Work in progress

Caribbean beach.

Same beach as the above photo.

This is a sample which I am currently working on. The design is based on the Caribbean photos above. I took the photos myself whilst on holiday, and is rather an experiment in using sheers and playing with texture.

Octagon and square quilt - in progress.

This next quilt is a hand sewn project. I'm really not sure what the eventual size will be, or even how I will quilt it. Still, I am enjoying playing around with the colours in my quilting cottons stash.

January 2013 Journal Quilt.

February 2013 Journal Quilt

March 2013 - Journal Quilt

April 2013 - Journal Quilt

These are the first four of my journal quilts for this year. My theme for the year is "Shadows and silhouettes". It has been a good excuse for messing around with different printing styles and applique. I am woefully behind, however and need to start the May and June quilts. However, the work being done on my Horizon quilt is taking precedence. Ah well, I might just be able to catch up by the next deadline - the next four journal quilts need to be completed by the end of August.

Book construction and bead soup.

The book is a series of parts at the moment. This is part of the collection of pages I got through the Traveling Pages Textile Book Page swap. You can see more about the whole project here.

I love the texture of the different pages and the way their edges have been finished.



Here is the bead soup. Not sure how I shall use these beads yet.



The last collection of materials are these ribbons. I'm not entirely sure how to use these yet. I do have an idea of weaving these around the uprights I am using as the "spine" of my book. However, it remains to be seen whether this will work or not.



I am adding these uprights to each of the pages. They will form the "spine" of my book.



You can see a little more here. This is the front page. The back page looks exactly the same - well, as nearly as I could make it. If you would like to read more about how the page was constructed, please read more here.

There are just two more pages to go and then I can sort out the spine and get weaving - literally.

Exploring and learning new things.

I've been away. On holiday. Short notice as usual, a last minute decision to go away for a few days. The cats were not impressed, but forgave us a soon as the next mealtime came around.

(Outside display of a small shop in Nice. The steps you can see were those of the alleyway leading up past this shop.)

(Picture taken while the ship was in Ajaccio, Corisica.)

An amazing experience. We went on a cruise in the Mediterranean. Its the end of the season there, and we were very lucky with the weather. Taking advantage of any trips offered, we visited Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Girona, Palma and a quick tour of Corsica!

(The gardens in front of the casino in Monte Carlo. I just loved the use of the mirror in the fountain. It is reflecting an image of the casino itself.)

This photo is the Duomo in Florence (Firenze).

I later found evidence of knitting in Firenze! I didn't see any yarn shops though.

Some delightful carving on the side of the Leaning tower of Pisa.

Blocks of marble at the port of Cittavecchia, From this port we went to visit Rome.

This marvellous marble floor is that of the beautiful Pantheon.

A wonderful mix of the ancient, the old and the new.

Our only bad weather arrived in Rome, when it rained. It didn't stop us having a really interesting tour around the city. There were also a couple of nights when it was a bit blowy at sea, but even that wasn't much. As I mentioned before, we were very lucky with the weather.

The following photo is of a gorgeous tile floor I saw as we passed through a narrow alleyway in Girona. The house was being renovated.

This amazing building is in Ajaccio. The Post Office occupies the ground floor.

The last few photos were taken as we walked around Palma, Majorca on our last day.

This building used to be the Grand Hotel. Its now a Library and Civic centre.

This is the floor inside the entrance of the Museum of Modern Art. The building can be found in one of the alleyways up in the old section of Palma. We found an interesting temporary exhibit of Picasso's drawings while we were there.



My last photo was of one of the private courtyards to be found in Palma. The gates were being rebuilt, and so we had this delightful scene peeped at through some railings.

We saw so much that I really couldn't explain it all to you. It's such a special experience to wake up every day knowing that the ship has arrived somewhere different. We shall try to return to Rome and Florence again one day - these places are so huge and there is so very much to see. Girona was quiet by comparison. A lovely place to see. Corsica was amazing. Now that is another place I would love to return to, perhaps to visit Sardinia as well.

As you can tell, I took loads of photographs, mostly following my own fascination for texture and colour. The colours were so bright and gorgeous.

I promise I shall get back to the textiles next time.