Our holiday began with a text which said "turn on skype", I did and there was our daughter who said "Pack!" Just when we thought there was no chance of being able to join her, after a summer of trying, there was a last minute cancellation. A frantic 28 hours later we landed in Copenhagen. We fell into bed and the next day just had time for a quick walk before we joined the Sojourn. The first thing we saw was bikes, they were everywhere.
and elephants.. this was my favourite, reminded me of Elmer
My views on forward facing pushchairs are well known so I thoroughly approve of these and just look at those breads.
Who remembers the Danny Kaye film? I liked the manhole cover nearbye.
Also nearby there was a very imposing beast.
One snall disappointment was that we didn't see Little Mermaid, too far from our hotel to walk in the time.
I played with a photograph of the Palace and of course the bicycles. A postcard for you
Before I start the holiday I have to show you what was waiting for me when I arrived home.
My very own Jude feather. It is my birthday present to me. I have tried several times to aquire a piece of Jude's work but because of the time thing I've always missed out. This piece is about 4"x3", a precious fragment and look what else was in the packet, some magic thread, which so often is part of Jude's work. Now to find the perfect way to display it. So happy.
We have just arrived back from an amazing trip, one, that until two weeks ago today, I didn't know we would be taking. We managed, with two days notice, to join the Seabourn Sojourn for a Baltic cruise. I will not be showing you all the 1500 photographs I took but for my own sake I will be putting some of them here for a reminder.
Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post, I will try and answer them all when I've done the washing!
I have finished assembling the background pieces for Space and not the scary bit begins, to start translating all the ideas which have been floating around in my head. This is almost how it looks, can't get the colour exact
I am going to place the "planets" one by one. The little circles on the right were added to that stip during the Sun, Moon and Stars workshop. They may stay as part of an "asteroid belt" we will see.
This was the moon last Friday, playing hide and seek......
As opart of her Magic Diaries Jude shared with us how she makes little feathers which are such a feature of her work. Jude's ideas are never static and her original sharing has now extended to an open invitation here.
Since she first mentioned them I have been seeing feathers everywhere. On my doorstep, on the way to the library, caught up on a tomato plant and this tiny little feather which presented itself at my feet out on the Swale Estuary
and I turned into this
This is the feather I am sending to Jude. I was thinking about my cloth, which seems to be calling itself Space at the moment. And I figured that a feather in space would have no colour, coudn't make an ivisible one so this happened.
This week the Tour de France has provided a marvellous excuse for lots of stitching and the Big Bang has started to spread into space.
and I have been making "space" .
My scanner refuses to produce the proper colour and even tweaking in Paintshop Pro didn't work but you will have guessed that it is various shades of indigo. I have even started on the planets but I am trying not to get ahead of myself. I am loving this process and listening to Jude's thoughts which gently set your own in motion.
And as for the Tour de France, I have marvelled at the incredible stamina of these men and enjoyed the spectacular pictures from the helicopter. I didn't know there were so many camper vans in the world and it revived happy memories of holidays in France in the days when we had our own van.
well that's what I feel like. It was the SE Area Day at Ardingly on Saturday and I am proud to announce that the Sevenoak's Branch came Second in the Challenge Cup. The theme was Flight and this was our contribution.
The Magic Diaries have begun. I don't think I have thought so much in years, my head has been whirling with ideas and I have been fighting my usual impatience to see the end result. In the day when I used to make clothes I would always confuse myself be reading to far ahead in the pattern instead of just taking it step by step. So here is the beginning, a Black Hole!
First lesson learned, soft velvet is not the best fabric for making a base!!!
Near the end of the day at Kentwell (see below) we saw a bent figure shambling along the grass, as we watched the figure sat down with all the signs of fatigue.
After a little while she took a piece of cloth from her basket and examined it closely
She then began to pick at the cloth until she had hold of one thread which she painstakingly loosened and then withdrew it, so careful not to snap it.
Then she wound the thread round the handle of the basket.
As I stepped forward to speak to her someone who I imagined to be some sort of upper servant stopped me and told me to have a care but I asked anyway. The old lady told me she picked the threads and hoped that someone would exchange the for some bread as she was very hungry.
I know it was all role play but for a moment time was blurred, this meeting touched me deeply. It depicted the hardships of our ancestors but there are people still in the world who have to pick rags. How fortunate are we?
