Sheep Day 2011

Saturday May 21st 2011

I will be demonstrating dyeing at Wool Day on the 21st May at Unique Cottage Farm Studios in Spalding. This was a fantastic day last year and as well as sheep they will also have some alpacas to look at. Throughout the day there will be demonstrations on sheep shearing, weaving, dyeing (me!), spinning and felting. You can have a go at knitting, making stained glass as well as lots of other stuff.

I have also been making some sheepy things to sell - here' s a quick peek

The sheep soap (not very clear on the right) is handmade and coconut. My kitchen smelt heavenly when I was making these.

Hope to see you there



Quilts 1700-2010 at the V & A

I haven't managed to blog much lately, due mainly to teaching, doing my C&G course work and teaching my DS who is twelve to free machine quilt.

I did take time out though yesterday to visit the V&A exhibition Quilts 1700-2010. I had a generous invitation to a preview afternoon and it was well worth the train journey down to London. I was not disappointed and was amazed at the range of quilts on display. I think the earliest quilt on display was a cot cover from 1690 right through to work from current artists. I love Jo Budds work and was pleased to see two of her quilts.
I had expected the quilts to be shown in chronological order but they were grouped into four main themes; The Domestic Landscape; Private Thoughts, Political Debates; Virtue and Virtuosity; Making a Living and Meeting the Past. Within each section there were a mix of old and new quilts, each with its own story to tell. To quote the press release, "the quilts document love, marriage, births, deaths, periods of patriotic fervour, regional and national identity and developments in taste and fashion".

There is a hexagonal quilt which was made in Changi Prison in 1943. I was privileged enough to meet a lady who actually remembers stitching the quilt when she was only ten. Changi Prison housed civilians following the Japanese invasion of Singapore. Cathy Miller (the singing quilter has written a song about this) This quilt was made inside the prison camp by a group of girls aged 8-16 for their Girl Guide Leader.

The one quilt I had looked forward to seeing was The Rajah Quilt made in 1841. This quilt has never been shown outside of Australia before, and probably will never be again. Just like the quilt made in Changi prison, it was made in very difficult circumstances aboard an over crowded convict ship yet, the colours and creativity are just amazing. Elizabeth Fry was greatly concerned about the 180 women prisoners travelling on the HMS Rajah and she provided them with fabric, sewing cotton, thimble, pins, scissors and needles. It is worth going to the exhibition for this quilt alone as unless you want to travel to Australia it may be the only chance you have to view it.
I am going back to see the exhibition in three weeks with my LQG and am looking forward to seeing it with friends. Even if you are not interested in quilts I think the exhibition would prove interesting as there is such a social history attached to all the pieces. It was much bigger than I thought and lots of the quilts are displayed on "beds" rather than all hung on walls. Like any exhibition there are the more controversial pieces but I will let you make your own minds up!
I succumbed to some retail therapy and bought the book "Quilts 1700-2010, Hidden Histories, Untold Stories", the excuse I had was that it was really valuable for my C&G course! There is a limited edition fabric range for sale as well which was tempting.
After the exhibition I meet up with a fellow blogger whom I hadn't met before. Sandra (who blogs as The Dyers Hand) and I had coffee and cake in the opulent tea rooms -

It was then time to brave the tube and travel round to King's Cross. After an hour on the train journey and an hours drive I made it home to flop into bad with my book! if you get a chance go see this exhibition, it starts on March 20th until July 4th 2010

A quick peek..

At what I have been doing this weekend.

A quick peek at Simba who was enjoying the sunshine today.

Slowly stitching on

I've been too busy to post so here is what I have been working on -

These are of the latest shibori cloth I have been working on.

Pearoom ladies, this traditional block is the next BOM, it will be in the post later this week.

The binding finally got sewn onto the HST pinwheel quilt which has to go to it's new home very soon (Golden wedding anniversary present).

Finally this is a peek at a project I am doing for Oakshott fabric and the Quilters Guild.

A positive week..............

This week I have tried hard to keep my glass half full and I am wearing my rose coloured glasses.

 This is a review of my week in words (and some pictures) 

• My shibori remains a beautiful sculpted piece of white cotton.
• Embellish magazine arrived from Australia

• DS and these samples went to London, I stayed home. DS went to see Lion King with his school, the samples went to a conference about recycled and repurposed clothing. 

• I met a very nice and hunky recovery man on a very dark road for rendezvous with a tyre.
• I now realise the full importance of the hexagonal Allen key thingy in removing a car tyre. It will now stay in the car and not with the printing things.
• I had some ""me time" watching Lorraine Kelly in a comfy chair with a coffee in the waiting area of Bush tyres.
• I met another very nice man with a large tanker (after a visual reminder that the septic tank was full)
• DH started to decorate the hall way (thank you darling but please hurry up)
• Had some time to plan some new courses and quilts (OK did have to stay up most of the night with DS being sick for this one)
• I saved a pheasant from being shot after it flew into my car. It had a nice burial in the garden.
• I started a new craft course,  babies and paint..............just use your imagination.

What every you are up to this weekend be happy and I hope your glass remains half full.



 

Happy Stitching

Shoes and stitches

The Hub, Design Centre in Sleaford has a new exhibition of shoes designed by Vivienne Westwood and I was able to visit last Saturday. It is on until May 2nd 2011 and well worth a visit. The shoes are just stunning and I could imagine many of them on my feet. This isn't meant to be sexist but from talking to several people I think you need to be female to appreciate the beauty of shoes.

Unfortunately the gallery was quite dark and all the shoes were in display boxes so very difficult (no impossible) to get any decent photos. I did google Vivienne Westwood shoes and the images below were all in the collection.

On Saturday I stitched into a long, skinny piece of cotton to experiment with a little shibori. If it works well then it will be the basis for a much larger piece of work. The aim is for it to go into an indigo dye bath this week, there I've said it so will have to try my best and get it done.

And it all started out like this.............

Mug Rug Swap - part 2

I forgot to add this photo to my post yesterday. These are both the mug rugs that have been sent to America. Hopefully they will arrive soon. I had to take the photo with a flash, still having camera problems though.