Finished Palms of Palmyra

I must admit part of the reason for posting little in the past 2 weeks is that I promised myself I would finish all the pieces I had started for my Caravanserai exhibition last year. I had intended to finish them before I went to Europe late in August 2008 but it didn't happen- and then they languished. But I wanted them finished for AQC- and whilst the thought was good, in all reality nothing much was happening on the stitching front at all. The week before AQC I sat up most nights until 2am stitching- trying to get things finished after I got embarassed into doing so- and I got there! The tops were in various stages of preparation but none were ready for quilting, except the Palms piece, photos of small sections which I have shown before- but it needed a lot of hand stitching - a real lot! And then the dilemna became what to do for the binding- I ended up binding it in orange.Unfortunately lutradur does not photograph the best but in the end I am not displeased with the result.

One of the really nice things that happened at AQC ( apart from enthusiastic students) was that Jane Sassaman ,who was one of the international tutors, and whose work I have always admired, made a special effort to stop by my class room to tell me how much she had enjoyed the work in Carvanserai. I have met Jane before and she is very quiet, unassuming even ,despite her very great talent, so I was thrilled that she did- one of the things she said she liked about my work was its simplicity, and its reliance on the stitch for expression, that the work felt uncluttered and expressive of the idea it was trying to communicate- I don't think I could have asked for better comment and it came unsolicited- so has given me food for thought and some fresh enthusiasm. I am considering the fabric steel as an object of memory akin to the traveller's blanket. I have always loved hand made books, have always wanted to make them, have made some, but I kind of feel making a steel of prints I have made on fabric might be something worth pursuing....maybe

And I have to make a quilt for a Climate Change Exhibition which I am a part of that will be shown at Minerva Gallery in New Zealand later this year- Pock Marks in the Ozone is the working idea title. Once upon a time holes in the ozone layer were a big topic- you barely hear it mentioned anymore per se though it is part of the bigger climate change picture and they certainly have not gone away- anyway there are thoughts and ideas floating around- lutradur is demanding to be used because of its layering ability.