Friday, July 11, 2008


Very very busy at the moment but had another 'high' yesterday. Remember the commission I got as a result of Oxfordshire Art Weeks? I really didn't know what Jane wanted, her tastes, etc, all I had was a colour scheme. So I produced five pieces for her to look at and - guess what - she wanted three of them!!



This was one (sorry about the flash), which I had been quite pleased with. My usual mixture of fabric and paper.


I was using Jane's curtains for the basis of the colour scheme - cream with turquoise, baby pink, orange and red. My tendency was to miss out the cream and go for the other colours but I was aware that perhaps she wanted something more 'airy' to reflect the curtains. However, not at all - she wanted 'wow' factor; something to catch the eye as you walk into the kitchen. This one on the right was the 'airy' one which I was pleased with - it was machine embroidered onto layers of clear plastic, doesn't show too well in the photo unfortunately.



I was also really thrilled to be invited to join a group exhibiting at the West Ox Arts group in spring 2010 (not 2009 as I originally thought). Seems quite a long way away at the moment, but I know it will come along quickly.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

What miserable weather! My son announced this morning that 'summer was boring'. I know what he means.

However, at least I don't have feelings of guilt when I'm in my workroom rather than gardening. I watched the Quilting Arts DVD again the other day and had a play at Beryl Taylor's 'fabric paper'. It went well and machines beautifully, so I made a small piece which I'm quite pleased with. Even my sister, who is not a fan of my type of art, thought it was 'quite nice'. That was praise!
I see the Embroiderers' Guild is asking for members to donate pieces of work to display at the Knitting and Stitching shows. These will then be auctioned to go towards filling the coffers after the Manchester debacle. I might put this one in.
Still very behind with Dale's course. Lesson 6 arrived this morning and I still haven't finished Lesson 2. Anyway I've printed it off so I can go back to it at some point.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Wow! Two blogs in two days, almost setting a record here. Actually I'm sitting waiting for a customer to come and view the textile art I've made with a view to filling a hole in her kitchen. However, she doesn't seem to be getting here today so I'm checking everyone's blogs, trying to catch up with what's going on over the past five weeks or so.

Purple Missus is amazing - every one of her blogs is full of information of wonderful things to try. she's made me decide that, weather allowing, I'm going to have a go at dyeing some fabric tomorrow. After doing a weekend with Ruth Issett last autumn I'm hooked on procion dyes for painting papers and now think it's time to move into dyeing fabrics to go with the papers. After all, most of the work I do is layered paper and fabric. So think of me tomorrow, with plastic containers all over the garden and trying to persuade the dog NOT to sniff them all.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008






Where is the time going? I've been hectic with the 'day job' so haven't had time to blog, or even look to see what everyone else has been doing. I have managed to fit in some stitching though! I signed on some weeks ago to do Dale Rollerson's embellishing course which I'm very behind with but enjoying. Got piles of samples and ideas for things as you can see from the picture! That was only two weeks' lessons. I haven't had a chance to look at the others yet.





I've also been trying to get on with the commission I got at the end of Artweeks. I decided to go ahead and do as many pieces of art as I could in the colour scheme that went with my friend's kitchen curtains (Designer Guild) as hopefully the rest won't be wasted.
Finally, you might be interested to see my workroom mid-project! It's a little bit bigger than it looks in this picture, but everywhere things are piled up. Someone just lent me the Quilting Arts 'Studios' magazine. What I would give for some of those studios! Space, organisation, shelves, eye candy everywhere!! Mustn't complain though - I do have a room to work in and don't have to clear up all the time when I'm in the middle of something and the dinner needs cooking, I just close the door.