On my Walk This Morning.

I have no hope of not going for a walk in the morning. The dog is waiting at my door at 6.30 am- waits impatiently for my ablutions and whilst i don walking shoes, and then with great energy pulls me along the little roads of the village across the bigger main road past the village, she looks left and right ( am I imagining this but is the dog really that clever?) and hurtles up the track into the vineyards- then I let her off the leash and she races and runs like something possessed checking every once in a while to make sure I am still following.Today was especially fun , the rabbits seem to be home for the weekend as well- oh what fun to go hightailing through the vineyard chasing bunnies! I enjoy the early morning light on Pic St Loup, watch the growing grapes, keep an eye on the almond tree and plum tree- not quite ripe yet but any day...marvel at snails attached to thin stalks,admire that weeds can make such interesting flowers, back along the country road past the water fountain with it's modern tap trapped within an older shell, and so home, 5 kms later. What a start to the day!!

now to work!

Oh Well

This is the complete quilt In the Spirit of Decoration. Unfortunately  it was not selected in the competition  for the Carrefour this year- wasted some money yet again, for the entry fee.. sigh... I can use it for my book on Syria as of course it was  inspired by some silk I bought in Syria and the beaten decorated copper and silver plates you encounter everywhere .

It is for sale. It measures 76 cm x 129 cm and is made from hand dyed and hand printed cloth from an original linocut- the silver discs have been hand embossed with patterns. It has been machine quilted. The price is 1,000 Euros.

here is a detail image.

Breaking all the Rules.

Reader 300,000 is from Leipzig in Germany- if you know who you are please contact me !

Later in August I am teaching in England before the Festival of Quilts event. The class I am teaching is called Breaking All the Rules. it is possible for students to make a couple of variations and simple colour contrast is used, but I realised that all my samples for this class are still in Australia. So I made this one as a sample- it measures 50 cm by 62 cm. This is about the extent of piecing i do, and it started out as an attempt  to see how far  you could make unmatched lines and still create a geometric effect.I also did some linocut printing in the border areas which created a nice contrast but also an opportunity for some stitching. The dark cloth is actually a deep blue and the red colour just sings in this little piece.

 I always feel this kind of piecing has a very African feel so in that mood I want to share a photo portrait made By Seydou Keita a Senegalese photographer from the  late 1950's whose portraits are just stunning, and of course i did notice that textiles are a very important part of his portrait compositions.

Thank you for all the responses about  freebie tutorials and youtubes. I will keep blogging as always- only 13 posts to go until I hit 1,000 posts since i started. That is quite a lot of photos and work and words!

Fairy Forest

Here is the finished Fairy Forest quilt. I have called it fairy Forest because of the kind of gnarly  trunks of the trees.Initially i did not think the trees were so interesting as there seemed to be truncated trunks but now with all the stitching I like the effect.But this is definitely the last forest quilt I will do! It measures 94 cm by 89 cm.

This piece is for sale for 800 Euros including postage. Email me if you are interested.It's been a very slow year for quilt sales I must admit- i don't think I have sold a big piece at all. Which makes it hard going to make a living .It is just as well I teach.I haven't made nearly enough small work for sale something which I intend to remedy over the next weeks before the Fete de Fil we are doing on 15 August at La Bastide-Rouairoux.

 And I really do wonder what impact all the free tutorials on blogs and youtube have- it seems that everything under the sun is a tutorial now and how will that impact on those who teach- is it a good thing or a bad thing or nothing at all?I am not sure .... I am thinking about this issue as I blog for the Bernina blog where i am making instructional posts.

397 Readers to go until 300,000 readers have visited my blog since i started- who will it be and what can i think of to send....

Absolutely the Last Forest Quilt!

I am one of those people who finishes almost everything I ever start. I am not sure why, it's just one of those things. I can count the unfinished quilts i have made in 20 years of my quilting life on one hand. So the unfinished forest quilt that i found in my suitcase of quilts left in Paye Bas bothered me, despite the fact that i had said i would not make another forest quilt- the piece of cloth was too nice to discard in the corner of a cupboard somewhere. I actually pinned the cloth for a photograph shoot that Editions de Saxe did back in 2007 or 2008 for an article about my whole cloth forest quilts. I had done some small sections of  stitching, so I have been working on finishing the stitching. These pieces take ages as they are heavily stitched and I am blogging about the process of this quilt on the Bernina Blog. I also started out making the red circles orange, and after completing a section decided that the orange was too yellow- so rather than unpick all the stitching I had done I decided to stitch over the  circles in red- the result  of this overstitching is rather nice even if I do say so myself.

It's been so hot- it's just hot and sunny here everyday. I get up early to take the dog for a walk- they say for humans you have to do something for 6 months before it becomes a habit- well i can tell you that for a dog it's nowhere near that time- in fact if I don't take the dog for an early morning walk, she pushes open the door in my room and then if I am not ready I am in serious danger of  having my feet bitten off at the ankles. The up side of this is  I am walking  at least an hour every day through the vineyards- we usually take the same route as I love to see little shifts in what is flowering in the wild flower department, the growing grapes in the vineyard, shifts of light on Pic St Loup, which is starting to acquire a bit of a Mont  St-Victoire sort of  feeling inside my head  though I am certain I cannot emulate Cezanne- the grand master.

I am also thinking about a vineyard quilt- how to get the effect of those stunning shade of green and those gnarley branches.

I am also becoming the queen of gazpacho- we have been trying out different versions and  we take turns  trying to out do each other ( my friend Liwanag is a great cook as well as wonderful quilter)- but the last gazpacho I made was very yummy- it is the best soup in hot weather!

Oh and I tried to respond to the question a reader asked about the painted fabrics- it is a scratch back technique I am using.

Sete and Hand Painted Fabrics

It is Bastille day here so I will start with something french first!

The graveyard in Sete affords some wonderful views of the Mediterranean.The flowers in the foreground of the first image were made of ceramic- each grave seems to have a collection of them.

I have been hand painting some fabrics ( I am starting to run low on my printing inks...) I wanted to capture some of the colours  that i see around me, but having a small pallette of  colour had to give poetic license to some of that idea....

Paisley Shapes

The church bell is ringing seven, time to go for a walk with the dog otherwise I might be in danger of having no ankles left... but first a blogpost!

The above stitched paisley shapes are the lino-print I made recently, stitched. They are for sale at 25 Euros each inclusive of postage.. The first one measure  6x8 inches because i printed the shape on more of an angle and the second one measures 5 inches by 8.

Had a lovely day yesterday at Sete a small city on the Mediterranean not far from here with a fellow antipodean and blogger Shirley Goodwin. The Paul Valery Museum in Sete is hosting an exhibition of Raoul Dufy ( unfortunately none of his woodcuts boohooo).it was a very good exhibition showcasing a good range of his works and really only confirmed something which I already knew- there is a lot of lessons to be learnt. yes the early influences of the Fauves, Cezanne and Braque can clearly be seen , and yes I know he is considered to be "pretty' or lightweight compared to the great of Matisse and Picasso, but yet there is something that captures my imagination!

There is still time to enrol in the on-line linocutting class- it will be the last one I do this year as looking at the logistics of this year - things get hectic and then I move back to Australia and have to find a house to live in and move all my stuff there and find a room to work in.

On-line Linocutting Course and a Little Preview

I will be commencing my next on-line Linocutting course on July 14th. if you are interested in enrolling please email me. the cost is 40 euros or  $54US. (The cost is 40 Euros or $54 US. The course extends over 6 weeks with fortnightly instalments  of the lessons delivered in pdf format. I set up a group  to share your experiences and to trouble shoot any problems you may encounter. The lessons progress from mark making with the tools to more complex image cutting, using your photos as inspiration, and  colour printing)


Ok and I have been working on a quilt for a competition, these last weeks- so I can only show you elements of it. It started with this as inspiration:

This is a piece of silk I bought in Syria- I was told it was a very old design from the Ottoman period. It inspired this linocut- which is an in-progress photo.

The linocut made this print:

Which inspired this stitching:

And here is a preview of a small section of the finished quilt:

The quilt is called In the Spirit of Pattern and Decoration- i wanted to portray the rich layers of decoration I found in so many places in Syria ( and also harks back to the Pattern and Decoration movement)

And i am coming to the United kingdom on August the 16th. I was going to be going to Birmingham and Festival of Quilts- but that has fallen through. If anyone is interested in my teaching a workshop in that week please let me know.or if anyone in the Netherlands/Belgium is interested in a workshop just email me.

Olive Tree

I love the olive trees in the Languedoc landscape and as the summer sun is  sizzling all the grasses, and the wheat fields are ripening the landscape is turning  into a myriad of subtle yellowish/terracotta colours. The grey of the olive leaves creating contrast and the gnarled old trunks of the trees whispering of other times- this is a  land rich in history. I am thinking of  making a big olive tree quilt and thought I would stitch this little one to trial some colours - and it is an imagined olive tree.

I stitched with the Aurifil Lano thread onto khadi cloth . The piece measures 14 inches by 14 inches ( 35 cm square) and is for sale for 100 Euros inclusive of postage.

Magical Barcelona

Last Monday and Tuesday I made a flying visit to Barcelona and Cadaques with the cousins of my friend here in le Triadou. I was to be their guide. We had a wonderful time- marvelled at Gaudi and his seemingly limitless imagination and at the Gothic quarter, ate some  lovely tapas. The next morning we were up bright and early as our hotel was not far from Parc Guell- so we were able to visit without hardly another soul there. Was able to visit one of the gate houses at the parc- and fell in love with the blue of some of the rooms- i want some of that blue in some future house I may live in! Comment overheard whilst waiting outside Casa Batlo..."Welll i won't be redecorating my house in a hurry that's for sure..." I did check to see if we were on the same planet- apparently so....

I taught last Friday and Satruday at Centre Europeen du Patchwork in Salelles d'Aude. We took a quick trip to a little town called le Somail which has the most wonderful Libraire with all second hand books.Of course i found a book ( could  have spent a whole day there i think...) on Gravure in the 20th century.It was a period when printing changed  and many new methods of printing emerged. Imagine my delight when on a visit last Sunday to the Rocquefort caves we stopped at the Museum in Lodeve to look at an exhibition of Gaugin and the Nabis- to encounter some of the prints in person. I just can't get over the serendipity of such things sometimes...

. I have had a number of requests via email as to when I am running my On-line Linocutting course again. So now is the time! I will start it on the 14th of July- because I am in France! The cost is 40 Euros or $54 US. The course extends over 6 weeks with fortnightly instalments  of the lessons delivered in pdf format. I set up a group  to share your experiences and to trouble shoot any problems you may encounter. The lessons progress from mark making with the tools to more complex image cutting, using your photos as inspiration, and  colour printing.I can be paid via Paypal- just email me for details.

And finally - something vaguely textile/well fibrous anyway........

Walking in Le Triadou

I have had the thinking cap on  for what i want to make next. I need to do a book proposal and I am contemplating the subject matter and how I will go about  creating the pieces. We have been out walking every morning and the collage is of some of the things we have encountered on our walks.It is Le Triadou on the summers solstice.

the central image in the collage is of flowers picked along the roadside and some eggplant pickles I made yesterday.

Back to some more thinking....

Nimes and Leysin

It has been a busy week. Last Monday we went to Nimes to have another look at the Arena and I must admit i did not notice the matador  statue ( I guess it was too cold last time). The statue is of Nimeno II ( Christian Montcouquiol) . I love the patterning that the sculptor has created on the matador clothing with all sorts of found objects and I love to see the way tourists interact with such things.

I also taught  at Leysin at a Art textile and Patchwork retreat. The other teacher was Liz Berg and it was lovely to meet in person someone's work i have looked at over the years. The event was organised by Christiane Studer and  participants came from far and wide. The accommodation was excellent as was the food- but  we did not see the famed scenery, in fact one could have thought there was only fog in Switzerland! It was a pleasure to teach the same students for 3 and a half days and get a sense of their working rhythms,  their ideas, their inspirations and enthusiasm.

And on that note- I shall be going back to Australia later this year ( though I will make trips back to Europe from time to time) so if you would like to do a workshop please contact me! I still have some times available though  my calender is starting to fill. We will also be doing workshops at le Triadou; dyeing, transfer printing with lutradur, some inspiration in fabrication in July and August ( there is a swimming pool here to cool off ). If you are interested please email me.

I am also coming up to my 1,000th blog post and my 300,000th reader- the events look like they may coincide- who would have thought that would happen when I started blogging???

Southern Lands at Centre Europeen du Patchwork

Clare Smith's Work

Robina Summer's Work

                                                             Sarah Louise Rickett's Work

                                                                 Fiona Wright's Work

                                                            Felicity's Hopkins' Work

                                                      Olga Walters' Work
I am incredibly busy at the moment but found time to visit the Fete du Couture at Centre Europeen du Patchwork and of course Southern Lands, the exhibition which is presently being shown there and which  I have curated. I could not manage to capture the  complete bodies of work of each artist but you will find the work and the artists statements on the Southern lands website.The seven artists exhibiting are Clare Smith, Robina Summers, Sarah Louise Ricketts, Fiona Wright, Felicity Hopkins, Olga Walters and myself ( I didn't include a photo of my work). Whilst i was there  I could hear visitors ohhing and ahhing about the work- and people just standing in the middle of the gallery and absorbing the work as a panorama-it was extremely heartening to find so many positive comments in the visitors book- formidable and magnifique being two words that jumped out . Thank you to the artists for submitting such awesome work!

On another note- the KISS project is still  happening- if you  indicated you were participating earlier in the year please send me photos of the completed work - after the weekend I will have more time to  set up a blog and get things happening !

Bedouin Tent

I have in the past been heard to say that i wanted to live in a bedouin tent- little did I think i would spend the night in one! This bedouin encampment was outside of palmyra and came replete with chickens, dogs, a cat, quite some camels, sheep, goats and a horse!

This gorgeous girl was one of the younger women in the camp- so even in the desert without running water and mirrors you can do eye make-up!

That evening we were entertained by some local musicians, one of whom had been to Australia  to play his music. You can also see the inside of the tent decorated with embroidery made by the women, who sadly couldn't join us because of local custom that the women cannot be present in the presence of non-family members.

The embroideries were made by the sisters in this particular family- I love their naive expression of everyday and imaginary things.The embroideries were quite large- almost a metre wide and about 50 cm high.The depiction of the trees is quite charming as if the embroiderer got carried away with the idea of the shape of trees.!

Modes of Transport

Damascus and Aleppo are modern roaring cities with all variety of cars and trucks- pretty well like all modern cities except for the inner old cities where few vehicles find their way. Out in the countryside transport is an entirely different matter and you find a wide variety of modes of transport.I know we live in the modern world and we have to move with it, yet the transports in this collage also speak of other ways of moving, of a life lived more slowly.

Syrian Food and Spice

What comes to mind when you think of Middle Eastern food? Hommus, baba ghanouj, mahammara,olives,mutabal, fattoush, kibbeh,borak- it's all delicious. Some of the restaurants were a bit disgusted with us  because after our fill of wonderful savoury pastries and dips and salads there simply wasn't room for another thing- or the main course for that matter.

Then there is the spice souq- wonderful smells  and colours, fresh fruit and vegetables( all seasonal - everything is grown in Syria)

The "mobile" juicing stands, loaded with strawberries at this time of year and with the remaining pomegranates.

Come drink A Cup of tea with Me

Tea and coffee is very much a part of life and social etiquette in Syria- it's a serious business. I am intrigued by how many ways people find to have their tea ( I focussed on tea as I am a tea drinker).

Just quietly sitting and watching the street go by- requires a cup of tea!

Tea is dispensed throughout the souq's by elaborately dressed men with their highly decorative water carriers and teapots!There were more of these tea carriers around this time compared to my previous trips.This man I encountered in the al hamadiye souq in Damascus.

You often encounter gas rings and teapots on the  foot paths- one just never knows when a cup of tea is needed.

Another tea carrier in Aleppo.

 The trip to Syria was organised by Creative Arts Safaris and covered many areas of everyday Syrian textiles and life. There is another trip planned for next year so please let Fiona from Creative Arts Safaris know if you are interested.

Syrian Odyssey

I am back after a fabulous two weeks in Syria despite the flu. We saw, we marvelled, we explored, we played a little with textiles , we ate, we delved into history, we met people and their crafts,we spent time in souqs , palaces and ruins,we slept in a bedouin tent- basically that sums up my love affair with Syria! I will be sharing photos and experiences over the next few weeks as well as trying to get some projects done for the Bernina blog.

Maybe some of these things could have helped for the flu??

These are Syrian pickles- aren't the colours fabulous??

And some blue glass bottles- one had to come back of course!

Reef is Finished

I have finally finished hand stitching the silk dyed piece I have entitled Reef. it took a lot of hand stitching. In another half hour I will be driving to Lyon so i can catch my flight to Damascus. I hope I shall be able to do some blog posts if not I will share lots of photos when I get back. I am on orders from my daughter to take lots of good images for the Carvanserai book.

And if I were to do an "art quilt" type book what would you like to see me write it on?

72 MORE Ways Not to Stipple or Meander

The coloured version of 72 MORE Ways is finished and delivered together with the black and white version to Editions de Saxe last Thursday, who will publish my second free machine quilting ideas book in time for  Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork.It will be published in French- no one in English speaking publishing world seems to be interested in publishing it...

It was a crazy week last week as I left the Netherlands ( had to pack up all our /my stuff) and then  return  a machine I had borrowed from a friend near Paris. Picked up a machine from Bernina who have agreed to sponsor me with the use of a machine when I am in Europe and I shall be blogging for them ( I will send the link when I have it)- finish the coloured version plus some other work for Southern Lands which will be exhibited at Centre Europeen Du Patchwork from 16 May, teaching for two days before finally arriving back in Le Triadou. I have decided I would like to experience a southern French summer- but so far the weather isn't co-operating!!! I will be in le Triadou until late August so if you are interested in workshops in southern France please contact me! We have space here to run workshops for 4-5 people.

For those of you who registered interest for KISS- it's still happening,  I have simply extended the deadline until late in May because I shall be travelling to Syria next Thursday for the Creative Safaris tour- I am so looking forward to that.I hope to be able to blog from Syria - to inspire you, and my eldest daughter and I are working on a book  inspired by Syria and the work I made in response to the experience.