A Day Off.

We had two three small visitors for the weekend. Babybel and the VHC's mummy was running in the marathon, and their daddy was providing moral and logistical support, so the small Cheeses and their dog  came for a sleepover. Fortunatly we had a lovley spring day on Saturday, so we could get out in the garden: we played a little football,  Babybel practised her running so she can be like mummy, and the VHC did a lot of 'doodling' in one of his granny's notebooks. 

On Sunday Uncle Cheese and his senorita came over and we went to Mottisfont (it is one of Babybel's favourite places thanks to fish to feed and  this). 

While we were having fun, B & VHC's mummy was working hard and completing the marathon in just over 4 hours, while raising £200+ for breast cancer research. We are all very proud of her! 

So what has this to do with a day off? Well, mummy took a well deserved one today, so we got one too, although  we hadn't been working quite as hard. We haven't had a Monday meander for quite some time, so we meandered off to Walford Mill, for a cream tea and a browse round the current exhibition. Both were good.

The exhibition theme of mapping is one I've played with a couple of times, so it was interesting to see other people's ideas.

There were several pieces by Wendy Dolan, whose map-related work we saw at Ramster a few years ago. Unfortunately I can't find any of the map pieces on her website.  I love her use of colour - scraps of maps set against a patchwork of neutral fabrics - and was pleased to be able to buy a tiny sample, of Corfe Castle, on a card.

I also liked the pieces by Amanda Wallwork, which looked at first glance like ceramics, but are, I think, painted wood, and Pauline Monkcom's real ceramic plates, with wonderful glazes.

Then we came home via Knowlton Church, which we saw on a TV programme recently and realised that we had driven past it frequently without knowing it was there.

It is a very atmospheric place, which provides beautiful views of Cranborne Chase, even on a grey day like today. The earthworks don't really show in this picture, but they are very evident when you are there, as are several yew trees. We'll be back when the weather is a bit warmer!

You wait days for a post...

then two come along together. That's because I actually have something to say. (Not that having nothing to say usually stops me.)

I left you agog with indifference about what I was going to select from my crammed work basket. 

As you can see, the mittens won. And the eagle-eyed will also see that the cables are incorrect. Be warned: this is what happens if you try to knit complex cables while watching complex TV thrillers in Danish. Unless, of course, you speak Danish.

However, they have been tested today, and they are nice and warm. 

The mittens were tested on a Monday meander, to Stourhead. You may remember our attempt to visit Stourhead in half term, when we ended up going to Kingston Lacy. (According to a member of staff we spoke to, the Saturday of the week we tried to go and gave up, they had 7,000 visitors. Glad we didn't persist!)

We thought a Monday in mid-December might be a little quieter, and it was. 

We had intended going round the gardens, but when we realised that the house was open, and decorated for Christmas, we changed our minds.

And, despite it being a lovely sunny day, we're glad we did. The decorations were beautiful - different in each room, mostly hand made, and never OTT. 

I especially liked the dining room, where, unusually in a National Trust house, the blinds were up and the sunlight poured in over the dining table, as you can see at the bottom of this collage, and on the plate at the top.

Then home, in the light of the setting sun.

The day was only marred by the sight of three dead deer by the roadside on the way home, which is three more than I've ever seen before. 

Excellent embroidery.

No, not mine – apart from the ‘Remember ‘ box [which Wensleydale insists on referring to as ‘the box of the dead’ – and that’s the improved version of his original name for it] – I haven’t done much. Nor would I necessarily describe it as ‘excellent’.

Today we had a Monday Meander, to see the work of two very different embroiderers. We started at Walford Mill, with an exhibition by Yvonne Morton. I am always attracted by work in muted colours – and her use of silk paper and black stitch, with occasional little touches of colour – is exquisite. Although her work is inspired by African fabric – and I can recognise that in it – some pieces also made me think of 18th and 19ht century estate maps - and I love maps.

Then, after lunch at the Walford Mill cafe – outside so we could enjoy the view – we went on to the Dorchester Museum to see Alice Kettle’s exhibition ‘Allegory’. I saw it when it was at Farnham, but Wensleydale didn’t, and he was keen to go.  It was interesting to see it in a different environment – the larger pieces in particular, hung lower and in a different light so it was easier to get up close and really look at the way she works.

There was also a small exhibition of ‘proper’ bookbinding – a couple of dozen bindings of ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ and one of ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’. Interesting to see how real bookbinders work – and the different interpretations of the theme.

I am always amused in Dorchester by the blue plaque on Barclay's Bank, saying that the house is reputed to have been the residence of Michael Henchard, Hardy’s ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’. A blue plaque for a fictional character? Is there one on Elsinore Castle [OK, Kronborg] saying ‘Hamlet woz ‘ere’? [Never say I don’t check my sources.]

I may not have been sewing much – but I have been knitting – more bottles.

On these two I deliberately distorted the necks – with short rows in the felted one on the right, and uneven decreases in the yeti on the right.

 

The distortion on these is, however, not deliberate. Neither are keen on standing upright – the bobbly one would probably have been better worked on smaller needles, and the sea anemone suffered from over vigorous washing. I was trying to felt the stripes, but only succeeded in making the non-feltable bits go floppy.

Wensleydale made the mistake of saying he liked these strange objects – he pets the yeti when he goes past it – so watch out for more. And if Giorgio Morandi can spend half a lifetime painting pots, I can spend some time knitting them! [Thanks to teacher Mel for introducing me to Morandi.]

For the first time for months …

we had a Monday Meander.  Wensleydale is still finding walking quite difficult but he is fed up of being indoors, or only going where he can lean on a shopping trolley, so we took ourselves off to the Hillier Gardens.

It has been one of those lovely winter days which, as W.said, ‘we used to have’ – still, sunny, and very very cold. We had a look at the current textile exhibition, ‘Material World’, had a short walk in our favourite part of the gardens, the  winter garden, and then sought refuge in the cafe to warm up.

The exhibition seemed less interesting than it did last year – perhaps because many of the same people are exhibiting, or I’m getting pickier. Terrie the teacher has pieces in it, which are worth a look, and it is great if you want to buy interesting knitting wool – but as I am trying to reduce my wool stash, I passed by the alpaca, mohair, and locally grown and processed wool. [I coveted some bright pink mohair socks but I wasn't convinced they would survive my rather heavy handed washing.]

All this gadding about meant that I didn’t do very much else. I did finish this last night.  I realise it is a bit like a spot the difference competition – the only change from yesterday is the addition of some gold beads. The paler blurry bits in the background are not due to an inadequate scan but the colouring of the Colour Catcher.

Not sure why I’m so besotted with working with Colour Catchers – possibly because there are usually several lying around my workroom - which of course is because I don’t throw them away like a normal human being, I take them in there and iron them onto interfacing …

I did start a drawing this morning. It isn’t finished, because I want to colour the garnets red, with Inktense. The gold has been coloured with a metallic water colour pencil but you can be forgiven for not realising. It isn’t a ring, apparently, but some form of shield decoration. I love the wiggly shapes of the gold round the garnets, which were great fun to draw.

More wiggly shapes – repeating patterns made from the section of ‘tree’ on the left. The watercoloured ones fold up – and the explanatory label was added at the tutor's request. Good thing really or I wouldn’t have been able to remember what I’d done …

A Monday meander

to the crafts fair at Winchester Cathedral. We have been a couple of times before and always found it very impressive, so my heart sank when we walked in and almost the first thing I saw was a knitted toilet roll cover. However one we got past that the rest of the display was up to the usual high standard. We bought ourselves an early anniversary present – a lustreware vase like those in the link but in dark blue and gold.

Then we walked past one of my favourite spots in the city – the tiny water garden behind the Cathedral.  Today it was looking like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s texture is lichen on an apple tree – almost felt-like, and I love the colour as well.

A Monday meander...

maybe? Can you call a theatre trip a meander? We went, with Mr and Mrs Cheddar, to the Watermill Theatre in Newbury to see Propeller's production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream'.

It was brilliant! The Watermill is a beautiful tiny theatre in [as you might have guessed] a watermill - and Mrs Cheddar likes to sit on the front row. This means that you get all the benefits of energetic, inventive and exciting live theatre happening right in front of your nose - or at your feet. The last time we went I nearly lost a shoe when Katherine in 'Taming of the Shrew' grabbed my foot in resisting Petruchio's attempts to haul her across the stage. [Well, it's an all male company so 'her' was 'him' - but, willing suspension of disbelief and all that.]

This time it was the people at the other end of the row who got involved when Bottom lost part of his 'sword' [a sink plunger] under their seats.

You don't get that in the cinema.

After all that excitement - here's a quiet piece I made some time ago when I was working on a larger piece inspired by windows for Part 1 of C&G. This is my work room window. I printed the photo on tissue paper, then bonded it to silk habotai and applied that to silk noile. A bit of FME and some detached chain stitches finished it off. I came across it in a bit of tidying and decided it was worth framing.

I am also going to frame this. It was not made by me, but by my mother at teacher training college in the 1930s. She never valued it very much, and because I have known it all my life I have tended to take it for granted, but I really looked at it this morning and decided it well worthy of display.

This is the quilted piece I showed you in progress. I think it is finished, although I may add a few beads.

And finally - a dramatic red image taken one evening through the loo window - unfortunately the only window in the house which faces west. Not computer manipulated at all, the sky really was that colour.

A Monday meander - and a few other things

We took advantage of a reasonable afternoon yesterday to visit the Hillier Gardens again. Not being a gardener I wasn't sure how much there would be to see - but I was pleasantly surprised.

I enjoyed being able to see the shape of the trees without their leaves, including this pollarded willow - which I think is really a young Ent.


Yes - that is a shoe hanging in it. There was a St Valentine's plant trail - and this was part of it. Allegedly it is a Yorkshire custom for an unmarried young woman to throw her shoe into a willow tree. If it stays there she will be married within the year.

Whoever owns this shoe was taking no chances - it is very firmly tied there ...




There were the first signs of spring in the form of lots of flowers. No daffodils yet but plenty of promising green shoots of an entirely non-financial nature.



I also got time for a bit of stamp making, based on the centre of this group of tiles. This time I folded the paper into quarters to cut out the design.



I really like the secondary design which was very strong in the negative version - more spring flowers, I think.

I tried to bring that out in the positive version but with less success.

Reverse applique, I think, for anyone with a lot more patience than I have.

I have done a little more on the canvas work piece but still not enough to show you. The stamping came out quite irregularly, but I found myself thinking that I could tidy it up as I embroidered it. But then I thought - it is the irregularity of the stamps, and the original tiles, which I like - why do I feel the need to tidy it up? And it is a need - it is going to be difficult to resist! So the plan is to stick to the way the stamp came out and not make it neat and tidy. Odd that I want to because I am not a naturally neat and tidy person!