Journal Update

My last update was at the beginning of May.  Here are a few of my pages since then.

A completed May calendar

A gratitude page

Weekly to-do lists.  I love ticking the things I've completed

The June title page

Inside the monthly cover.  Words of encouragement that were sent to me

An unfinished June calendar

Can you believe it's going to be July in two days?  I haven't completed most of my June pages and I haven't started on preparing July's.  I'd better get a move on!

So much for being intentional!!!!!!!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Arundel Castle

I was watching a programme on the television this week about the gardens at Arundel Castle.  I remembered that we had visited as part of a wedding anniversary trip some years ago.  I looked on here and didn't find any reference to the trip so I looked in my photo archives and discovered it was way back in 2013.

Here are just a few of the photos I took on that trip:

We were really fortunate to get such lovely light, especially through the tulip petals.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

More lines

Our photography theme this month has been lines.  I had already done a blog post here about Lines so didn't feel I could use any of those photos.    Here's my choice for this month - a few new photos and some from the archives!

Fence lines

Old fashioned lines

Shower curtain lines

Radiator lines

Machine sewn lines

 

Natural lines in the rock

 

Lines in the sand

I'm on the lookout for circles for the next theme!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Finished

Remember this post: A Companion Piece?

Well here it is finished.   I used the preset stiches on my machine and added a plain binding.

The finished piece is 16 inches by 15 inches.  Irritatingly one corner is decidedly off kilter.  It may or may not get fixed!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

What will normal look like post lockdown?

In the UK, we are all hoping for a positive announcement on Monday, that lockdown restrictions will be removed.

After over a year of uncertainty and being disconnected from friends and family, we are approaching a time which is being described as normal. We will be back to normal!

Do you have a picture of what normal should be? 

The normal we lived in 2019? The busyness. The rushing about chasing down who knows what! The latest fashion look? The latest interior design?

Was our previous normal based on truth or on some stereotypical concoction made up by advertising agencies? Had we taken on a lie?

Is that why when things happen to change the ‘normal’ we’re living, we don’t acknowledge that we need to learn how to live with the new version because neither the previous version nor the new version fit the picture in our heads?

I don’t have an answer to these questions. These are just the thoughts scrambling around my head trying to make sense of what is going on.

Do we want all of things from before March 2020 to exist in our new normal? Would it be better to ditch some of the things?

Which things would you ditch? Which things will you keep? Which new ideas will you adopt in the future?

How have you dealt with the last year and a half? Have you struggled? Have you enjoyed the downtime?  Have you been overwhelmed by the negativity?

Or found ways to stay positive?

Pattern

Today I'm sharing more from the photo inspiration archive.  These photos are based on patterns.

What sort of photos do you take?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

A Companion Piece

Last month I told you about a new hanging I am making using fabrics I printed and dyed on the Text, Texture, Tile workshop.

With the fabric I had left over, I cut strips and randomly sewed them together.

I cut the assembled pieces into narrower pieces and laid them out.

Instead of having all the pieces running vertically as in the previous hanging, I tried putting some horizontally.

I tried the pieces in different places and then bgan to sew the strips together.

The bottom half of the hanging assembled, with added narrow blue strips.

I carried on assembling the pieces together.  I really like this with it's strange edges but I think it will probably need to squared off.

I cropped the photograph to see what it would look like.

I have bonded the uncropped version onto acrylic felt and a backing fabric ready to sew.  I'll share the sewing expereince in another post.

See you soon.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Photo Inspiration

As I've said to you before, on my computer I have gathered together photos into folders labelled Buildings, Decay, Line, Machines, Pattern, Rust, Shape and Texture. Whenever and wherever I am out and about I take photos of these things which possibly have no relation to the outing I'm on. They are supposed to provide inspiration for sketchbook work but really just reside on the computer.

Today's photos are about texture.

Did you spot the uncropped one with my foot in the photo?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice