Tea For Three....

Yesterday Natalie and I went to visit Paige. We had a fab day walking around Nottingham city centre. We even managed to find the Cathederal, once inside we lit three candles in memory of my Mum, Dad and Terry. Then it was on to one of our favourite places "The White Rabbit Tea Room", where we had a very scrummy tea for three. 

Sewing day with friends.

Yesterday I took time out from the endless Uni work and enjoyed a great day sewing with my Liverbird friends. It was bring your own sewing project so I decided to make Alfie's clothes. Unfortunately, I did not manage to make Alfie's shirt, possibly due to a combination of drinking tea, eating scrummy cakes (whoops there goes the diet) and definitely to much chatter, I ran out of time. I had a fab day, lots of laughter as usual and amazing company. I am truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful bunch of ladies. Thanks Janet for arranging these wonderful sewing days. 

Now for something completely different: Comments:Please note, if you leave a comment I always reply to you in the comment box below. However, my lovely friend Lin has advised me that sometimes people may not always know this. She has kindly shown me how to reply to people who leave comments, on my blog, by email in my blog settings. Fingers crossed, we think it has worked so in the future if you leave a comment my reply will go to your email. Thanks for all your help Lin. So please leave a comment so I may test this. I look forward to hearing from you all. X:)

October Regional Day.

Last Saturday (11th October) was regional day, the speakers where, Gillian Travis and Val Jackson. Both are amazingly talented textile artist. I have met Gillian a few times at FOQ and I have to confess I adore her work.  I've even bought a couple of her kits, some of you who read my blog, may remember the Indian ladies and more recently Kira, both Gillian Travis pieces. I have to confess I had not herd of Val Jackson but after seeing her work and listening to her talk I was blown away. I thoroughly enjoyed both speakers and as ever had a great time. I had the pleasure of sitting by my friend Jackie Martin and two of her friends, who just happen to show me a challenge they had done in their group. They had made the most adorable little sewing purse/pouches out of a circle and half a circle, Such a simple but extremely clever idea. I tried to discretely put Jackie's in my bag but my cunning plan was foiled and I had to give it back. For days I have fought the urge to raid my stash and make myself one. I finally gave in last night and abandoned the homework to make one. Even though I say so myself it turned out pretty good.  Considering I didn't have a pattern and only my memory to rely on (not alway a good combination). These will make great little Christmas gifts for several friends I just have to find the time to make them!

No time to be unwell.

Yesterday I was feeling very frustrated with myself because I am full of cold. I have so much work to do and this nasty cold is slowing me down.  However, I was determined I was not going to lapse on my daily drawing but could not decide what to draw. My last couple of images have come from photos which made me realise I'd not drawn anything from life. The nearest thing to hand was my uni rucksack so I dug deep and out came the brolly. I have to say it was challenging to draw but I did it, (pat on the back for me) well almost, didn't do much shading towards the nose as it was late and I was getting tired. Feeling a little better today I am hoping to pick up the pace a bit and get back to the research. Hope you all have a creative Sunday.

Daily Drawings 2 and 3..

Well so far so good with my daily drawing challenge. The last two pages are of thistles which I have taken from the images in the book I got the other day, Nature Notes of  Edwardian Lady. After I had finished today's drawing I felt that the thistles seemed lost on the white page so I decided to add a wash of colour, which I then carried across to the previous days page. I love the subtlety of water colour paints. I have had my little pallet of Windsor and Newton water colours for many, many years. However, I think the time has come to replace some of the little pots as tonight I noticed I was scraping the bottom of the ultramarine blue and the sap green.  I can feel a trip to the local art shop is called for.

World Wide blog hop.....

Oh dear I am so ashamed, last week I was asked by a wonderfully talented lady Lin http://stvictorquilts.blogspot.co.uk/ to take part in a World wide blog hop. I was very flattered that she asked me and I said yes. I was supposed to do my post on Monday and I completely forgot all about it until I have just been reading my friend Lin's blog. Lin I can not apologise enough. I thought maybe better late than never so here goes. 

What have I been working on?
Sadly I have not managed to do any sewing over the last two weeks as I am now back at uni and I have very little spare time to sew for pleasure. I am currently working on two new briefs the first is designing 4 D Shaped flags for a Festival. Whilst the second brief is all to do with the Language of Text, Typography in Textiles. The latter is in its early stages so I am currently researching and looking at other artist who use text in their work. My research took me to China town on Saturday where I took several photos.

The Chinese Gates Liverpool.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Err. Can I ask a friend as I'm not sure I can answer this? I don't compare my work to that of other quilters or textile artist I just do whatever grabs my creative attention at the time. I might see a quilt in a magazine or book and think mmm I like that I think I'll make it. I watch endless You Tube videos mainly on art journaling and mixed media and I think ooo I need to get my paints out and get messy. At the moment I like to mix the two together in my fabric postcards.

Why do I create what I do?
Oh that's easy! I simple love being creative because I enter a world of imagination and endless possibilities, a beautiful escapism. I have so many things that I am passionate about, (please do not confuse this with "I am good at" Noooo :) quilts, drawing, painting and crafting.  

How does my creating process work?
I am a great believer in the Sketchbook. Now I know its not every ones cuppa but for me its my bible, a life line of thoughts and ideas. I was introduced to using a sketch book when I did my City & Guild in Patchwork and Design in 2004/2008. I was totally hooked and Ive kept one (OK maybe several) on the go ever since. Some ideas materialise, whilst others may never see the light of day. This is how "The Balloon" quilt began its life, as a little sketch of a rabbit in a sketchbook.

 Well folks I hope you will all forgive me for not posting my Worldwide Blog Hop last Monday. A big thank you to Lin for nominating me.  I have not nominated anyone to join the hop but I can recommend several very talented ladies. If you would like to take a peek at what they do nip over to their blog.
                       

                                                           http://lemontreequilts.com/       

                                                     http://railwaycottage.blogspot.co.uk/

http://laurakemshall.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.co.uk/

http://lindakemshall.blogspot.co.uk/

Is it really October.....

Where did September go? Life is busy again with uni but I was stopped in my tracks yesterday when I realised it was the first of October.  Last month my daily drawing challenge did not go as well as I would have liked so I decided to invest in a new A5 landscape sketchbook and a packet of Faber Castell graphite pencils and start again. Seeing as I don't have any other work to share with you I thought I'd share yesterdays daily sketch challenge. I think there is something so lovely when dandelions start to seed. I like to think of them as little wishes carried away by the wind.