Finally

Recently someone mentioned to me that I had not blogged for 6 weeks- that was two weeks ago I think and finally I am getting to writing a post. I have simply been horrendously busy working at least 10-12 hours  a day or more and if not working travelling to the various exhibitions to which I had committed and meeting my commitments. It has not left a great deal of time to do anything else. I haven't written in my journal for more than two months and I am feeling the absence. I also managed to kill my mobile phone, though to be honest it was on its way out, but its replacement has a camera that is far inferior- or maybe it is just me the operator. As a result I am taking photos on my phone with which I am not happy and I haven't had time to give my good camera the attention it needs nor the time to take it out of my bag. I miss my old phone sigh...

Things have been very busy with the Aussie Bush Project. In the last month or so the project has been to Canberra, to Wellington in New Zealand and Hamilton in New Zealand and is at present being exhibited at the Adelaide Craft & Quilt Fair. Then after next week it goes on to Brisbane before having a rest and reappearing at Quilts en Beaujolais in France in April 2018.People have loved all the variations of the linocut printed fabrics and have expressed surprise and delight at how different each print looks in the hands of the different artists! Reasonably priced  accommodation was not so easy to find because one of the Adelaide football teams is playing in the finals in their home city.

Then last week I went to France for 8 days to install my exhibition at Villa Burrus  at the Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork and also to be united with my latest book Plaid Nomad ( I was so tired, plus I had caught a nasty cold from a sneezing and spluttering passenger in the seat in front of me- not once did he cover his mouth in all the splutterings he was engaged in, I forgot to buy myself a copy as my publishers copies were sent to Le Triadou  and I did not have time to go to Montpellier as I needed to be back in Adelaide for the Aussie Bush Project) So I think people liked the book, as the copies I had at Villa Burrus sold out by lunch time on the friday, as had the copies at the Edi De Saxe Stand at the Centre Commerciale and that was all there was!

I have started on a new Travellers' Blanket which is all but finished. I wanted it finished for the exhibition in France but I didn't quite get there. I did display it as it was almost finished but a few people did come and tell me there was still a needle and thread attached to the work! I think it will get finished this weekend. I know I started this blanket on the 9th of August and have put in 10-12 hours of stitching into it most days- so I now have a good idea of how long the blankets actually take and I am rather shocked by the amount of time they take- and in terms of  money/wages for hours of work the equation needs to change- that is for sure.

There was a moment when I contemplated making this smaller so that I could finish it- but then I felt it would not have the same impact at all. The  circles are appliqued bits and pieces of hand dyed and hand printed fabrics I have made over the years including my latest prints chopped up. Plus I have also made a linocut with circles- these panels will be for sale, I just have not had the chance to print up many.

I did actually use some circles cut from this panel in the blanket and they came up very nicely. I will share photos when I work out how to get them off my new phones memory card that doesn't involve fiddly file sharing arrangements. I will put it on my shop page soon in case anyone is interested.

I will try and be better about blogging in the next weeks as I go to East Timor and Boneco de Atauro soon- sooner than I thought and there are many things to arrange before I actually get there including getting vaccinations and malaria tablets. Will have to find a travel clinic on return to Melbourne to sort all that out! I have to keep reminding myself one step at a time.