Slowly but Surely

It is as if something is in the air to dampen the mood and feel like I am trawling in the doldrums, and sometimes I am at a loss how to lighten the mood- I have been walking, watching the vegies grow( i was given an above ground vegie garden for Christmas, though it only arrived a few weeks ago, but already we are eating lettuce out of it!), visiting the gallery as there is a lovely print exhibition on, trying to work. Watching the news and seeing  fire and floods affecting many parts of Australia does not help, and my heart goes out to everyone affected. What is even worse is that some of the fires have been deliberately lit or lit through negligent behaviour by people who should know better.

My youngest daughter started her final year of high school this week- it will be a tough year- it always is for children who set their aims high though I was  a bit  perturbed( well really perturbed to be honest) when she  announced last week that she was totally unmotivated about this year- we have not even begun- she seems to have perked up a little .Starting school also necessitated the buying of books etc and shoes and whatever else is needed for school ,some textbooks are scandalously expensive even second hand!

All in all it was a week where I intended much but did not achieve much. Gave a small talk at a neighbours' house- to other  creatives- so that was a lovely  experience. I met my neighbour on the bus stop a year or so ago, and  we started talking and now we go walking and  of course talking!

My friend Laura Liebenberg from Beligum is again organising Colours of Africa  in Essen with a group of friends. This time apart from indoor exhibitors they are also having an outside exhibition with the idea that the weather impacts on the pieces. January 31 was the deadline for the delivery of some images- and I had been procrastinating on this one for quite some time , not only procrastinating, but also lacking motivation. I know I wanted to combine cotton pieces with polyester non-woven pieces so see how differently the weather would impact on the pieces- but what to put on the pieces. I suspect that it will be quite an ephemeral piece so I have called the piece Fleeting Moments. In the bottom photo you can see the effect the wind has on the applied pieces of cloth- I had in mind a kind of giant prayer flag- with little thoughts or prayers sent out into the world- tread softly because you do not know who you tread on, snippets, wishes and small dreams.It's going to be about 1.6 metres square.

I like the way the pieces of applied fabric looks in the wind- almost like the pages of a book. I am also thinking I might tie strips of fabric into some of the in between spaces to add more texture- but I need to keep the piece light as it has to be sent overseas.

 The photos below are of  an autumn leaf which I have translated with solufix into a stitched piece.I tried not to use the original photo for comparison whilst I stitched so was  surprised  at how much the same it looked  to the original photo.I deliberately did not stitch in the background as I wanted to see how long this piece would take as it is a class sample.

Don't forget there is still time to enroll for the Travellers' Blanket Class which starts on Feb 11- just email me if you are interested and I can send you an information sheet.My own stitching on my tangerine  blanket is making slow progress, though I like what is happening with it.