A winter's day and an iTunes book

Winter proper has arrived at Macbiehill and more snow has fallen overnight. That's all good fun as far as I'm concerned but there has also been a hard frost and our little lane has turned into a skating ring. I ventured forth this morning in my boots equipped with ice breakers and taking care to walk in the verges where there is much more grip for those boots. I was wearing my duffel coat and feel quite snug. Imagine my surprise on encountering a runner in trainers and shorts! I can only hope I didn't stare open mouthed! 

He was concentrating hard and needed his breath to keep going but how he managed to stay upright remains a mystery. It's hard to tell from the picture above but the surface of the lane is solid ice. However I consoled myself with the thought that I was enjoying the beauty of my surroundings more as I could give them more of my time and attention.

Whenever snow appears each year we have lived here, Macbiehill takes on an even more beautiful appearance than the rest of the year and I certainly have learned to appreciate winter much more. It might bring with it quite a few inconveniences but there are also rich rewards as you can see.

I also had some wonderful news yesterday, and for once it wasn't entirely to do with my work. I'm keeping one piece of it to myself for just a little longer (sorry!) but I can share with you that the other piece of good news is that the catalogue for my exhibition colour-quilts-collage, held last year in Peebles, is now available as a download for iPhone or iPad in the iTunes shop. Here is the LINK! You can also find it in the sidebar!

The choice for my daily blipfoto was difficult but in the end the top picture won out as the light is so lovely.

Colour - Quilts - Collage catalogue

As most of my regular readers will know I had a very successful exhibition last year in Peebles and at that time I published a printed Blurb book as a catalogue. Now that I have my own iPad and have WiFi in the house I have gone ahead and also published this catalogue, the cover of which you can see above, as an ebook. You can order it for download here It's of course a much cheaper version!.

Goodbye to A Woman's Work

Last week someone had a significant birthday and her greatest wish was one of my quilts. What an honour! As a result I've said goodbye to A Woman's Work, but she has gone to a very good home. The quilt hung in my colour-quilts-collage exhibition in Peebles last year and caused quite a bit of comment and even controversy at times. It's my very tongue in cheek rendition of all the tasks women were (and sadly sometimes still are) expected to do. I need hardly add to those who know me that I said goodbye to woman's work many, many years ago! Several male visitors to the exhibition didn't seem to "get" it although of course all women did. One even thought this was a serious reflection of what women do on a daily basis. Hello!!

The whole piece is full of jokey reverences to the many roles we as women played (and still sometimes play alas). Think about Jerry Hall, who referred to us being cooks in the kitchen, maids in the living room, and, oh well you can imagine the word, but I'll be polite (for Blogger's sake! I don't want to become an 18+ blog) fancy women in the bedroom.. If you're interested click here for her actual quote.  Not to mention mothers, goddesses, brides, saints,  virgins, ladies who lunch, do the ironing, make ourselves look pretty, and. that most awful thing, hunt for husbands as if that is the be all and end all of our ambitions.  

I've also introduced many jokes that are private to me and even had the gall to put myself into this piece in the form of Frida Kahlo seeing as our first names are the same. She started to spell hers differently as a result of the First World War but before that she too was a Frieda!

Does anyone still use the term Old Maid?! Would they dare! And what about all those women in the past who went to their graves and beyond labelled by such a derogatory expression! My heart bleeds for them Are we not all individuals in our own right?

I'm not going to explain this piece in all its details. That's up to each individual that views it. There is a lot to discover and while making this piece I did have many little chuckles to myself. The in jokes were stitched in fabric and beads and the piece sparkles. I'm so over the moon that it was bought by someone who I know for sure, will appreciate the hidden messages as much as I enjoyed putting them in.

The Colours of Alba

My quilt The Colours of Alba returned this morning from the National Quilt Championships Sandown 2012 which took place last weekend. Even better was to discover two rozettes enclosed with it. One was because I had won the De Haviland Embroidery Award for Embellishment and the other because one of the judges Susan Briscoe had selected it as her Judge's Choice. By one of those wonderful coincidences she is who I bought the samurai fabric from (as mentioned in my previous post). She talks about her judging at Sandown in her blogpost here. 

This quilt and its companion piece(seen below at the very end of this post) were originally made as a project for a book about Scottish quilters which was to be published by the Loch Lomond Quilt Show. Sadly this project has now been shelved for a variety of reasons. I have the full instructions and will have to give some thought about what I'm going to do with these. As this was to have been a very Scottish project I let myself be inspired by the colours of the Scottish landscape for these pieces and combined those fabrics with black and white ones. The word Alba means both white in Latin but is also the Gaelic name of Scotland in ancient times. In The Colours of Alba I used commercial fabrics as this is better for projects that are going to be published. It enables those who want to make the quilt to buy their own supplies exactly like the fabrics I have used.

Here are some close-ups that show the lavish embellishments on top of the quilt. The circular patterned one (pictured above the leaves seen here) has also become my blip for today. The quilt  was finished in 2010 and time-scale wise I needed to enter it into at least one show before it became too old for me to do so. The book project dragged on for more than a year and a half so there was a distinct danger of that happening.

Fortunately I managed to get it into Sandown before time ran out. 

Above is the companion quilt Alba in Colour which uses my own hand-dyed fabrics (apart from the border that is a commercial batik) and formed part of my colour - quilts - collage exhibition last year.

24. Art Makes Life Journal Quilt

This is one of those Journal Quilts that just happen, for no other reason than that I wanted to return to something I did in the past.Because the 52 Journals project is entirely my own  I went ahead and did it. It's loosely based on the 3 Journal Quilts dedicated to Venice (you can see one here) I made some years back and which were on show in my colour-quilts-collage exhibition last year where all 3 were sold. This time I divided the A4 space into 16 rectangles (simply by folding a sheet of A4l) and added some of my favourite things in the spaces. I used fabrics I hand painted last summer and which were all decorated with dotty circles, still my most favourite shape of all time. Three pieces of a fabric-paper collage with an Art theme were sewn on as well as a photograph of valerian printed onto fabric. 3 big buttons bought recently were added as well as a sparkly F (a gift) to signify it's my JQ! Further decoration was provided by a peacock (from an old earring) and 2 metal butterflies painted with a variety of acrylics and metal rubbing colours. Of course I could not help myself and beaded the entire piece liberally. Hand dyed lace was the final touch.

I used a Monet themed fabric for the backing and found it also made for a pleasing border.

This piece has no serious message like some of the other ones have. It's simply a piece of froth and bubbles, made for my own delight. The title comes from one of the fabric paper collage pieces.

Remember if you want to see all the previous Journal Quilts I've made for the 52 Journals project you can click on the relevant tag below or have a look at the slideshow in the sidebar.I'm nearing the half way point!

Published in The Quilter magazine

A very happy day as the latest issue of The Quilter magazine appeared in my letterbox and although I knew there would be an interview with me featured within, I was over the moon to see I had also made the cover with a detail from my quilt Sweet Spring.

The interview was done by Gillian Cooper and it brought me right back to May last year when she visited my exhibition colour - quilts - collage in Peebles and we went and had lunch together. It's always great to talk with someone else who feels as passionately as I do about textile arts and she did a wonderful job putting the interview together. Thank you, Gillian!!

The Quilter magazine is published by The Quilters Guild of the British Isles and if you are a member you get it as part of your subscription.

It has reminded me that I am planning to add some quilts for sale to this blog as I mentioned in the interview. The entire exhibition (apart from quite a lot of sold work) has now returned home after travelling around the U.K. after the Peebles show, so I must sort things out and then will be uploading For Sale pieces to a special page! Watch this space.

Published in Popular Patchwork

Yet again my life moves too fast for my blog to keep pace. So I will space out my posts and try not to be too active till I've more or less caught up. A few days steady working in the studio is just what I need in any case!

I went to Skirling graveyard today but will report about my visit later, although you can see a picture on the Blipfoto site today.

The highlight of the week however arrived in the post yesterday in the shape of the latest edition (December 2011) of the Popular Patchwork magazine in which you can find a report on my colour - quilts - colour exhibition in Peebles, written by Gillian Cooper. It's very rewarding to discover that someone really understands what it is you're trying to achieve in your art and Gillian is without a doubt such a person. She has seen and written about my work before and when we met up during the exhibition it seemed that we were just chatting merrily away about all kinds of things. But Gillian proved to be an excellent journalist and absorbed it all as became clear when I read the article.

A big THANK YOU is due to her as well as to the Purely Patchwork Magazine. I truely appreciate what they've done for me!

Exhibition coming to Cambridge

The final venue of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition for 2011 is coming up this coming weekend as you can see on the poster above.

It's at The Chilford Autumn Quilt Festival, at Chilford Hall Vineyard, Linton, Cambridge, CR21 4LE, from Friday 4th - Sunday 6th November. Open 10am - 4.30 pm (4pm on Sunday)

colour - quilt - collage in Malvern

My colour - quilt - collage exhibition will be on show this coming weekend at The Malvern Autumn Quilt Festival, at the Severan Exhibition Hall, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, WR13 6NW, Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 2011. Opening times 10.00 am - 4.30 pm (4 pm on Sunday).

For more about this exhibition click here!

colour - quilt - collage in Ingliston

Here is an overview of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition as it can be seen till tomorrow at the Scottish Quilt Championships, at Ingliston, near Edinburgh Airport. As you can see the stands are sort of on a slant to enable people to walk in and out for a close-up look while leaving space too to step away from the quilts and look at them from a distance. And here they all are in order of appearance:

On the left Sweet Spring and Glorious Autumn and on the right at the top: A Woman's Work and Marie Studholme Journal Quilts and on the bottom: Fluttering through Time and then the 3 collage quilts: Sealand Gem, Iceberg Rose, Gazania and Lily.

On the left at the top the Venice Journal Quilts and on the bottom from the right: Flames of Passion, Up in the Air and Earthly Pleasures, and on the right Flower Petals

On the left Circles, Spots and Dots and on the right from the top left: Calendar Journal Quilts, Snapshots and on the bottom Alba in Colour.

Stripes Shapes on the left and Variations on Vasarely on he right. I added this last quilt to the travelling exhibition partly to replace some of the work that was sold during the exhibition in Peebles but also because Grosvenor Shows had used images of it in their pre-publicity for this travelling exhibit so it seemed to make sense to include it.

Rising above the Waves on the left and Foxfires on the right. This last quilt was not in the exhibition in Peebles as it had already been exhibited by the Scottish Borders Museum Service in a previous show. I added it to the travelling exhibition to replace some of the work that was sold. I just hope all the tassels will bear up well with all the travelling but it's one of my favourite quilts and it's lovely to be able to share it in this way. It was also one of my most successful quilts, winning the European Quilt Championships in 2006.

colour - quilt - collage echibition in Edinburgh

I promised to keep you updated about the progress of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition which is travelling with Grosvenor Shows throughout the autumn.

It's coming close to home this coming weekend as it will be exhibited at The Scottish Quilt Championships, at MacRobert Pavilions, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, EH28 8NB from Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th September. Open from 10 am - 4.30 pm (4pm Sunday).

You can see my quilt Glorious Autumn on the above poster, sort of in the centre.

I won't be there all of the time but I'll definitely be popping in more than once and will be there for definite on Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you there!

My exhibition is away on its travels

Today was spend getting up at 5.30am (yak!!) and driving 400 miles down to Harrogate and back up again. I took the quilts for the exhibition as I nor Grosvenor Shows wanted to entrust so many quilts in one go to a courier company. The drive down was uneventful and I arrived shortly after 9.00am. The name of the exhibition has lost its s as in quilts and will be travelling as colour - quilt - collage, quite handy as that enables me to differentiate between the exhibitions. The sold quilts from the Peebles exhibition have been handed to their new owners so I wanted to replace those 6 with at least some more. As Grosvenor Shows had used Variation on Vasarely for their publicity (see poster at top) I added it (detailed picture below) as well as the quilt Foxfires, which won the European Quilt Championships back in 2006. If you want to see the various venues for this travelling show you can find them here.

The first one is The Great Northern Quilt Show at the Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate this coming weekend, from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th September 2011. After that it's coming to Edinburgh (see info here) and that is when I will have a good look at it! I'll try and keep you updated on this blog whenever the show reaches a new venue as we go along!

Once I had delivered the quilts I had a much needed and longed for double espresso and then made my way to a newly discovered craft shop Art from the Heart from whom I had already ordered various things online. I simply couldn't resist this opportunity to visit in person. I went into a total creative frenzy while there, buying 12 colours of Perfect Pearl Mists (well, a reduction was on offer if you bought them all!!!) as well as several yummy stamps, and other paraphenalia I decided I couldn't live without. They also had a wonderful show of finished samples, and do classes.

It's probably just as well this shop is so far away, I could easily bankrupt myself if it was any closer! But they have all their stock online if you want to be tempted too!

Walking in Beauty Journal Quilt

I'm very late this month with my Journal Quilt. First of all I had a bit of a rest after my exhbition but I also selected to do a lot of hand embroidery on this JQ which took time but was worth it as I'm very pleased with the result. The theme on the Sketchbook Challenge site for June is Pathways and I started work in my Sketchbook first. I collected some pathway pictures both from magazines as well as from my own photographs. Then I started to think of what pathways mean to me and that brought me to where pathways may lead. And the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow came to mind as you can see in my sketchbook below.

From there and via the photograph taken of the Azalea Walk in Dawyck Botanical Gardens (above righthand side bottom) I ended up with Walking in Beauty as the theme for the JQ. I did a drawing of flowers which I coloured in with ProMarkers (I just knew buying them would come in handy one of these days), scanned it into the computer and printed it out on cotton fabric. I drew the design seen on the left above, out onto graph paper (the size of all the JQs this year is 10" square) and started cutting out the different elements from Bondawebbed fabrics and the flower fabric. The pot of gold was scanned in from the 1851 exhibition catalogue and printed onto gold fabric. The flowers were then embroidered with embroidery floss (2 strands) and further embellished with sequins and beads, as was the rainbow. The text (a required element on 4 of our JQs, set by the Contemporary Quilt Group, for whom I'm making them) was added using my Xyron Design Runner (I have totally fallen for it!).

And finally I just want to point you in the direction of Gillian Cooper's blog. Gillian is a freelance journalist specializing in textile related subjects as well as an artist in her own right. She came to my exhibition and has now done a wonderful write-up on her blog. What made me so happy is that she really looked deep and discovered just exactly what I try to do in my work. It is rare indeed for this to happen and when it does it's extremely gratifying. So a huge thank you is due to Gillian, who will also be writing an article about my exhibition to appear in a future issue of the Popular Patchwork magazine. She does also mention my beading fetish, clearly illustrated in the above JQ!

Life returns to normal

We took down all the quilts in the Gallery this morning, while some very last minute visitors had a last peek at the display. The sold ones will be dealed with by the Gallery and the rest came home with me. They can have a bit of a rest over the summer and then most of them will be off on a round trip with Grosvenor Shows, starting at the Great Northern Quilt show in Harrogate at the beginning of September.

I'll keep you updated about the various venues but basically it will be at all the Autumn Fairs and most quilters in the U.K. will be familiar with those. Also check out the adverts by Grosvenor in the various U.K. quilting magazines.

And now I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to life returning to normal. I have several little trips lined up for the summer but most of all I can't wait for the sun to come out and to doing some gentle stitching while sitting in the garden. We walked the dogs after we returned home along the old railway line, along side the field in which the cotton grass is now in full bloom. A specacular display this year, no doubt due to the recent damp and wet conditions. You can also just about see our cottage at top right.

I felt fully relaxed for the first time in absolutely ages and it was a very good feeling. Roll on, more dog walks and hikes, trips to the garden centre, buying a new climbing rose for along the pergola (lost one this winter) and to stock up on the last annuals for this year's display. And of course to new work!!!

It's over!

Today was the last day, or rather, morning that the exhibition was open. At 12.30 the doors were closed for the last time and all that remains is to collect all the work that hasn't been sold, on Monday. On the one hand it's a real relief that the show is now over, many visitors came and also buyers. 6 pieces have been bought and many lovely comments about my work received,and I have enjoyed talking and listening to everyone that came. Having so much feedback on my art produced during the last 5 years has been an invaluable experience.

But on the other hand I'm over the moon to be able to return to my studio despite the fact that it's in total disarray and will take weeks to assume some sort of normality again. No matter, I had a needle in my hand this afternoon and have started a new, large quilt.

So following the picture above I left through that open door and closed it behind me with a contented feeling.

On the way downstairs I glanced through this window (which you can also just spot in the top picture) that I have passed so many times during the last month and a half. It was a fairly changeable day and at this particular moment the rain was coming down by the bucket load but the lovely hills around Peebles could still be seen as well as the copper dome of the War Memorial.

Descending the stairs even further I encountered Peebles' coat of arms as seen above. The Latin text translates roughly as: against the flow we prosper , and it suddenly struck me how appropriate this was regarding the exhibition. Yes, the opening date had to be postponed and it was very hard work but I do indeed feel like I have prospered!

I also couldn't help thinking that it would make an interesting quilt!!! That's the spirit! I might do this all again in 5 years time.

Two more days to go!

Only tomorrow and Saturday morning to go before the colour - quilts - collage exhibition is over, at least as far as the Tweeddale Museum and Gallery show is concerned. Some of the quilts (not those sold, for instance) will be travelling with Grosvenor Shows in the autumn, starting with the Great Northern Quilt show in Harrogate, then the various Autumn Quilt Fairs and I'll get them back again in February 2012.

In the meantime there was more good news! One of my quilts shown at Loch Lomond, entitled A very fishy Affair has been bought, and the above shown little Venice Journal Quilts (sized 8.5 x 11) have all been sold too, today, to the same buyer. It's good to know they will be together in their future life! I know, it sounds like someone re-housing much loved pets. It's pathetic but that's how I feel like about them.

And a final reminder, the Gallery will be open tomorrow (Friday) from 10.30 - 4 (it usually closes for lunch but as I will be in residence it will stay open) and also from 7 - 9 pm. This is because there is a private view for a smaller exhibition in the same building so I thought people might want to pop upstairs and take mine in too. So come in and say hello.

Then the final day is Saturday and the opening times are from 9.30 - 12.30 am. Again I will be there for the duration. It's hard to believe it will soon be all over but on the plus side, I am longing to pick up a needle and thread, some beads and the odd Swarovski crystal!

Flower Collages in Exhibition

Another lovely day at the exhibition, spend chatting to the many visitors that climbed up to the Gallery. I'm really enjoying all this interaction and am making the most of it. It's not often that I am surrounded by so much of my own work or that I get to talk and get feedback from so many people.

After all, making this work takes time and I don't expect to have enough work for another exhibition until 4 or 5 years have passed. So I'm dedicating my days and one evening (Friday 7 - 9 pm, would love it if you popped in!) this week to simply being there and loving it all. Don't be surprised if I'm not here on this blog as often as usually. Life will return to normal by next week. And I must admit my fingers are literally itching to stitch.

Above 2 of the flower collages in the exhibition: Sealand Gem on the left and Iceberg Rose on the right.

P.S. and despite promising Sharon I would mention sizes I still forgot to do so for this post. These collages measure 14.5 x 20"!

Loch Lomond Quilt Show 2011

Every year for the last 7 years the Loch Lomond Quilt Show has taken place in and around Dumbarton, a little town near Loch Lomond. There is a wide variety of exhibitions and they are all located in a selection of churches in and around Dumbarton itself, Alexandria and Renton. This year I exhibited 3 quilts as part of the Inspired by Scotland Exhibition together with 9 other "well-known" Scottish quilters. We showed our work in the Trinity Church in Renton which you can see above.

All 10 of us also produced a project quilt for which we made the full instructions which were then tried out by students. In due course, probably by the next show in 2012, a book will be published featuring the 10 projects and the workshop samples. Above you can see my quilt The Colours of Alba to the right and the class sample worked by students to the left. I'll write some more about this quilt in a future blog but it is a sister quilt to the Alba in Colours quilt hanging in my exhibition in Peebles.

The 3 quilts we were all asked to exhibit were firstly a typical example of your work, and I choose to exhibit the quilt above, called Foxfires, and inspired by the Northern Light as seen in my own garden here in the Scottish Borders. The extensive (some might say exorbitant) beading is a typical element in my work. This is one of my most successful quilts, winning the European Quilt Championships back in 2006. It's made entirely of silk fabrics.

The second quilt we were asked to show had to be an old favourite and above is Secret Garden Glen, made back in 1997 and made entirely out of the Secret Garden variety of Cathedral Windows. It was inspired by a country park (Kelburn), just south of Largs where we used to live. A lot of hand work, and folding and yes, even then I added beads to the mix. This is one quilt with which I have always found it impossible to part, despite having had several offers to buy it.

And thirdly we were asked to exhibit a piece of work typical of the way we are working at the moment and you will recognize the technique of the above quilt called A very fishy Affair, in other pieces currently hanging in my Peebles exhibition. This was the first one where I started using this particular collage method. It illustrates the various aspects of having an affair, secret meetings in exotic locations, hiding behind a mask etc. By the time I finished the quilt I felt like I was intimately acquainted with the lovers. Needless to say things will eventually come to a sticky end. I had so much fun finding suitable, or perhaps unsuitable fabrics (depending on your point of view) for this quilt that I was really sorry when I finished it so promptly started making more.

A day at the exhibition

I spend all today at the exhibition as I knew a large group would be coming. They were all members of the Dumfries Embroidery Guild and they were making a day of it, visiting my exhibition, then on to Traquair House. It was lovely to meet up with them all again so a lot of chatting went on too. They had barely left and more visitors arrived. They too came by bus, but this time from Edinburgh. They were allso on a daytrip, this time with the Rural Institute and were finishing their day with a meal at one of Peebles hotels. In the process, guess who had no food at all today till she arrived home?!

No matter as another large quilt was sold! I'm treating you to a slideshow of the gallery again (see below) and also to a detailed shot of the quilt Waves of Anger (also sold!), which was my blip today. There was a challenge theme on blipfoto for the week and it was anger so what better to picture then a detail of the Waves of Anger quilt as shown above!

Rather than rushing out tomorrow and trying to catch the Japanese Exhibition in Edinburgh and then return to Peebles I've decided that really I need to be at my own exhibition specially as on Saturday I will be at the Loch Lomond Quilt show.

My exhibition will also be open next Friday (27th May) evening from 7 - 9 pm to coincide with the private view of a football themed exhibition in the smaller gallery in the same building. There might be some "football widows" looking for a bit of light relief!

Hectic days

So far this week like last week is going like a train. So much to do and so little time to do it all in. I was at my exhibition in Peebles both yesterday and todayand also in the Sunflower restaurant! That can't continue, specially as there is no opportunity this week to go for a good long hike!

But it is very gratifying to find the gallery pretty busy each time I pop in, some pieces have been sold and everyone is very complimentary. My visitors book is filling up nicely too with visitors from as far afield as Florida, Australia and the Czech Republic.

And while I've taken my eye off the ball at home, everything in the garden is continuing to grow and John helpfully points me in the way of new treasures to blip (i.e. photograph). The marigold above is my blip for today and the clematis, called Sealand Gem, was my blip from yesterday. A picture of this one features on one of the collages in the exhibition that I showed you a few blogs back here.

I'm taking a break tomorrow, will be back in the gallery on Thursday morning, at a Japanese exhibition in Edinburgh on Friday and at the Loch Lomond Quilt Show on Saturday. Pheeuw!