Welcome to India!

Namaste 🙏🏻

We arrived safely following an (very) early morning stopover in Dubai so very little sleep on the plane. The sunrise through the plane window was compensation though - the second line is the reflection in the wing. 

Hand art on the ground and at check-in in Indira Ghandi airport, Delhi.

We hit the ground running and after a hair-raising drive (more later!) to our hotel launched straight into a walking tour of Old Delhi and Chandni Chowk - the huge market area where each street is dedicated to different items. Shops range from tiny to quite large emporiums, but business is always conducted from the floor. 

It was already dark and our guide Harry was anxious to show us everything so after being dropped off in the middle of a busy road (cars four abreast all jostling for position, and just enough room to open the doors) we set off at a pace through the narrow streets, built that way for shade and to keep things cool.

First there was Silver Street, where this roti seller had set up his stall ...

then the bridal market. It's coming up to wedding season in India, and this is big business. Shop after shop selling saris ...

Opulent braids and gold-work ...

Wedding favours made from Rupee notes ...

Silk threads and beads ...

More saris - this time a large wholesale business, packing saris into huge bundles for shipping, stitched closed and loaded onto a handcart three deep (2meters tall) to launch into the manic streets.

And one single shop (maybe there were more that were already closed for the night?) for the groom!

Occasional vegetable sellers set up shop wherever they can find a space - given that the street cleaners are on strike this seems a risky strategy.

And those streets, teeming with every sort of non- motorised vehicle and mopeds - easy to get boxed in by rickshaws.

Great wiring!

A street where wealthy Jain merchants lived - faded grandeur.

Next the food market - those white blocks are paneer (curd cheese).

All sorts of nuts, dates, figs (hanging in strings).

Packed up for wholesale - coming in or going out - who knows?  Everyone is an entrepreneur. 

All interspersed with temples of every faith - this one is an important Sikh temple, but we also saw a Jain temple, a Hindu Monkey God temple, a Catholic church, the biggest Mosque in ?India - with numbered gates like a football stadium, and tiny street temples. Delhi is home to 20 million people and religion is part of everyday life - we saw men praying outside their closed shops and by the side of the road. But very few women out - anywhere.

On and on through busy streets trying to keep up with Harry and still stop for photos; trying not to get run over and not get lost. We noticed little bundles of chilis hanging above shop doorways; these are to ward off evil spirits and are renewed weekly on Saturdays. 

 

Finally the fireworks market. Only one shop open by now - these are Catherine wheels.

And of course, the street of bike shops especially  for Mike - not like any you've ever seen before!

 

And then we were picked up by our driver to return to the hotel. The streets were as busy as ever but we made it so now we've eaten (surreally, at the hotel's Chinese/Thai restaurant) we have to go to bed - a 4am wake-up tomorrow so we don't miss the 6am fast train to Agra.

India - we're on our way!

Arrived safely at Heathrow with bags of time to spare (thanks Mike). Airport picnic time😀

The poetry of decay

So here I am by the sea again, this time in Eastbourne, on this great four-day course with Christine Chester at Studio 11. The course, developed by Christine and Jo Lovelock, is all about creating exciting surfaces for stitch and mixed media work, exploring decaying and weathered surfaces and using them as inspiration. We have a limited palette - black, white and brown/rust - but that is the only limitation. The ideas, processes and inspiration are endless, and Christine is an extremely knowledgeable and generous tutor. I haven't had time (for which read 'I haven't remembered - I've been too wrapped up in the doing'!) to take many photos, but here are a few for starters ....

Stacks of cards with their first processes - marks, flat 'colour', beginning to distress the surfaces at the end of day one. It's all about layering ....

And this is the drop sheet - happy accidents always worth saving.

Real live rust and decay on Eastbourne pier ('it's closing in five minutes, you won't have time to walk to the end AND take photos' - this from the guy who was locking up - don't think he could work out why I was photographing the lamp posts!) 

Great sky!

More later - I'll remember to take more photos tomorrow!

Picture this: sea textures

Love these - should have brought a sketch book ...

Spring break

We're having a brief weekend break in Lyme Regis, and enjoying some beautiful spring weather - sunny but quite cold and breezy (not that that stopped the three teenagers swimming in the sea at Lyme at 7.30 this evening -rather them than me!). 

We've had a packed day, with breakfast at the Town Mill bakery, a day spent mooching around the street market and antiques centre in Bridport, a visit to my friend Kate Dowty's exhibition in Eype church arts centre and then a walk up to Golden Cap for stunning views in all directions over Lyme Bay.

Only one photo at the moment as my phone battery died (proper camera left at home in our haste to get away). Doesn't really do it justice. 

And some of Lyme from this morning ...

 The view from the apartment: first thing and later on

And from the other window ... You can just see the Cobb through the trees

And down on the sea front

Couldn't resist the smuggler's passage!

Summer blog

I think I really should re-title this blog Summer Blog - as that's the only time I seem to get around to posting! As usual it is a year since I last wrote anything. So here is a brief round-up of what I've been up to in that time . . .

We started InStitches - and have completed our first year of teaching for ourselves. Despite it being a very traumatic year for Hazel we have run three year-long courses, several shorter ones and lots of one-day workshops. Students have enjoyed dyeing, printing, sketchbooks, hand and machine stitching, and all sorts of other techniques, and all have produced some amazing work. More details on our web site here and pictures are on our blog and our new Pinterest board.  It has been a steep learning curve for us - websites, blogs, Facebook and Pinterest - and getting them all to communicate with each other; accounts and keeping the books up-to-date (not to mention tax and banks etc); sales and ordering student supplies (we only nearly ran out of fabric once!); dyeing and printing our own fabric and threads for selling at shows; advertising and promotion etc etc - and all we wanted to do was teach!!

My quilt Sussex Coast was exhibited in Contemporary Quilt's Horizons exhibition at the Festival of Quilts in 2013 and other venues, including Prague.

Its little sister, Early Morning (the quilt that was made in 14 days), was selected for the Water Water exhibition in Henley on Thames, and also went to the Quilt Museum in York with Region Three's By the Sea exhibition.

And Full Circle has been to Canada, for the Ailsa Craig Community Quilt Festival in May 2014. My quilts are better travelled than I am!

In March I was asked to make a new banner for Region Three of the Quilters' Guild, in time for the AGM which they were hosting in Portsmouth. It uses my usual technique of raw edge strip appliqué, letting the hand-dyed and printed fabrics speak for themselves. The challenge was to incorporate something characteristic of every county in the region, without making it too cluttered and keeping a contemporary feel. Eventually I decided to work with simple text and silhouettes of landmarks. 

L-R: La Corbiere Lighthouse, Jersey, Fort Grey, Guernsey, Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, Winchester Cathedral, the Spinaker Tower and The Needles, IoW.

I have also been learning: last July I went on a great course with Denise Lach (calligrapher) organised by Committed to Cloth . . . and have been intending to write about it ever since! I'll write soon with some photos and the work it has influenced. 

In May, Hazel and I did a fabulous week with Leslie Morgan at Studio 11 in Eastbourne, arranged by Christine Chester, exploring colour mixing with Procion dyes - loads of fuel for future work, and Leslie is such a generous tutor. More of that in a later post too.

Shingle Garden Sample

And, true to form, in the last month I have made two new quilts and two small pieces for the QG Unfini-shed fundraiser. The new quilts are for this year's Festival of Quilts: one has been selected for CQ's Dislocation exhibition, which opens there, and the other is for the Guilds Challenge, where the theme is In my Garden. For this I really didn't want to do a 'conventional' garden quilt (I'm not good with too much green!) and did want to continue developing my coastal theme. So I hit upon the idea of having a shingle garden, like that of Derek Jarman in Dungeness, where the pebbles, rust and driftwood are the key features, with unexpected splashes of colour from extremely hardy plants that can stand up to the salt winds. I excelled myself with this one, and the last stitch went in at 5.30am, ready to deliver the next day (or should I say later that same day)! The small pieces, just bigger than A4, were really quick and enjoyable to do, and hopefully will be bought by someone who shares my passion for our coast. I'll write more about the larger pieces in my next posts but here are pictures of the two small ones. 

Moonlit Sea

And then there's the cycling - something I've done on-and-off over the years ever since living in Hull as a student (well it is flat there!). Hazel's influence again has finally got me back on my bike (about time too) and cycling the 100km NightRider challenge (London by night) in June. Now I'm hooked, and looking for an upgrade to my heavy hybrid bike so I might stand a chance on the hills! 

So, should I have a mid-year resolution to blog more regularly, or will that go the way of the New Year type? Only time will tell . . .

The quilt that asked to be made

Have you ever had a quilt that asked to be made?

'What is she talking about?' I hear you say, 'talking rubbish again!' And until April I would have agreed with you. But this particular quilt asked, no - begged, to be made.

Hazel and I had run a couple of classes on wax and starch resist and other surface design techniques for our Inspiration to Stitch students. In order to have plenty of inspirational samples we had had a play day where we prepared lots of fabric ourselves. We prepared so much that ended up finishing some of mine off at C2C (when I was supposed to be focusing on my own work) by colouring one side pale blue and the other pale brown. I justified spending the time on 'teaching samples' because these fabrics were in coast-inspired colours.

It was as I was washing out the fabric that the quilt demanded to be made. The fabric said: 'I'd look great cut up into squares and pieced back together.' The marks were mainly circles and lines, so they all coordinated very well. Once they were dry it didn't take long to find several fabrics from my stash which complemented the resist fabrics, and the quilt virtually made itself. This is the benefit of becoming really familiar with your theme - you begin to internalise the colours, textures, lines and shapes, so that you just can't help producing work that belongs together.

Full Circle 

As you can see I used several sizes of square and rectangle to showcase some of the fabrics and add variety to the piecing. Once it was pieced the brown circle was monoprinted on using a large sheet of plastic (and nerves of steel!). Then the whole lot was machine quilted - following the circle and with a simple grid over the rest of the quilt. The next step was to block it as the circular quilting has skewed the top somewhat. This is the first time I have ever blocked a quilt; I usually find that liberal application of a steam-iron does the job, but this one needed more. Perfectly square and flat, I gave it a faced binding and sent it off to the Festival of Quilts last week.

Soy-wax and starch resist is great fun and eventually Hazel and I got to the stage where we were searching for more fabric to 'treat', having run out of plain white fabric. So I have a whole range of colourways ready for new quilts and hangings (and overdue journal quilts) - just need to get organised!