There and back again

So, the great Hebridean trip is behind us. We've done our duty and visited the various  relatives in Cornwall. but we still can't settle! After a lovely a trip to the North West Contemporary Weekend Group on Sunday, I really thought I'd be rearing to go on Monday, but it was so hot that the DH and I collapsed in front of the tele and watched the tennis!

Still, I have not been entirely idle. Sandra made some lovely colour themed packs for the NWCWG and mine is a "sea" pack. Here it is!

There are 11 bits of fabric, thread etc and we have to use 6 of them in one item and the instruction is to play! I feel so guilty that I haven't really done any sewing recently, but as I'm off the CQ Summer School on Friday, I'll aim to get started then. I'm doing the Hand quilting course with Helen Parrott. Her work is very contemporary and I'm hoping to learn a lot from her.

While we were in Cornwall, we used one of our free days to visit St Ives. It was beautifully sunny, and as my DH has led such a virtuous life, there is always a parking space in the Island car park. Not today though, and neither was there any room in the car park over the Tate.  We should have parked at the park and ride, but couldn't face going all the way back so we drove down the coast road to Botallack and had lunch in the pub there. On the way we visited the Schoolhouse Gallery at Morvah . Their latest exhibition was really good. Paintings by Cath Ensor and textiles by Wendy Hermelin. All the work was related to the lovely scenery around this part of the Cornish coast, especially Cape Cornwall. Very inspiring!

On the cliffs we met a young man from Bradford who was just overwhelmed by the colour of the sea. As he said it's quite different from the brown stuff you get at Whitby! Exactly!

Here is what he meant!  Although the photo's a bit over exposed, it still looks lovely! I really can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to actually work in those mines!

And  here's a rather windblown Peneller digesting crab and prawn pasta rather nearer to the cliff edge than is truly within her comfort zone! Full report of Summer School next week!

Another day; another beach!

After almost a month away in the Outer Hebrides, getting back to the routine is proving somewhat problematic. For our week on North Uist, the sun shone, the wildlife (except the otters), performed, we discovered Salar smoked salmon and other seafood delights and we had a lovely relaxing time. For the two weeks on Harris and Great Berneray, the weather was not so kind and the wildlife not so prolific. They were probably all inside sheltering from the vicious wind! We tramped through a large number of bogs where we were assured that otters, red necked phalaropes and other rarities would be sure to be found, only to get very wet feet and to discover that they weren't! But, we did see lots of Gannets, Eider Ducks  and all sorts of little waders so we can't really complain. I have also collected yet more shells, driftwood, sand and dried seaweed to be used (or not) in my mixed media art projects and we have over 500 photos on three cameras to delight out friends and family! Here's a taster!

On the way home we discovered the lovely Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye where we stayed with Emma and Dave in their B&B at Barabhaig and although it rained, we managed to spend out last day exploring this lovely part of Skye.

The drive home was pretty scary due to gale force winds rain and sleet, but we made it and although our bodies have returned, our minds haven't! So we're just going to have to go again next year.

Now I must get down to getting some of my memories recorded in our journal and I hope to be able to get a quilt underway at last!

A walk in Wharfedale

As the sun was shining, and I was feeling more energetic, we decided to drive up to Grassington and have a walk in the woods and along the river. We didn't bother with jumpers or coats but we did take our cameras and our boots. It was just wonderful to be out in the countryside in the lovely warm sunshine.

After our walk, we drove to Appletreewick and had a sandwich at The Craven Arms, something we haven't done for a long time. The sun was a bit strong, but we sat outside and I don't seem to have suffered much sunburn.  Not a lot of quilting has been done, and I'm not sure whether any will be before we go on our holiday,but I'm enjoying the sunshine.     If anyone knows how to get the text to look right, please put me out of my misery! Off to make crab cakes for tea. Yum!                                                                                                                           

And another!

Last week was a busy one. There was Alwoodley Quilter's AGM on Tuesday,(will the committee heed our pleas for some inspirational workshops/speakers!).
Wednesday I had my first session of accupunture at the Jade centre with Louise. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was very impressed and returned home very relaxed and a bit less itchy!
Thursday Sandra, Chris and Val came round and we spent a very happy few hours talking about the process of designing from a source. Inspirational photos were very abundant as was the lovely food they had brought with them. My DH made us some of his excellent curried parsnip soup with cheesy croutons. Always a treat! After lunch we all set to with paper, scissors, coloured pencils and paint and had a throroughly happy hour or two before they departed.
I am enjoying these sessions with our little informal group, but ideally Sandra and I would like to set up a larger group and include members of the Contemporary Quilt group. This is a hot topic around the country at present with lots of local groups starting up and was raised at the Contemporary Quilt Group AGM in London which Sandra, Julie and I attended yesterday.

The meeting was held at the American Church in Tottenham Court Road and after the business was finished and we had had lunch and mingled a bit, Jo Budd gave us an inspiration talk about her work and how it has developed. It was wonderful to renew my aquaintance with friends I hadn't seen for a while and to meet new people. There was a lovely buzz around the room and some lovely work on display which gave us plenty to talk about.

Here are Sandra and Julie squinting against the bright sunshine waiting to go into the meeting. We were in the shadow of the GPO tower and I couldn't resist taking a snap. What memories this brought back!

Although the meeting itself was very enjoyable, the venue had it's problems. There were a lot of other activities going on and so there was some noise from outside. The room was also quite hot and stuffy which did detract a bit from the enjoyment of Jo's powerpoint presentation.

I don't think I will venture down the same path as Jo, but her work is stunning with some smaller pieces as well a some very large ones. I have to confess to not having been too impressed with her exhibits at the Quilt Exhibition at the V&A last year, but I think now that this may have been partly due to the fact that they were not very prominently displayed. In fact I think we almost walked past the side gallery where they were hung without realising they were there. Having heard Jo talk about them I would now like to see them again. I feel priviledged to have had the opportunity of seeing her work, hearing her talk about it and be able to admit that perhaps I was wrong about it!

Life has some hard lessons to teach us!

I was also priviledged to meet Helen Parrott especially since I was lucky enough to get a place on her workshop at the CQ summerschool.
All in all a truly grand day out and a good journey home as we found that more CQ friends were travelling in our compartment. I'm not sure what the other passengers thought of our conversation, but we enjoyed ourselves!

A grand day out

Although I've been a member of the Quilter's Guild for some time, apart from a few visits to the Museum in York, I haven't done much in the way of Guild activities. So, with some feelings of trepidation, I decided to go to our Regional Day on Saturday. I have admired Ineke Berlyn's work for some time and she was the speaker for the day and I didn't want to miss the opportunity of seeing her and hearing about her work.

The meeting was held in a church hall in Kirkheaton near Huddersfield which isn't a part of the country I know very well, but the directions were good and we found it with out difficulty. Parking was a bit iffy because there weren'y many spaces left and the overflow car park was a very muddy field that noone really wanted to venture into. So we bunched up and parked where we could!

Everyone was very friendly and there was a lovely buzz about the day. Ineke's talk was so inspiring and she is very generous and happy to talk about her work and share her methods. This lovely quilt is made with transparent fabrics printed with ammonites. Ineke also brought her sketch books and these were truly wonderful. She works in her sketch books a lot before deciding on a final design for her quilts. I must say that I don't do anywhere near enough work of this kind and so I've started to address that. It's a good way of using up all those old magazines, photos etc.

After lunch we set about hand stitching some little blocks that will form part of a group quilt next year. We had been asked to take some blue fabrics in dark and medium shades. Even with all my stash, I was a bit doubtful that my fabrics were suitable, but as usual, they were and I needn't have worried. In fact, everyone had taken lots more fabric than I had, so there would have been plenty to go round! I didn't get mine finished on the day, but here are some that were!

So, a truly grand day out and I came home with Lutradur, a new book and lovely memories!

Making it lie flat!

I seem to have become a Contemporary Quilter without knowing anything about how to sew pieces of fabric together so they lie flat! Having been a dress maker and embroiderer for longer than I care to remember, I thought it was time to start making quilts! Easy, or so I thought, but I have realised that in doing things the way I have done, I've missed out on learning how to get the basics right! It's not really a question of matching corners and points, although that would be nice, it's getting my seams organised so that there aren't lots of lumps and bumps where there shouldn't be.

 So here is my ninepatch block which is lying much flatter and below, the little sample that isn't!

I wouldn't have known how to go about this, had I not met a lovely traditional quilter on Saturday who was so generous as to share her tips and tricks with me. Now of course, I know how much I don't know, I'm thinking I will have to do something about brushing up my basic techniques before I can call myself any kind of quilter!  Just when I thought I was about to become a textile artist too! 

Our new group of Contemporary Quilters met for the first time over in Cadisham on Saturday. We have decided to call the group Textile without limits because we wanted our name to reflect our diversity of talents and didn't want to be seen as "just another quilting group". It was a lively meeting and not only did we all get on very well, we all seem to have similar objectives. This isn't going to be a group where we turn up, drink tea and chat. We already have a challenge to prepare  and are planning on spending time mark making and mono printing at the next meeting! It was a longish day, but very rewarding and I'm so glad I went.  Am I really going to spend a lot of time on patchwork for it's own sake? Somehow I doubt it!

Belated New Year Resolutions

So Christmas came and went and the colds and coughs seem to be going too. As we were not able to have our visit to Cornwall for Christmas as we had planned, we went last week and have only just got back. We had rather a lot of rain, but also three glorious days, one at the Lizard, one at St Ives and Cape Cornwall, and one in Bude for my sister's birthday. Our last afternoon was spent sitting looking at the sea. It was a very wet and windy day and the waves were large and crashy! Sometimes we do this when we have big decisions to make, or when we just want to take time out and let the rest of the world go by. So while sitting watching the sea, we were able to decide that we are not moving to Cornwall this year, that I am going to make more time for my weaving, we're going to get the garden sorted out, the garage reroofed and the drive blockpaved! I am also going to get more exercise so that I am ready for our holiday in the Outer Hebrides in May.

Last years CQ journal quilt challenge was completed, but only by the skin of my teeth, and I was only able to upload the photos on the day we actually drove to Cornwall! The photos are not brilliant because I dropped my camera and it seems to have resented it!
For some reason Blogger won't upload Decembers JQ, but here are September, October and November.

Do I really want all the hassle and pressure this year, or shall I concentrate on my weaving as I had promised I would?

My CQ newsletter arrived yesterday with details of the Summer School workshops and also the Journal Quilt Challenge for 2011. Having already decided not to sign up for the challenge, I found myself drawing out a 10 inch square (this year's size) on a piece of paper. That's as far as I got before the ideas started to arrive. But no, I am not doing it!!! I have a warp partly wound and I am determined to get it on the loom and finished before we go to Scotland! But there was a full moon last night, and other circular ideas keep trying to float to the top of the muddle in my head! Who knows where it will lead!

I decided I would apply to go to Summer School this year, so my form and cheque were posted this morning. No more decisions for now and it's back to the warping frame!