Evening Corners of my home.....

Every now and then I take random photos indoors as I always find that looking at these images is somehow different to how I see things when I just look around my home....if you know what I mean....it's like seeing through new eyes I guess. Here are two corners of my work room, taken in the evening with one small electric light.

Evening

Hickory - Dickory....

A tidy worktable and an antique dolls bed...

After two overly busy weeks the worktable was a mess, and it really did feel as if my mind was going in the same direction.....only a little while back it was all neat...and I photographed it then, but how quickly order desolves into chaos! I find it very hard to work unless things are organised, so this blitz should now lead to productivity....Missy likes it too.....and I am admiring the new addition of the antique  Italian  dolls bed which may become part of a set for photography shortly.....Mehitable ( from the "Nine Lives" exhibition) is sitting on it....I just love the original mattresses.

Missy T has inspected and is pleased with the orderlieness.

Our Exhibition moves to Cirencester.

After showing at the Knitting & Stitching Show in Alexander Palace, then Harrogate and until yesterday at Braintree Museum, we have now taken our exhibition down and repacked it for the next opening at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester.
As you will know, if you have followed my blog, I am part of EAST ( East anglian Stitch Textiles...a textiles and mixed media group of 15) who have a major exhibition every two years. This one is to commemorate WW1 and is called 'Between the Lines'.

 I posted photographs and the story behind my work last year....the medical case with the rats around October, but we were recently asked to make a 'mini art' ...a postcard size piece referencing  our main work which will be for sale at the show, as while we still have other venues to show at this year, our main pieces are not yet for sale. 

The exhibition has been very well received in every venue and we have been almost overwhelmed with the wonderful comments and feedback. It is amazing really how 15 people can approach a serious subject like this from very different angles and with great sensitivity....some had a family link, others looked at the effects on the natural world, then there was the issue of the men, their diaries, weapons and the changing role of women and the environment. 
Here is my 'mini art'.

The panel is made from a fragment of a 19th century quilt which had holes in it from wear. 
tree bark has been sewn on, and  vintage bird to represent the Larks which featured in my theme. hand stitching in crosses and poppies, and beads to show the song of the Lark which " ....rained down on the soldiers faces like golden rain." ( From a WW1 soldiers diary.)

Tidying my work table, and playing a little.

Friends who follow my facebook art page will have seen two of these images recently.....I couldn't resist playing a little with the things on my work table whilst trying to tidy it.
The correct name for this of course is procrastination......putting off addressing a larger project as the deadline moves closer!

Fishy Heaven

Tidy for a while.

Fragment Details, Charity Shop Finds & a check-up.

Just back from the hospital, and my check- up is all clear again....thank you Lord! The next one is in August and I hope the time doesn't pass too quickly otherwise it will mean we are coming to the end of the summer which has not yet begun....and time does seem to go so fast at the moment....also my recent problem with uploading images has now been resolved by using another browser, so that's great.
I seem to have had a few weeks of being out quite a lot ......and yesterday I found some really good & beautiful antique lace in a charity shop....this has never happened in all the years I have been going into them, so it was a lovely surprise.
Because of all my away days there has not been very much time for creativitiy which means I am running behind with certain deadlines and starting to get just a little panicky....however, I'm getting nearer to opening the Etsy shop but "needs must" have driven me to ebay over the last few weeks which takes up a lot of time....here is a little detail from two nearly finished antique fabric panels.....and i'm going to try to get a little stitching done this afternoon.

Victorian quilt and lining scraps, and fragments of vintage embroidery & lace.

 

Little Collages from Ancient Fabrics

It's been one of those times when I haven't been able to concentrate on making, and have also done very little artwork.....life often takes over and much as I would love to spend most of the day creating, but some of life took over in a good way with unexpected outings and visits from friends, a small commission to be done very quickly and a lot of written work, organising and family affairs....and eBay, which as anyone who has worked on it will know is very time consuming.....but needs must if I want to finance my ideas for the garden this year, and I do have lots of bits and pieces that I no longer need. My intention is to concentrate at the moment on selling my unwanted items before Spring and early summer set in, so that I can then work more in the garden and realise part of the vision I have for it and Open Studios.....and continue with this little collection of fabric collages intended for the new Etsy shop.

Plating with some Victorian shells.

Hand embroidered antique Ayrshire Work panel on the lining of a Victorian jacket.

Antique quilt fragment, and the Ayrshire work.

Another detail from the quilt panel & unfinished detail from another.