Journey to the North Country: Fit the Second *

I left you on the beach on the way to Glasgow – after a wet drive and a somewhat scary negotiation of Glasgow’s idiosyncratic motorway system we arrived safely. We have been to Glasgow twice before, but always flown so driving was a new experience.

Our reason for going to Glasgow is always the same – Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald.

If you don’t know about Mackintosh, you could start here:

http://www.crmsociety.com/

As I mentioned in my last post, there is a Klimt/Mackintosh connection. The Mackintoshes met Klimt when they exhibited in Vienna, and there are strong similarities between CRM’s designs, and those of the Vienna Secession. However, the art historian Nikolaus Pevsner thought Margaret was a bigger influence on Klimt than her husband, and looking at her images of women and his I can see why.

[Can’t you tell I used to be a teacher?]

On the first day we indulged in a little retail therapy in the best branch of Borders I know. Conveniently, Borders is just behind the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, which is a wonderful space.

This is the exhibition we saw:

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showExhibition.cfm?venueid=3&itemid=195&Showid=187

I must confess that I had never heard of Jim Lambie before, but I loved his art. Looks like he spends a lot of time in charity shops. [That isn’t a criticism – so do I!]

Would you believe that despite the extensive website, they had no postcards of this exhibition for sale? You could buy postcards of other works of his but that wasn’t what I wanted. Very short-sighted, Glasgow!

Our second day was devoted to CRM. In the morning we visited the ‘House for an Art Lover’. It is a modern realisation of a design Mr and Mrs CRM made for a competition – and I think it shows. Beautiful of course but not really livable in! I specially liked these lights.





The setting and gardens are lovely: there was art in the surrounding parkland and an amazing children’s play park. We wished Babybel was with us although she is perhaps a little too small yet ...









In the afternoon we went to Hill House, which is the house CRM designed for the publisher Walter Blackie. Definitely livable in. It also has some of Mrs CRM’s textiles. It was fascinating to see one of her original antimacassars for the living room. You can just see the reproductions here:

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461541990/hill_house_interior.html

Hard to believe that it dated from the beginning of the last century, the colours and use of stitch were so modern.

Our final day in Glasgow was spent at the Burrell Collection – which I have wanted to visit for a long time. Fortuitously our visit coincided with an embroidery exhibition, 'Suzani embroideries from Uzbekistan'. If I hadn’t finished my C&G work on foreign embroidery, I know what I would be doing! Wonderful embroideries set in context, free admission, an excellent free leaflet with lots of colour illustrations, good cafe and lots of postcards. Well done Glasgow!

The rest of the Burrell collection isn’t bad either.

More tomorrow - probably.

[*with thanks to Lewis Carroll.]

I have been unusually silent

because we have been away on holiday. I am resisting the temptation to show you all the 200+ photos I took.

Sensible Brits head for warmer climes when they go on holiday – so have we been somewhere where we could expect to get a tan? Of course not. Just rust.

We went to Liverpool, Glasgow, and County Durham. For those not familiar with British geography, these are all much further north than Hampshire, two are on the [wetter] west side of the country, and all have proud industrial histories. Not, perhaps, your usual holiday destinations. And of course we had typical UK summer weather – cold and wet.

So why did we go? As Susan correctly worked out when I mentioned our trip to Liverpool – primarily for this.

http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/gustavklimt/

How could I not go?

There were relatively few of the famous pictures, but several of his earlier pieces and his less well known landscapes. There was a lot about the context of his work, particularly the design and architecture of the period, which included work by the reasons we were going on to Glasgow later. If you like Klimt it is well worth a visit – but don’t go into the last room unless you are very broadminded …
It was also good to visit Liverpool again – we think the last time we were there was in 1973. The first time I went there was on 2nd June 1953. Are you impressed by my ability to remember the date? [Actually, I had to Google it.]

I was taken to Liverpool in 1953 by my parents, to visit the only person we knew who had a TV, because there was a [so far] unique broadcast on the BBC. And if you know what it was you must be at least as old as I am, and you are probably British …

Unfortunately I cannot remember anything about the broadcast. I do remember eating a sausage roll for the first time. This accurately reflects my attitudes to the monarchy - and to
food …

Speaking of Liverpool and food - these appeared on the breakfast buffet. If you have read my blog before you will undoubtedly have realised that I am mad, and this confirms it. Who else but a mad woman would liberate a small processed cheese from a hotel buffet in order to photograph it?

It struck me that non-Europeans may not realise why I call Charlotte 'Babybel' - so here is one. They don't usually have what I thought were ladybird spots on them. However I have just realised it is probably meant to look like a football. Having a red football in Liverpool seems potentially dangerously partisan to me. [Obscure and feeble footballing joke by someone with no interest in football - you only need to know that Liverpool has two football teams, one of them known as 'The Reds'.]

Susan had told me to look out for the Superlambananas in Liverpool. So here’s the one outside the hotel.

And here’s one at Albert Dock – with this important message on it. Tate Liverpool didn’t appear to have one which I thought was remiss of them.




Between the hotel and the Albert Dock we also spotted some wonderful 1930s architectural details on and around the Mersey Tunnel office building.

On the way up to Glasgow we diverted off the main route to visit these enigmatic gentlemen.

I am a big fan of Antony Gormley and felt we couldn’t be in the vicinity without going to see ‘Another Place’. I wasn’t disappointed. Even the graffiti on a log on the beach was interesting.


This is getting rather long – so more tomorrow. Maybe.

Now it is officially all over -

our exhibition is finished.

This is my display – not very good but I had awful trouble putting up the wall hanging and once I’d got that up the rest just went up around it. Then it fell down and I was still restoring it when the exhibition opened … There wasn't a lot of room so the things I was less proud of came home.

On Saturday and Sunday we had fleeting visits from Babybel and her dad – here she is tucking into some Double Gloucester. This is one of the few decent photos I managed to take – in most of them she is looking very worried: ‘Why does gran keep pointing that flashy thing at me?’

Quality Control definitely did not approve …

I've been a bit quiet

because not much has been happening. No Tuesday trip as Wensleydale was governing – well – taking the principal, who is leaving, out to lunch!

I spent the morning piling this lot up in the hall ready for our exhibition. This is two years work for C&G. I think it’s all there. There were a couple of things I was going to ‘forget’ because I hate them – but I’ve been good and included them. Of course if there isn’t enough space – and there usually isn’t – they might come home again. The photograph was taken before I added the branch to hang my dingle dangles on. And the vase to put the wrapped samples in. [Half a dozen wands and a broomstick. I kid you not. Oh, and a miniature wizard made from a wrapped peg.]

Apart from trying to remember where I had put everything, I have been playing with my new toy. These are my first two efforts. Nothing special but they helped me explore the machine. The stitch regulator is magic. I tested it on the green pencil case using the worst thread I ever bought – an Indian metallic which looks lovely but shreds if you look at it. I successfully used it for FME without a single breakage. Of course my FME is still pretty crap – but less crap than it was. [The zigzag which is just visible is a set stitch, not FME]

I had a nasty experience this morning. I turned the machine on and it made a continuous noise – a sort of whirring whine = or whining whirr. I thought it was a warning sound. I looked in the manual – which is permanently out next to the machine. The only mention of a warning noise was a beep. Panic nearly set in – until I realised that the bobbin winder was switched on. [It works automatically, you don’t have to press the foot pedal.] I must have caught it as I moved the machine.

I had to have a cup of tea to recover. I wonder how many people contact their dealers to ask about the strange noise their machine is making?

I have enrolled on next years course. It is a 'Creative Textile Workshop' which will run two days a term. It is run jointly by Terrie Hitchcock, the new embroidery tutor, and Susan Chapman, the P&Q tutor whom I know because I took Creative Sketchbooks with her last year.

There is some homework for the holidays - start a sketchbook, go to some art exhibitions and choose two artists to study. I feel smug because I have already been to two of the exhibitions listed and I have tickets for a third. so I have chosen my artists. One is Howard Hodgkin, whose exhibition of prints we visited recently. I hesitated for about 5 seconds before choosing the other one. OK i made three pieces inspired by his work this year - but I'm sure I can find some inspiration for some more ...

My challenge quilt is finished - maybe ...

Here is the whole thing. It isn't really uneven, but my temporary quilt hangers are.

A Markal paintstick rubbing with a little stitch

Sheers, and Angelina, impressed with a stamp. The shells were not part of the challenge but seemed to fit in. I used the same colour of Angelina throughout although it doesn’t look like it.

FME on silk paper. This paper is more matt than silk paper usually is because I used silk noils [from a Texere pack, for those who know what that means] and matt gel medium. I also pressed it so it was pretty flat before I added my dodgy FME. This was not done with my new machine!


More sheers and a few sequins. The butterfly fell out a sample packet from Simply Sequins and insisted on joining in. Sorry about the reflection from the flash - this bit is pretty flashy.

Silk paper with added Angelina, fibres and buttons. The buttons were not part of the challenge but I inherited 3 women’s stashes of buttons in addition to my own. Got to use them somewhere.

You can just see the discharging on this section – the wavy lines bottom left. I could tell you that I worked for days producing the complex cloth for the background – but I’d be lying. When I dye I spread some calico [muslin in American] over the table to catch the inevitable drips and spills. I use the same piece until it has plenty of character and then stick it in a bucket with some soda solution and any dyes left over at the end of the session. If it looks too awful it goes back on the table for another circuit. This piece looks as if I practiced printing leaves on it too …

The silk paper was made with cocoon strippings and Angelina. The glue in the cocoon strippings meant I was able to add a little foil without adding any extra glue. And some more buttons. In layers.

None of this section was part of the challenge – apart from the Markal rubbing I didn’t like which is hidden underneath. I think this needs more stitch - possibly beads and French knots, in blue to add more colour.

I really enjoyed doing this hanging, and I have already started the next one, which at the moment is telling me it needs to be crazy quiltish – but who knows how it will end up …

Tuesday trips - resumed

We got back to our routine yesterday with a visit to ‘Art in the Garden’ at the Hillier Gardens near Romsey. We had been to a small indoor art exhibition there before which had been – how can I put this? – a bit flowery for my taste. But it was a lovely day, so we decided to go. And thoroughly enjoyed it. The art was mostly stunning and mostly beautifully sited.

There were a lot of flowers of course, not all real. This is by ‘Iron Vein' [?].

The gardens are lovely, even if you are not interested in the art, but a bit pricey to get in. There is a good tea shop, which you can get to without going into the gardens.

I took a hundred photos, although we only managed to get half way round before our elderly joints suggested we came home. However the event is on until the autumn, so we will go back at least once to see the rest.

I won’t show you all the photos, but here are some highlights.

As there are occasional references to textiles in this blog, I have to include this one by Susan Bowman, Yes, it is a crochet skirt, set with plaster/polymer.


And a cast glass hat and mittens by Miyuki Kasahara.

These, by Robinson and Wainwright, were perfectly complemented by the wonderful tree they were hanging in.

But my favourites were these by ‘Loco Glass’

and this and her companion by Patricia Volk. I love her contemplative expression.

We couldn't quite afford to buy anything because we had spent up on Sunday, at the Sandown Quilt Show, when Wensleydale bought me my belated birthday present. [You may remember I had a big birthday this year.] The prezzy arrived yesterday.

I used to have a Bernina but the motherboard died and wasn't replaceable. My little Elna is great but I missed the additional bells and whistles of the old Bernie. Well – this one has even more bells and whistles, including the stitch regulator, and I think it is going to take some getting used to. All I managed to d last night was to put the tools away in the tool box, which was a more complex procedure than you might expect as the tool box is like a miniature wardrobe with a place for everything.

I had forgotten how heavy Berninas are – almost as heavy as my third machine – which I don’t think I have shown you before.

This one has no bells or whistles at all – it doesn’t even sew in reverse – but after 100 years + it is still working … which is unlikely to be true of either the Elna or the Bernina!

1.33 FO's

First – the latest baby cardigan. At the moment these are fulfilling my need for more-or-less instant gratification. Yes – I could sew baby clothes – and before Babybel was born I fully intended to – but the local charity shops have beautiful children’s clothes for a lot less than it would cost to make them. [Baby sized Levi’s jacket for £1.99? Hand smocked dress, originally from M&S for £2.99?]

However they don’t seem to have cardigans and as Babybel’s mum finds them useful – cardies will be knitted until I get bored or someone tells me to stop. And the great thing about knitting for babies is that provided you don’t make them too small, they’ll fit sooner or later. I am making them a bit longer than usual though because she’s a looong baby.

The third of an FO [perhaps] is this bit of the hanging. This piece has 6 of the 9 techniques / materials we need to include:

A sheer, foil [which is actually multicoloured] and fibres.

Tyvek





Metal. This is one bit which may not be finished – I think it needs more stitch but I’m not sure what. Any suggestions gratefully received! [The beads are not really that dark.]

Paintsticks

And a silk rod which wasn’t one of the requirements but it wanted to join the party.