Home--made houses....crafted cards to come

Wet weekend, so lots of stitching done for the craft stall at our quilts group's upcoming biennial show .

Yet more houses, this time added to painted and fabric backgrounds.

Terrible photo, as daylight had gone by the time I had finished, and I was rushing to get a Sunday dinner on the table.

Combined with reading a very interesting article by Grayson Perry about the upcoming Quilts exhibition at the V and A , my multi-tasking was challenged.

London, libel..... and lunatic fashion

One of the things I love about living near London is the chance to go and participate in group events, demonstrations or protests, all for the price of a train ticket.

Today I went to the Royal courts of justice to support Simon Singh in his appeal against the libel ruling won by the British Chiropractic Association. There were about 70 people waiting to greet him as he went in , from Sense about Science, PEN and with their great banner, suburban pirate. After greeting Simon, as many people as possible squeezed in to Court 71 ( after following the ten line instructions on how to find it). It was gratifying that the court staff had to bring in another 20 or so seats to accommodate everyone, and there were still people waiting outside to get seated.

Having never been in a court, it seems an odd mix of the formal and the informal, and also very British. The two barristers were women, which I did not expect, although the 3 appeal judges were men, which I did expect. Any member of the public can go to the courts and it is worth a visit to literally see the law in action. Lots of the presentation of the case hinged on the differing meaning of the words " happily" versus " happy to" and of the interpretation of the word " bogus". I felt a bit like a tricoteuse because I was stitching a phrenology head to keep my hands busy while trying to understand the legal issues being discusssed.

I had to leave before the end, so am waiting to hear the judgement. This case is an issue that affects us all, not just those who are scientists or writers. Read about the issue, decide for yourself and if you care, sign the petition.

On a lighter note, as I came out of the court, I nipped into the Courtauld Gallery where London Fashion Week is being hosted and saw this bonkers, wonderful quilted dress. London .... love it!

Snow days, go days

As we hopefully head in to spring, I found this lovely site , Snowdays where you can waste a lot of time creating your own snowflake. You don't even have to do that to look at some of the wonderful creations on there.

Phrenolobsession

It's becoming an obesssion! This one is a partner for the first large one, so faces the other way. Sewn on the train up ( and down) to London to visit Tate Modern to see the current installation by Miroslaw Balka.

Definitely thought provoking, particularly for someone who is claustrophobic.

Inspirational, it truly is

At Tate Modern last week with my elder son. The installation in the turbine hall, by Miroslaw Balka is still provoking thoughts and was an interesting experience to go through with a fearless teenager.


Inspiring art work as ever, and in the shop this wonderful book which made it home with me. Absolutely luscious stitching, sumptuous photography and thousands of ideas stimulated with each section.

Phrenolobby again- place, pastime, people

The phrenolobby idea is taking hold in a big way. These ones are stitched on a double layer of calico ( 2 tab top calico curtains, 48 x 92 inches for £3.00 in a charity shop) with two different threads. This whole piece is about 16 x 6 inches.

I was going to call this "Me, myself, I " with apologies to Joan Armatrading, but I've now decided on a more general title of " 3P - place, pastimes, people" as reflected in the words in each head.

Phrenolobby

I have always liked china phrenology heads and have had a project bubbling in my head for a few months, combining: phrenology; hobbies of individuals; an art project my children did when at junior school where they had to draw their thoughts on to a print of an empty head.

This is the first prototype. A copyright-free phrenology head image, traced over with a Sulky iron-on transfer pen, stitched on to piece of vintage wool blanket with 50% wool thread. I started stitching this in a hoop,. but found it was easier to control the stitching, particularly of the words if I just held it. This one is for a family member ( who might be reading, hope you like it!)

Scraps +blanket+ words = cushion

When the going gets tough, the tough get stitching. Mindless strips on a calico background, embellished with a great ribbon and backed with a comforting piece of old blanket. Design feature required on the blanket due to an indelible splodge of blue ink.

Quilts at the V and A- fabrics soon to be launched

One of the most unique quilt exhibitions in the UK, ever, will open at the V and A museum in March. The V and A is known for always having beautiful custom made items on sale to coincide with major exhibitions. "Quilts 1700 - 2010" is no exception and there are some beautiful fabrics being produced. If my family are reading, the ones below are my favourites.

Celebrate the boy - in craft that is

Found this great post about a month of crafts for boys - they really do get overlooked on the craft front. Join in if you can.

Speech patterns

This is the result of the round robin on words that I started with our quilt group about 7 months ago. I asked each person to add a word that means something to them using any technique that they wished.

I've added a lime green inner border ( proper patchwork, using an old shirt) and an outer border. As usual, this developed rather than being planned, hence the triangles on only two sides. This staggered flying geese technique I saw demonstrated at Farnham Maltings about two weeks ago , it's a great technique - if you read the instructions correctly and don't miss out a crucial step. Due to missing this crucial step, some of these triangles will not pass msuter with the points police.

These colours are much brighter than they appear here, need to get a better photo. This is about 36 x 40, but may get larger.