Spring Knit and Stitch, Olympia

A week has now gone by since the Spring Knit and Stitch Show at Olympia  and I've just about recovered! On the Saturday I went with my mother-in -law Sheila to have a good look round  but Sunday was stewarding day.

I went in early before it was open to the public  so I could take photos of the TVCT 'Halfway Between' stand. It looked fantastic and I'm so pleased that my dolls house mock-up proved useful .

It was quiet to begin with but soon there were lots of interested people having a look around. The show attracted quite a wide  range of  knitters and stitchers and I think our stand with it's variety of textiles appealed to that audience.

No photography allowed(we encouraged people to buy the catalogue)  but in a quiet time I got Sue to take a snap of me with  my 'Fleet Mudflats' ( as used  in advertising and  show catalogue!) .
There's still the opportunity to see 'Halfway Between' at the National Needlework Archive

I spent the Sunday afternoon with my white gloves on , stewarding the 70 or so  quilts of Contemporary Quilt Specialist Group of Quilters Guild Of British Isles. Lovely to see such a wide range of quilts (including older ones) made by my friends and with my white gloves having a  fine time sneaking a look at their backs. I've written a post for the 'fire' blog on this topic. 

A little retail therapy did not go amiss - some fabrics to dye with indigo later in the summer and a range of threads including luscious linen ones from  Namolio.

British Drawing: 1600 to Present Day

After a stimulating  Kew/NHM  networking day at the Natural History Museum on Monday ( 79 'lightening' talks of 2 slides in less than 5 minutes!!), with my head still buzzing, I went over the road to the V&A, finally getting round to see the exhibition of British drawings. It was a joy to be reminded of the work of Samuel Palmer - the catalogue from the 2005 exhibition was the first thing off my bookshelves when I got home. Besides his 'black works', perhaps because they reminded me of the rubbings of bark I made at Rydal, I particularly liked his drawings of tree trunks capturing the different textures, obviously enjoying the  marks made with his pen.  

More impressive marks made by David Connrean in 'Mappa Mundi: drawing to the extent of the body'  capturing the evolution of a line as its is copied imperfectly. I've tried something similar and can attest to how absorbing it is as an exercise  but never on this monumental scale where he used his whole body!
A different set of marks again in this charcoal drawing 'Head Study Two'  by Alison Lambert, almost sculptural  with  its patches of paper added  and drawn into.
I was also intrigued by the methods of Jane Dixon -  making paintings of photographs, then rubbings of the textured paintings on graph paper with graphite. Thought provoking studies making me wonder how I might take further the ideas I started working through in my daily art last year.

Despite buying several exhibition catalogues lately, I'm sure I'll be buying this  book  soon.
Meanwhile I couldn't resist this colourful kantha scarf in the shop - well it is my birthday next month and I'm currently researching and writing some blog posts on hand stitch for the 'And Then We Set It On Fire' Blog.  I'm sure it counts as 'reference material'!