I'm back and the blog award goes to..

I am now feeling so much better but very tired as I have started back with all my teaching commitments. Two weeks ago I promised to pass on the blog award below (kindly received from Andrea at Indigo Blue) so (drum role) I am going to nominate -

Julie at Mixed Media
Tina at Sweetpie
Trudi at Quilt Prolifically
Sheridan at Fenland Witters
Anna at Quiltmom
Louise at Vintagegiraffe
Carolyn at Love Stitching Red
If any of these blogs are new to you then go over and take a look

Beautiful Bloggers Award

Andrea at Indigo Blue sent me this blog award. It really cheered me up whilst trying to content with life, antibiotics and pleurasy. You guys are right, its nasty and hurts! I am suppose to pass this award onto ten other bloggers but bed awaits me. Until tomorrow..............

Sheep Day 2010

If you are near Lincolnshire on May 22nd 2010, Unique Cottage Farm Studios is holding a sheep day. This day will celebrate sheep, wool and there will be lots to see and do. The aim is to have several different breeds of sheep for people to look at, spinners, weavers, a group showing felting techniques and a textile artist demonstrating dyeing (me!). Other activities will include knitting and weaving stick activites for familes and you will be able to make your own stained glass sheep with resident glass artists Gillian and David Wing. The aim of the day is to see the process from fleece to needle so people can learn about the animal and rural crafts connnected to wool.

Stitching, visiting and antibiotics

Yesterday morning I went down to Unique Cottage Farm Studio for the monthly textile group. I love going down there as often as I can because there are spinners, quilters, embroiderers, mixed media artists but everyone has a love of fibres and is happy to share techniques. These tulips caught my eye as a sign of a belated Spring

I meet up with a lovely lady called Sarah who had done a workshop with me last year. Have a look at what she used her fabrics for -

Isn't it fantastic, I threatened to slip it off her chair and take it home with me. She has stitched so much detail into it and also made the knotted fabric buttons.

I went back home to play monopoly and try and be domesticated before going out in the evening. I went round to see a friend who lives quite close to me but we haven't had a catch up since before Christmas. We ate chocolate cake, drank tea and had a relaxing time. She also sorted out my knitting so my aim is to finish it this year (don't ask when I started).

I came home feeling really tired, at ten o'clock I said I was leaving then we chatted for another hour! If you are wondering about the antibiotic in the title well, today feeling very rough again and with a serious pain in my left chest I took myself off to the doctor. I wasn't expecting more antibiotics, chest x-ray and a diagnosis of pleurisy. With DH being so ill as well, we have spent over £30 on prescriptions this month. I'm not sure if it is psychosomatic but I am now feeling very sorry for myself and need to eat Green and Blacks white organic chocolate to cheer me up. It's a bad time for me to be ill though as I have several teaching days booked in for next week and I must finish my journal quilts.

City & Guilds

Well, I have been painting dragon fruits in a variety of poses. I have decide to be brave and show this one. I now have lots of ideas for a 3D sculpture/item so am frantically getting it all down in my sketchbook. My ideas were helped by these goodies arriving from Crafty Notions.

Lots of interesting thinsg to try including wire ribbon, moulding mesh and some Grilion thread. This is suppose to react to heat and is many used by embroiderers' to get more texture into their work. I have been told that it is featured in this months Stitch magazine so I must look out for that. If you have used it and have any hints and tips, please let me know.

This is the paint stick sample I have just submitted. I decided to just keep things simple, green quilting onto black cotton then green paint stick over the top! It was hard to get a good photo though, no flash made it blurry, flash made it look to over exposed. This is the back,
Its not my best work but given my time scale will tick boxes. Off to have Sunday roast (of the nut variety) now.

Room with a view

I will hold my hand up and admit to being a bad blogger of late. There are too many reasons for this but my specific excuse for the past ten days are that I have been ill and DH (who is never ill) has been very ill to the point that he was nearly admitted to hospital. Still he has a diagnosis now and is responding to medication so ..............

Let me take you back ten days to when I taught at the Quilters Guild AGM and conference, this was the view from the windows of the room I taught in-

It was such a fantastic view across a lake and the beach and sea were just beyond that. The view didn't distract from lots of hard work within the room. On the Friday I was there we had a group of textile students in. I always find it inspiring to work with young people as they will try anything and take things that I have prepared to another level. Saturday and Sunday were taken up with workshops for the young quilters. I have to admit that my son won a trophy for his quilt "At the end of the day" For this he learnt to free machine quilt.

I think the day will come very quickly though when he will not want to sew (he is 12). Thank you Ferret for encouraging him and telling him that Ricky Tims once won enough to pay for two Harley Davidson's.

On a personal create level, I have been doing lots of paper work tasks. I have finally finished my Quilt History project (going back 200 years) over Easter and have been doing lots of 3D sketches and paintings of dragon fruit. I am too embarrassed to show my work as I haven't done any serious painting in a long time. This work will inspire me to make a 3D bag or vessel, at least that is what I keep telling myself. I need to go and finish a markal paint stick sample so I will post photos of this tomorrow. It's so nice to move out of my sprout/cabbage period and move onto dragon fruits, at least I get a bit of girly pink.