SAQA Benefit Auction and other news

The SAQA Benefit auction of my 12 inch quilt 'Indigo Waves' is  now open for bidding ( page 2b).  Just sold for $350!!!
 Another indigo piece 'Rules the Waves' is  featured on the Contemporary Quilt Website  - it was in the Guild challenge ('What Britain means to you' ) at the FoQ.
The TVCT exhibition 'Whatever Floats Your Boat' which includes my 'Taplow Vase' currently has another outing at the National Needlework Archive.

On Monday I gave a talk (Powerpoint and lots of quilts) at  Dulwich Quilters meeting (thanks Khurshid for inviting me). I had a lovely time, they were so hospitable and asked so many interesting questions.  I hope to get to their exhibition in November. Many of them said their favourite quilt was 'City Girls Dream of the Sea' - it's  mine too and lives on our landing.  Most people won't be aware of it as it was completed in 2000. It won 3rd place  at Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate   and make it on the cover of Popular Patchwork but  hasn't been on show since.  I've made so many seascape quilts now, it would be wonderful to have the opportunity to put them all on display somewhere, including the older pieces like this one.

I've just booked for the Quilters Guild of the British isles 2013 AGM and Conference at the University of Nottingham. My first AGM was in Paignton in 1987 and for quite a while I went every year as it was the only large quilt gathering going on and a great way of making new friends and meeting up with old ones. It then turned into every other year and then more infrequently as there were more and more quilt events which seemed more relevant to me and competed for my limited time and funds.

While I enjoy the lectures and activities at the AGM conference, it is having top quality workshops which is what now attracts me (or not).
My last AGM was in 2008 in Cambridge when the draw was an excellent workshop with Charlotte Yde - I continue to use the curved piecing methods she taught.
So I'm very much looking forward to coming to Nottingham for a workshop with Uta Lenk. There's been a lot of grumbling about the price of the weekend  but compared to the costs of workshops at say FoQ it is excellent value and I get all the benefits of the conference too! ( apart from anything else Nottingham  is where I spent 3 years doing research for a PhD)

Meanwhile, the bathroom is getting there- a few setbacks but the tiling is mostly done and towel rail installed. We're getting a little tired of  going downstairs to the loo and the bath is at an increasingly jaunty angle  but it will be worth it!

Bathroom Archaeology

When we moved into our present house we didn't do anything to the bathroom as while the pink tiles and ceramic seahorses weren't really our style, it was perfectly functional. However water leaking from the bath through the ceiling light in the kitchen (!)revealed that that the area around the plug was badly corroded. Lots of silicone sealant was used but only as a temporary measure, a new bath was needed. So we decided to bring forward the renovations we had in mind for a couple of years time.

 The plumbers started on Wednesday and they certainly don't hang about. When I left for work it looked as above but without the towels and boxes etc 

 When I came home, the bathroom (Tiles, flooring, toilet, basin, bath panel and screen ) was in the front garden, the door in my office, all that was left was literally the bath.

We went shopping in plumbing merchants on Thursday with lots of useful guidance  from the plumber - if we bought a slightly smaller basin we could fit in a ladder heated towel rail, what luxury!It's all  hopefully arriving today  and I won't miss traipsing to the loo in the conservatory in the middle of the night or brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink.However, I'm glad I took photos of  the paintwork underneath the tiles as it was  patched up and replastered by Friday! Yellow and red and bits of brown with leaves - could it even date back from when the house was built in 1910? I'm pleased to have seen a glimpse of the history of this house and to know it will  still be there underneath our new tiles.

Inspiration from the Day Job

My 2011 Journal Quilts 'Spring Circles' were based on my research at Kew - you can see a video of  my work environment  here.  Only had 20 minutes notice that the film crew were coming  otherwise I'd have taken more care in my choice of earrings!!

 I'm debating whether to throw my hat in the ring submitting a proposal for SAQA 'Earth Stories' with a series of linked quilts around my work with another threatened  species , the Lady's Slipper Orchid.
I made a small quilt (above) over 10 years ago that was bought by English Nature (now Natural England) for their head office and more recently these 6 inch pieces for Quilting Arts 'Go Green' challenge from a recycled lab coat.
I've moved  on a lot in the techniques I use for my art quilts and am thinking it's time to use these to show the developments in my work as a scientist.