Getting ready to exhibit

I'm almost ready....just the second dress to finish and all those last minute fiddly bits, but thankfully all of the making is done...apart from a new piece that I started tonight, but I think I will just include it as a "work in progress" as there will be no time for framing or hanging....also, I'm not sure at this stage what I want to turn it into, so I can relax about it.
I nearly didn't get my cards printed in time as of course the photography had to come first, and before I could do ,that the work had to be finished....I have started to have some weird stress dreams, but the cards arrived today after paying an exorbitant extra charge for speed printing and posting ...another lesson learned!
There are 6 different images I think, but I do like the partial shots...especially these two from the camisole and collar hangings:

Nearly There and Bird Song

I have been doing the boring and painful job of hand sewing bits of Velcro to the tabs of the wall hangings.
My own fault, in complicating things, as they are all to be hung from unconventional pieces of wood, so I had to be inventive!....I now have very sore fingers!
I've also altered one of the smaller pieces that has troubled me for ages....funny how one can know something is wrong, but not see what it is... sometimes for ages...here is a detail from "Bird Song":

Glimpses Again

Two more....I'm looking forward to sharing all of the complete works soon.

Glimpses

Absent from my blog, and working hard to prepare for my exhibition...just one more week to go before installation...and it will be an installation, the first I have made.
I have a beautiful Georgian room, and with the help of my tattered period armchair and some simple props, aim to create an atmosphere in which the maker ( from a previous century) is expected back in the room at any time!
Thre are 11 new works, and all the normal concerns over how they will technically be hung, as some are very heavy, and others are on unusual mounts, etc. but I'm not allowing myself to get stressed, as I know it will all work out in the end.
Just one more dress to make, and I'll be there.
Here are some more glimpses.

Family Sample

Here is a little sample worked as inspiration for the front of the "Mother" dress....loose threads showing that no matter how hard a mother tries, the family can still uravell...but even in the unravelling, love can hold relationships together.
This will go in the glass case along with my sketchbook and some wonderful small artifacts...one is a length of finely knitted Victorian lace which is still attached to the knitting needles.
Things are very busy now as I am setting up work in Slack Space Gallery, Colchester this week, and there are now less than three weeks to my solo exhibition...so much to do...it always feels like it will never get done....here's hoping and praying!

The combination of such ancient wood and antique lace seems just such simple beauty....although the lace, being Victorian, is nearly 300 years younger than the panel.

A Lovely Mother's Day At Cressing Temple

It was so peaceful to walk, sit and meditate in the walled garden at Cressing Temple Barns, with my daughter in law on Mother's day...just the little break needed in the hight of all that has to be done towards the exhibition.
I love walled gardens, and now have the inspiration I needed to change mine.Now I know how to replace most of the lawn...I shall make a small version of a knot garden and fill it with lavender and bee plants...it will take time,but then anything worth doing takes time...one day at a time is the way to tackle anything when the task seems too great to begin.

Detail from the new "Quilt Fragment"

A detail from the "new" Quilt Fragment".

Work In Progress

After the sale of the "Quilt Fragment" last year, I have always intended to make another...certainly not the same, as I don't do that, but one that also told another story.Here is an image of the work in progress...It is now finished, but I won't be able to put final images up untill the photography has been done, and I may leave it untill the exhibition opens. The panel with the glove is NFS, so it is ok to be up here.