Tuesday 30 March 2021

Starting a new textile piece

I still have lots of fabric left from the time I was at Leah Higgin's studio for Breakdown Your Palette.  I used some of it for a wall hanging about a walk along the Stratford Canal.  I have wondered what to do with the rest of it and then I spotted this painting by Paul Klee.  It's called Highways and Byways.

I'm obviously going to be drawn to the colours - you know how fond I am of turquoise and orange.

However it gave me an idea for using the fabrics I have.  I didn't have any rust coloured plain fabric that matched my fabrics but Liske at Littleheath Barn Studio kindly sold me some that she had dyed especially for me.  I tore 3 pieces of it to piece with some of the brakdown printed fabric.

 
I had some pieces already stitched together from the previous hanging to give you an idea of what I am planning.

I've sewn those leftover pieces together and added some more.  This will be the central strip.

I'll keep you up to date with how this grows.

In addition I am taking part in a fundraising event that Liske is running called Pieces of Positivity.  After a donation to Cancer Research she sends out a piece of drop cloth - that's the fabric that covers the table in the studio and picks up any paint and stencilling etc as we all work there.  My piece looked like this:

 
I have cut it down to size and bonded it to a backing fabric.   Liske is going to make the pieces we all make into bunting to put around the studio.


It looks enormous in the photo but it's actually only 15x20 cms.  I'm going to handstitch it and then see what else it needs.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Saturday 27 March 2021

Venice-inspired Wall Hanging

 So you may remember I asked which way I would cut up my hanging.


I cut it half.

And then cut one half into two pieces 6 inches wide.

On to the binding.  I didn't have enough plain colour but fortunately I was able to buy some from Littleheath Barn Studio, that Liske dyed especially for me.

I machined the binding to all the pieces and then folded it over and handstitched it on the back.


Here is the finished hanging

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Tuesday 23 March 2021

A year ago today

On this day one year ago, the U.K. went into the first lockdown.  It was also the day that we got back from Australia.   You can read about it here: Coming home to a different country.

And if you are interested, you can do some armchair travelling reading about the rest of our trip.

Travelling during a worldwide crisis

Puffing Billy

Phillip Island

Thursday and Friday

 Crossing the border

Two Days in Sydney

In the back of beyond


During this last 12 months I have often looked at my photos from this trip.  They have cheered me up whenever I have been disappointed about the lack of being able to travel.  But foreign travel is a privilege, not a right.  

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Saturday 20 March 2021

Saturday Story

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."  (Mark Zuckerberg)

What risks have you taken during the last 12 months?


For most of us I think just going out of the house has been a risk.  Coronavirus has been deadly and has changed the way we have lived for the last year.  However last September we did go away for a few days and I am looking forward to being able to start travelling, at least in England, from the middle of May.

Back in May 2017 I wrote a whole blog post about R.I.S.K.   Rather than repeat it here I hope you will click on the link and read it there.

The most significant R in my life is Roger.  We have been married for 38 years this year and met two years before.  Way before personal computers, smart phones, online dating and apps, Roger and I were introduced via Computer Dateline.  This was a company that took your details, put the information into a computer and churned out a list of suitable people for you to meet.  I met up with a couple of guys.  One was a prison officer that my parents didn't take to at all.  Another didn't even get as far as meeting them, I couldn't cope with the way he drove his car - I like to slow down to junctions not rush up to them and slam the brakes on!

Then I met Roger and as the saying goes - the rest is history.


Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Just One Day

The photography group theme for this month was 'Just One Day'.  So here is my day in photographs.

 The view from the window when I got up.

 
I plug in my phone and iPad to charge and then read the day's devotional from Lectio365


Downstairs to have breakfast.  Two Oatibix, an apple and a coffee most days.


Next door's cat surveying his kingdom!  Our garden!!!!


Finishing a book study



Listening to a podcast



Machining a wall hanging




A walk in the garden.  I wish I could capture the birdsong in a photo.





A mid morning coffee with almonds, brazil nuts and dates.



Watching a Carolyn Dube video from Wanderlust 2021

Roger was out so I had baked beans for lunch.  That sounds like I would have eaten him if he'd been at home!!!



Cutting up fabric for a new wall hanging



Trying out the fabrics for the wall hanging



I spent a couple of hours sorting out social media pages for Jubilee Creative.

Cooking the dinner.  Pasta, cooked chicken and a pasta sauce.



Waiting to start the Zoom call with the book study ladies.



I watched SU2C Bake Off and then it was time for bed.


Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Saturday 13 March 2021

Not a Saturday Story

Instead of a Saturday Story this week I thought I would write about my current textile project.  I am working on a wall hanging based on the fabrics I printed when I was at Leah Higgin's studio in 2019. If you go back to the linked blog post you will see that I have already made two pieces with this fabric plus a child's dress.




I cut some of the fabric up into random shapes and collaged them together using Mistyfuse to 'glue' them to a cotton fabric which in turn was 'glued' to acrylic felt and a backing fabric.

I started machining it using a decorative stitch on my machine.  After a few not very straight lines of that I decided to machine with a zigzag stitch and deliberately make the lines wavy.


Having covered the whole piece with machine stitching I then contemplated how to finish it.  Should I leave it as one whole piece - 28 inches square - or as is my wont, cut it up.  I drew different designs on my computer.

Then I tried the bottom two designs with a photo of the machined piece.



Which would you choose?   Which do you think I chose?


Thanks for joining me today
Bernice