Eigg 2018

I have been to Eigg again for a yoga holiday and the weather could not have been more of a contrast to my visit in 2017. Blue skies, turquoise water, sparkling sunbeams, sharply delineated skylines, rusty boats.

Lots and lots of rockpools and beachcombing

Inspiring this little work in progress

 

Inspirational weekend - sculpture and stitching

I have been away to the Contemporary Quilt Group Winter School at Alston Hall.  What a treat.
On the way, I visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the work of Ai Weiwei , Ursula von Rydingsvard and James Turrell.  Wow, on all counts.  The works by Ai Weiwei are as thought provoking as ever, the scale of Ursula von Rydingsvard's work is astonishing and the Skyspace is a mesmerising experience.  The Yorkshire countryside was at its autumnal best, so the sculptures were seen in glorious light.  This park is on such a scale, it is worth planning a weekend around it.

Iron tree, Ai Weiwei

Ursula von Rydingsvard

Skyspace
Nature provided its own shapes and colours

Blue and orange

Toadstool - thanks to my brother, now identified as a shaggy inkcap.

Toadstool
Then on to meet over 30 textile-obsessed women, all there to learn.  Seventeen of us crammed in to  a rather small room, with voluminous quantities of equipment, to learn about machine trapunto with Philippa Naylor.  Philippa is a generous, encouraging and inspirational teacher, so if you ever get the opportunity to do a workshop with her, grab it immediately.  Her new book , Appliqué Mastery, is full of tips, as well as a full size pattern for her award-winning quilt.
The view from my bedroom was inspiration in itself, changing as the light of the day changed.





The trapunto was a surprisingly straightforward technique, and I managed a whole weekend without breaking a single size 60 needle - Philippa's recommendation.  This needle made a huge difference to the quality and density of the machine quilting I could achieve on my machine.

I have of course come away from  the weekend with another object to finish, so the "unfinished list" has just got longer.

Water, water everywhere...........

What an incredible 10 days, from Bundeena to Noosa, with several changes of temperature in between, never mind the change in wardrobe.  I am so grateful to my sister and her partner for arranging these wonderful experiences during my stay in Australia.

Bundeena.  Water and cliffs. The sky varied hugely during the three days.

A freezing southerly meant that we needed the open fire every night.

There was no eating outside, so the wildlife had to go hungry this time.

Lovely sunset

Then off to more incredible beaches, with a substantial difference in temperature, with water temperatures of 20 degrees C which seemed chilly to my sister, but almost tropical to me.

I was mesmerised by the colours of the water, the effect of the light on the rocks and  the patterns of the waves.  Too many photos to show but some key memories are below.  Animal encounters this time were: brushturkeys catching an enormous worm; shoals of fish in the shallows as we swam and tumbling through the light shining through the back of a rising wave; and a highlight of finding a pair of sea eagles up a quiet creek, seeing one of them catch a fish and then eat it in front of us.

Work of an anonymous beach artist

 Stitching on the beach

 Stitching and painting with ochre from the local cliffs

Kaleidoscope kontinuing

At least the rain has meant plenty of time for composing the kaleidoscope top.  I am really enjoying this, although there were some nerve wracking moments with the last round when the strip-pieced block turned out to be too narrow, and I had to insert another strip in to the middle of the block.

Kaleidoscope , round 4, with some of my blue / brown hand-dyed fabrics

Round 4 , detail

Round 5
Next is stitching together each wedge, hoping that my cutting has been accurate throughout. Fingers crossed.

My return to work yesterday was eased by driving alongside a beautiful sunrise.  Still can't sort out this formatting issue, but I am remaining calm.