Green / Best-laid Plans

Of mice and men..

Got up very late, as not feeling well, and had bad dreams.. Nothing to do with the colour thing, which is proving pretty satisfying so far.  Not quite as good as my Week Of Trees last year, but still worthwhile.
Went shopping, and found these lovely plants in Morrison's car-park. Note the touches of red, which are inspiring, and thought-provoking.

Someone's tastes have changed

So, two more postcards of a recycled persuasion (green!).  Painted patchwork which I note has old pink blanket as batting..

By this time it was lunchtime, and I had my usual salad (note the red bits again, a theme emerges).
(I have much the same salad every day, but the cunning arrangement of the camera and the cropping of the image leads to an exposition of the colour theme.  Blue is going to be tricky) Note the 60s plate, rescued from the dump (green!)

Over lunch I finished reading this book, by Janet Twinn, which arrived on Monday from the Library in utterly timely fashion. It's an interesting book, and like all good books, much too short.  There are the usual "colour wheel" parts which I skim, and quite nice explanations of various printing, dyeing, and painting techniques, but the most interesting parts for me are the images of the work and the close-ups of technique and stitch.  The book itself is nice, too, having a solid feel, a rather nice cloth cover and good print quality.  I may actually buy it..

Back to the Best-Laid Plans.. I was intending to make small pieces of a saleable quality, several, green, maybe with a touch of red.. But when I got in to the workshop, the chaos was unfeasibly bad, so I had to tidy up, answer the phone a lot (sales, though..) and find a space to work in.  This took half the afternoon, so by the time I started I'd lost the thread, so to speak.. And I'd found this piece of printed fabric that is everything I had in mind except it's not small.  So I layered it anyway and started quilting it with lines in a smudgy green thread.. I have some ideas for more detail on this, more later.  I have decided that I'm not done with Green, so I'm extending it to tomorrow.

 Quilting in progress

 This small piece of screen-printed fabric qualified as a failure the first time around.  Interesting technique, which unfortunately isn't terribly nice when it's done.. Then over-printed with the moon and sky, which is better, but not quite...

Definitely improved by the addition of some sewing.  It will have more quilting and a red binding tomorrow.  It does have the merit of being small.. The little red tabs are a new idea.. I like them a lot.

Last of the day, some City Lights blocks

And a perfect beetroot leaf.
Oh, and John fixed the gas struts on the car, so no more stick-to-prop the boot.. Yippee!
Sleep well, more tomorrow

More from Bewleys Hotel

 Floor in the lobby.. Lovely tiles and symbology

 

And this magnificent steed awaits a rider in the front garden

Day One of the Knitting and Stitching Show was pretty good.  We met quite a lot of new and old friends and sold a fair  bit of stuff.  My new items are getting a good reaction, so I'm happy. And the restaurant is good...

Week Of Trees Day 6 and a slight setback

...being a painfully damaged muscle in my left calf, caused by getting off a chair too precipitately.. Sometimes I forget that I am no longer 24 and superfit. Must work on that.

Anyhow, I got the sun onto my Green Tiger piece and started adding trees (see image) (I think this may be called "Burning Bright"). Digressing a little, I find I have no problem naming work - it sometimes happens that I have a name and make the piece, more often I reach a point somewhere in the process of making where I am Suddenly Certain of the name. Only once or twice have I named things and then changed my mind (one piece from my last exhibition was hung as "See where it gets you" but has become Lime-kiln Country). I'll try to post an image tomorrow....

Anyway, I went shopping and for a coffee this morning at Baileys in Beccles - quite the best coffee in town, good service and a certain Spanish Something, did a little mooch and came in to work full of inspiration, only to have a totally interrupted day - customers (real ones!) and the phone, and visitors (not unwelcome) and what with one thing and another, I was just thinking nothing good would come of the day when I sold this piece (finished at 10:30 last night) (which hasn't been named and now probably won't be) to a nice passing Londoner.. So my tentative design of having all this week's work on the wall together has come to nothing, but hey, the money is much better...

Now I'm going to nurse my leg and skulk a bit in my boudoir (from the French "sulking room") which is where I compute, make indoor mess, and occasionally take in trousers for the man in my life (because I NEVER do alterations where anyone else can see)...

Sleep well, more tomorrow...