Garden Guests

With the  hot weather over the last few weeks, we've enjoyed eating out in the garden as much as possible, especially now we've bought a larger table. The garden is more and more jungle-like, the fig  has really taken off  now  the bay has been removed. Today we had  brunch with homemade potato cakes, bucks fizz and freshly roasted coffee ( green beans from Papua New Guinea roasted in a popcorn maker!)

I've been a bit puzzled why the Acanthus (bears breeches) has been doing so poorly, no flowers and full of holes. Early one morning I found out why - snailfest!! There were 10 snails on the plant, all quite different, all munching away!  They hadn't touched plants nearby like the strawberries and hellebores but obviously found these leaves delicious!

Other  visitors to our garden  are much more welcome! The oregano  flowered spectacularly this year and is attracting many types of insects: various bumble and honey bees, hover flies including this large hornet mimic. 

Even butterflies and moths. My herb bed is an endless source of pleasure - lovely to look at, marvellous smells , delicious ingredients and beloved of wildlife.

 

 

Book Bag and ipad mini cover

I usually make a card or quilted item each year for the College based sandwich student when they leave. This year Helen received 2 items using images based on her project work on endangered Madagascan orchid Angraecum protensum .
A few weeks ago during 'adult learners' week I did a talk at work  on printing on fabric using computer and as giveaways  ironed some images backed with bondaweb onto some cotton bags which proved very popular. So I used one of Helens own  SEM ( Scanning Electron Microscope) photos of orchid seeds, adding colour in Photoshop.

Building on my experience making  bookwraps, I also made a  slip cover for her ipad mini, using photos I'd taken of her plants in the lab as well as more colourised  SEM images.

I'd modelled it using my Google Nexus 7 , adding a bit extra in width and  it fits perfectly. I'm going to make one for myself now  with a pocket  for the keyboard and holder for my 'alupen' stylus.

Finally getting to grips with the Nexus - most of this post was written with it - the keyboard is a great help and I managed not to delete anything this time.
I'm hoping to do some blog posts on it when I'm down in Devon next week for my painting course at Slapton

Dusk Watercolours Week 1 - the struggle with materials

 After the hottest day of the year  spent stitching close to a fan, I nearly  finished my 'Mudflats' piece for FoQ and headed into town on a packed sweaty tube train to Central London for the first of my 'Dusk Watercolours' classes at City Lit. We spent most of the time practising colour mixing and mark making in  room 109 which appropriately had  interesting marks along the wall ( above). Although I'm pretty experienced in watercolours  it's good to have a refresher  and try different colour combinations (I've rather set in my ways!) and there's always something new: 'aquapasto' is now on my shopping list. Interesting work from the tutor Hilary Rosen too.

The next  day I got up at 5 to sew the facings, went into work for a meeting and connectivity testing of new finance system , returned home to pack up my quilts and took them to Islington to hand in. Then back on the tube to Embankment where the class met up for some 'pleine aire' painting. We walked over the bridge to the South Bank and  went up to the roof garden for a   views over the Thames.

I started painting the view down towards the Festival Pier  but the combination of tiredness after a long day; painting standing up; struggling with  the new large palette we'd been given up and not having enough water to rinse my brushes (we'd been told not to bring any as there would be plenty available) meant I was rather miserable and couldn't concentrate. There were masses of loud people around too, several peering over my shoulder at the disasters I was creating. The final straw was taking the top off a paint tube which spurted out coating my hands in a vile yellow colour. Luckily I'd brought baby wipes but I  took that as a sign to go to find the loo , wash my hands , fill up my water containers and find a more congenial spot.

 Such a different atmosphere down by the river - lots of  Window gardens  with benches and seating, gentle murmur of jazz and people talking quietly.  A half of Moor Black IPA and a piece of walnut cake  assisted in my mood and I spent the rest the evening comfortably painting badly

Next week Embankment Gardens and the Barbican. I'll be better prepared then!

PS - It's 11 pm and I'm writing this to the sounds of 'Silent Night' drifting in through the windows.  There's a film crew further down the road  finishing filming an Xmas episode of 'Citizen Khan' (Brentford standing in for Birmingham) . Supposedly minimum disruption limited to a small section of the road but it's affected the whole street with zealous security guards  restricting access . I think many of us will be complaining to Hounslow Council.

Sweltering Stitching

 

You'd have thought I'd learnt my lessons stitching to  a deadline in a heatwave in 2003 when  the temperature was the highest ever recorded in the UK at 38.1 C. But here I am again, stitching my FOQ entry in front of a fan so I can  deliver it  tomorrow (or maybe Tuesday....) . Most of the stitching  so far was done 2 weeks ago  listening to R5 commentary of Wimbledon Mens Final. Now it's 'My Family and Other Animals' on Audiobook . Finding indigo and sweat don't mix!!! At least  my other entry is finished, labelled, rolled, waiting it's bag.

Normal service on blogging will resume shortly -  lots to catch up with after a very busy few weeks: orchid site visits( and a film premiere); Hampton Court Flower show; Bellowhead; more indigo dyeing; international moss conference.
I've also  been getting to grips with my new tablet - have worked out how to load and reduce size of photos but my attempts at blogging resulted in deleting my post on RA Summer exhibition!!
Tomorrow I start my 'Dusk Watercolours' class at City Lit -preparation for another week of painting seascapes at Slapton in 2 weeks time.
Stay chilled!

100 metres of thread

Yesterday I posted my entry for CQ Horizons exhibition at Festival of Quilts. I was stitching the facing and sleeve on late of Tuesday night - I'd taken time off work on Monday and Tuesday to do that but couldn't resist adding extra stitching -it's addictive!! I reckon I've used  over 100 metres of thread, estimated from  counting the lines on the back (above).

 I did the majority of the stitching (thanks Hilary for the photo of me in action!)  while on  Summer school retreat at Farncombe , a joy to be among supportive company in a peaceful, beautiful landscape, well fed and watered.

Re-purposing old textiles combined with painting with acrylics and hand stitch  brought together what I love best . I've  still got some of this old red and white strippy quilt left  and am pondering how best to use it in a similar fashion

I know where I'm going but....

 In between pulling buttercups and ivy out of the  strawberry patch I've been stitching samples for the 2 quilts I'm working on  and come to some decisions  - whether I'll have enough time to bring them to fruition is a another matter! On my test sample for 'horizons' piece (below) I tried out machine stitching working from the back  with perle threads in the bobbin. That didn't work - too dense and pulled the cloth up badly. Hand stitching  worked better, especially with my favourite Gutterman silk buttonhole  thread and some gorgeous hand dyed cotton purchased from Laura Wasilowski at Nottingham AGM

 The time spent wasn't wasted thought - the dense line from perle in the bobbin combined with twin needle stitching  will work very well I think on the 'mudflats' piece. I had to quickly assemble a sample to test it out but with a bit more stitching it will become one of my indigo journal quilts - I like how this theme is working for me.

 Hand stitching will not be neglected - I like the effect particularly on the shibori .  But if  when time is short I can work accordingly. I also like having both a machine and hand project on the go.

Indigo Mudflats

 With so  much going on at work, a bank holiday weekend in the cellar sorting through boxes and boxes of junk and some serious hacking in the garden, I had to give up on the idea of completing a SAQA auction donation this year. I'd pieced it from the scraps left over from my FoQ entry ( at least I got the forms filled out a week before the deadline). I did manage to squeeze some time in on Sunday to start machine quilting.

With some serious concentration of stitching required, blogging may be sporadic - I'll sort  out some photos from  our Weymouth break in April to share, starting with these mudflats which influenced  my current project.