picking up the thread

Good grief, over a month since I blogged!    The Canford Needlework Festival was good.  Lots of traders and well attended.   Hello, and thank you to everyone who found my emporium.   Situated on the stage against a black wall, with minimal lights, I never did get round to calling my spot The Dark Hole of Calcutta.     I did a demo where it was to dark to thread a needle.     Ah well, Fran is working on next year's event, taking notice of the feedback from traders and shoppers.   I'll just put it down to teething troubles!

Did I tell you about my 'sports' injuries?!!!  Ha, Ha!     On the day of Bournemouth Air Show I rashly jumped of a wall.    The next day there was the game of football/rugby with my boys and grandson.  I was in goal.  Lesson in the learning.   Result, hip, knee and left foot fused.   Ouch.     I am still 25 in my head!      

I've been taking it easy.    Annalise my chiropractor is doing a grand job.    I can now stand on my toes, if I want too!    One more session should see me right.

Three fabulous Shibori (Procion) workshops here, where I could have a little hobble and then sit down.    One workshop and one talk this week, and that's me done until March.

It has been a busy summer, so perhaps it was good to try and do nothing for a while.   I certainly put my feet up,  gave a few orders here and there.   Still waiting for the housework and laundry fairies to appear.

The Kurta Quilt has been my companion, lots of quilting and even more surface stitching.
You never know, I might even finish it this year!    

one corner done

to think it was going to be machine quilted

instead it's covered in hand stitching

some interesting hand quilting

happening along the outer border now

looking back to the warmer days

pleated and pole wrapped indigo dyed cloth

In a months time we will be flying east

really looking forward to that

out of the blue

a quilt for Daisy

Some time last century I gave this quilt to Daisy

it's been loved to bits

see blog post 25 June 2012

 This log cabin quilt has been languishing in a

cupboard  and now has a new home

I guess I made it around ten years ago, when I hadn't

really embraced dyeing.   Dark blue cotton, white

and blue Japanese fabric, and dupion silk squares.

I made a start at quilting, using commercial quilting

thread - dark blue.   The quilt got shoved in a cupboard

, half finished, for years!   It was a sort of nice, but a

tad boring, and more exciting textile things

were happening.

Then on one of those days when the only way to

go is to have a good old clear out of the workspace,

the unfinished quilt reappeared and spoke, as in 

please finish me and made me into a

grown up quilt.

I took out all the horrid blue quilting thread, re-drew the stitching 

lines, which are Japanese sashiko quilting designs, and off we went.

This time I used my hand dyed threads, so much more exciting.

And so, with the binding on and the quilt finished, it has spent

the last few years in a basket, along with other quilts.

It surfaced again in November, and it's lovely and needs a

home with someone who will love it to bits.

Aha, Daisy.

detail of quilting

a wobbly machine stitched label!

Comments - I can't seem to reply through blogger at the moment!

So, thank you Radka and Gaia, and welcome to new followers.

Stitching in December

The Blue Moon quilt has been on my lap a lot.   

Quilting away, listening to music or plays on

the radio, whilst outside it has either been

pouring with rain or freezing cold.

I've been gathering old kurtas and scraps of Indian block printed 

fabric for some time.   Now they have been upcycled into 

blocks for a quilt

the blocks are sewn by machine, but the sashing is hand 

stitched Indian style applique squares.  This might take a

time!    The little tin is a Christmas present.  Very retro.

 Right now it is full of little squares ready to go.

I am enjoying a quiet time this morning.   Keith and the

boys are out.  There's a mini marathon involved, and

Nic has gone to the beach with his sketch book.

This afternoon I shall be mainly in the kitchen making

big pots of soup and two large Dorset Apple cakes

for lunch tomorrow.   We have a family gathering, and

hearty food will be called for after a morning on the

beach digging sandcastles and playing football.

Revisiting

Another three weeks have whizzed by without blogging.   I must have
been a) enjoying myself, b) really busy, or c) refining my juggling skills.
A mixture of all three really.

My workshops for the year are now finished.   Two shibori/procion days
extremely colourful.    The final on kantha stitching very quiet and calm.

I will be taking a Shibori in Colour workshop
on 20th January 2013.   For details contact
Walford Mill  Wimborne, Dorset





End of year tidy up - all those files, samples and notes redefined.   They
multiply through the year!    I am finding I do have space in cupboards,
once the 'on longer required on journey' stuff is discarded.

Paperwork almost done, and I can see surfaces again.    

To maintain some sanity I had to have some stitching to hand.   Of course,
on the wall is Blue Moon, a quilt I finished on New Year's Eve, 2009! 
It is constructed from recycled white fabric, gathered over months.  Dyed,
mark making with soy wax and over dyed.    Lack of time required machine
quilting, which I always intended to hand quilt.  It's time has come!

hanging on the wall along with Nic's illustrations

for our family exhibition Raw Talent 

from this

to this

via this

I am so enjoying the result.   This might be my winter project!   There is a

lot of stitching yet to be done.

Nic is on tour with The Paper Cinema's production of the Odyssey until

the end of November.    It could be coming to a town near you!