More Celebrations

Last month I told you about my birthday celebrations and that they would continue in September.

My lovely friend Vicky hosted a dinner party for me. Vicky, her husband Steve and our mutual friend Ange worked hard all day to provide a meal for 12.

There was an Italian theme to the first two courses.  A tomato salad starter and a main course of salmon poached in white wine.

These were followed by a choice of chocolate bread and butter pudding and/or cheese and biscuits.

This was followed by a chocolate birthday cake made especially by Ange.  Underneath the chocolate cake on the cake stand, there was a vanilla sponge cake.

Most people asked to take their cake home.  Vicky miraculously conjured up party bags - admittedly with Easter rabbits on them!

I had a fabulous evening with those friends I consider to be my family.  I am very blessed to be able to call them family. And thankful to have friends like Vicky, Steve and Ange who went all out to spoil me.  Vicky had also arranged for Andy to send a video from the Hopper Juniors.

The other thing I did in August which I mentioned before was to buy a quilt made by Leah Higgins.  I've decided it's my birthday present to myself.  And at long last it's up on the wall.  I see it every time I sit down to watch the television.

The ducks represent Roger and I, my son and daughter-in-law and the three grandchildren.  Each duckling was bought when each baby was born.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Satin Stitch

Last month I told you I was going to work on the piece I started at Summer School.  I had machined all the pieces together and was then trying to decide what to do with it.

I thought I would put the three words I had used in all the printed fabric onto a photo.

The fabric is much darker in the photo than it actually is!  I was thinking of cutting the letters out of fabric and bonding them on.  However the printed fabric was done in my handwriting, so I used an italic Copic pen to write my three words on tissue.

I used satin stitch with a dark grey thread for 'captivity'.  And an ochre thread for 'freedom'.

Then I needed to decide what colour to stitch 'identity'.

I chose the variegated skein.

So now it's back to thinking about the other pieces I've already started!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

What I did next!

Last time I shared my new poem Conviction.  Despite having at least three textile pieces on the go, I decided I had to start a new piece with the new poem.

I wrote the poem onto calico with an italic Copic pen.  I used my Thermofax screens to put broken bits of chain using acrylic paint.

I cut it up into 4.5 inch squares leaving the two questions whole.

I laid out the squares fairly randomly in terms of which line they came from, but made sure that each square was facing a different way.  I sewed all the squares together and added the questions at the bottom.

This will be put onto wadding and a backing and a binding put round the edge.

I want to add some more chains.  I thought about maybe painting some of the plastic chain I have left from the Dancing in Fetters piece.  In the photo you have to imagine that the chain has been painted to look rusty.

However I've decided I will stitch large chains.  I scanned the thermofax image into the computer and made it larger.  I've printed it off ready to trace onto tissue so I can hand stitch later this week.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Conviction

This week was Write Poetry week with Sara-Jane on Zoom. 

The thread for the workshop was 'volta' or turn.   The volta is a dramatic change in thought and/or emotion and can be seen in all types of written poetry.  I only completed one of the three exercises.

Conviction 

Iron strikes iron
Metal on metal
as sparks fly. 

Sweat trickles
in rivulets down wrinkled skin,
wiped off with dirty rags. 

Smoothed iron
heated and beaten
into chains 

leg cuffs, hand cuffs
to tether the wrong-doer.
Judged, convicted 

transported
in overcrowded prison ships
fettered by the chains 

of crime. To live,
to die on foreign soil
with time to consider 

the life lived before.
What chains do we wear?
What fetters us? 

What holds us back
from all that we can do?
Not crime but lack 

of conviction
in ourselves, our abilities.
No confidence. 

A continual questioning
Who am I?
Am I enough?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Stitching beside the ditch!

Having said I was going to work on my poem piece next I started stitching the letters as the words were fairly indecipherable.  This was two arm lengths away and who can tell where I stitched?

Well!  It was here:

To be honest, I was a bit downhearted about this so decided I would work on something else instead.

At Summer School I had put this together:

I put wadding and a backing behind it.

On one of those reels that turns up on Facebook I saw about a sewing machine foot for doing 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting.  I did try this style of quilting once before on a hanging with limited success.  I looked on the internet and there is such a foot for my Janome machine.

Much to my surprise I discovered - once I knew what one looked like - that I already owned one.  So armed with the correct tool, I gave it a go!  With various rates of success.

Firstly I found it really difficult to see the guide blade against the fabric.  Secondly a lot depended on how well I had pressed the seams which is the ditch you are supposed to sew in.

And thirdly, a lot depended on where the needle was positioned in relation to the blade.

So several lines of the stitches are beside the ditch rather than in the ditch.  C'est la vie!

It's stitched and the binding put on.  I could call it finished but I do want to add something else to it.

I have bits of cords left over from the river piece which I wondered about making into letters and have raised words on top.  I've also thought about using the cords to make chains.  Or maybe cut out words.

Watch this space!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Remember the sneak peek?

Do you remember the Sneak Peek post?  It was before the birthday posts.

Anyway - whether you remember it or not - here is the finished piece.  Firstly close-ups

And then the whole thing

I'm now onto the next piece: stitching this piece that I started on Summer School.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

More celebrations

My last post, Just the Start, was about the first day of celebrating my 75th birthday with a visit to Coventry.

The next day, my actual birthday, Roger took me to see the musical Hamilton.

The stage, Birmingham Hippodrome

We went on the train into Birmingham to have dinner before the show.  We went to The Malaya Classic where we had the set meal for two which included the unlikely Honey Marmite Chicken.

In a moment of madness in the theatre we took a selfie - is there another name for a selfie that has two people in it?

 We enjoyed Hamilton although I was somewhat befuddled by the 3 wedding scenes.

Part 3 of my birthday celebrations was having coffee with two friends yesterday.  One had her birthday recently and the other has her birthday on Friday.

Actually when I say having coffee - they had tea and I had hot chocolate.  But we were in a coffee shop!

The birthday celebrations are on hold now until a birthday party in three weeks time.  One of the problems of having an August birthday is that so many people are away on holiday.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Just the start

of my birthday celebrations.

Yesterday we went to Coventry to see a quilt exhibition at Coventry Cathedral.  But first we had lunch at The Golden Cross.  I had Seabass with crushed potatoes, wilted spinach and cauliflower puree.  And a large glass of Merlot.

Then a short stroll to the Cathedral to see the exhibition of Alexandra Kingswell's absolutely beautiful Seeking the Light exhibtion.  It's on until the end of August so you have a couple of weeks to go and see it.

It wasn't the easiest of spaces to take photos.  I did manage some and some close ups.

After this, we wandered up to the Coventry Canal Basin to see if it had changed since the last time we were there.  It had been improved.

A statue of James Brindley.

Thanks for being here today.
Bernice

Sneak peek

Here's a sneak peek at my latest textile piece

 And here's another part of it

It doesn't look much in these photos and I haven't shown you all of it.  There's a lot more machining to do.  And hand stitching!  And cords!

I've set a 2-3 week finished deadline so you will get to see the whole thing by the end of August.

Hopefully!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

 

Over for another year

Festival of Quilts is over for another year.

Here I am talking about Explosion Books

I went around all the exhibitions which were excellent.  I also looked at the competiton quilts.  Most years I have taken photos of things that have jumped out at me but this year I came away with having only taken two photos. 

2nd prize Art Quilt by Leah Higgins

'Navigating History' by Lesley Hall

I went to the show with a list of things to buy and I was really good.  I like buying threads from Paintbox Threads (left) and Maytime-Valdani.  The latter retailers are Australian and FOQ is the only show they do in the UK.

At Barnyarns I bought machine needles, Janome bobbins, rotary cutter blades and machine threads.

I also bought 5 metres of Quilters Calico from Lady Sew and Sew.  So well done me!

Until ....

I bought this quilt by Leah Higgins.

This photograph is from where it was hanging in her stand at the show.  I've yet to decide where it will hang at home.  It's called What Lies Beneath.

Roll on next year: Festival of Quilts 2025

Thanks for being here today
Bernice