This one is a bit clearer.  The sunflower is flat and the leaf is curled up.  the fantastic holes in both are made with the soldering iron, and you can see in the petals of the sunflower how part of the petal has been snipped away to create differing areas of transparency.



And this one is really rather arty - you cannot really make out the different flowers, but I actually like the photograph.

But then I got thinking a bit more about curled leafs.  And I have also done another small quilt, this time a proper quilt (in that there are layers of fabric and wadding) with curling leaves.

This little quilt was done at another workshop, this time at the Nimble Thimble in Buckingham.  the tutor was a lady called Ferret (yes - I am not making that up).

For Judith here is a detail of that quilt too.  The leaves on the main quilt were simply quilted and then painted.  The textured leave are two layers of fabric joined by bond-a-web and then stitched onto the main quilt.  All the fabric was hand dyed, but some of the attached leaves also have additional painting.  You can see that the leaves begin to curl a bit.  The overall effect is reminiscent of autumn leaves so the curling is a lovely affect.


So, if you are inspired by And Then We Set It On Fire and want to have a go (once the turkey has been cleared from the dining room table, the washing up has been done, the presents opened and, in our house anyway, the dog has been walked) these might inspire you.  If you are a bit unsure of the techniques I have described, do leave a comment and I will try to explain them better.

Last Friday I was up and tippity tapping on the laptop before even the dog could be bothered to stick his nose out from under the blanket, and this week is just the same.  What is it about Fridays?

It's dark outside, the orange glow from the street lamp was permeating through the curtains and my mind was racing so much that once awake I was wide awake.  So now I have a warm coffee to set me up, my to do list by my side (all work) and my laptop balanced on my knee.

The highlights of this week have been the Daughter has been staying with her new dog, Koda.  Now Whippet X does not really like other dogs, with a few noticeable exceptions.  He has a particular aversion to spaniels of all shapes and sizes, staffs, Labradors (except Oscar), Floyed (the big standard poodle here in the village), puppies, other whippets, anything snack sized and buzzy - you get the picture! It is probably true to say that we have a 'bit of a reputation' both here in the village that I stay in in Northamptonshire and at home in Hampshire. So it was with slight trepidation  that I said yes to Daughter visiting with Koda.

But Koda is a delight - Whippet X has adopted a stance of stoic acceptance of the 'if I really must' variety - with a bit of nose curling and tooth bearing if Koda has overstepped the mark.  But Koda is just 'whatever', doesn't rise to the bait and just gets on with it. It has been a joy to have him.

  He is demolishing a chew here while Whippet X is under the dining room table working very hard on his 'if I really concentrate hard enough the young upstart will disappear' look.


Meanwhile, Daughter has been working on some dolls.  I have featured a few of her dolls before.  She usually uses a combination of cloth and air drying clay but the latest dolls have real porcelain heads that she made at college.  She has been painting them while here, and is now on the body.




She is a member of a great site called Cloth and Clay Dolls and, if the link works, you can find more photos of here work there.  I am not really into dolls, but there a quite a few doll makers in the states, a few here in the UK and at last years Quilt Festival there were a couple of doll entries.

The other highlight of the week was that I bought a Christmas present.  That's me all organised then!!

On my own creativity front though I am afraid I have been very remiss.  Dogs, work, daughters - it has all been a bit of a distraction.  But I have Saturday to myself and a bit of quiet sketchbooking is definitely on the cards.

The Workshop Sale is an institution!

For over 20 years a group of crafts people and makers have been getting together in East Dulwich to sell their wares - samples, old stock, bits and bobs etc.  Over the years there have been some fantastic bargains.

And for the last 10 years I have been helping my friends Rob and Andy of Rob Turner China.

This year we were in a new venue - fabulous Push Studios in East Dulwich - and it really worked!  We had a very successful day on the china stall!  And other people also had a good day (including the fabulous Linda Miller, but unfortunately I did not take any photographs of her stall).

Now how did that happen?  Earlier this week I overslept, and I haven't done that for years and years.  Even the dog overslept!

So here I am, six in the morning with my first cup of coffee, the washing on, the dog still in bed and at my laptop.  Perhaps I woke so early because I think I may be having a mid life crisis!  I bought a lipstick yesterday evening in House of Fraser in down town MK (great for shopping if ever you find yourself on the MK grid network, and like me from time to time, unable to escape!).

So what, I hear you cry, a lipstick?  Get a grip woman!  Lipstick is allowed!  Well this isn't just any old lipstick.  It's red, and by red I mean Kirsty Allsop on the front of her craft book red!  (Have you seen that glamour photo?) Or on the front of that magazine.


Well now, I don't really look like our Kirsty.  For a start she has a few years on me (in the right direction, if you know what I mean) but the picture above gives you a hint of the transformation I hope to achieve with the red lipstick.  But, I don't have a professional make up artist to hand, nor an air brusher, nor a professional hairdresser (for goodness sake, I cannot even blow dry my hair without looking like some thing that has been dragged through a hedge!)

This weeks highlights (in no particular order - you can work out their priority!!):-

1. Bought a new dress (hence the lipstick!)  I never buy clothes unless from the local charity shop and on occasion a quick whizz through M & S because my work skirts are falling apart, or Sainsburys because I love their long sleeve tee shirts (they look pretty fab with a belt!) 
2. I got my registration form for the Bletchley Park quilt show in on time!  It's real now. I have a number!  This is a moment of quiet panic!  Is it good enough.  One of the phone boxes is on the squiff!  This is because the Whippet X was not being helpful and trod on the whole piece before it was stitched, and I had not noticed that it until I held the whole thing up the other day.  (If I was a proper artist, or did not need sleep! I would have made a number of pieces and then chosen the best - ah well, self doubt creeping in.)
3. I found how to create a fabulous new Gantt Chart on line using Team Gantt.  OK I don't think many quilters use Gantt Charts, but in real life I have a heap of hairy new projects which somehow have my name on them, and I needed a tool to organise my thoughts (and keep the boss happy!  He likes a Gantt Chart!)
4. Son No 1 has been accepted for a static at Fashion East next February for his A/W 2012 collection (what collection - he is still working on samples for S/S for ASOS!!)   This is a whoo hooo moment!  A very whoo hoo moment.  They launched all sorts of young designers - Gareth Pugh anyone?  
5. And tomorrow is the annual Workshop Sale in East London when I don a pinny and help my good friends Rob and Andy on their fabulous china stand. 
6. I bought some Christmas cards!
7. I have been loving the fablulous work over at Six and Friends and Flextiles.

Apologies if you stopped by my blog today and could only see one photo for the Bletchley Park entry!  When I posted the blog yesterday all photos published fine, but when I popped in this evening (and how lovely to find a comment!) most had disappeared!  Now how did that happen!!??

Anyway, I have reloaded them.  Let's hope they can last the course this time!

If you have popped by you may see from the blogs on the LHS that I follow Angie Hughes.  She is one of my heroes - being one of the people responsible for setting me on my creative path.  There is a whole 30 minute programme on Youtube which features Angie.   I know that some people who have stumbled across me do not live in the UK so may not have met Angie.  Well this is not quite as good as meeting her, but I think it is possibly the next best thing!

And finally, if anyone reading this is in London this weekend, and specifically south London, then you might be interested in The Workshop Sale.  Its on Saturday in East Dulwich.  Its a fabulous event (I have been going for the last 10 years - I help my good friends at Rob Turner China) and has a few textile persons - not least the wonderful Linda Miller - a recent star in the Kirstie Allsop craft series.

This one was taken in Axminster in Devon (actually, is it?  Or is it Dorset?).  OK - it was the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall cafe.


This was in Trondheim in Norway.

The back of the house, very ordinary looking but it has been insultated and insulated and insulated some more.  At first floor level cork insulation was used and then cunningly disguised by very thin bricks, called brick slips, so you cannot see it.

These really are 'brick slips'.  The loft extension you can see behind was built in a factory and then delivered on a lorry.

This is the high tech 'shed'.  It houses all the gubbins for the Air Source Heat  Pump, which works a bit like a fridge in reverse and provides all the heating (no gas central heating).

And the furniture has all been bought at charity shops or retrieved from the local dump.  All upcycled!

While the main 'Bletchley Park' piece is coming together, in my head at least, I thought I should turn my attention to the background.

I love rummaging through charity shops - they can be a great source of fabric, particularly cheap fabrics for dying.  We have a great little chain around here, The Willen Hospice shops. And in the spirit of thrift and re-use, which remains key to the Bletchley Park piece, I turned to charity shop treasures.

Actually the men's shirts I used did not come from the Willen shops, but never mind.  I cut them up (backs, front panels, sleeves) and then dyed them in containers -  you can see from the pictures that even the dye containers stick with the re-use/upcycle theme.  I stuck with the procion dyes I have been using to colour the background pages.

This is a very random and serendipitous process - as you can see from the results below.  I scrunch the fabrics up, pour on concentrated dye (I dissolved the powder in warm water) and then top up with the fixing solution (soda and urea).  I don't want the complete contrast of tie dye, but I want a blotchy sort of background that I can further pattern.


Meanwhile, it has been another busy week of house guests, so I have had limited time for much more work other than a bit more doodling in the sketch book.  This time I have used handmade paper (from a stash I bought a couple of months ago at a shop that was closing down).

I like the effect of this - the paper 'rings' around the printing.  I think you will see this technique in the final piece (if you're new to this I am using communication as the focus of my contemporary quilt with the old computers at Bletchley Park inspiring patterns that will creep into the piece).

 The only other distraction this week was Kirstie Allsopp on TV last night.  It was lovely to see Linda Miller and for some of her work to be shown, albeit briefly.

As well as Son No 1, daughter is also a bit of a creative type.  She is doing an illustration degree at Portsmouth Uni.  She is not so much a 'drawer' as a 3D illustrator and she has let me share the images from one of her recent projects.




I cannot share the exact techniques with you, other than to say that she uses air drying clay a lot.  This particular doll was modeled over string to give the doll flexibility at the joints.

I have helped her make dolls clothes in the past .  Dolls are so fiddly because they are small.

 I love her work and hope you do too.

There are lots of blog posts to catch up on, and I am sat up in bed with the laptop ready for a good bedtime read, but before I do, just a quick catch up on Bletchley Park.

There was a fabulous documentary on BBC2 this evening about the unsung heros of BP, in particular Bill Tutte, a brilliant mathematician who worked out how the Lorenz encryption messaging machine worked (and co-incidentally ended up in Canada after the war - but that's another story) and Tommy Flowers, a GPO engineer who designed and built the first computer, Colossus (because is was so big), which was used to decode the Lorenz messages.

These two men achieved quite astonishing results but had to keep their wartime achievments quiet, never truly revealing all that they had contributed.  For both this must have been so frustrating, but for Flowers in particular this must have really hurt for while he invented the first computer he had to remain silent when, only a year after the war ended, the Americans announced that they had built the first computer.  One reason for his silence was that 2 of the original Colossus machines were transferred to GCHQ after the war ( which became the secret service listening centre) where it was probable that they were used to decode Soviet messages.  It has been suggested that as they swept through Eastern Europe, the soviet forces would have captured some of the German Lorenz machines, which were used by only the very highest ranks in the German forces, and then used them during the start of the cold war era.

The piece is formulating in my mind.  I have not done much since the weekend, but I have prepared two backgounds.


Here is one of them on the (well protected) kitchen work surface.  In the spirit of thrift and makedo and mend I am not buying any new material for this quilt and this background is tissue paper bonded to calico with a mix of half water, half PVA glue and then, while still wet, dry Procion Dye powder is sprinkled onto the fabric/paper.

I then used damp cling film buffed with the back of a spoon to make the powders spread across the paper.  This is a technique I have used before and keep coming back to, despite other experimentation (and the purchase of that book on backgrounds.)

I have also been playing with those lovely fluid metallic pens again.  I love the effect close up, but the picture below shows how the digital camera is such a friend to the artist - they just do not work in this photo.  (But I do like the effect of the writing in the back ground.  This is taken from letters home written during WWII).


I have also been playing about with discarded packaging - here using wrapper for fresh coffee.  Although it does not work here, because the silver of the pen is lost against the 'busy' background,  I like the effect and think that this material will find a place in the final piece.
But this I really love.  This is the rather unpromising print block using the classic Gilbert Scott telephone box as inspiration.  I thought there would be too much 'red' - but I really like the slightly quirky final effect.  Again, definitely one for the final piece.