Something on Saturday

The other day, while it was still summer, I went on a wander round the neighbourhood. I knew there had been a lot of improvements at South Hill Park, and I had previously wandered round the new paths through the woods. But this time the bright sun brought another restoration to my attention.

I have been interested in this sculpture that is at the back of the mansion near the formal garden and the patio area for the café. I thought the patina which had developed was unique.

It took me a while to actually work out what it was meant to represent. and then when I 'saw' it, it seemed so obvious.
An acrobat holding a ball on her feet.

I wanted to find out more about the sculptor. But I guess the art centre was more concerned about what went on inside than outside at that point - anyway no one knew.

So, fast forward to the sun reflecting off the 'same' sculpture last week.

But research sheds a bit more light - The sculpture on the site now, is actually a reproduction because of the deterioration of the original by Robert Carruthers, made in 1983. It seems to be referred to as Angel.

This one was sculpted by Nick Speakman. If you follow the link, you can see photos of Nick at work making the new piece side by side with the original.
The metal work on the sculpture was done by Diccon Dadey.

Daily Beading project featured!

This week my daily beading project, "And the Bead Goes on..." was featured on Noah Scalin's blog. The link will take you to the post featuring my project.

Noah wrote the book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which inspired Jeanne Crockett to do 365 Dresses. This in turn, along with others like Kathy Loomis' daily art and Linda McLaughlin's daily photos, inspired me to do the daily beading project.

I think it is fun that Noah chose to use several photos of the fabric covered playing cards. Those are the ones I feel were not as successful! Including this failed attempt at a cabochon cage. I called it a playpen for caterpillars!

But I did get some good dimensional photos for the projects that month.

Noah features other daily projects on his blog Make Something 365 and Get Unstuck. Some have followed the prompts in his book, some have done their own project.

As we are into September now, you might begin to have a think about a daily project for yourself. You could choose to practise it, say in October, before the actual beginning of the year to see if it is something you could carry on. It would also give you time to tweak aspects of it or to think up something different altogether. This was a wise suggestion by Kathy Loomis who has been doing some kind of daily art every year but one since 2001.

I tried mine out in November last year, but I was already into the busy end of the year and I didn't find it easy to fit in. But there was enough of an idea about it to know that I could do it for a year and that by the time I got to other busy parts of the year, I would have developed a habit of fitting it in. As you can see, it has been working!

Alternatively, you could choose to start on your birthday or on a particularly memorable day for you.
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I will be linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays this week when it is set up.

Postcard 24

The Postcard I am sending off this week.

Scrips and scraps of butterflies coming to life.

Sorting

Today I have been sorting my bead and sequin stash. It is fun to do. Pouring beads from tubes into little bags - they take up less room - and so on.

The main purpose of this is because my friend from Zimbabwe is back in the UK for a few weeks. One of her friends is starting a programme to help child-led household and grandmother led households. She is teaching them how to make beaded necklaces and bracelets to sell.

So, since I have quite a lot of beads...(yes, an understatement!)I may as well share them. Some packets were purchased because I wanted a colour for a future project. at some shows or online sites you can sometimes get something like 100gm for somewhere between £2.50 and £5.50 or so. Even if I did a huge project, I am sure I won't need 100gms of one colour. So, I have measured out amounts...larger amounts from larger bags of beads and smaller amounts from bead tubes or small bags.

And then there are bags of mixed beads. I don't really like using mixed beads. I usually decide on a pattern using specific beads and I am not fond of fishing in bead soup to find the ones I want.

Finally there were some beads that I know I won't use for some reason or another, so they may as well go to someone who can!

Beads for Zimbabwe

And then when I got done with that, I did the sequins! Some of those little plastic containers have 1000's of wee sequins. The amount I saved back will be more than enough. And if not, they are easy to replace.

Sequins for Zimbabwe

And no, you can't really tell I have made any difference in my stash!

Now, if I could just find the mother of pearl buttons I got from the button lady at the Festival of Quilts! I want to use them for one of the alternate months. Mind you, I have October planned and have 2 other choices I could use for December. So, I may be using them next year. But they will show up at some point. I just want to put them with the other buttons so I know where they are.

Another bout of catching up

I finished the first lot of letters for A Letter a Week at the end of June. Somehow I hadn't been thinking ahead to what I would do for the second set for 2013. And I realised as the summer went on that I was getting more and more behind.

Then I thought I might use the type of letter I made for the Visual Horizons piece. And finally today I got round to doing something about it!

So, here are the first 10 letters for July and for August. I still think I might stitch round them as well - possibly as part of the presentation. But for now here are these letters at this stage.

a-e for July

f-j for August

This is the same type of reverse applique technique I used for the Ramshackle series.

Map no. 8 - Orange Street, Springfield

Pulling another one of my last minute sessions on Saturday, but I got the Journal Quilts caught up by the deadline.

 This map is about the place where I lived in my last 2 years at college. Orange Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. I lived with Joanne and her daughters Nicole and Misty...and Morris the cat. Joanne's parents Mr. and Mrs. Gentile lived downstairs. The last year I was there, my sister Debbie came to the same college and also lived with us.

For technique, this is my version of a map idea by Terry Aske in a recent issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. For mine I cut each 'block' of houses from a different plaid or stripe fabric and fused them into place over a street grid that was cut from a pale stripe fabric and fused onto calico. Just to highlight the idea of 'Orange Street' I covered the appliqued fabrics with orange satin stitch.

"And the Bead Goes On..." 26-31 Aug

2013 - Week 35 Daily Beads

I am going to post the Sunday bead with next weeks beads because it is the first of the new month.

no.238


no.239


no.240


no.241


no.242


no.243


All of Augusts beaded springs


I did 2 extra just because!

Postcard 23

I tried the colour scheme of the last postcard (for my friend) and have posted it off to my family member.

Just something a bit different on this scrap to focus on for the postcard.

Map no. 7 - Belem

Here is another finish.

This map is about Belem, where I stayed the summer I went to Brazil. There was a lot that I learned, plenty of experiences. One of the main things that stuck in my mind was the contrast of housing areas where people lived. On one end of a street were large houses with plenty of garden. As you went quite a ways further down the street it became dirt road. Then you carried on even more and came to a swampy area where there was a boardwalk and on either side were houses built on stilts in the water. Teaming with people.

In researching this recently, I learned these are favelas - although the term is for any slum area, not just the areas on water. So, this map shows the Favelas in the dark green. I stitched beads to write the word Favela on to that portion of the map. It is in another shade of green, you discover it by surprise. Just a reminder that there are lovely people living in the rickety houses perched over the murky waters.

This map was transferred using matt medium on a reversed image. I used fine point Sharpies to make the streets stand out again. The streets in the Favela area are not so straightforward due to the random characteristic of the houses.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you are coming here from her blog, I also finished a couple other Maps this week. These are my journal quilts for 2013 with the Contemporary Quilt group. You can see it and the rest of the maps if you follow the link.

York - Map no.6 finished and a brag

Binding sewn down on the York Map.

My Mother-in-Law lives in York. So I have enjoyed 26 years of being able to go and wander the streets. So full of history that you could almost touch the atmosphere.

Someone like me walked here 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 500, 1000 and even 2000 and beyond. Amazing.

Map no.7 should be done by the end of today.

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Something to brag about.
Luana Rubin and Bonnie McCaffrey included my 'Cloud Puppy' in one of their videos about the Festival of Quilts! This particular video is looking at unique things happening with Art Quilts. So that is cool! You can listen right from the start, or move along to where mine starts around 2:06. Luana talks about the piece above mine first, but it is worth listening to, because the inspiration for it is also Dragons. If you haven't been following, the 'Cloud Puppy' is my attempt to go large with my series of Dragons and Fire Creatures.

York - Map no.6

Almost done. Just need to stitch the binding down.

One of my most favourite places in the whole world!

Map no. 5 - finished

I showed this Journal Quilt in progress the other day. It has actually been in progress for a couple months, but I had so many other things that took priority.
But now it is done.

This is the text I put with it.
Carrying on the Map theme. This is about Salamanca, a town on an Indian reservation in Western New York. For a period of time I lived in a school building which had been converted to flats.

My favourite memories of living there was the visits to a Seneca Indian lady called Rose. Rose had contracted polio when she was young. This already had caused physical problems, but one day as a young lady she woke to find she could no longer turn her head. She had some arm movement but for the rest of her life laid in a bed depending on others. But Rose was not downhearted. Even though I went to read to her, I was the one who came away encouraged and challenged. I hope to be as much of an encouragement to others throughout my life in spite of limitations I face.

Postcard 21+22 and extra

Postcard 21 and 22 were textile artist cards I sent to my family member. I didn't take photos.

Here is another card from bits of the red batik which I worked into it with Triplus Fineliner pens.

I popped it into my friend's letterbox this weekend to welcome her back from a holiday adventure.
I think I will try that colour scheme again!

"And the Bead Goes On..." 19-25 Aug

2013 - Week 34 Daily Beads

sorry the photos are a bit blurry this week.

no.231


no.232


no.233


no.234


no.235


no.236


no.237

Something on Saturday

I was looking for 'blobs' yesterday. Not brave enough to stand and draw them, so I took the camera.

I had noticed some mushrooms growing round the tree stump across the path from our house. So, while I had the camera out, I went over and took some photos.

There were actually several different kinds of them. I know nothing about fungi, but here are some photos of the different ones I noticed.

A bit like a crumpled wadge of paper

One of the kinds you see on sides of trees or logs.

Kind of like your normal mushroom

but some had holes in the tops

sort of like chestnut mushrooms

I think these are the same as above, but just older.

Not sure if this is a different one or a hidden version of the

crumpled wadge of paper kind.

Yes, quite technical language!

Anyway, perhaps some clue as to why this tree was nearly falling over last year. The Thoughtful Man had them cut it down before it fell on some kid's head.

And maybe these would be good blobs? I might be brave enough to go draw these...if not, I have the photos.

Discoveries in my area

Yesterday the Thoughtful Man said he was taking the day off. Did I want to go anywhere? It was meant to rain in the morning, but the afternoon was meant to be dry.
Hmm. Well, either a quiet foresty walk or discovering some little village or town.

So, we decided to go to Marlow. Even though we pass signs to go there from the A404M, I have never been. So, we went. The amount of time we had to look was directly proportional to the car parking space we found on the High Street. 1hour. The sort of wandering round a town amount of time Mr Thoughtful prefers.

So we walked up and down the High Street, through part of the 'town walk' path - a quieter back path, through Higginson Park - without spotting the Sir Steve Redgrave statue,
round the graveyard of All Saints Church next to the Bridge over the Thames, discovered the 'original' Lady Sew and Sew shop - spoke to Christine who I usually see in Bracknell market and that was about it!
But I think we will go back sometime and perhaps take a walk along the tow path and see the Lock.

Here are a few of the interesting bits.

The first Gold Post box we have seen. and on looking it up, I discover it is for Naomi Riches - the only Olympian or Paralympian I have met! I even held her gold medal!

A cool outdoor display for a toy shop (or a shop with toys, I didn't actually look at the shop!)

Spotted across the road near the George and Dragon pub. So, something else to look up - origins of the Town Name? No, I guess not, just twinned with the town in France since 1980. And why not, with such similar names?

And then after we were on the side of the road of the above mile marker (but further down), Mr Thoughtful spotted that someone famous had lived in the old house across the street. He could just make out the first part of the name. So I took a photo on zoom, and then zoomed on the playback setting to discover it was Edward John Gregory who is known for his painting of Boulter’s Lock near Maidenhead.

A memorial wall with a quote by TS Elliot in the Church yard.

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end which is always

present.

And one of the several photos of interesting grave markers.

I can't work out if it is a sword or a fancy cross.

So, that was a lovely little outing. On heading home, we also went down the little road with the sign Bisham under the Wood. Just a little curving lane with quaint old houses, but now I know what is there!
and on to see just what Pinkney's Green really was, as it is signposted off the same roundabout. But it seemed just a place with houses - although we did see the cricket ground. Maybe more to see if you went down side roads. But from the main road not really as picturesque as the name.

If you know different, tell me!

Journal Quilts

This week I am also working on catching up with the Journal Quilt maps for the Contemporary Quilt JQ project. I got quite behind with all the other things I was doing the last few months. So I have to get these 4 done by the 31st August or opt out.

The first 2 are nearly to stitching stage. I will tell the story of this one when I get it done.

This one and the next one have involved a lot of work in Paint Shop Pro.
I may just have to go with simple for the others. - shock!

However, 2 of my the maps from the beginning of the year are going to be in the display at the ICHF show at Exeter in September.
One is My Neighbourhood and the other is Vianapolis.

skirt 18 + 19

Today I have been doing a bit of puttering and sorting whilst listening to the 5th test match of the cricket.

I also cut out 2 more skirts for the girls at Grace Village.

From some quilting fabric I have had in the cupboard for ages. Leaves with pinecones.

finishes

I have been doing a few finishes today. Sorting the back pleat on one of the skirts I made. Somehow the way I caught the lining down made it pucker.

and then finishing the hemming on this one...It was one of the UFOs I was trying to do at the end of July. So, now it is done and ready for when the weather gets a bit cooler.

Back view...front is just plain.

Signature button at the back - creates interest and secures the vent when sliding in and out of cars or whatever.

Trying to clear the decks so I can make a few blouses.