Little things mean a lot

It's probably an insignificant event in the grand scheme of things but my new floor is making me very happy today!

With the room empty it feels like a dancefloor! Maybe I should leave it like this and just have parties in there?

Deciding I'd better be more practical I've started to move my art books back in. The room isn't big enough to house my sewing books as well, they have to be kept in the house. It may not be an original idea but I thought I'd amuse myself by arranging the books by the colour of their spines. Who'd have thought I'd have quite so many blue books?

Or that there would be so many black ones? I used to work in libraries when I was younger. Dewey decimal was never this much fun although I expect you could find what you're looking for more often.

I found another whole box of painting panels - have to start on these as soon as I find the paints again.

The only good thing about being barred from the studio for a day or two is that I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Yesterday's bread used Matthews' Cotswold 8 grain flour and turned out remarkably well. I'll be using that again!

Back to the coalface now - talk to you again once I emerge from the heaps of stuff. Love Linda

Oh the joys of renovations

If you've read our newsletter today you'll already know that Laura and I are both living in a state of chaos at the moment. Her situation is far worse than mine as it involves considerable changes to her whole property. At the moment there is a trench around her house that makes it hazardous to attempt entry and the cats are learning to be quite acrobatic. You're never quite sure if there'll be water or electricity when you visit but she's a stoic under pressure. I on the other hand am merely having a new floor in my workroom. How hard can that be?

Well, it took the best part of 2 days to empty everything out. The garage is full to bursting so the overflow has had to go into the conservatory and guest bedroom.

This is a small example of the heaps. It's hard to believe that all this stuff ever fitted into that small room. I've always thought students' excuses for lack of work when they've packed up to move house sounded a bit lame but I had to be more sympathetic yesterday when I could find a sketchbook but had no idea where to lay my hands on a pencil.

There is a positive side to the temporary upheaval of course - I have discovered lots of things I didn't remember I had! Just look at all those painting panels - I need to get the paints out asap! Laura tells me I should have a serious cull on what finds its way back in but you know how it is - as soon as you throw something out it's bound to become exactly what you need.

This isn't a pretty sight right now but the preparation is underway and I'm promised it will all look beautiful by the end of the day. I do love a good move around and I've had sleepless nights planning where everything will go. I'm really looking forward to getting my easel out and my machines set up again!!

I'll let you see the transformation once we've hauled all my bits and pieces back in.

Thanks for reading - Love Linda

More on the Powerquilter and altered book

 I thought you might like to see a typical page of the book I'm altering before I start on it.

And then see what it looks like with a layer of gesso to edit out the bits I don't want.

As you can see, I've eliminated several images and all of the text. I thought the page would be too busy if I let the rhododendrons remain so, pretty as they were, they had to go too. I have to make enough space for my own drawings.

I've used the Liquitex heavy body gesso with a hog brush and notice how I've painted out the descriptive label even though it divides the image of the stem - I'll draw or paint that back in later.

You couldn't see it from the first photos but this cute little flower was down in the right hand corner of the page and I couldn't resist leaving it too.

Now of course there's no time to stand around watching paint dry is there? Luckily I have a quilt to work on! So, while the book sits in the lovely September sunshine that's streaming through the studio windows, it's back to the Powerquilter. I'm learning a lot about this machine now I've had more time to play on it. There's a clever device that lets you set your preferred speeds for different styles of quilting. You can select any of the 3 presets at the touch of the screen, so if you need a slow speed for close detail or a fast speed for more expansive stitching it's an instant choice. Another great feature is that it remembers your speed and needle up/down position when you come back to a project after switching the machine off.

I've wound a few bobbins now. I've never had a separate machine for bobbin winding but this is very straightforward to use and makes short work of the double sized bobbins. I'm using Madeira Cotona 50 in turquoise to fill in the sky area with curvy shapes and working closer angular lines between the feather-like swirls. I'll let you see the whole quilt when I've made more progress.

I'm always amazed at how many people take the time to read my blog - according to the today's stats I'm approaching half a million visits since I started. Wow, wow, wow! Thank you all for being so interested and so loyal.
Love Linda

Still excited!

I've been in the studio all morning and it's great to see progress being made with my latest quilt. People have asked me what I think of the new Pfaff machine and why I think anyone would need to buy one if they already have a reliable sewing machine for free motion quilting. There are several reasons I like it so much. I'm loving how the big table supports the weight of the quilt and lets me keep everything smooth and flat around the needle as I sew. It makes the visible area of the quilt much larger than it would be with a normal domestic machine, even one with a sizeable table extension. Being able to see a lot of the quilt helps when you are quilting without having marked a design on the fabric because you can see exactly where you're going. The huge throat means you can fold or roll the top of the quilt as you work in the centre or lower section and yet still have the immediate area nice and flat.

I certainly wouldn't recommend sampling on a 'proper' quilt, a scrap sandwich of the same materials is much better for that, but I got carried away on the Powerquilter this morning and you know how it is when the devil drives! I was impatient and couldn't resist putting some of my Madeira threads through their paces. I tried out different types - tanne, rayon, polyester, cotona 30 and 50 weights and a variegated cotona 50 too. They all behaved beautifully so I'm happy I'll be able to carry on doing what I always like to do - mix it up! The bobbin is twice the size of most machines so it lasts for ages, even if you stitch as densely as I do. There's a separate winding machine for the bobbins but I've yet to use it because I've been working with the full bobbin that arrived with the quilting machine - I'll report back on that at a later date when I've tried it.

I've still got lots of background quilting to do but I'm beginning to draw in the details of the crow face and feathers using the stitched line like a pen to follow the shapes in the print or to invent them where they don't exist. I'm using a Madeira rayon thread in mid grey. I think it's a softer effect than black and shows up well against the colour of the bird. Rayon is lustrous and catches the light so it makes a lovely contrast with the cotton threads I'm using in the background. I know the Powerquilter is capable of very fast sewing speeds but I haven't been brave enough to venture beyond 35% yet. Laura will probably laugh out loud when she hears that!

This is a very short post today because as soon as I've had a bite to eat I'm going back to my quilting. I'm having a very satisfying day - hope you are too!

Love Linda

Out of the box

You probably wouldn't believe how restrained I can be. I'm one of those annoying people who always reads the manual - every single word of it. Not sure where that comes from, certainly not my mother! So, once the machine was out of its box and onto its sturdy table I resisted the impulse to switch it on right away. Patience and restraint are not characteristics Laura has inherited and I know she would have made a quilt by now but I prefer to take my time when I get to play with a new toy.

Next morning I had a few minutes on a practice piece and then moved onto the latest crow quilt. It's a good feeling to finally get this digital print of one of my gouache and Indian ink paintings under the needle. It's been sitting around waiting far too long. I need to get a move on and finish it before Laura arrives. We have promised not to argue over who's turn it is next!

At the moment the machine is not in its intended place. I'm having new flooring in my room soon and since everything will have to be cleared out for a couple of days I haven't bothered to plan properly yet. With luck I should have this quilt finished before I have to empty the room. With all the stuff I've accumulated over the years that's not a task I'm looking forward to but I guess I'll enjoy putting it all back after the refurb!

 It's a miracle there's any time for quilting when the tomato crop is now at its height. We're loving them fresh every day but the surplus has to be roasted and sieved for freezing. It's a tedious job but we'll be glad of the sauce all through the winter months.

The tomatillos have excelled again this year too. This heap are halved ready for the grill.

And these are part cooked. Once they begin to char they're cooled and then blitzed in a processor with loads of chillis, a little lime juice and a big bunch of coriander. With the addition of fresh oregano it makes a wonderful cooking sauce for slow cooked pork.

Sunday is usually my day in the kitchen. I've made 4 loaves of bread, a huge vat of roasted tomato sauce, many portions of tomatillo chilli verde so, domestic chores taken care of it's back to the quilt!

Talk to you again soon - Linda x

I'm so excited!

Can't tell you how excited I am by this cardboard box!

It just arrived today and I can't wait to get it out and start quilting! I'll let you see what I'm working on as soon as it's all assembled.

Linda xx

There's sometimes beauty in destruction

The bright green caterpillars that have made such a meal out of this obviously loved the plant as much as I do.

In the face of such destruction I couldn't help but think it might inspire a little embroidery worked on water soluble stabiliser. (If you've watched this week's DMTV video you'll know exactly what I mean!).

The poor thing is still producing beautiful trumpet flowers but it smacks of desperation!

The saddest thing of all is it should by rights look like the one we saw when we took Amelie to Dudley Zoo. It was in a tropical house and had monkeys climbing through its branches - don't think we can run to that but we'll try to be more attentive to it in the future.

Leaves have been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe because the first signs of autumn are in the air and plenty have already started to fall. Although I don't welcome the approach of winter I do love the colours beginning to appear in the trees right now. I painted this from a leaf I picked up in Laura's garden a couple of days ago. It's a mixed media study in my altered book but because we've had so many requests for more information, the techniques I've used will also feature in next week's DMTV show.

Yesterday was very busy - we recorded a video first thing in the morning before we had our annual verification visit from City & Guilds. It will be our last official visit now that we have decided not to offer C&G courses again. We have decidedly mixed feelings about the changes this will bring but I can't help but confess to a huge sense of relief that there'll be less time spent on all the paperwork and filing! More time for sewing and painting - yippee!

Talk to you again very soon - Love Linda