Welcome to my blog.
A place to record and share my musings and my work.
'Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?'

Saturday 30 August 2014

Aftermath!

Well, it's over, and it's taken me all week 
to recover. It's over six years, since we had
a single exhibition, like this and I had forgotten
what a toll it takes, physically!
It took us, 8 - 10 hours to put up,
on the Friday and early hours of Saturday morning
and 4 hours to take down, after we closed on Sunday evening.
Here is a taste, of the event, in photo form.


One of Mr. C's Yorkshire Landscapes.


Paintings on silk by my friend, Jane and some lovely lavender bags,
wrapped in her clourful, silk squares. 
The smell as you came in, was heavenly!


Guest artist, John Hickton, who paints local landscapes, in oils.
and lastly ........


Me!


We had a good footfall and lots of stimulating conversation.
A few things, found new homes, including, this ....


Felted bag, with duck motif. 
Bought to put baby bits and pieces in.
Following the clearing up and stowing away, I
have spent most of the week, working on, 
a little commission from the event.


A pair of black, sequinned, crochet mittens.
I love the little black glass vintage button.
It makes a great finishing touch!
Had a small amount of wool left, just enough to crochet
this, little flower brooch.


A busy week, you will agree.
Hope you are having a good weekend!

Friday 15 August 2014

Short Intermission!


There will be a short intermission, after this post.
The preparations for our exhibition are gathering pace
and I will not have the time or the energy for writing my blog.
Thought I would share with you, a few of the pieces, that
I will be exhibiting.


Beith (this is Ogham for birch)
It's mounted on a piece of Silver Birch bark.


Tree of Life
Silk rods and free machine embroidery.


Rust


Scottish Isle (felted landscape)
*  *   *   *
Before I go .....
Daisy, is on the dog house.
Look what she did!!


Chewed up the only knitting project, that was actually for me.
I'm still speechless!
Till we meet again, on the other side.
Have a good weekend everyone!


Friday 8 August 2014

Exhibition!

I am straying a little 'off-piste', with this post.
I have not wandered into the work room much this week,


as we are busy getting ready for our Exhibition.
It all takes place, over August Bank Holiday weekend,
so not long to go now!
Mr C and I both have our strengths, in this affair.
He prepares all the screens, exhibits etc ... whilst I
concentrate on labels, advertising and all the little
things that go towards making a successful event.
This has necessitated an awful lot of time
on the computer, making posters and flyers.


This is the result of all my efforts.
I was quite pleased with the end product.
As you can see Ethel, has managed to make
an appearance.  She has been complaining that,
I haven't mentioned her in my blog much, of late.
So, to appease her a little, here she is,


modelling my newly blocked, Shetland shawl.
I've secured it, with a little kilt pin, which I thought was perfect.
Also thought I'd give you a peek, at my baby 'bag',
which is on the needles


and


this lovely bark cloth bag, that I keep the project in.
I found it amongst some fabric I was given. It should have handles but
I love it as it is.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

Friday 1 August 2014

Blocking.

It's August today. The year continues to fly by!
The weather has been mostly sunny this week,
although we have been promised a change, in the next few days.


Mr C. gave me this beautiful red rose, from the garden.
The smell, when I open my work room door,
is absolutely heavenly!
Can you see, Ronnie Raccoon, pepping out?
He's been tidying up my small carrier bags, or untidying!!!
Anyway I digress, this week's post is all about 'blocking'.
Yes, my Shetland shawl, is finally off the needles.
The last process, in it's journey, is sewing the seams
and stretching it into it's final shape.
Thought you might be interested in how I did it.
Blocking, involves pinning out the finished garment, either
wet or dry, onto a flat surface, to the correct measurement.
This gives the finished garment a professional appearance.

Tools


Blocking pins (I got mine online, from Loop, in London)
and tap water, in an old window cleaner bottle.



Started off, blocking the centre portion.


Folded up a very large quilt to put underneath. You could use foam,
cork board or polystyrene sheet but this is what I had to hand.
Pinned the centre to the blanket, pulling it in to it's full extent,
to avoid puckering.The knitted shawl is very delicate, 
so had to be very careful to ease it gently, to avoid damaging the threads.
Sprayed the whole area with water and left to dry, naturally.
Then had the dilemma of what surface I had, that was large enough
to accomodate the whole shawl.


Had the sudden idea that I could use my large rag rug frame.
Attached threads along one edge of the shawl
and tied them to the rug frame to the approx shape.
Repeated this process, along the opposite edge.
Then sprayed the whole thing with water.
Left it overnight and will take it down, when I have 
finished this post.
Very pleased with the final result. 
 I have changed the design of the centre. The pattern
showed it all one colour. Didn't have enough wool
to do that, as it was not bought specially for this project
 and was reluctant to purchase any more.
So 'necessity being the mother of invention', I
designed my own. I am very pleased with how it's turned out.
Looks a bit Art Deco, I thought.


Have a great weekend everyone.
I'm off to release a shawl!