let joy be unconfined

These are my Gaiety Girls for the next show in September. The exhibitions is called Concepts and Meanings so I have blathered on about Joy and togetherness. Goodness knows if they will be accepted.

I made them empty headed, feeling that when one is really joyous thoughts are not very coherent. Perhaps I should have called them Ecstasy [take that Spellchecker].

I am not in favour with the Great Panjandrum + committee that runs the group.

We have regional groups under the great ?umbrella and my group keeps suggesting we should also do smaller regional exhibitions, which we set up ourselves. This is not acceptable as we may not keep up "standards"

I have said before how much I hate committees and groups haven't I?

Well when they don't agree with me anyway.

I wanted to submit my "apologies to Tracey Emin" piece as it fits the title so well. However I showed it at a small village show a year ago and Everything in this next exhibition must be New.

I was so tempted to sneak it in, but the nervous energy I would expend worrying about being accused of deception decided me against it. Shame, I doubt it will fit in anywhere else in the area. The village were rather alarmed last time!

Why do some peeps revel in rules and some people hate them?

back to front

I am stitching this for the next show, but discovered, as so often, that I preferred the back. Doubt the jury will however.

Stewarded all day on Saturday for the current exhibition, drove there in a storm, drove back in cloud bursts, bored all day. Maybe I should change my life.

Lots of bods came in from the rain, and we sold lots from the shop ["inspiration packs" and small items, but only good old Fossils and the Reflections piece pictured in earlier blog have sold so far from exhibition room.

Partly maybe from the pricing war members had, which has resulted in some works going [or not going actually] for £400 or £600
The venue is good but we are unknown, so unless there is an budding Audrey Walker or Alice Kettle amongst us i doubt we are worth collecting for big bucks.

There is still a lot of talk that each work took weeks to create, but it is not piece work, if we catch an individuals eye that's good. I was pleased to get £175, that's a lot for anyone to shell out.

I wouldn't have sold at all if I had more wall space, but then I am a smug retiree with a couple of pensions coming in to support my habits. As long as the country doesn't go broke of course.

If we were in London, or other big city, we could sell for more [have to with 100% commission] but a wet afternoon in Suffolk countryside, maybe not.

And maybe we have to be a bit more adventurous in our work, more aware of the zeitgeist..........

Some of the ex-Young British Artists have moved this way it seems, doubtless they can still bring in a small fortune for a video installation or melted plastic dolls but they are out of our league.

Maybe the reverse of my work is worth a small fortune!!

bummer

These are some of the works at the exhibition and the other is a Hollyhock and bumbley that is all Nature's own. You can choose which you prefer. I have started a hollyhock piece, but it is a sad reflection and as for the bumbley I wouldn't even try..............

I go back to steward on Saturday so hopefully will get more pics.

Went to hospital today for a check up on why I have an ache in my bum, after what the doc did with her finger I now have a reason to complain. I suffered [a little] so I thought i would spread the pain!

The fun time that young Rupert M is suffering must also be a pain in his bum, and well deserved. Such larks!

country pleasures

Sadly yesterday RP's car decided that it needed immediate medical attention, but being a thoughtful old car it declined near enough to the local garage to chug onto the forecourt, where it expired with a cough and an amber flashing oil light.
Leaving it in the warm oily embrace of the mechanics we had to decide how to get home.
Phone ma and get rescued, wait for the 2 hourly bus [due in about half an hour or so] ...........brightly I suggested we walk home.
We had come out for a walk after all.
Nearly three miles down a country road, lots of interest in the hedgerows, quite a few obliterated furry and feathered creatures. Death defying encounters with white vans, tractors, lorries .............
We just beat the bus to the outskirts of the village [late as usual] arriving home sweaty but unbowed.
Today we have an extra member of the family, Jpeg, a very enthusiastic black lab [is there any other kind?] to walk for a while. Her owners are off for a few days, so we are dog sitting. She is eight and built like a pile of bricks with gleaming little brown eyes peering out of her huge head looking for food. Any food, anybody's food.

Fossicking Fossils has sold, which is a bit of shock, especially as it is to another member of the textile group.

Somehow selling to someone I know still doesn't reassure me that it is of value. A total stranger being willing to pay for it is much more reassuring.

Still, this way i will be able to go and visit the piece at their posh cottage in Cley, as long as the sea erosion is kept at bay. [or in the bay].

chew the cud

The Retired Person's birthday treat was to drive to Bedfordshire and join the queue to a Model Railway exhibition.
Lots of battered old figures safely in their boxes.

Makes a change from my stitcher groups, tho it did occur to me that it was somewhat the male version. We had booked into a 14th century coach house, expecting to be actually sleeping in some kind of motel annexe, but the room was so dark and small we gathered ourselves onto our hind legs and walked out. Very grown up.

Fortunately we found a brighter whiter hotel room in town and could stretch out and watch A Murray losing at the tennis.

The next day should have led us to a nice hotel and similar, but we had run out of chutzpah and eventually after hours trolling round country lanes found ourselves back home. I get so Bored just sitting there, Retired Person is quite happy as he is busy "doing" something [driving]. I am an ungrateful cow, but at least I am back in my barn.

Delivered my stuff to the meeting prior to exhibition. So boring and yet stressed at the same time. I was either sulking or getting shouted at for interrupting the co-ordinator. Guilty.

I quoted Nietzsche as "we hate the thing in others that we fear most in ourselves" which raised a laugh at least.

Read a smashing book this week [cheapo paperback - Skippy Dies" by Paul Murray. It was good to have something to read that was a bit more meaningful than my usual crime but it has left me a bit mournful.

Better not to think really. Trains and stitching, stay in the box where we are safe. Not shaken or stirred.

Finished the Family Tree.

Looks Ok, a bit less like a lollipop.

I am going to hang it like this, i.e. with out any background. It is very light and hangs from a green gardening stick thingy attached across the back.

I stuck it all onto some craft vilene to give it a bit of gravitas, the kind of stuff used to give bags or belts some stiffness.

made by hand

Trundled up the A14 to see a small but perfectly formed exhibition of Patchwork City and Guild work. As you can see patchwork and stitching [embroidery] have moved so close together they are almost incestuous. A Quilt is defined by stitching together 2 or more layers and these days the stitching is probably the focus.

This heavy duty example was by Clive, one of the few men partaking, and highly valued as rare of the breed. He has an excellent eye and an adventurous style so he will go far, pursued by adoring acolytes no doubt

There were a couple of traditional quilts, which colourwise were very enjoyable. But the quilting fabrics are specially stocked to mix and match now, which has somehow taken the excitement out of finding materials that work well together.

Barbara produced this rather poetic vision of a forest. She was so delighted to have actually made a completed project, from a standing position. She had never really sewn before, and felt she had never really made anything before. So satisfying to see anyone with that glow of achievement.

This one was based on research into a brickyard I believe, and glowed with gorgeous colour.

This birdiewasn't anything special, just happy.

stitched up

I am afraid the three fossicking fossil panels combined against me and are now one. Went and sawed off a bit of dead tree to hang them from [well Retired Person did the manly work]. There were three dead elms down by the river, bleached white and bark-less by the wind, but we could only reach the lower branches so not quite as dramatic as I envisioned, but maybe they will clean up.

Here are the four books, each with a page of each of the 24 members. I realised after hours of faddling trying to get something interesting from some printing on fabric that actually i should have chucked it and done four fat ladies instead. But you know how it is, hours spent - so hard to chuck.

And this is the Family Tree, very much work in progress. I would like to stitch a wise old saying about trees...fruit....women.....on the trunk, if anyone has any suggestions. All I can think is "the fruit never falls far from the tree" but not sure is it is sufficiently gnomic.

more cold comfort

It is so cold and wet today, I have on jeans, socks, long sleeved T, cardi......knickers and glasses to complete the set, and I am still chilly and disgruntled. Can't possibly put the heating on, it is Flaming June.
Have been finishing the stitching on Fossils, and trying to pin them straight on a backing piece. Growl, I am not good at straight. Ta for the positive thoughts, I need all the buttressing I can accumulate, as do the Fossicking Fossils.
Have an idea re a Family Tree........thought i might cut up into leaf shapes some prints of the usual suspects and, and add some lacey leaves, and make a tree thingy. I keep reprinting out old pics and then getting stuck as to how to move on. Matriarchs from the past glare at me and I wilt.
Told the exhibition committee it might be ready by 7th July, as I haven't actually started, in a scissor snapping way, that doesn't seem likely.
Auntie Cinders tells me to put on another jumper and get on, doubtless they were colder and miserabler in the war, so no arguing.
She has been having a new gas fire fitted, but they lost the original connection bit, so could not proceed as it was obsolete etc. Finally found it on the mantelpiece, Auntie had looked for a candle holder and found the exact round metal thing.
Haven't got anything to read either. Finished Fifth Witness, Ok if a bit irritating, and the new Donna Leon. Thought one of the plot devices a little unbelievable, but I have no doubt she found the story of the crime in a newspaper somewhere.
Spent some time thumbing through Kindel, what a lot of books, most of which I have not heard of. When I read the reviews it is like looking for a comfortable hotel, many dissatisfied users.
Watched the end of Shadow Line last night, not sure I understood who was doing what to whom, mostly shooting each other, but there was some killer acting.

hot day

I live near a fairly small "market" town; I was going to say we don't have much of a market any more and likewise not much crime.

Then I remembered the recent serial killer.

Anyway this was a quick smash and grab that I stumbled across this morning while wandering around looking for something to edge my fossil strips. [I merrily cut them into 3 long strips without leaving margin allowance] so need tofind a way to finish them off.

The robbers presumably grabbed some expensive looking watches that are usually smugly laying on their velvet cushions in the window. Not sure how they got away from the hue and cry as it is a pedestrianised zone, but I guess if they are dastardly thieves they may break other rules too.

I finished the 4 books I have to make for the next exhibition.

We each had to make a sample of work 2"x2" some notes about our prowess and 4 attractive covers. Not my favourite occupation, so the stitching looks a bit sulky. We are charging £15 and pooling the money between us, haven't booked any away days on the proceeds!

Pic will follow but Retired Person, who does the technicals, is a bit sulky too. It is hot and feels like there will be a storm. He has been trying to expell the grass that cemented itself between the flowers in the drought and has got rather irritated, understandable.

So a grumpy couple.

The cat is happy, it is hot and he is asleep.

fossils

Thought it was about time I looked at some stitching. Small persons don't leave a lot of gaps in the day. I am/ was working on a piece for a Time and Tide exhibition, so thought i would do fossils.

I have three skinny panels now - not really sure how to present them. I made them by rollering paint and stuff over a lace doily and moving it about to make a background. Then printed some fossil type things and sort of stitched around. Everyone seems pleased with me that I have made something subtle for a change. Poo.

This stitching group is having a fit of the knipshers about what to price our work at. I suspect they think i price too low, but I do want to be affordable. They had a big meeting where they agreed we should charge more I think, I dunno I didn't go.

"Hell is other people".

I once worked at a psychiatric Unit and the chief assured us that "Life is other people". Hmmm perhaps.

Tempest 2011 Highlights

This is my son, he's the handsome one, mostly withou a cap. Their pool team have won it seems.

Yes, of course, he got his head stuck in his potty. We had to cut him out.

evidence

no place like home

Back now from sea-side holiday with DD and GG. Lovely weather but mood swings from squally to moody, mostly because young people these days seem to live their life on Facebook and there was no WiFi or even phone signal.
Even GG was disadvantaged as the TV signal was crap so no CBeebies and only 4 snowy stations, g'ma had to watch Eastenders thru the blizzard. I saw far too much of Spiderman and Mona the Vampite DVDs however.
Also! the beach was very stony which led GG to demented aerial warfare, so we travelled in-land to castles and lakes with swans.
Castles were appreciated muchly but swans were also in aggressive mood and knocked g'ma over when I was trying to show GG how they wouldn't hurt him.
Returned early to the comforting presence of technological toys and real + virtual friends .
Aggers the cat is not amused, he preferred the quiet and regular meals provided by next door.
Test Match started today, delayed by downpours, Aggers thought it amusing when Aggers the commentator was drenched as he watched the toss.
No comments please.
Auntie Pauline in Canada [87] joined Uncle Ron last night. I don't think they will get on. Ron was very slow talking High Noon Gary and Auntie P is where I am supposed to get my impatient tongue from. She is the youngest sister, so some comfort to ma and Cinders that they are winning.
Ma has gone up to London to inspect the Olympic Stadia today, you can't keep her down for long.

say cheese

song

90 years

It all went fabulously well and I have the aching neck muscles to prove it, I was rigid with nerves.

But great grandma, me, Daunting Daughter and Glorious Grandson [+ Retired Person of course] had a celebratory lunch at Jimmy's rare breed farm restaurant and walked the environs without mishap.

Jimmy provided a disgusting little cake for the 90 year old to blow out her candle and we all ate lots of Meat and highly coloured creamy things.

The walk round the estate was lovely in the afternoon sun, lots of little piglets and goats and chickens running around having a good time - for now. The nonagenarian led the way all round then refused afternoon tea and went home triumphantly clutching her cake. We all flaked out a good job well done.

The Glorious Grandchild has landed. We have been sleeping in my work room. He and Daunting Daughter are upstairs still asleep.

I am trying to work up the emotional strength [and physical] to go up and wake them and get everyone out the house in time to pick up mother for her 90th birthday lunch. Wish me luck.

taking the bins out

So the Bin-man has finally been binned. For what good it will do, and probably a lot of bad. There's a lot of legalised murder around, but i guess there always has bin. It's all very sad and totally outside my control, even if we get AV voting. Which we probably won't.


It seems to me that most men favour first past the stupid post and women are more inclusive, but I may be wrong. Picking up daughter and GG on the day, so must remember to vote, fore or aft.













We spent the weekend at a textile printing workshop, very amiable and peaceful.



















































in the main, tho tutor wanted us to make strange little vessels which I wasn't up for, tho others were braver and persevered with the origami like folding involved

She did show some stitch samples which I liked however.

It has been relentlessly sunny so it seemed a shame to stay in the village hall for two days, but it seems there is more to come. Poor dry garden. Son reports that San Francisco is fine too, which must be pleasant, but he has split up with his girlfriend so he is not enjoying it much. If only we could organise our off spring properly, either that or live in blessed ignorance like my parents preferred.

Daughter may get to see some bluebells if she gets over her jet lag in time.

Alternative Royal Wedding

For those who didn't get to see the Great Day, this is probably more fun. I did sit down and watch Kate and Wills become the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and even sniffled a bit at times.
The Abbey looked magnificently Gothic, but a little strange with trees down the aisle. I suppose Charles had to have someone to talk to.
The fascinators were amazingly huge, sitting behind what with the trees must have been very arboreal.
Apparently when Charles comes to the throne, if ever, he won't be a Charlie, it is thought to be an unlucky name for a king, so he will be George VII.