Meow

I was up in the night completing basting new pieces to this cloth and later I stitched in the face, those black dots next to it - which Jude Hill calls thread beads - and a variegated thread spiral moon.

Current Threads

I went to see the 'Current Threads' show in Ladysmith yesterday, where fifteen fibre artists from the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association had their work on display - art wear, weavings, quilt art, mixed media and 3D pieces. What great variety and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Speaking of 'current' threads, here are some from the sea.

And another type hanging by the beach:

This huge rusted chain was one of many old metal items I saw, including some railway spikes, which I kept to use for rust dyeing.

It's the last week of 'Patchwork Beasts' and I'm continuing to work on my cat, extending it vertically in preparation for quilting.

This daisy from my garden wanted to leave a lasting impression behind after having smiled its sunny face in my kitchen window for some time. So out came a scrap of the hydreangea dyed silk, which I sandwiched with the flower between two canning jar tops and steamed, thinking I might get an imprint of the flower. Here is the surprise I got - more colour outside the circle then within! I don't really understand why this would happen, but now that I know it's a possibility I might put it to further

experimentation. Last night I heard Inge Heuber speak at my quilt guild. She is a pioneering artist in quilt art from Germany who makes textile art with the seams on the front using many colours she hand dyes on cotton. While her work is in numerous publications, has hung in prestigious shows like Quilt National, and is in the collection of the New York Museum of Art and Design, what I will remember beyond that and the beauty of her quilts is her long term dedication to her art form even when she knew no one else quilting in Germany, when she received no recognition or money for her work and yet she knew it was what she had to do - it was not a hobby, but her life's work. You can see her interpretation of one of her beloved places into textile art here: http://www.ingehueber.de/pageID_639797.html And today is the final day of the Spiritcloth class I've been taking from Jude Hill.

As our class parts ways, I am appreciating having taken a dip into Jude's world along with others for sharing and learning.

'Patchwork Beasts' - another online class with Jude begins tomorrow and who knows what will wash ashore for me there? There's always something - maybe something I didn't even expect!