Scarf

Well, the next stage of the scarf has been finished.
You will have seen this for the first time here:

http://crazydaisytime.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-work.html

The water soluble has been washed away and the felt slightly felted.

At present it measures thirty-two and a quarter inches long, and just seven and a half inches wide. At this size, it really isn't quite long enough or wide enough to work as a scarf. My next task will be to add some FME (Free Machine Embroidery) lace at both long sides to add width. There will be more lace added at each end. This will then end in a long fringe. See sketch book entry below.

During the week, I also discovered a discarded pair of jeans. These belonged to one of my daughters who had sliced up the sides of the legs, leaving slits around 2 inches in length. I thought it would be fun to cover the bottoms of the jeans with a patchwork of small fabric pieces. This should then cover the slits, leaving an almost-new pair of jeans ..... for me! (Unless they get claimed by the previous owner.)

I have the Easter Holiday coming up soon, so these two projects will make for a rather pleasant time. My sewing machine is back from being serviced (how I missed it when it was away!) and I am eager to start using it again.

Discovering podcasts.

I've had quite an interesting time today. Stitching feverishly to get a piece finished in time to send off, I was able to listen to a couple of podcasts.
Looking through a number of Blogs, I found a mention of this podcast -
http://www.craftcast.com/
Its an American podcast, and well worth a listen. The interviewee was Celie Fago who works with polymer and precious metal clays.
Searching around, I found another podcast -
http://www.theillustrativedesigner.com/
Again, this comes from America. It seems to be intended for artists rather than craft enthusiasts. However the speaker, Stefan Bucher, was fascinating to listen to.
To most of you I will sound really rather behind the times. I had heard of podcasts, but never listened to one. It will be interesting to find out about other podcasts there are which might be out there - to do with textiles. Any suggestions?

I shall post photographs of the work another time - I need to show it to the recipients first!

Dawn.

I got woken up rather early this morning since I had forgotten to switch off the alarm clock. This goes off at 6.00 am during the week. I was struck by just what a beautiful morning it was turning into outside, so made a grab for the camera.

I took the photos from a downstairs window. They show houses across the nearby roads from my own home. For some reason my camera is showing a time exactly an hour later than the photos were actually taken. Sorry they look so dark................

Felt thing.

Well, the felt object from my last Blog posting has now metamorphosed into a "Thing".

It was great fun working the felt, making this shape. I wasn't sure how it would work out. Its quite an interesting shape, though I'm not sure whether I like it or not! I shall leave it on one side and look at it again in a few weeks time. It might sound a silly thing to do, but I find that I can see something more objectively if I do this.

The scarf is still being worked on. I will be continuing the sewing tomorrow when I go back to the Textiles course.

Felt making again.

The Textiles course has start up again after the Half Term and I am back making felt once more. Firstly, I shall be continuing work on that scarf first seen here:

http://crazydaisytime.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-work.html

The current size of the scarf is 35 inches long by 10 inches wide. I plan to add free-machine embroidered lace and fringing to the ends to make the scarf of a useable length. Well, we shall see if it all works out.
The second project is, or rather will be, a three dimensional object. At present it looks like someone has driven over a doughnut.

The colours you are seeing are not quite right here - I have used red, orange, deep brown, mid yellows and a bright green. The size at present is just over 13 inches at the longest point and just over 9 inches across. It has been partly felted and is currently inside out. I have absolutely no idea what it will look like when it has been turned. There is a piece of plastic inside the felt to help keep the shape and to ensure that it remains hollow. It is probably because of the plastic that I cannot get a decent photograph of the reverse side.

Tomorrow I shall get to complete felting this and turn it inside out and shape the openings. I can hardly wait. I am hoping it will turn into some kind of bowl or vase shape............... It could easily turn into a major disaster. I am only partly joking here, since without Ruth's expert support I would not be attempting anything nearly so demanding.

Just in case you haven't seen my other posts about the Textiles Course, this is a course held as an Evening Course by the local Sixth Form College. Its open to anyone over the age of 16 and the Textiles Course is run by Ruth. There is no qualification at the end of this, just the practical experience gained in trying all sorts of new techniques. But then, that's exactly why I came to join.

There are all sorts of other courses being run during the week - Caligraphy, Flower-arranging, Computer studies, etc, etc. All the sports facillities are used for different courses too.

http://www.sjd.ac.uk/

The following link takes you to work I have previously completed during the Textiles Course - Paisley 1 and 2 were done on the course, whilst Paisley 3 was a project of my own at home which progressed alongside the others.

http://crazydaisytime.blogspot.com/2007/01/those-promised-photos.html

Half Term

Well, as you will have seen from my previous Blog entry, it has been quite a creative week. Its been the Half Term holiday which has feed me to get on with all kinds of things - mostly textile-related.
I've been lucky in getting to two exhibitions this week. The first was in Manchester at the Whitworth Art Gallery. This is always worth a visit since it has Alice Kettle's "Three Caryatids" as a permanent exhibit. There is also a comprehensive textile gallery. But this time, I went to see "Indigo". This was quite interesting, especially the Shibori. Sadly, I took no photographs. I didn't like to since Indigo is notoriously fugitive in bright light.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

The exhibition will be moving on to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery from the 19th May until 1st September.

www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk

Then it will mo0ve to Brighton Museum and Art Gallery from the 29th Spetember until 6th January 2008.

www.virtualmuseum.info

The Whitworth Gallery site is wonderful in that you can visit the site and search the collections! One of my favourite pieces can be seen under "Textiles - weaving". Its a small woven panel from Peru. Part of a garment.

The gallery is part of the University of Manchester and as such is a wonderful resource for the students there.

Manchester is one of my favourite cities, with some wonderful buildings. Here are just some of them.

This strange tree greeted me as I arrived on the tram in Piccadilly Gardens, right in the centre of the city.

It has names all round the base, but I couldn't see a notice to explain the significance of it all. The sculpture is very striking. Please let me know if you can shed any light on it for me.

This amazing building is Afflecks Palace. Its a collection of small shops inside, like a market. Its clientele seem mostly to be students. A fascinating place full of clothing both old and new.

This interesting frontage was seen as I walked down towards the University on my way to the Whitworth Art Gallery.


This is one of the main University buildings as seen from Oxford Road. I loved the towers and the roof shapes. The older buildings here are surrounded by some very modern architecture. A wonderful mix of textures.


Finally, my favourite. The red brick building in the centre used to be known as the Refuge Building. It had been built by the Refuge Assurance Company. Today it is a prestigious hotel known as the Palace. The detail on it is wonderful. I only wish my photos could do it justice.

Yesterday, I went to Voirrey for threads.

www.voirrey.com

I got to see an enchanting exhibition of Jenny Dunlop's work.
http://www.artinliverpool.com

Do add the following to see Jenny's wonderful work:

/blog/blogarch/2007/02/artwork_of_the_day_jenny_dunlo.php
Its gorgeous. So bright and gently humorous. Thanks Jenny. I really wish I could have met you.

Blue Shirt Quilt.

It has taken most of the week to complete, but the Shirt Quilt is now finished. It has also been claimed by its new owner.

You will remember that I recently posted about my WISPs (Works in Slow Progress). This quilt was the one nearest completion.

http://crazydaisytime.blogspot.com/2007/01/wisps.html

The first two photos show the completed top and a close-up of the quilting.

The next photo shows the reverse.

And now, the proud owner.

Yes, its Coco. She just would not leave the quilt alone. Whenever I left to do something else, she would sneak back and lie down for a nap.