Colourful Friday:Pink Clouds to Rainbows

 We've not had great weather in Weymouth this week -  mainly grey with lots of  wind and rain but it's not lessened our enjoyment of revisiting sights, sounds and tastes. Yesterday we gave up on the idea of a walk on Portland and went to Dorchester instead - excellent museum where I discovered work of George Dannatt  and wonderful homecooked food and real ales at the Blue Raddle.
But look what we woke up to this morning - clear sky with pink edged clouds!
The good weather lasted until we were caught in a hail shower after leaving Weymouth Pavilion heading  for the Cove House Inn at the end of Chesil Beach. Didn't last long, the sun was soon out again but there were dramatic cloudscapes

 Couldn't have looked so different looking North (above) and South (below)!!

 We strolled back over the causeway to Ferrybridge, stopping off in the newly re-opened Visitor Centre ( with new bridge, saving erosion of the saltmarshes  ), watching a Little Egret stalking  and a kestrel hovering just above us.  Again the weather changed dramatically changing the Fleet to pewter

 I was just taking photos of these red boats and trying to capture the flight of the parasurfers that we've been watching from the cottage when the heavens opened.

 But as it was still sunny, there was a glorious full double rainbow that lasted all the way home.

Indigo Shibori at CQ Winter School

 I had a very productive weekend at Contemporary Quilt's first Winter School at Missenden Abbey, producing lots of indigo shibori with Janice Gunner. Our improvised indigo drying using scaffolding and a washing line between 2 trees was much admired and  photographed.
It was the first time  that I'd been to Missenden - rather classier accommodation than I'm used to for such events, good food and excellent company. Lovely surroundings too, very atmospheric in the early morning mists.

 I'd come well prepared for restocking my arashi stocks, sewing around 20 tubes of fabric beforehand on the machine - I left my  stripey 'socks' out overnights then unpicked them in the morning!

 I was determined to crack 'mokume', my previous attempts not being tight enough and it was worth the effort.  My indigo stash is currently drying in the conservatory - there will be lots of photos when I return from Weymouth but I couldn't resist bringing this piece with me to stitch on - I'll be looking again at the 'magic feathers' tutorial. These wonderful marks were achieved by wrapping fabric around a bath outlet tube left when our bath was being repaired, inspired by the results of Edwina's 'breathing tube' at Summer school 2 years ago.

October Calendar Girl

 

When I entered 2 small quilts for the Textile News : Freiheit -Liberte-Freedom  small format competition 2 years  ago, I hardly expected my work to be chosen , never mind having one selected for the prestigous Bernina Calendar! A detail of ' Sometimes Chains are Just Shadows' (above) features for October. The exhibition has toured  all over Europe and  Gudrun Heinz who has tirelessly organised all this has blogged about  the interesting places it has got to . She's also given me a wonderful write-up on her website and the Bernina Blog. Thank you so much Gudrun!! I'm thinking hard about the next  challenge  - Boredom (not something I've ever really suffered from) 

Thanks are also due to Lizzie Drake and Uta Lenk who have written so kindly about 'Weymouth Waves' selected for SAQA Wide Horizons in St Marie aux Mines. Not having been able to get to France myself, it was lovely to hear about the show.

Bathroom Finished!

I spoke too soon  in my last post about the bathroom being nearly finished !! A week last Saturday they came in for an epic session to finish the tiling - at one point I made a strategic retreat to a  calming canalside cafe  (Ian was at his parents) . But this Saturday the last tweaks were sorted out and we had  a thorough clean as  although only one room was being redone , it impacted on everywhere else what with the bath in the dining room. With early morning starts and effectively camping out nothing creative  happened for 3 weeks and  I gave up on the idea of entering for SAQA 'Earth Stories'. I'm just starting to gather my stuff together for indigo dyeing next weekend. But it was  so worth it !!

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.