Ghost beds and the marks they've left behind.

I've added more stitch to the above which I showed in my previous post. For some reason, those marks made in the floor of the hospital waiting room are fascinating me. Obviously made by the metal legs on beds, (the waiting room was once a hospital ward), I've started to work on developing the marks for some future textile pieces.

I printed with some staples onto paper, but it is very similar to what I've already done.

Then I wondered about arranging the marks into blocks, in rows and on either side of the paper, to resemble how the beds were probably placed on the hospital ward. This is going to be an ongoing project I think, so I will post more about it as the ideas hopefully develop. I think some hand stitch as the darker autumn evenings unfold will be on the agenda!

Thanks for 'looking in'.

Retirement and fun...long may it last!

 

After 23 extremely happy years as a Learning Support Assistant at a local school, I finally retired at the end of term. I received so many lovely gifts and cards from staff and pupils, but I just had to put some photos on here of this wonderful 'Farewell Album' that was presented to me. It is full of photos from way back to the present day, little anecdotes, doodles, and farewell messages from both staff and pupils, and I have to admit to a huge lump in my throat when I first read it.

 

For obvious reasons, I've not been able to include most of what's inside, as there are lots of photos of the young people I have had the honour of working with, but the above selection should give a 'taster' of what it's all about. I have to say that the last photo, which is on the last page, and where just the white space is left where I've been cut away, really did finally move  me to tears. It really is something I shall treasure for the rest of my life.

 

 What to do with all those Happy Retirement cards? Well, I found the answer for the above album idea on a YouTube video by a mixed media art journaller who calls herself  Jennibellie. It's easy to make, and is a lovely way of keeping all those 'special' cards.

 

 

 

I've really been indulging myself by 'playing' with paper, paints and glue. Again, the inspiration has come from Miss Jennibellie

 

I have made two very small 'pocket books' with some of the paper, they would be good for holding tickets, or small cards to either give away, or insert into a larger art journal.

 

 

I'm hoping to go away for a few days with my two sisters, so I thought it would be a nice idea if we spent some of the evenings making pages for a holiday journal. Above is the cover for it, so all we have to do now is fill it!!

 

 

 And finally, I am still stitching.......even though the first part of this post may not look like it! The first photo shows something that I'm working on, and has been inspired by a rock I saw on the beach in June. Where the tide had receded, the sand around it had formed a channel, with some really interesting marks in the sand above that. I also sketched it, but I've decided to take a break from it, it seems too laboured and heavy, and I was becoming frustrated with it.

 

Below, are some marks that I noticed had been made in the floor of a hospital ward where over the years, beds had obviously been moved around. Probably metal legs. Not finished yet, and I'm not sure about this either, but hey, we have to experiment, and try new ideas, and of course have fun, and I'm certainly having lots of that at the moment.

 

Many thanks for 'looking in' once again, apologise for the layout being a bit erratic, Blogger playing up a again!

 

Whatever you're working on at the moment, ENJOY, and have fun!

 

Good to be back!!

After nearly four months, it's good to be back! I have still been busy with the cloth and stitch, but a new laptop has caused me a few headaches, and in between we spent a glorious four weeks with our daughter and grandson when they visited us from New Zealand.

These first few photos are of my challenge quilt for cqgb (Contemporary Quilt, a branch of The Quilters' Guild) The criteria has the theme as 'Horizons', this long narrow orientation,and the size 150cm x 50cm.

The orientation really vexed me to begin with, and then I found a photo I'd taken of Southwark Cathedrall while standing directly underneath and looking up. I decided that I liked the skyline and the perspective of this, so went ahead with the idea.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing, and having spent hours on the paper lamination that stretches from the top of the building to the bottom, I decided that the row of gargoyles across the bottom wall were wrong! (See previous post) The whole of the bottom section was cut off, and remade.....but what to put there? The original photo had a gargoyle, but I couldn't quite see how this would be relevant to the horizons theme.

Listening to a discussion on radio 4 about the Church of England, and some of the hurdles it is facing with regards female bishops and gay clergy, I had a sudden flash of inspiration! What is on the horizon for the Church as it tries to deal with these dilemmas?

Instead of a gargoyle, I made a paper lamination of a stone carved Bishop along the lower section, and painted a rainbow in the sky. Both symbolic for these issues that the Church is facing.

I used newsprint for the paper lamination as it gave me a good texture on the paper side up to paint and stitch into. The sky is calico that I have painted with watery acrylic paint, and then appliqued a paper laminated rainbow on top. It is all quite heavily free motion machine quilted, and also some machine embroidery.

As far as I know, it will be displayed at the FOQ's on some of the days this year. I haven't heard which day/days, but as I can't make it this year, it hasn't really worried me. What I do with it after that is the next question. It's not exactly something I would want hanging in my home, so any ideas gratefully received!

My four journal quilts from May to August are here too. Patterns from the Landscape is my chosen theme this year. Above is the first of four, and is a slightly stylized view of the beach at Goodwick at low tide, looking towards Dinas Head.

The second one above is similar to the first, but I have tried to simplify the abstracted shapes.

Version three is in black and white, with yet more simplification of the shapes, and below is number four. I made two identical versions of three, but chopped one of them up randomly and rearranged the shapes into a simple pattern on a black and grey background.

Well as I am now officially retired, hopefully I will be posting more regularly again. I have lots of plans, so keep dropping by and thanks for reading.

Horizons, and 'gone forever' faces!

The 'Horizons' challenge quilt for this years Contemporary Quilt exhibition really has given me a HUGE challenge!!!

These first four faces were going to be a part of my piece, painted onto the news print paper surface of some paper lamination.

However, I eventually decided that they weren't quite right, or rather, definitely not right for what I was doing so painted over them!!! So, they are now no more.

In the end, the lower part of my 50cm x 1.50cm quilt was all so wrong I ended up cutting it off. Lots of time and work had gone into it, but it had to be done. A learning curve, and I had enjoyed the processes, although I wish I hadn't painted over the above four faces. At least I still have the photos/

This final photo is a taster of just a small area of the quilt which is now almost finished. I'm still not sure what I feel about it, so will put it away for a couple of weeks to give my brain a visual rest. I've put quite a few hours of intense time and work into it, so  feel that I've built up some sort of immunity to it's impact. The words 'laboured' and 'heavy' come into my mind at the moment whenever I see it, which isn't good. The starting point was from a photo that I took a couple of years ago of Southwark Cathedral.

I will eventually show the whole finished article, but not until I've decided whether to enter it for the cqgb challenge. Watch this space later in the year.

I'm running late on my May journal quilt, so that is going to be my next project, plus a couple of pieces that I'm planning as gifts for my two sisters.

Happy stitching to anyone who has read this far, and thank you for 'looking in'.

Postcards

 

In chapter 5 of the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, she suggests that we send five postcards to friends or family. I decided it would be nice to send some that I'd made. 

 

 

 In my ufo box I found something that I'd spent quite a bit of time on, but couldn't decide what to do with! Nothing unusual there then!!

 

Anyway, I decided it was perfect for cutting up into 6"x4" pieces, mounting onto some pelmet vilene, and making into abstract cards.

 

They are really a mixture of hand and machine stitch, paper lamination, my own dyed and printed fabric, and paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is a different method, I have used a simple leaf print onto a black cotton background.

 

Over the weekend, I went for a walkonn our very brief, one day of spring, and took some photos. I've included the one above, because something about it reminds me of the first selection of postcards. I could almost say it was the inspiration for them, but it would be a big fib, as I constructed the cloth about 18 months ago!

 

 

Finally, my JQ for April. It will be the last on the theme of seedheads, and I've called this one De-frosted Seedheads. I sprayed, painted, and printed paint through stencils onto the calico background, and then painted on the seedheads with black gutta. I machine quilted around all of the seedheads, and then added the spiders web. I also ironed on some black bonding web to give a crackle effect.

 

I hope my postcards will be enjoyed by the friends I have sent them to, it felt good to do this, making a change from the quick text messages we seem to rely on these days!

 

Happy sewing, dyeing, or whatever other creative things you maybe doing this week.