Tuesday morning ramblings!

On my last post I asked the rhetorical question 'Why do I blog?' -I asked this because lately I have been a bit short on creative time and that can create a slight feeling of internal panic.  Asking the question helped put things all in perspective.

And quite recently one of my textile heroes (dear reader, you may be aware if you have been paying attention, that I have heroes) asked her readers if they liked her blog and what should she include in the blog.  I read it fascinated, but did not respond - I just thought I would see what, if any, turns she took.

And then yesterday, said blogger - Kit Lang - entered a new blog piece.  And wow, what a story!  Go and read it!

So yesterday, over a quick coffee in the office, I googled Angelique - the girl behind Kit's blog. And what a fascinating story - and there is a big question - 'Did she even do it?' (Go read Kit's blog to find out what 'it' is)

It seems to me from what I could glean yesterday that this girl, Angelique, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was a 'problem that some one wanted to solve'. To think that the whole case seemed to hang on the testimony of a 5 year old, and one who only came along a bit later, and then a confession being obtained by the most horrendous torture ( I found a description - I rather wish I hadn't) seems so wrong.

And that got me thinking, how the hell did our ancestors manage to live with any sort of conscience in such times? But they did - and for us all living now we can give thanks every day that we live in a tolerant society - albeit on occasions a flawed one. That applies to the UK and from what I know of Canada, to Canada too. There are still parts of the world where women are treated as chattels, where to be gay is the equivalent of a death sentence, and where to be of a different ethnicity is cause for additional struggle.

Like that other great challenge of our times, climate change, it can all seem a bit 'too big' for us as individuals to address but the work that people like Kit produce reminds us all that there is still a fight to be won.

Who said quilting was just some gentle past time?

On which note I have started to think about my next pieces.  I am going to enter the 'Journal Quilt Challenge 2013' run by Grosvenor Shows.  The theme is Memories in Black and White.

I'll come back to this topic - it has been milling around in my mind - but last night I thought I would make some backing fabric.  So out came the PVA glue, some random wrapping tissue paper, and a bit of old white cotton I had lying about.

Basically, I mix the PVA with water and then spread it onto the fabric (if you paint the tissue it just tears) and then gently stick the tissue down on top.  You don't have to be too particular with this, as the wrinkles in the tissue adds interest and texture.

And then I dropped black Brusho ink powder through a tea strainer onto the wet tissue (giving it a bit of a blast with water to help spread the powder a bit).

When it is dry I will cut it up into A4 size.

And finally, don't you just love a conker! (oh, and I'll come back to that image in the background).