I Haven't Been Here for a While...

... so much so I forgot how it worked and have had to have lessons from my grown up children!


I am busy up loading chapters to my Module Six Blog and completing the Wall Hanging which should be on show at Summer School.


This is coming up very soon!


Suffice to say I am being very creative!


Looking forward to meeting up with all my fellow Distant Stitchers

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat where have you been...

Well actually Patches the cat stayed at home but I've been globe trotting...

So since my last post I been looking after ailing parents up North in between travelling to the States to exhibit the Magna Carta Quilts which were an important part of my life last year.

October found me in Houston, Texas

at the George R Brown Convention Centre

where the world renown International Quilt Festival is held.

We had been invited to show the quilts as a special exhibition

and what an honour that was!

Quilt Market and Quilt Festival

Myself, Paula Doyle, Kate Martin, Sheila Roberton and Carole Montague,

a small contingent of The Ladies of the Quilts, gave talks and guided tours of the quilts to the visitors

The Magna Carta Quilts take the Golden Cause of the Magna Carta

as the theme throughout each of the eight quilts.

This is one of the three remaining of the sixty clauses still in British Law today.

The right to be tried by your Peers.

Habeas Corpus - that no one should be imprisoned unlawfully

The Medieval Quilts

These quilts tell the tale of King John from the death of his Brother Richard

 to the enthronement of his Son Henry III

The Legacy Quilts

These quilts have portraits of People throughout history and the world

 who have fought for Human Rights

 

 

The Thames Mosaic

The Medieval & Legacy Quilts are double sided and show

the Thames from Windsor to Staines upon Thames.

The blocks are our way of raising money for the upkeep of the quilts

and also as a fund raiser for Liberty the UK Human Rights Charity.

After the Houston Quilt Festival the quilts were invited to be exhibited at

The Texas Quilt Museum, La Grange, Texas

The quilts were on show until the end of March.

The quilts were on their travels again all the way to Chicago for the Quilt Festival

at the Donald E Stephenson Convention Centre.

It was great to see the quilts again, a bit like meeting up with old friends.

 

The show was a great success with both Paula and Myself chatting

to enthusiastic Quilters from every State in the USA.

At the end of the week the Quilts were packed away to travel back to Blighty.

 

They have arrived home safe and sound

and will be making an appearance in Egham

for this year's Magna Carta Festival.

June 7th June-17th June 2016

at the Unitarian Church, Egham High Street.

In August they will be making an appearance

at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.

If you are going please drop by the exhibition and say 'Hello'

And now it's back to the 'normality' of ecclesiastical embroidery

and my City & Guild's Module 6 wall hanging...

Hello!

Well that was a slightly longer interlude than I was expecting, but hey! I'm back!

Totally re-energised from another brilliant Distant Stitch Summer School I will be downloading images later of what I created.  Shelley Rhodes is a very generous tutor and enabled me to find my mojo again. So Module Six of the certificate is in my sights and ready to be blown out of the water!

Here we go...

Urchfont–Summer School 2012

 

Here is my first attempt with Live Writer

More later

Home

It was an interesting journey home as Ludgershall was closed as the Olympic flame was passing which stopped my planned route to the M3, but not to be availed I rerouted to Hungerford and the M4. Once on the M4 the heavens opened and lightening was seen through the spray! Now emptying bags and planning for Module 6 - will download photographs and download Live Writer later and will have a go at loading up the pictures, fingers crossed. Thanks to Sian for planning another successful Summer School, thanks to Sandra Meech for being such a generous tutor - I have lots of ideas and new techniques to try, and a big thank-you to the staff of Urchfont Manor who, under the cloud of redundancy, gave such great service and food to die for! My compliments to the Chef!

Urchfont - The Final Visit

Putting together equipment, fabrics and threads ready for the Sandra Meech workshop during my final visit to Urchfont. I hope it will be as fun as it has always been, but can't help feeling the melancholy of it not being there anymore after September. But on a more cheerful note - hands up who's going to be there?

Remember this?

Last September?

It became this...

Jacobean Crewel work

and here are close ups of each detail

It was great fun to do and gave me the chance to play with embroidery stitches

which I don't get to do as often as I like, especially during the design and paper sample

stages of the C & G modules

Having said that Chapter 9 and 10 of Module 5 have been fun if not very colourful!

See the Module 5 blog for details

Happy Monday

Finally downloaded photos from the new camera.

Yes I know I got it for Christmas but ...

Anyway  new Chapters added to Module 5 blog

Chpt 8 - Chpt 11

Still can't figure out how, after I've rotated the photos on the computer Blogger still wants to show them on their sides.  Don't blame me if you get neck strain!!!!!

And this is why the labour pains are worth it in the end...

Sirloin Steak with Olive Mash and Watercress

Victoria Sandwich

Main meal cooked by 14 year old Son using Jamie Oliver recipe

and cake cooked by 17 year old Daughter from her Great Gran-ma's Bero baking booklet

It was one of the best Mothering Sundays, I was very proud 

Threads

Thank-you for your thoughts on thread organisation, I have made the following decision...

I shall separate my collection into three groups

Machine Threads and Threads Used for Business

Thankfully already organinsed in a lovely drawer unit, all other threads used in the designs kept separate from rest of workroom 

Specialised Embroidery Project Threads

Silk Shading

Gold Work

Black Work

Crewel Work

Textile Art Project Threads

All Other Kinds of "Sewing", "Crouching", "Weaving", etc threads and ribbons will be kept in "Colourways"

This will make life easier as I can grab a colour knowing a variety of threads will be available for whatever I am creating, plus I won't have to waste time collecting and returning them to their original boxes, also the threads I gathered for Summer School, won't now need "tidying up"(hangs head in shame)!  I hadn't needed to use them as I am working with white threads at present - honest!

So now will arrange the drawers from "Type Of Threads" into "Colours" - "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" - last two put together in a purple drawer!

Seriously considering sorting beads, wires, buttons, eyelets and other stuff used in the creative process into colourway drawers too so I can just grab a drawer when the creative urge grabs me!

Feel free to use this system if, like mine,your threads are currently in a bit of a mess!

Happy New Year...

...I'm spending the first few days of the year - now that everyone is back to work, college and school - putting my workroom to rights.  I'm nearly there, but I have a tricky problem of what to do with my threads.  Most of them are currently in colourways - same colour different types of threads, some are mixtures of colours but in the same type of thread.  Dilema!

Do I spend time putting colour sets back to type or put the types into colourways? 

How do you store yours?