Tree hugging

Funny how some days are productive and others are not. Tuesday felt a slog, partly because I had a cold (not swine flu!) and then not helped that the yarn broke on the knitting machine whilst I nipped out of my studio and it took 40mins to sort it all out.

Today on the other hand, I was on a roll. The knitting machine whirred all day and generally behaved itself, so I was able to do some subbing at the same time and I miraculously tidied up a bit too. I got another piece felted, got some fabric prepared to try bleaching for the latest journal quilt and I even made it up to Aberfoyle to try out the tree wrappings. I'm definitely going to need a ladder to get them at a decent height. Even stretching to my full 5 foot 3 1/2in, they are very low down the tree. I hope someone will be able to help me as my talents lie more with textiles than with heights!

Work in progress

Summer holidays are now in full swing here and so my working time has become rather restricted. However, last week I had a fabulous, almost guilt inducing, four full days in the studio. The oldest monster was away camping with his grandparents and the younger ones went to nursery. So I worked from 8.30 in the morning to 5.30 at night, knitting and stitching away. I was really lucky not to have any real amount of editing to do, so I barely wrote a word either.
So at the end of the productive week, I had knitted three hugely long pieces to be wrapped around trees in Aberfoyle; knitted and felted the final base pieces for the Pittenweem Show and then needle felted my gorgeous organza digital prints on to them; done a reasonable amount of machine quilting of the mystery quilt and even managed to do some drawings.
The digital prints are amazing. I did guess the sizes reasonably well and it was with great trepidation I 'destroyed' them by punching them into the felted background. I think the results are interesting. Now I just need to mount the pieces for the exhibition.
The tree wraps used up all my wool and more arrived on Thursday to do some more. They take a full day each, but it my normal over optimistic way, I am hoping to get another four done in the next ten days (total amount of childcare over those 10 days: 12 hours!).
No photos of this work yet, I was too busy enjoying doing it to take a photography break. When I have a moment this week, I'll post some photos. I'm now back into normal life and have just spent a lot of time this weekend editing. September's Popular Patchwork has some challenging projects to check and then there is a redesign on to create an improved look, which is exciting.

Getting ready

Another day in the studio - bliss. The local sports centre is running fun days for primary school children, so the eldest monster is going there whilst the younger two are at nursery during the holidays. The middle one just can't get the idea of holidays - why is Daddy still working if it's the holidays and more to the point, why am I at nursery?

Without monsters at home, I was able to concentrate on sorting the imagery for my digital prints. They are going to be added to knitted and felted pieces of similar imagery - once the wool has arrived. Apparently there was a number missing from the address so it hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow as I have run out part way through a piece, so couldn't get on with other knitting stuff today.

Instead I got my images sorted. The base photos are from my aquarium series. I've then projected them onto fabric and manipulated the images. I've also had to guess the final size of the knitted pieces as I've run out of time to wait until they are finished before ordering the prints. I tried scientific calculations and ratios, but really it is a matter of fingers crossed and waiting and seeing. I've just got to remain confident about it working!

The next journal quilt

This week I have been able to spend three days in the studio - a huge treat. I am still pondering how to display my pieces at Aberfoyle, but to make sure I make the deadline, I have started knitting today on the first large piece. However the work is shown, I know they will need to be big to be seen there - the trees are just so tall.

The sun has shone for some of the week too so I was able to make the July Journal Quilt for Popular Patchwork. It required sun printing and it rained all last week, so it is a bit later than I intended. I don't understand how sun printing works as it seems to bleach the colour out of the covered areas, rather than those exposed to the sun - a bit of reverse logic to me. However, I was happy with the results. As the pieces of fabric I created were not fabulous designs, I cut them into strips to create uneven pleats; the idea being it would be like waves in the fish tanks. I am pleased with the fabric and also with the pleats - something to mentally file away in case it could be suitable for a larger piece in the future.

tree scarves

I took my knitted and felted sample up to Aberfoyle on Sunday to see how the colours went with the trees. In order to be able to photograph it, I put it up against a tree trunk and it stuck. Now I've got a bit of a dilemma. I was intending to have these as free hanging pieces, in between the trees, but I now also like how it would look if they were wrapped around them instead. Not sure what to do. If they are hanging, they will have to be incredibly long to have any impact, at least 4m. But I am slightly concerned about the health and safety impact of this - if there is a strong wind, they will flap about and potentially hit someone - which would not be pleasant! If they are on the trees, I wouldn't have to worry about this, but then I have the issue of how to attach them to the trees without damaging them and I'm not sure if wanted to make tree scarves!

I hate being indecisive, and I need to make up my mind soon as I don't have much time left....

At least I am pleased with the colours as the aim was to blend them in with the trees, rather than standing out from them.

back to life, back to reality

So I have been a bit quiet recently. It doesn't mean I haven't been busy! As well as the Loch Lomond Show pieces, I have been working hard on a new mystery quilt for Popular Patchwork. I have now finished the quilt top and I am really pleased that it is actually square, with no fudging required. Yes, it is meant to be square! Frustratingly, I can't show it to you as it is meant to be a mystery. I am delaying quilting as I have this fear of spoiling it with poor quilting, but I really need to get it under way as I have just six weeks in which to finish it. This may sound a long time, but I also have to deliver new work for two exhibitions at the same time, do all the subbing on Popular Patchwork and the Scottish school holidays start in 8 days time. So life is somewhat busy.

Part of the reason for the rush now is that we have just had a glorious two week holiday in Greece. A good friend was getting married there, which was a great excuse for a holiday. It was incredibly relaxing and I actually enjoyed doing very little apart from play in the sea and on the beach and eat good food. I only finished one book, which is a record for me on holiday. Normally I would read 4 or 5 in a fortnight.

We all enjoyed visiting Mycenae and I could have spent hours more in the museum there looking at the figurines and other things found at the site. They are over 3,000 years old, but they are still fascinating. I've been thinking about them for a while and how to use them as the starting point for a project.

Anyway, the only arty thing I did on the holiday was build stone piles. Much more fun than sandcastles!

Back to normal life, today I made some more samples for the exhibition work. They are in the washing machine now, so photos soon.

Loch Lomond Quilt Show

So, I’ve finally done it. My Shelter pieces are installed and are open to be visited as part of the Loch Lomond Quilt Show until Saturday. The last few weeks have, as normal, been very busy. I’ve been trying to get these finished for the show and praying that they would fit in the car. It was very tight on Sunday evening and wI had no real viable back up plan, but with help from our friendly neighbour and his Land Rover, we just managed to put all six of them into the two cars to bring to Vale of Leven Baptist Church, Alexandria. There was no room for anyone else in the car apart from me!

There were a few hiccups as you would expect with the installation (no one there to open up, so they had to be taken elsewhere overnight for storage!), but now they are in place and look good. I have to stop referring to them as people, but I do feel that they are having a conversation or a dialogue with each other.

Visitors’ reactions so far have been positive and friendly, which is nice. I’m in a room at the back of the church and you get a great view of the work as you walk in the door. You can’t see me when you see them first of all, so I could hear the initial honest reactions. Luckily, there was nothing bad; they ranged from 'Oh, my god!' to several 'Wow!'s

June's Journal Quilt

Having spent so long making my short bit of fabric, I wasn't going to give up on it! One of my favourite photos from my series from the aquariums is this one, even though there aren't any fishes in it.

I think the black is a wall or something similar, but I just love the patterns of the reflections on the water. Although my final piece looks nothing like this picture, this was the starting point and I still want to go back and do more pieces based on it. It's almost like the edge of the world tipping over into the abyss; how I imagine people thought the ends of the world looked when they thought it was flat not round - I still have trouble explaining that to our six year old!

Technically, I had fun using the twin needle and my old workhorse machine. It really will sew through anything without complaint and isn't fussy about what thread you use either. Sometimes, simple is good.

Next month's needs sunshine and it has just started raining after a really unusually good few weeks here - I hope I haven't missed the boat. Last year summer seemed to be over by mid May in Scotland!

those 2 1/2inch squares again

Having said this morning in a post, I never wanted to cut another 2 1/2inch square - what did I end up doing this afternoon?

I was making my latest journal quilt and my new machine didn't like the twin needle and I wasn't happy with what I had done, even after I had switched back to the old one, so I cut it up into 2 1/2in squares and sewed it back together again. It wasn't exactly what I was meant to be doing and it is now too short, but I am a lot happier with it, even if I ended up with lots of broken thread, one broken needle and lots of 2 1/2inch squares.

Easter Break

Making the Shelter pieces

Well, it should have been a time for the family and it was... in between manically making my mystery quilt (next time I'm starting with larger squares - I never want to cut another 2 1/2inch square again!) and sewing my large shelter pieces.

Details of the Shelter pieces

The Easter Egg Hunt started early in our household when on Saturday evening, DH and I couldn't remember where we had hidden the eggs. One hour later (precious lost work time!), and in mega panic mode as by this time even the Co-op had shut, so it would look like the Easter Bunny had forgotten the little darlings, he found them at the bottom of his wardrobe. Chocolate was enjoyed by all!