“Don’t panic. Don’t panic!”

Although I ‘knew’ that the 2D piece was due in next week, I kept telling myself:

1. ‘you’ve got plenty of time’ - and
2. ‘actually, it’s not really due in till the following week’.

Until Thursday. When suddenly there didn’t seem to be plenty of time and I really knew it was due in next week – yes, I checked.

So what did I do? Procrastinated. Even though I hadn’t finished the embroidery, and had only the foggiest idea how I was going to mount and hang it. In fact, I think I procrastinated because I had only the foggiest idea how I was going to mount and hang it.

But I made myself work on the embroidery – I don’t think there’s a single patch I haven’t redone at least once – and today [after making some bread and some soup and writing a reference!] I took off the calico I’d sewn round the edges so I could use an embroidery hoop – and looked at it.

Mmm. I always go through a stage of hating what I’ve just made. Sometimes it persists – like the belt I made for C&G which I hated so much I can’t remember what I did with it – though one day it will be retrieved and ripped apart to rescue the buckle which belonged to my mother. But I digress.

I had been encouraged by the tutors to leave the calico in place, but wasn’t sure until I took it off <g>. Then I knew they were right. But I wanted to use some better calico, so it wasn’t a disaster.

All the time I have been working on this piece I have gone on to anyone who would listen about leaving the back visible, because families, like embroideries, have a ‘public’ [i.e ‘right’] and a ‘private’ [i.e.’wrong’] side.

But when I put the embroidery down on the calico to work out how wide the borders should be, I liked the look of the frayed edges against the calico and I didn’t want to hide them on the back.

Abandoning the idea of having a 2 sided piece made all the decisions I'd been procrastinating about much easier. It is now mounted on what Wensleydale described as an unquilted quilt, using the calico and some of the felt that wouldn’t dye [I knew I’d find a use for it]. It’s just tacked together at the moment but I shall spend a quiet evening backstitching round the edges.

And hanging it is easier if the back doesn’t have to be visible. As I reached for the spray starch for the calico, my eye fell on the perfect thing for the hanger. Yes. it is what you think it is. I keep them in a bucket on the windowsill behind the starch. [A small, decorative child's bucket.]

Tomorrow I shall make a hanging cord and then I think it will be finished. Apart from writing up my self assessment of course. I lost marks on the Drawing Studies module because I didn’t write enough [must be the first time ever] so I regard that as permission to go over the top.

And then I've go to do some genealogical research for Mrs Cheddar [I haven’t forgotten!]

Another thing I haven’t forgotten is Babybel’s mum’s triumph in the BUP 10K. She knocked 10 minutes off her personal best! As someone who couldn’t walk 10K, never mind run it in well under an hour, I am full of admiration.

I know where Babybel gets her determination from.

Here she is getting ready to cheer her mum in – and practicing running, so she can join in next time <g>.

Progress has been made …

on several fronts.

The piece of green felt has acquired some running stitch – and I have some ideas about making it stand up for itself.

 

After an impromptu tutorial on Wednesday I have made a few changes to the 2D piece. Much as I liked the caterpillar emerging from a strawberry, it was just too eye catching, and sadly the lovely blue fabric from Babybel’s dungarees that her mum sent wasn’t eye catching enough. I managed to find an alternative piece of the Hungry Caterpillar fabric so he is now emerging from a plum. The orange is from Babybel’s mum’s first bit of knitting for about 20 years, which I fused to some felt with the embellisher so it won’t run. The pin is temporary, to be replaced by some stitch while listening to ‘Lewis’ tonight.

 

This was inspired by an off the cuff remark by someone on Wednesday.  I have made a couple of knitted bowls before, but I wanted to know if I could knit a bottle.

I could. Whether I should is, of course, an entirely different matter.

The trouble is that now I have all sorts of ideas for knitted bottles whizzing round my head.

 

It’s the result of my admiration for the work of Tamsin Van Essen. [Don’t look at the ‘Contamination’ section unless you have a strong stomach.]

The mermaid’s purse is on the back burner for now – 4 things on the go at once is a bit much, don’t you think? [Of course I’m not counting the everyday sketchbook, the vessels sketchbook, and the 2D sketchbook, all of which need some work …]

Nothing will be done tomorrow as we have an appointment here.

No, we’re not running [although I did suggest Wenselydale tried it now he’s so proficient on his crutches] but Babybel’s mummy is, so we are going up to help Babybel cheer her on. Go L!  Personal best we hope!

Having to eat my words.

In the past I have bored many people by saying that I don’t like hand made felt – or rather, that I don’t like my own, although I sometimes like other people’s.

Well, yesterday in college I made two pieces which I like.

This one

 

 

and this one – although I suspect it is one of those things which only its mother could love. It isn’t quite what we were meant to be making –but

1] I need my ears syringing again and

2] I wasn’t really paying attention to what the tutor said

so I ended up with this. The ‘tail’ reminded me of the things you find on the beach we used to call ‘mermaid's purses’ [cuttlefish egg cases?] so with a bit of stitch, some beads, a lining and a handle, that’s what it will be.

The green piece is also destined to become a vessel, because yesterday was the first official session of a new module - ‘3D Form and Structure’. My heart leapt when I read the first assessment criterion - ‘Demonstrate knowledge by producing a wide range of experimental pieces’ – hey, that means making lots of samples :>).  Then I discovered, on another page, the weasel words ‘fully resolved pieces’ - hey, it means producing lots of thought through, finished pieces :>( .

Fortunately they don’t have to be felt - although I really enjoyed this felting session – and I never thought I’d say that – it is time consuming and hard on the arms. We have other sessions on different ways of making things stand up <g> and I think the pieces we made with Kim Thittichai also count.

After all that excitement yesterday, today I went back to the gym for the first time since the chest infection from hell. The good news is that I’ve only put back one kilo of the four I lost – the bad news is that it was haaaard work at the gym – and all I can say is ‘aaargh’.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last few posts – apart from the person who commented in Chinese – again. It’s probably all done by machine but if you are reading this, you are wasting your time commenting in a language I can’t read.

Home again, home again…

Of course, after two cold weeks in the countryside, when a bit of warmth would have been welcome – the day we left was one of the hottest of the year. We went to Crosby first, to see Another Place – and, as it was a Saturday, half the population of Lancashire was also heading for the coast. Still, we got there, found somewhere to park with a view of the sea, I took some photos [good] did some drawings [bad], resisted the temptation to have an ice-cream – and still got to Liverpool in time to check in to the hotel and take a tour bus round the city – one of our naff pleasures in cities we don’t know.

Of course Sunday was even hotter – but although we had tickets booked for the Picasso exhibition, there was time to take a leisurely stroll along the riverside and take photos of people [for the life drawing session I missed ] and reflections [because they were amazing].

The Picasso exhibition was also amazing. Almost all the work was new to me – even the paintings after Delacroix, Velasquez and Manet, although we’d seen some of the series at the National Gallery last summer. [I think this reflects Picasso’s prolific work rate as much as my ignorance – at least, I like to think so!]

The exhibition and the accompanying book set the work in it's political contest, which was particularly interesting, especially as we could remember some of the events. And of course, as usual, I was blown away by his drawing – to the extent that I bought a [children’s] book on how to draw like Picasso …

Having located the Walker Art Gallery on our bus ride, after lunch we visited an exhibition there, which I’d read about somewhere – ‘The Rise of Women Artists’. I swore to Wensleydale that until we arrived I didn’t know it included embroidery – and it was true, because I hadn’t read the details on the web page properly [not for the first time ...]

This exhibition was as good, in a different way, as the Picasso.  This flickr set gives you a flavour, although unfortunately the art is unattributed, and there was no catalogue and relatively few postcards. Well worth a visit – and the cafe is OK although the woman serving wasn’t.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the energy to tackle the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition as well. I think you could spend an entire day at the Walker, there is so much to see.

Good to be home after all that culture – and back to college tomorrow to try to catch up on what I’ve missed …

To boldly go …

where no Cheese has been before – i.e. Halifax.

I can never think of Halifax without thinking ‘Hell, Hull and Halifax’. A quick Google reveals that I only know part of it – and that had I Googled before we went I would have looked harder at the exhibit about the Halifax gibbet.

We went to the Bankfield Museum – which is great for textile enthusiasts, having a textile gallery, a costume gallery, and currently, an exhibition of embroidery, patchwork, bead work and weaving by a group whose name escapes me and isn’t mentioned on the museum’s website.

The exhibit about the gibbet was in a room set up to look like a storeroom, full of an eclectic mixture of things which delighted Wensleydale. My friend A. from college would have hated it as we went round saying ‘We used to have one of those’.

We also liked the ‘mini museums’ set up by local school children – also full of things we used to have. The ‘history of music’ -from the 50s to the Spice Girls – was great fun.

No tea shop, unfortunately, but a small but good shop – I bought Surjeet Husain’s books on Phulkari and Shisha, as I already have her one on Kantha and find it useful. I also bought a lot of postcards – several Sue Lawty ones and one of a piece by Michael Brennand Wood [5th and 6th images] which I found very inspirational.

We start off home tomorrow, via Liverpool – again – this time to revisit Another Place and to see the Picasso exhibition at Tate Liverpool. And that, I think, will be enough culture for this month …

Somewhere old, somewhere new.

Wensleydale decided yesterday that it was time for his annual pilgrimage to the Bronte Parsonage Museum. On the way there we made our first  visit to East Riddlesden Hall, as it was roughly in the same direction, and has a tea shop [unlike the Bronte museum – it’s only drawback, I feel].

The Hall is beautiful – like Gawthorpe, it comes as a complete surprise when you turn into the drive and the urban development surrounding it disappears. Somehow the smoke stained stonework adds to the atmosphere, and of course it is part of the history of the house. One wing was partially demolished in the early 20thC  - perhaps it was the Bronte connection that made me immediately think of Thornfield hall.

Like Gawthorpe, Riddlesden has embroideries – probably the best collection of 17th century embroidery I've seen outside the V&A or the Burrell. There are also some !9thC samplers [not really my cup of tea, but these are slightly different to the usual] a bit of 20thC blackwork, and some 19thC embroidery which according the the very chatty room steward, is Persian. It was worked [in wool?] on narrow strips of hand woven cloth and then joined to make bed curtains and covers. Add beautiful gardens and a good tea shop [although they were out of Wensleydale for the Yorkshire ploughman's lunch and we had to have Cheddar instead] – and it was well worth a visit.

The journey on to Haworth was a bit traumatic, as there was a poorly signposted diversion, and the inhabitants of Bingley seem to think that the usual rules about giving way to traffic on roundabouts don’t apply to them. After it happened on the third roundabout in succession I began to get a bit neurotic, and even W. lost his cool …

Fortunately the Parsonage was quite quiet. Having seen Bronte at the Watermill before we came up here, I kept visualising the actors, especially Mr Bronte and Branwell, although neither actor really looked anything like the originals!

After all that excitement we are having a quiet morning, and after I've posted this I will get on with the 2d piece. Since I took these photos the wavy cream lines have been completed and I’m adding some dark blue ones. I'm not sure about the very hungry caterpillar – I think it’s a bit bright, although the symbolism [new life] is right for the youngest member of the family. It is a left-over from the quilt I made for Babybel, and a substitute for the fabric from her mum and dad that never arrived, although I’m hoping that when we get back home  it will have done.

After the cheese, the ale …

As we’d had a cheese experience earlier in the week, we decided we needed some beer to go with it – so we paid a visit to the Black Sheep Brewery at Masham – which I now know isn’t pronounced the way you think …

It was much more enjoyable than the cheese experience, even though a drop didn’t pass my lips till just now [Black Sheep Ale, very drinkable]. A brewery visit costs more than the cheese experience, but you get an hour’s guided tour, and lots of information about brewing, although I think it would be a good idea to go earlier in the week, as Friday seems to be cleaning up day.

The beer chutney is good too – can’t speak for the Christmas pudding, I’ll get back to you on that in about 7 months time.

We followed that with an unplanned visit to Jervaux Abbey, because we’d noticed it on the map. If you like romantic ruins and flowers, it’s perfect, even on a drab, cold day. I took rather a lot of photographs of walls, [and assorted holes in walls], doorways, windows, and skies.

And there’s a teashop too – where they serve the magical combination of fruitcake and Wensleydale cheese. No, I'm not joking – try it and see. Wensleydale goes particularly well with Christmas cake, especially the version with ginger in it.

When not eating cheese or drinking ale, I have been getting on with this – my 2D piece. I’ve just about finished all the circles, bar a couple I am not sure about – tomorrow I hope to begin the lines which will run down the piece – or across it, in this photo.