Waiting for the phone to ring is so hard so the DH and I had a day out. I had read an article in my quilting magazine about an exhibition of work by Sabi Westoby which was in the Old Court House Gallery in Thirsk. The exhibition space was a little cramped as it is just part of the shop with many other artists work on display, but as most of the works were two dimensional, they were ideally suited to being hung around the walls. Although Sabi has made quilts in the past, some of which are quite traditional, she is a member of the Contemporary Quilt Group and describes herself as a mixed media artist. The works on display were mostly collages using paper, fabric and stitch and were very interesting. As I was not able to afford to buy my favourite piece, I had to be content with a set of postcards, but these will make an excellent source of inspiration. Sabi had also made some machine embroidered bowls using soluble fabric and I liked these very much. They were light and airy, but also colourful.

The exhibition continues until the 24th March and is well worth a visit. I can also recommend the carrot cake!

So back home for the afternoon to carry on with the Goodbye to the Grid quilt. I am making progress, but it is taking a while to get the pieces sewn together. Some of the pieces are such odd shapes that it is hard to decide whether to try to piece them or just bite the bullet and applique them. I think they look better if they are pieced so the seam ripper came in quite useful. Here is a photo to show how far I've got!

Unfortunately, the purple has come out on the blue side, but it does at least give a flavour. At the moment it is pinned to the original background sketch which is held on the wall by bluetack. It caused quite a stir when it fell off the wall in the middle of the night, but no harm was done and we survived.

The hard bit for me is to choose which fabric goes where and then stick to the choice. I wait a while before sewing them down, but at some point  a decision has to be made and even if I think that a different fabric would have been better I'm learning to get it done rather than keep changing it around.

One thing I have learned is that I don't have enough hand dyed fabric to make a full sized piece, and the dyeing I've done to date has been fun, but hasn't produced a range of tints, tones and values that will allow me to make a coordinated piece. So I have booked a three day workshop at the Festival of Quilts with Jo Lovelock Entitled Colour, Texture and Value, Creating Unique Cloth for Quiltmaking. I hadn't intended to book this course, but I realised that in order to make the sort of quilt I have in mind, I need to plan in advance so that I have the fabric ready to hand before I start.

As we aren't planning a holiday this year, and don't know where we'll be living, I decided to go for it rather than put things on hold while we wait for a buyer to come along and buy our house!

All this thought and planning ahead, sketching, designing etc, not really me at all. Am I possibly turning into a textile artist? No,  just playing with my toys!