What a week!

It all started last Monday when I left the comfort of my bed at about 4.30 am. I arrived in Weymouth to what looked like a glorious Spring morning... but do not be deceived by the calm of the photo which does not show the gale force winds! The ferry was delayed by two hours as it was too windy to sail and when we finally got going I wished we hadn't...


After a most horrendous crossing during which I was re-acquainted with both my breakfast and lunch, we finally arrived in Jersey and the beautiful town of St Aubin. I obviously looked sufficiently ill to be given the most fabulous garden suite which overlooked this harbour.

By Tuesday morning we were teaching workshops... four different groups all being taught in the same hall was interesting at times but on the whole worked well.

It has been a real pleasure and privilege to be teaching alongside such talented tutors as Ruth Issett, Margaret Beal, Cas Holmes, Jenny Rayment and Paddy Killer and I'm still not sure what I was doing there!

It was hard work but there was a lot of laughter... sometimes totally out of control! I'll post more about the workshops later in the week.

There was also some free time to see a little of the island and after two and half days of consecutive workshops we got to see St Matthew's church which has the most amazing display of glass by Rene Lalique. These four angels are on the altar of the Lady Chapel.

The main cross behind the communion table stands over four metres high and is flanked by two pillars. All three are internally illuminated and decorated with Madonna lilies.

And the font is believed to be the only glass font in the world, with a moulded fluted glass stand and an etched glass bowl. It was quite stunning.

More teaching on Friday followed by a bit more free time meant Ruth and I got to drive up the West Coast which was beautiful.

The Corbiere Lighthouse.

And yesterday I had a chance to walk around the most south westerley point of the Island where I saw such delights as this gorgeous Mimosa tree...

and St Brelade's Bay.

The journey home was far less traumatic than the journey out. Ruth, Paddy and I hired a four berth cabin, which was intimate to say the least and caused much hilarity as we collectively removed our shoes and exposed our "gorgonzola" feet! I managed to end up in the top bunk which was a little precarious and I had visions of being launched off the side, but it was such a wonderful smooth crossing it wasn't a problem... even managed some sleep. We arrived in Portsmouth at about 6.30 am and I was home in time for breakfast and Sunday papers... and a beautifully redecorated bedroom! I'm wilting rapidly now though!

I'm Off...

but before I go I would like to thank you for all the kind and positive comments you have made about my work in the Prism exhibition. I thought you might like to see it hanging in situ. I think the exhibition overall has been a great success with some fabulous work and it has been very exciting to be a part of it.

Tomorrow we go and take the exhibition down and then on Sunday I'm packing my car and I'm heading off to Jersey for the annual Jersey Textile Showcase. I've got a week teaching six different workshops on ...

Beaded Cuffs...

Tyvek Triffids...

Tassels, Cords and Beads...

Sock Monsters...

Button Babe Brooches...

and little Bonded Books.

Plus I'm giving a talk, having an exhibition and attending a Gala Dinner as well as hopefully having some spare time to explore Jersey... meanwhile leaving all my men at home to cope on their own! Please don't have too much fun without me this week. I'll see you all when I get home

Prism

PRISM 2009

Headline: A Sense of the Moment

An Exhibition of Textile Art

3 - 7 March

Mall Galleries, The Mall, Trafalgar Square

Moments passing

Moments captured


Fragments of lives

For me the title encompassed everything that is transitory in life - we live now, in a moment and the past has gone and cannot be recaptured, tomorrow has yet to happen. Similarly, newspaper headlines seize the moment representing a snapshot of life.

My portraits are natural, impromptu snapshots of people going about their lives. Different people, different ages, different lives, moments captured against a backdrop of world events.

Taken from drawings made on trains, at airports, in waiting rooms and cafes I have translated them into stitch, free machined onto a background of sheer cotton, superimposed with newspaper headlines from the past couple of months.

Three panels, each approximately 1m x 35 cm

Private View is this evening


And I'm there all day on Friday, stewarding.


Do come and say hello!

This and That!

First of all thank you to everyone who left such wonderful comments for Sam on my last post. They were passed on to him and very much appreciated. I've not been very good at replying to comments lately as I've been so busy but they are always read and appreciated so please don't stop!

***

As I'd mentioned more surprises in the mail and some more great work from students I thought I'd better show you. Toffeeapple, who won my last giveaway, had offered to send me some doll hair, so what a lovely surprise to receive these fabulous auburn curls and also some rather swish buttons and sequins. Not only that but she also sent me some seeds to grow some yellow chillis... if I'm successful in growing them I'll show you! Thank you Toffeeapple!


Last week I also received this very well made Wiggly Bag

accompanied by this super post card. Now this is a bit embarrassing as I don't know who sent it. The signature on the card says Pat but I know quite a few Pats and I don't know which one you are... if you are reading please comment or email me so I can say thank you properly. It was very kind of you, especially as it was sent before Christmas and got returned before being sent again.

My Tuesday students have also been busy over the past few weeks. We did stitching on Kunin felt a few weeks ago. Kunin felt melts and distorts when you heat it, but the stitching resists the heat and these are one or two of the results. A bag....

a glasses case...

and a little box.

The same class also made books with me the following week and these are the results - all very different but all beautiful.

And finally, although we didn't make these in class, Jan used the techniques learned when we were stitching on metal to make these two fabulous caskets.

In the City & Guilds class I teach, this term the students have been working hard on various samples and design work based on colour, but there is nothing finished to show yet so these are a couple of pieces based on texture from Pam O. Wonderful textures!

I've been working too... getting ready for Jersey which is just a week away and also for the exhibition next week. But more about that next time!

My Son - the novelist!

There were lots of things to blog about this week - more things arriving from fellow bloggers, more fabulous work from students, even work that I've finished but it will all have to wait. Because today a parcel arrived by special delivery containing several copies of this:


Sam's book has finally been printed and is now on sale. A slightly (no... very) surreal but comic tale of crime, superheroes and Stoke on Trent! Available here and here.

Very, very proud of you Sam - such an amazing achievement ... a published novelist at the young age of twenty three! And if you want to read more about Sam - you can do that here!

Only a brother would point out that in the photo of Sam the book is by Muel Morris!

Blogging Kindness!

A couple of weeks ago at an Embroiderer's Guild Regional meeting, I met Sharne. We know each other from pre blogging days when she'd been a student in a couple of my classes. I'd brought some knitting with me and we got chatting about the knitted cake I'd made and Sharne asked if I'd seen the book "Twenty to make - Knitted Cakes." I hadn't, the conversation moved on and I forgot all about it. So imagine how thrilled I was last week when a copy of the book arrived from Sharne - a totally unexpected and wonderful surprise.

Thank you Sharne - I think it's fantastic!

Doughnut anyone?

After the baking fest of last week these calorie free cakes are just what I need. Only another nineteen different cakes to make!

Changes

One of last week's problems involved the future of my degree. As of next weekend Opus will no longer exist. A new school, The Julia Caprara School of Textile Art is being established and all current degree students with Opus are being asked to transfer. As with any major change, there have been many queries and questions, not all of which have been answered, which has resulted in a great deal of uncertainty. To say that I felt unsettled was an understatement. I have thoroughly enjoyed the degree course so far. The content has been both interesting and stimulating, the level of tuition has been outstanding and I have started to gain a confidence and direction in my work that has been lacking in the past. So to think that it might not continue was disconcerting. But amid all this, the new module also started last week. I'm studying Embroidery in its Social Context, which will involve lots of research and finally a 3000 word essay. So I thought the best way to deal with all the changes was to get stuck in with the research and yesterday I took myself off to the V & A for some serious studying.

It has always been one of my favourite museums but I hadn't realised the wonder of its textile collection before. In the textile study room you can take out tray after tray of old textiles, to study at leisure, to draw and photograph and to stare in amazement at the beauty of some of the pieces. This is a sampler that dates back to 1598, the earliest sampler in the V & A collection. The detail and the stitching are exquisite. I wonder what Lucy Bostocke who stitched this would have thought if she knew that over 400 years later people were studying her work in a museum!


The piece below is a blackwork coif (cap) stitched around 1600. Again the stitching is tiny and perfect. I can't imagine the hours of work that must have gone into completing this.


This is another coif dating back to about 1600 but this time in whitework. More exquisite stitching and in amazing condition.

And below is a stomacher dating back to the early 18th century. It is worked in coloured silks in long and short stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch and back stitch on a background of linen.

I sketched and photographed so much more but still only looked at a tiny part of the collection. I could quite happily immerse myself there for weeks. Do you think they would let me move in?

I experienced a landmark moment on the way there. I got on the crowded underground train at Kings Cross and a young man offered me his seat - one of those designated for the disabled or elderly! Initially I declined but he insisted so I smiled and graciously accepted. That was a first... perhaps the grey hair isn't such a great idea after all!