I really must keep up with posting here.  I am trying to work out a way to combine my blogs – I feel I am compartmentalising  rather than presenting a whole, something I am familiar with in terms of my thinking.  However, I am finding it much more difficult than I imagined.

In the meantime, here are the quilties :

May theme was free – I decided to use some multi-dyed cotton cut into strips, woven together again into two pieces, the one placed diagonally onto the other …then the stitching – my favourite part.

June theme: Birds, Butterflies and/or Bees.  I chose birds – this one may look very familiar if you followed the sketchbook entry – i took it directly from one of the sketches – it works for me!

A small group of friends decided we would set ourselves a sketchbook challenge.  That challenge was to fill a small (A6) sketchbook in seven days.  We could choose our own theme and work in any medium – the only proviso being that if anyone used photos in their book,  you would have to do three sketches to each photo used.

I chose to go with a theme that arose in a spread I did for the soul journal project which is “In Gaia’s Garden”.   It is a theme I will continue to explore and develop, definitely using some of the ideas that were very quickly put to paper during this challenge.  I haven’t included every single page of the sketchbook as there is a fair bit of repetition.

It was a great idea and a good experience – one I shall certainly do again.

seeds couched on leaf rubbed linen

ivy outline on leaf-printed paper

seed opening-earth

air

wood

Sister Circle

seed-human doodle

thoughts on healing hands

more playing with the human/plant connection.

That’s it ……….seeing these again fills me with ideas once more – ideas sketchbooks are definitely a great asset.

My contribution to a book made for a friend who was not at all well – many friends made pages and the book was an absolute beauty, the recipient was more than happy with the surprise .

The quote I used on the back is one I love and one which said what I wanted to express:

“Each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this meeting

that a new world is born”

Anais Nin

I have been neglecting this blog for far too long, mainly because I have been concentrating on the story cloth quilt I am creating/obsessing on, apologies.

However, I didn’t realise it had been so long since I had posted here – well slap my wrists!

So, what have I been doing?

Firstly there is this:

A page for a friend’ s Travelling Colour Journal.  I chose green….this was way back in February.

The monthly quilties continue on Unlimited Textiles.  This month’s theme being ‘Abstract’;  this is my offering:

I have been absent and for that I apologise.  I am totally consumed by my Land of Dreaming project and reacquainting myself with the mythologies and Goddesses of my homeland – I am engrossed and loving it .

The latest posting for this project is

here

Enjoy

An extremely belated new year posting.  I hope this year has begun in the way you each wished for.

I have been very quiet – well, silent here, but I have been creating.  Back in November I embarked on a new project, a call from the Wild Mother – Baba Yaga (one of Her many guises) it was who summonsed me to the Land of  Dreaming.  Initially I thought this would be a written and illustrated journey, however, shortly after starting it became very clear how I wanted to visualise and interpret this.  My chosen method is a story cloth – a quilt if you like, but not a traditional one.   As my thinking process progressed it became clear to me that I wanted to journal/log  each step of the way, so I have set up a blog specifically for this piece of work.  The background, the thinking process, the making of the cloth itself and the beginnings of the journey are all being logged at:  The Land of Dreaming.

I would be glad if you would join me there as I proceed.

I will continue to post work from other projects here, but have a feeling they will be few and far between – I am so engrossed in this and want to see if I can really focus charting each step of the way, right up until completion.

This month’s theme is Winter – no suprises there.   I decided on a Solstice-type interpretation.  Many layered white fabrics, stitching with dashes of silver here and there.

Some days I wake up and just feel so happy to live where I do:

Outside my front door the early morning mist is clearing.

The carpet beneath my feet out back.

A couple of overnight visitors have been busy.

Glorious sunset.

The theme: The Latin American Way.  My thought: bright, bright colours. My interpretation is of an aztec or inca sun symbol which I stitched in place, then quilting the ground cloth in a spiral.