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