Busy day at the gallery
February 10, 2012
As promised the visitor numbers have been increasing as the end of the show draws closer. I only got a chance to get a picture as we were leaving this evening. I've been very pleased with the response to the show. It seems that most visitors have found something to inspire them. I've also got a surprising amount of little quilts made and again, the different patterns and styles all seem to have found their fans.If you would like to see the show your last chance is Sunday, which is also trading day. The show will be open 10-4, admission 2.50 and free parking. Well when I say free parking that's not entirely true. The organisers will be paying the parking for you, because a lot of visitors have been upset by the pay and display system. It does however mean less money will be donated to charity so I have mixed feelings about it. Tonight Susan and I finally got a chance to sit, eat and chat. I made us dinner in the van, and I think she is now sold on my van. 3 course meal, very little effort and even less washing up. I love the posh bags of dinner that are so easy to heat. She had venison and juniper stew while I went for the beef stew, we both had chocolate mouse. The mouse is meant for camping but it's really yummy. I only allow myself to eat it when I am living in the van and I do look forward to it. While I was moving things around I found the toffee chocolates Ricky Tims gave me. Oh boy! I might have to go to La Veta just to get more, they are amazing. He did say they were good, but even so. Yup slumming it in the van is great.
Tiny quilts
February 9, 2012
Those of you who have seen me out and about with me machine will know I doodle as much as I can on it to show people what I do and how the machine works. In the past I just worked on a single big piece, which to be honest I would have stuffed in a cupboard until I threw it away. Fortunately my visitors showed me the error of my ways and the play pieces became art in their own right. So, this time I am making all my demo pieces about A4 (they are actually a little bigger) and cutting them out as I go. This works much better. As I thought it allows visitors to request specific designs and it means they can take it away immediately.
Quiltfest – Llangollen
February 8, 2012
Well guys time is running out. My exhibition at the International Pavilion Llangollen is drawing to a close. It will be open Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Today, talking to some of the visitors I realised it's going to be a very long time before my work is this well displayed again. It is so rare to have the very long sightlines that this venue provides. We have deliberately kept the center of the space clear so you can really step back and see the quilts from a distance. For my more traditional quilts this isn't important but for the art quilts it's wonderful. Oddly today has also been the first day when most of the visitors had seen pictures of my work before coming to the gallery. They found the quilts to be quite different in real life, that really makes the effort worthwhile. Putting on a show like this isn't easy, either as the organisers or the artist. It means a lot when the visitors appreciate the end result.
Fur, feather and scale workshop
February 7, 2012
I'd forgotten to share some pictures of Irish ladies hard at work in their class on Sunday. This workshop is a pure technique class, where students are loking to create the effect of different textures using just fabric and thread. It's a class where it is very hard to describe fabrics that are especially good. Fortunately most fabrics will work for at least one of the textures so I just need to encourage students not to worry too much. After all, whatever you take to a class you will decide someone else has better fabrics and that the 'perfect' fabric is the one you left at home. Given that will happen no matter how much you fret and stress you might as well skip that phase and just relax.I think that will do for now. My main course should be here any moment and if the starter was anything to judge by, it will deserve my full attention.
Carrickfergus
February 5, 2012
This is the castle we went and visited yesterday. We didn't have time to go inside, but it's pretty impressive from outside. I really like the way it fit's into the rock. The castle was built by the Normans and overlooks Belfast Lock. It's a shame the weather was so muky, the views here would be great on a clear day.
Snow – in London
This is a picture of my car. I am currently still in Ireland which is definately not cold enough to have snow, but tonight I need to get back to the gallery in Llangollen. I really hope it will hold off the snow there until I get back.
Ulster folk museum
Todays talk was in the parochial hall at the Ulster Folk museum. The museum is a collection of period buildings preserved as they would have been 100 years ago. It's the sort of place I cn spend hours in, although I would rather have had better weather. I am sure it looks lovely when it isn't raining. Two of the houses were open and had their stoves lit. One of the homes had patchwork quilts on the beds. Apparently the offcuts from makeing pajamas and shirts were often used to produce bed quilts. The other quilt was from suiting, I wonder if those were also left overs from the factories. The second house was bigger and more up market. The back room downstairs was set up as a dressmakers workroom. She had the most amazing dummy to work with, it looked corsetted and bustled. I would love one.
As well as the houses there are businesses. We had lunch in the tearoom, visited the picture house and the sweet shop. Sadly most of the others were shut, but I guess that just means I need to come back in the summer. Just as well as we also visited Craftwomen fabrics. Oh my! Just as well I have limited luggage allowance or that would have been a serious shopping trip.
Liverpool
February 3, 2012
It's been a good day. We had a lot more visitors to the gallery today and many of them have been really fun and interesting. We also had two people who visited by accident. They were there to look at the room but loved my work. These are the visitors we really need as they are the ones who don't know what is going on in the quilt world and they can help spread the word that quilts are more than bedcovers. They were so positive and were a great bonus. The demo panels are selling too, and are fun to make. I guess these ones will be rolled on on Monday so I may cut them off at that point. I'll see how I feel when it happens.I'm now at Liverpool Airport, and it's nice. Everyone is so friendly. I do normally get quite a good response when I wear the coat, but this is above and beyond. If flying was always like this I would do more of it. Maybe the other airports in England should send their staff here for training. Next stop Belfast.
Slumming it in the van
February 2, 2012
A lot of people are cocerned that I stay in my van whenever I am away from my main home. I don't do it because I have to, I do it because I love it. It really is my home now. I have a full kitchen and a wet room. A fixed bed and a permanant table where I can sew. When I can plug the van in I even have space to iron. Tonight I've had a very nice dinner and got a lot more sewing done on my new turning twenty quilt. Right now I am lying in bed watching movie trailers while I blog, oh I lie the menu has just come up, time for a film. Yep, I can take any amount of this sort of slumming 
Longarm in a gallery
I'm all set up and playing. As usual people are enjoying seeing how a longarm works and find watching the patterns appear. I spotted the comment asking where I am, I'm at Quiltfest which is in the International Pavilion Gallery, Llangollen, LL20 8SW. It really is very easy to get here, at least from England and strangely the weather is lovely too. Today is pretty busy so I will cut this short and go back to my machine.