Mouse in the Etsy Kids Halloween Challenge pop on over HERE and cast your vote. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the VOTE button. Voting will be open through midnight EST on Thursday, 27th August .

I don't normally do the voting sort of thing, and I don't go overboard with the Halloween thing, but this little mouse in a pumkin would just be a very special little thing to start a story for a wee one, wouldn't he?

Featured Blog

This month some of the regular features like Inspiration Tuesday and Featured Blog are a bit hit and miss. With it being the holidays, I am out and about and doing different things than usual.

However, I have a Featured Blog for you today that is quite unique. It is Resurrection Fern, written by Margaret Oomen.

Margaret does some very interesting arrangements with stones and other items, often out in nature. She crochets covers for stones...which may sound strange, but in some way, they become quite ethereal looking, especially when arranged with wild flowers and the like. There was a recent article about her work in Crochet Today, where she is referred to as an Eco Artist. A very good description, I think.

Here is a link to one of her posts with crochet covered stones in the forest. Margaret also has an attraction for various mushrooms and fungi. Her nature photography is stunning!

Below is one of my many photos while out and about. Maybe one connection with Margaret's stones and photos is my interest in old ruins and walls which often have nature claiming them. The other side of the coin?

Featured Blog

The Featured Blog for this weekend is Tiny Happy. The author of Tiny Happy is a lady who recently returned to New Zealand from living in Norway for sometime. ~i am not sure of her name.

What I like about Tiny Happy is the way she takes inspiration from the simple everyday flowers she finds, and translates them into free embroidered motifs. I love the clean and simple lines of the items she makes which reflect natural colours. Sometimes stitched on felt, sometimes a motif on a child's dress, and so on. A real calmness and peace about them.

Her photos are priceless as well...just as if they are right out of a decorator's magazine!

Tiny happy also has an Etsy shop which you can see here.

And just a glimpse of some stitching I did when I was part of a Crazy Quilting round robin in days past.

Featured Blog

Back to a featured blog again this weekend.

One of the blogs I have been enjoying a lot recently is called The Magic Onions. It is written by a young mum with 2 small children. I don't actually know her name. She also crafts and has an Etsy shop. Her little felted fairy friends are darling.

I enjoy reading about all the magical things the young mum does with her children. I had not heard of the Waldorf theory of education, but if all of the people getting on board do things like she does, it must be a magical way of learning!

Some of the activities they do remind me of some of the things we made with our Mom. We used to cook, make doll clothes, push the bed out to stand behind and tell pop up jokes... and much more!

The Magic Onion Blog also reminds me of some of the fun stuff I did with my son. Here is a photo of him with one of the many costumes I concocted for him. Making costumes for him is actually what really got me going with sewing, costumes and the like. I think I have mentioned all the things I ended up doing for his playgroup, then nursery, then the different primary schools!

Interestingly enough, as well as the discovery stuff we did that encouraged his Scientific mind, he also enjoys cooking!

Featured Blog

Today's Featured Blog is the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge Blog that I have mentioned so often. Although the posts come in bunches after the new challenges have been set near the end of each month, there are often people catching up throughout the following month.

The idea for the challenges came from the popular American programme Project Runway, where designers have a limited time to create a garment with unusual materials. It was thought that having a quick turn around time might help us with getting started and motivated, while also getting some hands on learning about design. So, the group was started about 3 years ago.

The finished items are posted on the blog, where members can post critiques. At first, some were not at the stage where they felt comfortable with having the work critiqued, so they can post the work on the Yahoo group site (through which we receive the messages with the current challenge posted and talk about what we are doing.)

Here is the blurb from the Yahoo group site.

"This group of fiber artists and art quilters will be issued one challenge
per month, with one week to complete a small work. Challenges will attempt to
stretch members in their skills and creativity, encourage thinking outside the
box, will teach new techniques and concepts. Challenges will be hosted by a
different member each month and will incorporate color and design concepts,
techniques, surface design, embellishments, work within themes, and any other
art quilt concepts a member can imagine. By doing, we will learn. By doing, we
will grow. By doing, we cannot fail. All group members are required to have a
sense of adventure and fun!!!"

If you go over there this weekend, you can see what some of the other artists have done in relation to the challenge set this time. This year, each has their own theme they are trying to follow, as well. Sometimes it fits easier with some themes than others.

I think now most everyone posts the work to the blog. All of us are gaining confidence with our pieces. You can really see the improvement. We should do a comparison with some of the original work to what we are doing now.

Some of the artists have had work done for a challenge accepted into prestigious shows later on. Recently one of the artists had work in a local Gallery Show. She went along to get photos only to discover 4 pieces had sold! One of mine was recently chosen by the college to be made into artist postcards to be sold at college events!

Here are a couple photos of some of the pieces I made for challenges in the first year.

Featured Blog

Today's Featured Blog is Beth's Blog, written by Beth Brandkamp. Beth has a good sense of humour and is known for her exciting marbled fabrics. She uses them in quilts and in wearable art. She has a good eye for working with bright colours.

Lately Beth has been taking "failed" dyeing attempts and is marbling over them. Check it out here and here. She is coming up with some really great pieces. Sounds great...instead of tossing the bits she is not so happy with, now she has some that will work really well in her various projects.

As for me? No marbled fabric here. You might have guessed, I am pretty good with doing most things...except knitting...and if I can read about it in a book, I can usually do it. However, sometimes there are certain techniques I would love to do, have books about, and in the case of marbling, have a kit for (!), but somehow haven't got over the hurdle to do it yet. Wouldn't it be great if Beth came over and I could get over my fear or what ever it is that is holding me back? I even was shown how to do it on paper when I was doing my C+G design principles and got good results. But I haven't done it on fabric yet!

If I could learn to do marbling on fabric. I know I would find ways to use it. In fact, if I had been able to do so, I would have marbled fabric for the lining of the coat of the Bernina Ensemble "Epic Quest of the Last Dragoness". As it was, I bought some fabric that was printed with a marbled pattern. The coat was meant to be like an old book and I wanted it to open to have the look of "end papers".

See what I mean? I even did a "bookplate". The printed marbled fabric wasn't just like I had in my head, but it was sufficient in the circumstances.

What is on your "I wish I could learn to do this" list? If it is marbled fabric, maybe you can get some tips from Beth.