Oops

What is DH going to say when he comes home and sees what I've done to the back yard in the name of art? I had to spray paint these metal frames which form the spines of my Shelter series and the grass will be too wet until too late, so I had to use the yard instead. Today was the first time I was able to spray them since they were made weeks ago given the snow and the rain. I'm still high on the fumes! You can see what the finished pieces will look like on the Loch Lomond Quilt Show website, where they are going to be shown in May. (http://www.lochlomondquiltshow.com/). Once the effects of the spray paint have worn off, I can start making the fabric 'covers'!

Back to work

Despite the fun in the snow, I have done some work - honest! Big excitement at the weekend when I picked up masses of fabric for a mystery quilt I am making for Popular Patchwork. It's a mystery, so I can't tell you much about it, but here is my box of fabric. It was in a much smaller box when it arrived, beautifully folded, but I've got my paws on it now and it is heading towards chaotic jumble. The quilt is going to be big - double bed sized, so there is lots of cutting and sewing to be done. I got started today, despite having stood on and broken my indestructible cutting ruler. Ooops.

I also remembered that Saturday is Valentines Day and as I did a big nothing last year, thought I better make an effort this year. This is a little card and gift bag. Only problem is I have nothing to go in the gift bag. One day to get something and I am passing one possible shop - it just has to be small enough to fit. Here's hoping.

Snow Time

At long last we had some snow! I got very excited and we did make a snowman, but it wasn't enough to close the schools and roads, so it was kind of a normal day, except the oldest monster was off school sick. He was well enough to play with the sledge in the garden though and the baby loved being pulled around. She sat regally demanding us to drag the sledge where she wanted to go. What fun. Sometimes work just has to take a back seat.

The next journal quilt

So far so good - I've just finished by third journal quilt and it is only a few days late. This time involved painting the fabric with acrylic. I then machine quilted the fabric and added the two fish in thread. The image doesn't show the subtlety of the colour of the fishes. Not sure it is a technique that I would set out to try again, but it is always useful to try something new.

I'm trying to get ahead of myself for next month and have already started the next one. That doesn't guarantee it will be finished on time though! There's a fair amount happening over the next few weeks, so I'm just grabbing the chance whilst I have it.

I'm sitting at the computer itching to be in the studio creating, but I need to do some editing and write some proposals. I haven't had much luck on proposals recently, so I'll fill you in on them (if and) when I'm successful. I'm trying positive thinking.

I had a 15 minutes break and did some very basic monoprinting on to fabric for this month's journal quilt. I need to find some more colours to make them a bit brighter once the paint has dried.

Following on from my last entry, I discovered I had been using the wrong sort of paper. I've now found freezer paper and have got my piece all laid out ready to sew - once I've built up the courage and I have a spare five minutes!

something fishy

The big tidy up in my studio continues. It's probably going to take months as I get distracted by other things along the way. It's lovely rediscovering things that have been buried for ages in my studio mess, but it makes the tidy up very time consuming. I'm also not very good at throwing things out as I may need them one day... Occasionally I have used something I have kept for five years plus and this confirms to me that I should hang on to every single scrap of fabric and magazine forever.

I have been playing with my images of fish again. I have a huge collection of photos I've taken of fish at various aquariums around Europe. I really want to use them somehow in my work, but I've never quite got there, beyond using them for the journal quilts. I spent this afternoon making a drawing and pattern for a small sample piece. I decided to use the free freezer paper I rescued from a Christmas parcel to help shape the fabric. It took me over an hour to cut out all the shapes and then I got the fabric out to start making. However, either that wasn't freezer paper or I can't use it properly as it didn't stick to the fabric! Arrgh. So I have managed to throw all of this paper out and will start again next time I get in studio. Anything to put off more tidying.

Tidy up

I haven't got much work done this week as I have been trying to tidy up my studio. It had reached the point where I was struggling to open the door. I am still struggling to open the door, but at least I can walk across some of the floor and can see one of my tables. It's going to take weeks and as soon as I start a new project, it will descend into chaos again as when I am working it never seems important to tidy up as I go along...
On the plus side though, I did manage to complete the End of Project Monitoring Forms for the Scottish Arts Council, so hopefully I will receive the final payment soon and those nice people at Husqvarna Viking are letting me keep the embellisher machine for a bit longer. I've really enjoyed using it and pounding the fabric with the electric needles.
I've also finally got my website online - hurrah! www.gilliancooper.co.uk

Frivolous Fun

I'm trying to balance paper work and time in the studio and so far this year so good. I've spent my working mornings editing and writing and the afternoons making. Having not been able to make anything for a while, I just want to have a bit of fun and play. So here are the latest creations. I've had the bunting half made for ages, so I am pleased to finish it off. All three of the monsters love it and they all want their own versions. The oldest one wants to make one for his teacher. Nice idea, but I'm sure he would get bored after making the flags for Mrs, let alone her surname!

The other thing is something else I've been planning for ages but had not got round to actually making. It is a roll to hold all my knitting needles. I wanted some nice way of keeping them all in one place and this seems to work well. At least I won't be able to miss it in the cupboard.

Journal Quilt

It's back to work after the Christmas break. December seems to have whizzed by due to Christmas, kids and the flu. Yesterday I was really virtuous and finally finished my tax return, so today as a treat I spent several hours in the studio.

As part of my Popular Patchwork work, I have committed to making a journal quilt each month of the year, following the technique we give the magazine. Due to publication dates, January's was made in late November as I was leading the technique: using bondaweb and lots of bits of fabric. My deadline for finishing February's is Friday so I got the embellisher out of the box (thank you Pfaff) and made my February version. The technique was meant to be about using Lutradur and painting on fabric, but I took the layering and cutting back ideas from it and used a shape from a jellyfish image to repeat.

I like the technique, but I think this piece is missing something to pull it together. I will probably spend the rest of today pondering what the missing bit is. Still I am pleased to have managed two months - only ten to go. I struggle to keep new year's resolutions, but as I committed myself in print, I am hoping that this year I will succeed.

Dyeing Day

My residency at Duncan of Jordanstone is begining to wind up. Only a few days left. Today, I dyed metres of fabric for another project. The effects were bizarre: the silk worked fine, but the dye just didn't stick to some of the cotton or felt. I'm sure I put the salt in with them all! Then the washing machine mis behaved and took twice as long and the felt piece in it felted even more. It has a lovely bobbly surface, but it is alot smaller than it started out! So I have several buckets of fabric still in dye overnight. Hopefully it will have worked better second time around. It also gave me a chance to play more with the colours.

I've stopped knitting at the moment (except for the Christmas cards!), after putting the work up for photographing last week. I'm pleased with how it looked, especially when I started projecting images of an earlier projection on top, building up layers of the same image. When the starting image was black and white, it became quite atmospheric, almost haunting in quality.