Painting today

My younger daughter is very inventive when it comes to giving presents. For my birthday last month a small package arrived by post. "I know you're busy", she said "but it's only small and I'm sure you can do it"!

Inside was a 4inch box canvas and a set of official rules for the Pen Pal painting exchange. The deadline seemed ages away so of course the canvas got filed under a pile of more urgent business. Yesterday she emailed to remind me that I have to get the finished painting date marked no later than the 30th of the month.

This afternoon I painted this little sparrow in acrylics. They are a common sight in our garden although I understand their numbers are declining in Britain.

A four inch canvas isn't very big - even for a tiny sparrow! So, I wrapped his tail and the branch he's perching on around the sides of the box. I only need to add a second coat of metallic gold to the background and he can fly off the America. The idea of the pen pal exchange is that everyone taking part is paired with a like minded individual - I shall await with anticipation to see the painting I get in return!

I am very lucky with my relatives! They take time to find unusual gifts and treasures they know I'll appreciate. One of my brothers-in-law sent these lovely old shuttles to me this week. They've seen a lot of hard use but are no less desirable for that! Oh dear, ours will never be a minimalist house!

Talk to you again soon - Linda

In the garden and thinking ahead

I love this time of year when I can wander up the garden path to see what to have for dinner tonight.

Not so good though if you don't like your greens - this is just today's pick! You'd think I was feeding a tribe rather than just the two of us wouldn't you?

Of course we have food of other hues too! Looks like ratatouille is destined for the menu as soon as the aubergines cooperate.

Last year we really enjoyed the tomatillos so he who gardens has grown them again. They may look like Christmas decorations but they taste wonderful with chilli and coriander in a salsa.

You may have spotted (behind the pots of tomatillos) the less than lovely tunnels we grow all our vegetables under. The lace-like cabbage above shows why they are necessary. It's one thing attracting masses of beautiful butterflies to the garden but not so great when their caterpillars munch their way through your veg! This victim of the munchers was a spare left out in a pot. Looks like the bait worked!

I am doing some work as well as living off the land! Thr3fold have had a bit of a sabbatical of late but we have an exhibition on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia next spring so I've started work in my sketchbook. The title of the exhibition is Unfinished Business. It refers to the work we produced for the five thr3fold journals we wrote where all of us loved the pieces we did but sometimes felt we didn't always have time to do as much as we'd have liked on a particular theme. This will be our opportunity to revisit favourite inspirations to make new work. I'm starting by drawing treasured objects I've collected over the years.

My collection of old medicine bottles and inkwells have very little monetary value but I love them. I've found them at antique auctions, flea markets or, believe it or not, dug them up in the garden. When our house was built in the early 1700's there weren't such things as refuse collections and much of the rubbish was simply buried. We regularly unearth all kinds of broken china and now and again we find perfectly intact bottles too. We even discovered a silver thimble one time - now that was a real treasure! There it is in the photo below sitting next to a lovely mustard spoon and a fragment of blue and white china.

The thimble was full of earth and covered in verdigris but it cleaned up a treat. What made me quite emotional was the hole in the side showing how well used it had been! Both the favourite objects and the printer's tray they sit in will provide inspiration for a quilt or two. I'll keep you posted with my progress.

Thanks for dropping by - talk again soon - Linda

Festival of Quilts and back home again

Festival of Quilts has come and gone again for another year. We spend weeks getting ready and suddenly it's all over in the blink of an eye!

We were kept really busy on our stand - here I am with Laura - we're both chatting twenty to the dozen as usual. It was so great to meet up with people we usually only talk to by email from all over the world. You can just see a corner of Amelie's high chair in the background - Granddad seems to be  taking care of her.

She came every day and managed to charm everyone she met. My thanks to Linda Seward for this picture.

There were many exciting exhibits at the show. To get a flavour of the Through our Hands gallery that both of us were part of you might like to check out Laura's blog posts from the last few days.

It's hard to choose favourites from all that was on offer but one of the exhibits I loved was the Banjara work curated by Jan Petranek

I took this photo of the deserted gallery before the show opened and the rest of the photos were taken through the glass of the display cabinets so I'm sorry about the glare of the reflections!

Basic patchwork, usually worked in red and blue, is transformed with closely worked simple stitching to create beautiful patterns. I have collected a few of these traditional cloths myself over the years and will be having a go at my own version for DMTV very soon. If you liked the recent Kantha inspired project I think you'll enjoy this too. Get your cowrie shells ready!!

This detail of a rather distressed quilt was wonderful. It's not typical Banjara technique but no less lovely. The layers of cloth have worn away to reveal underlying colours. I can't believe how contemporary it looks. The worn layers look just like our textured and painted surfaces!

Yesterday was taken up with unpacking boxes and stock taking but today we're back at our desks and spending time with our online students. One of our recent Creative Sketchbook graduates has generously allowed me to share some of her pages with you. Thank you Pat!

Gorgeous observations of favourite objects!

And Sue, a subscriber to DMTV has generously sent me images of her wonderful rusted fabrics.

She's used them to create this intriguing polygon pages book. Thanks Sue - I'm pleased you were inspired by our videos.

I've spent a few essential hours in my studio today. It looked like a bomb had exploded in there. That's what happens when you get back from a show - everything is just thrown into the room as the van is unloaded. After 4 days at Festival we're all so exhausted we're satisfied if we can just empty the van and actually shut the door of the workroom before we creep off to bed. I must admit it was satisfying to have a reason to have a tidy up this morning and I've made the most of it by having a bit of a move around. Surprising what treasures turn up when you have a purge!

Thanks for reading this - I appreciate your company! Linda

Sunday School at Trysull

It was a real family affair at the Village Hall on Sunday. Laura welcomed 12 ladies to a workshop involving lots of painting, rubbings, prints and collage. At the other end of the room Jamie was on hand to explain to visitors what the printing process on the wide format printer is all about and Adrian manned the sales table for everyone who came to the pop-up shop.  Behind the scenes in the kitchen my mom and I kept everyone fed and watered with home made cakes and cookies and a salad lunch with lots of our own garden produce. We all took turns to keep Amelie entertained but I think she'd much rather have been let loose with the print blocks and the paints! Must confess I would have loved that too!

The aim of the day was for everyone to produce original artwork that Laura would scan and Jamie would print onto cotton fabric. There were some very exciting results and I really hope we get to see how the fabrics will be used!

I've borrowed these 2 images from Laura's blog but you can see lots more of the work if you head over there.

During our heatwave I've virtually lived in my cotton jersey T shirt dresses. As I've had so many people ask me what pattern I used I've put it here. It's Vogue number V1261 Trouble is I rarely follow a pattern exactly so you'll need a little imagination to understand how I arrived at this blue number from the line drawing of version 'A' below.

It was easy really - just shorten the sleeve length, taper the side seams, lose the pointy hem, increase the length and there you have it. I think the only bit that's true to the pattern is the raglan sleeve! The construction is a cinch, especially if you have an overlocker to make quick work of it. The sleeve pieces are joined to the front and back pieces first and then a single seam is stitched from wrist (or elbow depending on sleeve length) to hem. I bound the neck with a strip of the same fabric but didn't bother with turning hems - just left them overlocked. I'm almost out of jersey fabric right now but as soon as stocks are replenished I'll be making more of these. No fastenings involved, no ironing required and feels as comfortable as wearing a nightie!!

I know, I know, there always seems to be food mentioned in my posts but I don't apologise for showing you the raspberries fresh from the garden. I'm picking a couple of pounds of these every evening and there is a limit to what even I can eat. There will be enough jam for the rest of the year but if anyone has favourite recipes to ring the changes I'd love to hear about them.

The cherries have been just as plentiful but I can only reach the lower branches of our ancient trees so the birds and the squirrels have won that battle.

 What I did pick were eaten fresh or ended up in Clafoutis.

So many of you have written to say you've enjoyed the latest garden inspired videos we've made for DMTV. Thank you so much for all the generous comments about my sketchbook. It means a lot to me to hear that you've been inspired to have a go at drawing and painting after seeing my efforts. I believe we are very lucky people - we can get pleasure and satisfaction from the simple things in life. We don't have to take expensive trips abroad or acquire lavish possessions - we can just sit quietly with a little sketchbook and a pencil and lose ourselves for an hour or two. I don't suppose I'm on my own when I say it brings on a sense of well being. I haven't painted this gloriously velvety sunflower yet but it's on my list!

Thank you for dropping by - talk again soon - Linda

Exhibition, heatwave, what's next?

If I don't blog for a week it usually means I'm really busy rather than I have nothing to talk about. This last week has been hectic and made worse by the exceptional temperatures we've had. Normally I can take the heat, enjoy it even, but if quilts need to be quilted and videos recorded, when the workroom is a hothouse despite the efforts of the electric fan, it's not so easy.

I choose to quilt this cushion fabric by hand so I could sit in a shady spot in the garden to get it ready for DMTV and then onto our stand at Festival. It's a good excuse to sit and enjoy the garden without feeling guilty.

The latest crow quilt needed its text added now all the quilting is finished. In the cool of the evening or first thing in the morning was the best time for a little stereo stitching! This involves setting the embroidery machine up to do its thing while I keep an eye open for when the thread colour needs changing or the hoop moved. Magic! While it's whizzing away I sit alongside at another machine frantically free motion quilting.

I can't tell you how I love to hear two machines working at the same time!! I've contoured the spoon and fork on the right with turquoise and in-filled between the spoons on the left with angular patterns in orange. This is one of a pair of cushions I'm making for Laura's Fingerprint pop up shop next Sunday.

Our SiX and Friends exhibition opened earlier this month and it was lovely to travel to Llanidloes at the weekend for the Meet The Artists' event. As you can see from the picture above, The Rivals did get finished in time! This is the only photograph of it I have as the three pieces are far too big for my walls at home! The organisers looked after us really well and we were all grateful for the delicious lunch after a long hot drive. There's new work from every artist so even though the exhibit has travelled to previous venues there are new pieces to see. The exhibition runs all through the summer so I do hope lots of people will make time to visit this beautiful gallery in a lovely part of the world.

Annabel's quilts looked stunning. They have a calm monumentalism about them which is hard to describe until you see them 'in the flesh'. No pun intended! I can't wait to see more of her quilts in the Through Our Hands gallery at Festival of Quilts in a couple of weeks.

Hilary did a great job demonstrating some of her favourite techniques.

While the rest of us just did what we do best - talk! Laura has put a few photos on the SiX and Friends blog so head over there if you'd like to see more of the exhibition and links to all the group members' own websites and blogs.

Thanks for visiting today - I'll be back with more soon. Bye for now - Linda

Smug Alert!!

I have to warn you that I'm feeling very self satisfied and pleased with myself! I know that's not an admirable trait but I can't help it! Firstly, I've had a birthday this week and was treated to a lovely day out. I was taken to Ludlow for a little retail therapy - more of that later. The farmers' market was on and we were able to watch butter being churned as well as taste many delicious local products. The bread was irresistible even though I'm hard to please because I make all my own bread.

We bought the red onion, rosemary and rock salt loaf - fabulous with the Welsh goats cheese we also couldn't resist! Ludlow is well known as a foodie destination and we could easily have eaten everything  on offer. Thank goodness I don't live there or I'd soon be as big as a house.

There was great music to enjoy in the square in front of the castle walls.

As well as traditional circle dancing. The music was compelling and I was desperate to join in but I suppose it helps if you know the steps!

There was also basket making.

After Ludlow we went on to Stockton Bury Gardens.

Where everything was looking lovely despite the heat.

I can never resist a doorway or an arch and this garden has lots of both.

We had lunch in the sunshine at the Granary restaurant surrounded by shady apple orchards with grazing sheep.

The lovely old farm buildings provide the perfect setting for all the planting.

And even the bird house is thatched with a twiddly lead finial on top!

I'd be hard pressed to choose but I think the dovecote is in one of the loveliest parts of the garden.

The main reason for the trip to Ludlow was that one of my favourite dress shops is there. The plan was to have a birthday treat. Amazingly there was nothing in Oska that appealed to me on the day even though the summer sale was on!!  The only top I liked was too small and would have necessitated surgery so I came home determined to make a couple of things myself. So today I started with the stripy number above.

Then a long T shirt dress just needing its pockets to be finished.

And finally a spotty dress to wear with leggings - the third garment of the day! Oh I do love my overlocker for making everything so quick and easy!! Before you ask, it's a Huskylock s21.

So, three new outfits in the space of a day for a fraction of what I'd have spent at Oska - can't be bad. Now you know why I'm feeling smug!!

Thanks for dropping by - I'll write again soon. Love Linda