Two things at once

Bit by bit, my fabrics are leaving the premises. The stash has reached the point of paralysis  - not only do I no longer know what I have and where it might be, but I know it would take another two lifetimes to "use up" all the fabric. 

As I rummage through this or that cupboard, I find useful things - fabric and UFOs to give to Project Linus, for instance, and potential tablecloths, like these -

The turquoise tablecloth-to-be will need a colour catcher each time it's washed, judging from the one used in this wash!

At the same time I'm getting out quilts of various sizes from this century and even from last century. Of course family gets first pick, so these are some of what's left -

In one of the many plastic bags I found a coat lining, of an old fur (second or perhaps third hand, of course) from my cold-winter Canadian days. The label says it was made in Halifax (looks mid-century); the lining is silk and the interlining is a fluffy cotton. "Prairie points" finish the edge of the pocket, a nice touch -

 I kept the pocket and the label, and the discarded lining was later joined by other "rags" for recycling. It's getting a bit easier to let go of things. (At last!)

A friend came in search of patchwork fabric. There were many glad cries and appreciative murmurs as we went through the drawers one by one -

Note the tidy appearance of the red and green drawers. They've been like that for about three years, untouched. I haven't had the mental energy to start a new project and choose fabric for it...

But as we move to the blue and yellow drawers, things get a bit more chaotic -

Faced with another, daunting project with an upcoming deadline, there's nothing I'd like more than to get those drawers into perfect order! Of course, once time is available again, I'll have lost interest (been there, done that, still got the mess...).

A big bag of fabric left the building! -

And now, "What Was I Thinking" -

Looking at these, I came to some private decisions about this work, if "work" it is, rather than practice or play. The upshot is, it was fun to do and I did it in hope of it turning out surprisingly well. We live in hope, do we not! And if reality proves otherwise, there is no shame in sending it to landfill; even a charity shop would send it to landfill. I can't think of anything else to do with it -

"Crazy" sweet wrappers

Some of these might have become Bookwraps
(I made 120 or so for the Guild tombola in 2013;
enough is enough)

Samples and dead ends

More samples and sadly-dead ideas

Anyone want a beaded table runner??

At time of writing, fabrics in heaps and bags are everywhere. You hear about the lull before the storm, but this is the storm before the lull.

An hour or two of tidying and bagging should sort out most of it, and there might even be time to "curate" some ziplock bags of "craft fabric" for the charity shop or the quilters' bring&buy.

And the quilts pulled out for a fundraiser ... those need to get sleeves, labels, prices ... tomorrow ...

Poetry Thursday - by William Carlos Williams, and Wendy Cope

Found in Junior Voices: the second book (1970)

To Be Closely Written on a Small Piece of
Paper Which Folded into a Tight Lozenge Will 
Fit Any Girl's Locket

Lo the leaves
Upon the new autumn grass -
Look at them well.!

-William Carlos Willliams (published as part of the poem sequence “Broken Windows” in the March 1919 issue of Poetry)


The way the title fits (or not?) with the poem brings to mind this poem from Wendy Cope's eponymous first collection (1986):

Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis

It was a dream I had last week
And some kind of record seemed vital.
I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem
But I love the title.

Woodblock Wednesday - light, colour, towers

This week is half term at Morley - no class - and I've not done anything during the week, apart from following #mokuhanga and #woodblockprinting on Instagram. And keeping an eye out for likely subjects...

For instance, the illuminated tower at Imperial College has given me some colour ideas -

But what form would the tower take (and would it even be a tower...)? Another illuminated tower encountered recently was this one in Amiens in October -

... and of course there are thousands of images here.

Which brings to mind the tower that Yoko Ono designed for an island in Rejkyavik, in memory of John Lennon. This work of "land art"  was opened on 9 October 2007, John's 67th birthday. It's a simple upward beam of white light, modified only by Iceland's atmosphere and weather conditions. It's visible every year from 9 October till 8 December (the date of John's death), and from Winter Solstice (21 December) and into the morning of the New Year (1 January) as well as the first week of spring (20-27 March), the dates of John and Yoko’s wedding and honeymoon. The phrase "Imagine Peace" appears on it in 24 languages. You can add your wish via the Imagine Peace Tower website.

But I digress.

Drawing Tuesday - Tate Britain

With no agenda for the day, I was drawn (somewhat inexplicably) to August Blue, painted in 1893-4 - "one of the many pictures Henry Scott Tuke painted of boys bathing around Falmouth harbour, an activity that was common at the time". Perhaps I was intrigued by the green shadow of the boat on the blue water and the way the body and reflection of the boy in the water interrupted it.

 Getting the sizes of the boys, and the form of the standing boy, into proportion and place was "interesting" - and not completely successful ("must try harder"...) -

I stepped away from difficulty and into enjoyment by going on to collect boats (but not boys!) from other paintings -

No such problems for Jo, who obviously enjoyed collecting animals from various paintings -

Judith chose several sculptures, among them St John the Baptist by Arnold Machin, 1944 -

Sue was drawn by the colours in Philip King's "And the birds began to sing" (1964) -

 Mags studied a sculpture by F.E.McWilliam from various angles -

 Joyce rendered the bronziness of Henry Moore's "King and Queen" -

 Carol focused on one ship in "A man of war firing a salute" by Charles Brooking, 1750 -

Extracurricular activities - a flurry of paper folding and pop-ups, from Joyce -

 and Judith -

Mags' daily sketchbooks continue, augmented by an afternoon drawing in the Ashurbanipal exhibition at the British Museum -

Which hazel?

Among  the scents of spring is that of witch-hazel (Hamamelis).  At Kew Gardens, I had a good sniff of the various kinds planted near King William's Temple (built in 1837).

The "chinese" variety (H. mollis) has a strong smell of oranges, and looks very orange too -

Hamamelis x intermedia -

 "Rubin" -

 Japanese witch hazel (H. japonica) -

 Appropriately, this is Sunburst -

 Frederic -

 ... and Diane -

All very fragrant.

The name has nothing to do with witches - it comes from the Old English wice, meaning bendable.

Topical application of a decoction has been used to treat swelling, inflammation, and tumours, but drinking it is not advised.

In lieu of Studio Saturday - blizzard books

Another book from the very short book making course at Morley - this time it's a blizzard book, a structure invented by Hedi Kyle one day when snow kept her from going out to her job.

This - made by Hedi herself - was our model, with lovely envelope interiors tucked into the "pockets", and cover made of painted tyvek (I think) -

 A biggish one and a too-small one, which looked a bit like a fierce bird with a ghostly body -

By the end of the evening I'd made a few more, and cases for them -  and happened to have my "blizzard box" with me to add to book-storm -

Micro-decluttering

It's those little bags and folders of "selected items" that are the stumbling blocks, isn't it? They bring up memories and doubts and oh-so-many decisions:

Keep or bin? 

(a) why didn't I bin this before?

(b) can it go in the bin now?

(c) why not?

(d) ok, I'll keep it for a little while longer

Where to put it?

(a) with similar items, obviously

(b) I have some of those, where are they now?

(c) ok, start a new folder - and label it

(d) um, what to call it....

(e) ... and where to keep it till those other items turn up ...

Yesterday I tried to deal with a little folder of papers, and a bag of WIPs.

First out of the folder was a leaflet of Carol Waller's designs - I did a course with her at West Dean, quite a while ago. Take a photo, bin the paper, enjoy recalling the experience. My dye-printed fabric from that weekend is ... somewhere ... and I'll deal with it when its turn comes ...

 2010 and 2011 is the date on these receipts from cafe tills - "art school" days, perhaps from exhibitions seen with classmates, or a Sunday-morning cultural visit with Tony. The paper-dolls are probably left over from a book I made when in the throes of a health scare, which went off to some themed collection. More memories - and I can't, quite yet, throw these away ...

The blue blob is intense scribbling with biro - how it distorts the paper!  It was brought on by seeing a huge sheet of biro'd paper, by Jan Fabre, and it went into the bin -

 Mark-making on linen with various types of thread - from my "overheard conversations" project (unfinished) ... something I'd like to continue (the other bits will turn up one day, and these are pinned to the design wall ... which will get cleared off, one day ...

"Pictures cut from magazines" - as with postcards-bought-at-museums, and magazines themselves (though less so, recently), I like to hold these in my hands, and to have a heap of them to riffle through. Knowing "it's all online" is NOT enough!

 Bonus - the back of those images hold surprises ...

Now for the bag of WIPs - unfinished quilt tops, quite small sizes.

Unfortunately this one had some marking (food? rust?) and a torn place at one edge - looks lovely wet, with the sun shining through though -

 These three might end up as Linus quilts?

 And these two date back to last century, in fact to the late 70s -