Sand Ripples

The combination of high winds and  high tides around Ferrybridge made for some interesting sand ripple patterns

Big Skies, High Winds, High Seas, Low Tides

 An exhilarating weekend in Weymouth for Ian's birthday,  with strolls on Portland between meals experiencing the varied weather and its effects, and a bit of sketching from and on tablets while it was still fresh in our minds.   
First thing on Saturday the combination of high tides and high winds meant you could see the waves crashing against Portland from our cottage in Ferrybridge ( about a mile away!)  It was a bit calmer ( still 30mph+ winds) and heading towards low tide when we went by bus to Jackson Gallery and Café for lunch - delicious mini pizzas and Florentines and views out over the sea

 We headed down the hill to the Cove House Inn for  a pint, very blustery and difficult to keep the camera still. You can see the high water mark right at the top of Chesil Beach ( going over the top in places) with sea spray like smoke.

 After a lovely dinner at Floods on Saturday( red mullet baked with fennel -yum) , Sunday was a little  calmer although still windy  with incredible skies and cloud formations as the sun rose.

 After a leisurely lunch at Blue Fish Café  we walked back over the causeway, stopping off at the Chesil Beach visitor centre to admire the mudflats in the waning light  and then headed to the oyster beds at Ferrybridge - I took so many photos!!!

Finally at the end of the Rodwell trail, the sea was so far out that you could see the remnants of the pier associated with the  old Whitehead Torpedo  factory  and there were hundreds of seabirds where land met sea.  There was a very high tide again as we left on Monday but nothing  as  bad as in January.
Update 5th Feb - video of waves crashing over Chesil  earlier today.

The return of a helping hand

 'A Helping Hand' , one of the pieces included  in the touring exhibition 'Textile News :Freedom '   has  arrived back home after more than 2 years on tour ( 'Sometimes Chains are Just Shadows' which featured on the 2012 Bernina Calendar,  was sold!)

They certainly had an adventure - 14 places in UK, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. When I saw  the display at FoQ in 2011 , the variety of work was amazing and it's wonderful that so many people have been able to  share that experience. Thanks Gudrun! 

Measure Twice, Cut Once

I'm really annoyed  with myself for ignoring the golden rule of 'measure twice, cut once' while  trimming  down my 'Gray Scale' challenge piece for International Threads. Instead of being 40 x 80 cm it is 38 x 80 and that missing  2m on the RH side would have made all the difference.

When I was on the Human Marks workshop with Dorothy Caldwell in Puglia, I took a photo of my index finger stained and ingrained with Indian ink after a morning of making fingerprint marks.
I manipulated the photo in Photoshop, dividing it into 6 overlapping sections, and printed it out on a commercial batik (with marks that reminded me of my fingerprints) treated with bubblejet set.
.

Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles at Knit and Stitch Olympia 13 -16 March

 

Booking is now open for Knit and Stitch at Olympia  13-16 March   and TVCT  'Halfway Between' is one of the featured exhibitions. I'm thrilled that an image of the stitching on  my 'Fleet Mudflats' is being used in the advertising !! Find out more about Thames Valley Contemporay Textiles here.

I am discounted!

Until the end of January, my book 'Growing Orchids From Seed' ( and  the Spanish edition) is available for half price from www.Kewbooks.com .
Even though I say it myself, it's a very good introduction - our lab copy is looking very tatty now it's used so much for training!

Quilt Resolutions

I  sewed the facing on my 2nd quilt for Cwilt Cymru 'Connection' exhibition last night,  finishing the hand stitching first thing this morning! The A4 handling samples for the 2 quilts 'Red Remnants' and 'Red Ripples'  are  also finished (above).
I've learnt a lot  during the process of making these quilts to a deadline  and apart from finishing   my piece for International Quilt Challenge group , I don't have anything in the pipeline (apart from lots of ideas in my head).
I've been mulling it over the last  few days and rather than making works for challenges/ competitions, what I  want to achieve this year is to produce at least 3 pieces , building up a body of work,  putting into practice what I've learnt over the last few years and then decide whether I enter them for shows.
 It may well end up being a year I produce 2 sets of Journal Quilts - the  CQ challenge for 2014 is for 8 x 8 inch, too small in my experience for developing samples - I'll stick to A4 for that purpose.
Wishing you all the best for 2014, whatever your plans.