Has anyone else had a problem with not being able to up load images.....I have been unable to upload any for the last few days.....very frustrating as I'm getting ready to launch my etsy shop and none of the suggested hints in the help system seem to work.

A little work in progress

Well, we had some snow and it got really dark so it was comforting to draw some curtains....leaving one open to watch the snow, and do some stitching.

This is another piece of the ancient Durham quilt...a work in progress.
I have added a small panel of Victorian print cotton and quilted it, and have exposed more of the much older pink and cream printed fabric that would have been the original...very pretty quilt before it was covered on the red and white striped fabric, quilted and made useful again.
These layers of history are intriguing, and I love to uncover them and show fabric that probably hasn't been seen since it was covered and worked upon 100 years ago.

Antique fabric and lace, a work in progress for the proposed Etsy shop.

More Fragments...small details from some antique fabric collaged panels.

It's a very wet, grey old day here, but that isn't stopping the birds from singing...but the poor lighting is preventing me from taking as many photographs as I would like.
Here are a few snapshots of details from the antique fabric panels I am making at the moment. Stitching whilst it is so grey and cold .....and now snowing....outside is very comforting.


Blue striped fabric is the lining from a shattered silk Victorian jacket.




19th century Durham quilt fragment with antique tape lace motif and beads.

Fragments of two different antique Durham quilts.

 

 

New year, New Direction and New Work

Like many artists, I do use a sketchbook for each new major project, but unlike many, I very rarely draw in it, preferring to play with and arrange textiles and use photography and my written feelings about the work in hand to direct my sample making.

Along the journey I gather quite a lot of samples, and many do end up living in the current sketch book; however....as I really enjoy making these small pieces, and folk who have seen them seem to like them, I have decided to work on a collection with the intention of opening an Etsy shop in the next few weeks where I will have panels or collages of antique fabrics mounted and ready for framing by the new owners, and also cards with similar, but much smaller panels....these can be framed, or just used as cards...or the samples can even be incorporated into someone else's work, where it would gather more stories and memories.

I only use antique or very old fabrics, as most of my regular followers will know, and for new followers....please go back in time and look at very old posts where you will see the work which has always inspired the use of fragments of very old cloth.
I so enjoy using pieces of cloth and quilts which already may be 100 years old and into their second repurposing, so when I once again reuse them it may be a third or even fourth life for them, and all my stitching is worked by hand.
Cloth and handwork was valued so much in previous centuries, and indeed by other cultures like the Boro textiles of Japan which really started me on my journey 10 years or so as I loved the patching, mending and the over patching and repair of the garments.

My favourite textiles to use will show wear, and I often emphasize the wear, making a feature of it, as it is the untold life and story of other people, places and time.... I will add my work, and other pieces aiming for them all to blend into a new and beautiful whole where it may be difficult to tell which is the original wear and which is the new work.

From November 2013-September 2014 I was on my journey of surgery and chemotherapy, and this gave me much time for thought and from that has come this new work which I do purely for pleasure, which will run alongside, and maybe direct the more serious and research based art works.....here is just a little look...much more will follow soon.

I have also opened a Facebook page purely for my textile art; on it I am registered as Ellen Devall Textile Artist, and my Facebook page web address is:
 https://www.facebook.com/Fragments.by.EllenDevall?ref=aymt_homepage_panel





Some Fragment Panels in the making.

Different styles of work for different tastes.....getting ready for Etsy.

 

E.A.S.Ts New Exhibition "Between the Lines" is now At Braintree Museum, Essex.

I can hardly believe that the last time I wrote here was on October...such a lot has happened since then, and I had already shown images of my work "The Solace of Larks" back then, so I wont repost the photographs....however, I will post the advertisement for the ( East Anglian Stitch Textiles) latest venue for the show at Braintree Museum as they have very cleverly inserted the title of the exhibition into the lid of my suitcase.

Details of the exhibition, cleverly placed into the lid of my "Solace of Larks" piece.

Natures Own Art ...and collecting driftwood

 

I got my scan results....and they are clear! now I can forget all about it until the next check up in February. I've had a bit of a break from making my own art, and gone down to the beach on a rather grey day to look at natures own....it is always the best... taken some photos to use in my  future work ( so I would be grateful if you don't use or pintrest them please ).... here are some of the lovely things I saw:

 

Sea Holly and Seaweed.



Fit for a gallery I think.

Ghost of Sea Holly

 

Seawick in Essex....where nature made her art.

 



More New Work for WW1 Progect @The Solace of Larks'

It was a great feeling of achievement yesterday to have caught up with my blog after 8 hard months, so I will try to keep up with it now. Sometimes I may not have much to write, but " in honour of the faithful few" who have styed with me, I shall keep at it.
When our EAST exhibition ( currently at Ally Pally & Harrogate) travels in 2015, I will have two more pieces of work to go with the suitcase. The first is a wall piece which I haven't yet decided whether it will be framed, hung or mounted....that is always a bit of an issue I think with textile pieces as they are so tactile....to put them under glass is to render them untouchable, but dust free and protected , whereas unframed they can be touched...I don't find the decision easy. Here are some images then of work which will only be seen in 2015...if you share it, I believe you will respect it and add my name to the piece,thank you.

 

 

The panel once again shows the shattered landscape, the crosses for the soldiers but there are now pearls for them too in some of the craters. The Skylark is now represented by two small feathers and there are some red French Knots for the poppies that will grow and blow on the years to come.

The faded red fabric is the right side of the 100 year old quilt which I have used in the lid of the case....it has not gone into holes as has the reverse, but would have been bright red when first made....it was a hand quilted "stripy" Durham Quilt which had been severely damaged.

 

 

The heart is in memory of all the broken hearts of WW1 and was inspired by the pincushions earlier soldiers were either making or purchasing from cottage industries for the wives and sweethearts..

The mother of pearl pendant is Victorian and is a token of both our human love for each other, the natural world and that of our father God for us.

 

 

 



 

 

Chemo Finished & Work @ The Knitting & Stitching Show.

I can hardly believe that it is now 8 months since I wrote about what had happened to me; it has been a very rough ride, the 6 months of chemotherapy were very difficult with some nasty side effects, and a 6 day stay in hospital when it made me very ill....however, that has passed.....I can hardly believe it, and even though I haven't had the results of the scan yet, I am feeling very well and have been getting back to " normality"...if there is such a thing....again, re joining my art group EAST ( East Anglian Stitch Textiles), and going out properly.
For the first few months of the treatment I lost all creativity, only managing to start feeling any inspiration at all, once I had started to do a little bit of gardening and a little bit of garden art by way of making a woven nest for a large stone because my sister said that a certain bush looked as if it should have a nest in it.
Thank goodness I did, because I was committed to finishing a piece of work for our " Between the Lines" WW1 inspired EAST exhibition at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexander Palace and Harrogate in October......and I did finish it...in fact, I am certain that having it as a goal really helped me to stay positive and focus on things other than feeling ill! I have always known that for me art...especially stitching also works as a therapy and I have often talked about stitching myself better.
I wasn't able to steward our exhibition but went up on the coach with friends last Sunday and thought that our ladies, who work so hard to hang all the work well had done a wonderful job....and everyone's work shown to its best.
"Between the Lines" goes 'on tour' in 2015 by which time I will have three pieces ready....I was just happy to have finished the major piece in time.
So, I thought it was time to start my blog again....I think it helps me in that it is another goal and point of focus which will hopefully drive the practical work forward as I have a lot of ideas buzzing about in my head for new work, but no clear direction yet....I know that I want to make a visual journey of my last 11 months of surgery and chemo, but in what form I have not yet decided....I may start with some lino cuts first of little drawings I did in hospital and see where that leads, but for now, here is my work for the exhibition, it is called "The Solace of Larks:


"The Solace of Larks"

 

I needed to relate personally somehow to what I was going to make, and started with my love of nature and birds....Skylarks especially as hearing them every day through Spring and Summer was such a joy and blessing. I started studying the soldiers diaries with specific reference to this subject and discovered that nature and wildlife were of great importance to so many of them....especially the Skylarks as they could sometimes be heard even over the bombardments.....on quote was " as long as the Skylarks sang, we felt we had hope", and the other, which formed the basis of my work was " the song poured down over our upturned faces like golden rain"
At the other end of the wildlife theme were the rats, who were responsible for a huge amount of deaths through disease, but they also provided a great deal of sport as the soldiers would be killing as many as they could in their quiet times and proudly displaying rows of them strung like bunting, so I knew they had to be a part of the piece.
Finding an old First Aid kit, built into a suitcase was the starting point too; it still had very old medical items, and the wooden splints and tourniquets could even be from that era..
I decided to make a textile panel to fit in the lid of the case, which would show the shattered landscape by using tree bark. The piece of antique quilt that I used was already full of holes....like craters, so I filled them all with tiny stitched crosses to represent the soldiers.
The mother of pearl Dove was a very old brooch, and seemed perfect to represent the purity of her and the song in contrast to the devastation and horror below, and gold beads 'rained down from her' over the crosses.

There were three empty compartments in the suitcase,  and I knew that I wanted to make rats to put into these. In fact, the part I found most difficult was the making of the rats....first in finding a fabric that I was happy with and felt I could mould well, and secondly....I had never made animals before and I didn't want them to look like toys....they needed to be a little sinister, but not ugly. After many trials with unsuccessful fabrics I sacrificed a very old black cashmere cardigan which was almost beyond repair, and this worked really well.

Plotting.

 Secrets

 

 





 

 



 

 

Hospital, a shock and a long absence .......

Such a long time since I was on blogger.....in November a malignant tumour was discovered in my bowel......what a shock, as I had been feeling so well and getting on with my artwork, church group, drumming and looking forward to a summer holiday in Switzerland again with my son and daughter in law.
As I write this I am recovering from a third operation in less than 3 months and have 6 months of chemotherapy ahead of me, starting in March.
I have been through some difficult times in my life, and most of my previous artwork has stemmed from those experiences, but I have to say that this has been the most difficult and challenging situation that I have had to face.
Thanks to my faith in God, and the support of family and wonderful friends I have been loved, looked after and have come through the worst part of this journey into a different season in my life, and even though I expect the road ahead to be rough at times, I am facing it with faith, hope and peace....and expectancy that all will be well in the end.
There have been times of great fear, doubt and tears, which I have had to work my way through, and even now there is of course trepidation.....nothing prepares you for this, and the initial disbelief that it can actually be happening to you, and all the questions you ask yourself; however, it is a mountain that you have to climb...there is only one way, and that is forward and up.....with hope I believe I am now on the way down the other side.
I'm not sure how often I will appear on blogger as creativity is only just starting to return to me....but it is returning....the birds are singing and there are signs of Spring and new life...and that is what I am believing for me and this new season....expectancy, trust and peace.

I'm still here

I'm going through a bit of a "health scare" at the moment, so there's been no time for blogging amongst tests and scans. Trusting God, and staying positive whilst awaiting the results, but feel new direction coming in my creative work whatever the outcome.....will hear the findings later this week x

More of Autumn.....now on my kitchen table

     A wonderful gnarly pumpkin, glowing oak leaves and the fattest of acorns.

Autumn at Beth Chatto Gardens

Yesterday was a perfect day of sunshine, spent with a friend in the beautiful Beth Chatto Gardens. I am doubly blessed in that my friend has a yearly ticket, so I am exempt from the entrance charge ( although it is worth every penny), also, I only live 1-2 miles down the road from it.....it always restores my spirit.

 

Beautiful autumn colours.

Contrasts.

Blogger has gone mad!

I really don't know what is going on with Blogger on the Posts List.....it is showing my post 3 times....in part, and in "computer Speak" !! However, one IS the post that I actually have made. ( Unless they only show up 3 times on MY blog list page.....all very confusing!)

"Angel"....and the Kestrel nobody wanted

"Angel" ( and the Kestrel )...the dress which has recently come back home after being part of a Textiles & Wearable Art exhibition held at Slackspace, in Colchester, Essex. A collection of white ethereal garments would look lovely, shown against the backdrop of a green and damp autumn garden, however, how could one ever trust the English weather.

 

A detail from the back of the dress ......her wings...the last of the white Japanese Anemones in the background.....I love white flowers in the garden.

 

Here is the Kestrel that nobody wanted.
 I was at an auction this week, hoping to purchase a collection of antique needlework items, which finally sold for four times the estimate, so I was a little disappointed.....however, a little later on, this beautiful Kestrel came up, and no body seem to want her.....so she came home with me.
Ironical really, as I have a running battle with live Kestrels and Sparrow Hawks as they are often seen swooping into my garden trying ( and sometimes succeeding) in taking poor little Blue-Tits or Sparrows.

 

 

New Exhibition...photographs to follow after the opening.

The poster for a local exhibition due to open this week,
the image is a section of a piece of my work.

Startingto make, again.

Just the start of a dress, the first in two years.

Since completing a large body of work for a recent "travelling" exhibition I haven't really been able to focus on my work and have felt very dry. I know that there are seasons for all things, so I just stepped back and concentrated on long overdue garden work and some writing, but now that I feel restored, I feel that creativity stirring again....but I had to retreat before I could go forward once again.
Also, William....my last, and 17 year old cat has been very ill...he became dehydrated during our heat wave and had to go onto IV fluids for 24 hours; it was a battle, but he is now eating again and so much better, thank the Lord, as it was this time last year that I had to make a very hard decision over his brother, and in all honesty still cant think about Sooty without feeling some emotion.
The "travelling exhibition" finished in June, but I have been asked to show the work in a local venue this month, and I suddenly felt like making a dress to go with it.....perhaps this is the stirring of creativity again, I do hope so as the old saying "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" has certainly been true of me so far this year....I think all the illnesses I had up until May contributed too.
I have been on a kind of "retreat" at home this week....seeking guidance, and peace back into my spirit, and it has been the best thing for me to do.....
We really need to listen to that inner voice, and mine was telling me that in order to go forward, I had to first "retreat".
This will be quite a simple but beautiful garment reusing part of one I made two years ago, and adding the very worn and damaged part 50s petticoat which I shall "do things to" as well....I have always reused fabrics, long before it became trendy and fashionable to do so, usually because I have always been quite poor, but mainly for the love of using something that carries signs of the life and traces of previous owners.
There will also be Swan's feathers which I shall need to go and gather this week, as I only have a few....it will be two bus rides ( I don't drive) and hopes that there will be some when I get there....I shall pick a fine day, and have lunch there too.

still posting corners.....whilst waiting for the Muse to arrive

Small....not so sunny corner of the kitchen.

Third corner of the sunny workroom....William and Mr Spot the Leopard

Distracted by the sunshine in corners of the workroom today

While taking photographs for items to go onto eBay, I was aware of the colours and patterns on the rugs, door curtain and embroidered Arts & Crafts screen......it's funny how we can live with things every day, and then see them in a new light, and from a different angle when we are perched on a chair and the sun is shining on them!

Another corner in the workroom.

William in the sun, in another workroom corner.

Some Swiss Holiday Memories, February 2013.....a sample from 300 Taken!

 

 



Happy to be out for a walk with family.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rushing River with tree icicles

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

Outside a mountain restaurant.

 

Lovely walk near family home.

Over the bridge and walk home on the other side of the river.

Another walk, high up in the mountains.

On the shady side of the mountain.

Two weeks after arrival and signs of spring....but only on the sunny side of the mountains.

...and on a less sunny side....little church.

 

The river was flowing really fast.

The oldest house in the valley....it looks so magical with the unusual spire 300-400 years and can never be sold.

The side of a local barn.

Art on the shore of Lake Lucerne.

Natures own artwork.

Natural art, outside a little shop in Stans.

The side of a private building in Stans, in what seemed to be an artist's area, but all vas very quiet.....it is hard to tell in these little towns just what are shops, and what are homes...they are not at all like our shops.....almost secretive and understated.