Diamonds, Bits and Pieces

Over time, I've noticed how I'm drawn to the diamond shape and I've been keeping a book of diamonds - with photos of diamonds I see, a collage of a diamond, etc. This is the cover I made for it - the weaving was on a card I bought: Tomorrow I start a course about pattern at the Victoria College of Art with Lesley Turner. I plan to use a personal symbol I developed in the past which includes the diamond shape. I have basted together the piece below, which I began in Jude Hill's Spiritcloth online class last year. It's a story about my creative process and there's much stitch and embellishing left to do on it.

I have completed the chicken's head:

And some peonies left this colour on some silk:

Extending Summer

I just love the flowers in summer and I keep vases and bowlfuls all around the house. This year, as the petals began to drop, I collected them into a bag to colour this shirt. You can see the spent poppies, peonies, roses and iris still on the fabric above.

I added a shibori silk panel I dyed earlier this year and handstitched it to the front. I love that the flowers from this summer will live on through the muted marks and colours they've left.

The Colour of Summer

Another meeting of silks: And back in June I went through a table cloth making spree - eager for splashes of vibrant colour inside to mirror all the blooming in the garden.

I was working on a backing for this one and the one below it when I got side tracked into more natural dyeing...

But that's another story...

Silk Story

Silk paper... between silk and flowers...

I called this 'In-formed' because it formed from the inside out and the knowing inside us informs us.

Improvements

Rhodos on silk left in the sun: A tear...

led to a patch...

that adds interest.

Still catching up on posting some of what I've done over the last while.

Transforming Patterns

Once upon a time, a small doodle Became a sun

And then a cloth

I completed last month.

Growth Patterns

'I worked on 'Growth' a few months ago - this is the longest gap I've had between posts since I began this blog, but I've continued to create and have more to show. One definition of a gap is a break in continuity - which is only noticeable because of the former regular pattern. So - a change in pattern for me. And I have been thinking about patterns and will soon be taking a course focused on visual patterns at the Victoria College of Art. I have long been interested in patterns in a wider sense and most especially changes in them where something ends along with the emergence of something new. The space between and the death/rebirth cycle - fascinating, surprising and mystifying. I like to follow my inner rhythms and pattern changes and over time I feel more comfortable not knowing very much at all, really, but just trusting the process and the predictability of its unpredictability! So I will dip into blogging now and again as the urge strikes - maybe there will be another long gap or maybe I'll return to daily posts - who knows? Just a choice. I will post a few other things I've done over the past months.