Quilty pleasures

This is what I've been up to today. I love paper piecing mini quilts so it didn't take me long to think up a pattern - there is a big gap on my kitchen wall that has been crying out for a little quilt since we moved in.

I'm basing it on similar colours to this one below, a favourite of mine. This one is a 'pineapple log cabin' but the new one is going to be a star within a star and 64 blocks, so it will take a little while. The pineapple quilt took absolutely ages to do but the new blocks have fewer pieces per block so hopefully it won't be quite the labour of love that this one was.



















Another log cabin quilt I haven't yet shown on the blog, is this little thing I did a few years ago.



















I made it during a particularly difficult time and it was very useful for taking my mind off things. A log cabin pattern, for those who don't know, is a very old pattern and based around a centre square and built up using strips. it's very versatile and often pushed so far that it's no longer recognised as a 'log cabin'. I decided to emphasise the strips and took the idea out into the borders. I liked the quilt but learned not to use a thick batting for mini quilts as the thickness of if made my carefully sewn lines looks all wonky!

I've finished putting together the quilt top I was sewing a few days ago - and I'm chuffed with how it's looking -but I needed some fabric for the backing. I'd heard the only quilting shop in Geneva was out of town, but after quite a bit of searching, I found one just a few minutes from the centre.




















Every quilt shop has it's own unique style based on the owner's tastes, and this one, called Jeux d'Aiguilles, is very much in the country style - lots of soft autumnal fabrics and lots of hand quilted traditional style quilts draped around the shop. The furniture and floors are wooden and the owner even has a little gallery area upstairs at the back of the shop overlooking an area where she teaches and again, more quilts are draped from this.




















It was very pretty, but there wasn't a huge selection of fabrics to choose from. Still, it's much more than I expected and I found the perfect thing for my backing - a soft, pale brown on an extra large bolt. The prices were, not surprisingly, expensive, but this one was more economic and made me feel slightly less guilty about the little extras that found their way into my shopping bag!

I'm taking a slightly extended break from the drawing as I've been feeling a bit frazzled lately. I have one drawing on the go (posted on my other blog) and a couple of portraits planned, but it seems like a good time to go slow on the blogging and trying to keep up with everyone else's blogs as it's eating into time for things I want to do. I won't take a complete break, as I know I can't do that, but posting may be a bit sporadic for a little while.

More roses!

Two lovely roses popped out this week. We had a much needed downpour on Tuesday - the air was heavy and hot and not at all pleasant but now it's sunny and fresh again. It hasn't been great for my head, but it's just perfect for the roses!

In the garden

I haven't posted many photos of the garden this year. It was a riot of colour when the tulips were out but it's a little quieter now as we wait for the roses and passionflowers to burst open. This lovely pink rose is the only pretty thing the previous owners planted. It's a standard and always reminds me of the rose bushes in Alice in Wonderland (the ones she had to paint!), it's so perfect.

The only other rose out is my favourite stripey one. I went out to take a look and found a caterpillar had beaten me to it!















The first day our Peony flowered, I found a huge green beetle had beaten me to it too!
















We bought it two years ago, just after it had flowered and last year there were none so when these enormous blooms appeared - the size of a plate! - it was quite a surprise. But, I have to admit, it's these seed heads that I really love.




















Such fabulous structures. The leaves are a wonderful shape too so the flowers are just the icing on the cake!





















Another plant I like simply for it's leaves is this Forest Flame, below. I drew it two years ago, but those ones on the balcony have died back having been shocked when we had that mini heatwave a few weeks ago. This one is one of a pair I bought for the back garden. We took down a small fir tree to make way for a more colourful red Maple. In fact, it featured in a drawing in another 'In the Garden' post last year, along with the tulips. The previous owners had a garden full of green things (except for the rose bush!) and we've been trying to break that up with colour, especially on that side as there is a long green fence there too.




















In the bed in front of the house, yet another favourite just for the leaves is this Jasmine. I love the little splash of red.

Busy procrastinating

I don't think anyone will be more surprised than me, but I'm quilting again! I started a drawing that I thought would be fairly quick and easy, and I suppose it is, but I started to procrastinate and lose a bit of interest. It's one of those I needed to put it aside for a day or two to mull over.

Procrastination is something I'm always struggling with but a couple of months ago I devised (as Blackadder would say) a cunning plan. Instead of mindlessly surfing, when I realise I'm just procrastinating, I thought I'd use that time to tackle something useful like bit of housework I've put off. I do this quite naturally anyway - I find cleaning bathrooms especially satisfying when I know I should be doing something else! Not often enough though, so I had to make a conscious decision to stop, switch off the computer and get on with something useful, something I'd feel guilty about not doing if I was drawing.

Funnily enough, I read the same idea this week on Clint Watson's blog and which says it better than I could. However, I was watching a programme, Kirtie's Homemade Home, in which Kirstie Allsopp, normally seen presenting property programmes, gets to meet craftsmen and women, to learn a skill to decorate her new home. But when she met a quilter to learn some basics I thought - why not go a step further and use the procrastination time to also do some other creative activity? I normally focus exclusively on one thing - for instance, when I was quilting I stopped drawing for three years - but I've been trying to break that habit this last year, using colour pencils, pen and occasionally watercolours. If I had used all the wasted hours, I thought, then I could have also finished this quilt ages ago. I blogged about it way back in October 2005! I guess I procrastinated too long and then got involved in the move from Kuwait. Since then, all my fabrics have been languishing in the bomb shelter in the basement (yes, we have one of those!) making me feel very guilty. (There is nothing quite as sobering as looking at a fabric stash and realising you won't live long enough to use it up!)

So, anyway, I'm quilting again and thoroughly enjoying it! It's incredibly satisfying to me to spend hours piecing tiny bits of fabric and lining up my seams, probably more than I should admit. When I was quilting before, I was involved in groups and there was always a competitive element which eventually killed off any pleasure. This time I'm on my own, no pressure, no chasing silly techniques, and I'm going to focus on the things I like most - namely piecing, playing with colours, free motion quilting (basically scribbling with a needle and thread) and beading. It's a radical thought for me, I always thought I should be either one thing or another, but hey, I can be a quilter in my wasted time and draw too! Why not?!

News and views from yesterday

Oh, the temptation to write one of my long, pontificating posts is too much! The British media have been having a field day recently with the MP's expenses 'scandal'. I'm bored already. Since when has it been a surprise that politicians are not honest? Next week the Daily Mail will be horrifying us with a similar scandal regarding estate agents and the Daily Star will shock us with their revelations about used car salesmen!

Flippant remarks aside, what really worries me - what always worries me - is how the media drive public opinion. They treat us like a great bonedheaded lynch mob, ready at a moments notice to grab our pitchforks and take to the streets, baying for blood. Fed on a diet of soaps, celebrities, scandals, half-truths and lies, instead of being insulted, instead of asking questions, instead of examining the bearers of all this information, we react predictably. Heads must roll, someone must be blamed. So what do the British people want, when emotions are running high, and common sense low? A general election! I thought revenge was a dish best served cold? It would be funny if it weren't so serious. After 9/11 and the global economic crisis, we should know by now that a crisis in one country can have huge unforeseen repercussions in others. Who is laughing hardest, journalists or the BNP?




















I have to admit though, now the Telegraph has lifted the stone on the story, some real creepy crawlies have been revealed and the worst in my opinion is this man, Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons. It made me cringe just to see him trying to wriggle himself out of the mess. Some are calling him a scapegoat but he was the one who tried to block the newspaper reporting the details of MP's expenses - hiring lawyers to do so with taxpayers money! As Speaker, he is supposed to be impartial, but when he verbally attacked Kate Hoey, above, in the House his fate was sealed. I didn't know anything about him before this, but now I wonder how on earth a man like him ever rose to such powerful position? As I said to Mark though, there seems to be a man like him in many organisations, busy maintaining the status quo and undermining progress.




















Sky News were waiting outside when the Speaker resigned, catching whoever they could for a comment, and some strange faces emerged. Anthony Howard, above, was interviewed. His teeth remind me of a sketch in the Simpsons when Lisa is shown The Big Book of British Smiles! Below him I didn't catch the name as I was too busy marvelling at his hairdo - where on earth do you go for a crinkle cut style like that?




















Speaking of funny hairdos, I went out to sketch some elusive cows yesterday afternoon. I spotted some cows in a field near to me, two years ago. But as Mark and I were just setting out on a long walk, I thought I'd go back the next day to sketch them instead. Too late, they were gone! Last year, Mark sent an e-mail to say he'd spotted them as he was walking to work. I went out that afternoon and again I missed them! So when he came home on Tuesday evening and said they were there again, I didn't hold out much hope but it was third time lucky! Too bad I haven't been sketching recently bacause I really felt it. The first page was hopeless and only these two are worth showing - and they were tidied up and had some shading added when I got home. It was lovely though, sitting in the field and enjoying the sunshine (it would have been too hot today). The cows didn't take any notice of me but then one of them suddenly got very curious, staring at me for ages giving me a nice still model. Yes, they really do seem to have a little fringe on top with a centre parting!

For all these sketches I used two new techniques - blending with a Q-tip, which gives it a different feel to a tortillion or a tissue, and taking out highlights with my Jakar eraser, which I used for Kate Hoey's hair and the pinstripes on Anthony Howard's suit.

Julia Sawahla (3)

The third of the three portraits. There is quite a bit more I could do to this but I decided the face was good enough and I might possibly ruin it if I mess around any more. The hair could certainly do with more work especially to put more darks in but I don't think this paper can take any more! This sketchbook is feeling too small now so I'm starting on one of the larger ones, bought in London. The paper will be different so it will be interesting to find out if it is any less or any more challanging than this one.

Watching paint dry?

Just testing out posting a video. If it takes too long to download, I'll remove it again. I filmed a few sequences yesterday and couldn't believe how hard it was to post, so I've been whittling down the time to find something manageable. I wonder of it was worth it - even though I tried to ignore the camara I found it very distracting so I was really just scratching around here - plus in order to get a good view, I had to stretch across the table to draw! I tried a few variations too - hand held, panning around ( I have a distracting lovely view from my balcony!), with commentary etc., but decided to just post a snippet of what I normally do - namely a lot of faffing around listening to music! Anyway, I'll get advice from the clever clogs in the house and see if I can make something better...

Julia Sawahla (2)

Unlike the last portrait of Julia, I didn't take any work in progress shots of this one. In fact, I didn't really think about this much at all, I just emptied my mind and enjoyed letting it happen. Often, if I go on a trip, I completely lose my creative momentum and I wanted to get back into drawing as soon as possible as I have a couple of ideas now brewing. The one thing I'm an absolute master of is procrastination and the only thing that conteracts it is to not think and just do it!

London - the arty bits!

The main thing I had on my London shopping list was a larger brown paper sketchpad. I found my last one (pictured above with the portrait of Julia Sawahla) in Paperchase in Victoria Station, and as soon as I got off the Gatwick Express, I headed for the shop and, lo and behold, found an even larger one. Not only that but it was my favourite square format. It's actually called a 'Kraft Scrap Book' (it doesn't seem to be on the website but similar to these) and cost the princely sum of £7.50! I was thrilled with that but when I went to visit Green & Stone to replace my Jaker battery powered eraser (in pink, above) I found an even larger brown pad (it's 17"x12"), almost identical with the same hard cover and ribbon, made by Seawhite of Brighton. (Again, an amazing price - £9.50.) I couldn't believe it, after all these years of searching for this exact shade, suddenly two new wonderful books appear.

I've been lost without my Jakar eraser as it's brilliant for picking out highlights and makes light work of hair (which I've never enjoyed drawing). While I was in Green & Stone, I picked up a small tin of Derwent pencils. I was inspired to try these by (the very talented and very bubbly!) Lynne Chapman of An Illustrated Life for Me!, and her colour pencil travel sketches, such as this one. The colours look so clear and bright.

It was Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark that inspired me to get Bert Dodson's Key to Drawing, having seeing her excellent review on Amazon. I'm so glad I did, as the book really is inspiring. I have a few select books I turn to when I need inspiration and I know that this is going to be one of them. Fortunately, this was waiting for me when I got home because if it wasn't for the assistant at check-in who told me I could carry books and magazines in addition to hand luggage, I would have had to pay excess baggage. That's very useful info to know! EasyJet may be a pain in the derriere, but she was very helpful - praise where it is due.

If Katherine says something is good, then you know it will be, so when she invited me to go along with her to see the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists (see her reviews here and here) I knew I was in for a treat. Some of the work was quite incredible. I especially loved the work of Susan Christopher Coulson - again reviewed by Katherine here, including a photo of the artist and her entries. Katherine's knowledge of all things art is second to none and I got ten times more out of the visit than if I had gone on my own. Afterwards, she took me via a shortcut (it looked like a secret alleyway, something out of a Harry Potter book) to St James' Park where we enjoyed a natter near Duck Island and - joy of joys! - I got to look through one of her sketchbooks.

I had no idea St James's Park was so close to Westminster (my knowledge of London still not great, I envisioned it somewhere off Piccadilly!) but it's so lovely, it's definitely one I'll make an effort to visit in future. A real haven of tranquility in the middle of London, and a little haven of tranquility in the middle of a very hectic trip.

Back from the Big Smoke

I grew up in London but I only heard recently that it's nicknamed the Big Smoke. Doesn't seem quite right to me. The Big Smog, or the Big Traffic Jam possibly, but this trip was The Big Rush. It reminded me of the Christmas shopping trip I made in December 2007, because I felt exhausted after it! That time I came home with 'man 'flu' (my brothers kindly passed it on) but fortunately, I didn't catch man 'flu or swine 'flu or any other kind of bug this time. (I indulged my shopping bug but that's for another post!)

This is the view, above, that I saw every day.















Mum is in St Thomas's Hospital, above, which must have the best views in the whole of London. It's right opposite the Houses of Parliament and on the other side of the bridge from the Millennium Wheel. I lost count of the number of times I walked across the bridge, but I'd lost another 2lbs by the time I got back home! Westminster is not the most convenient place for me to get to so it was a rush to do anything before or after visiting.





















Naturally, I went to Green & Stone, as I always do when I'm in London, and on the way took a photo of this shoe shop on the King's Road.

The trip was tiring enough but returning home via Gatwick with easyJet was an absolute nightmare. I've always used them as they are so cheap and cheerful but I've gone right off them now! At Geneva, they have automatic machines where you pop in your reference number and out pops your boarding card. A few minutes, normally, to queue up and check in any bags for the hold and a long wait hanging around duty free. At Gatwick, some bright spark has decided to have one queue for every easyJet flight! This was the first time ever I've arrived 20 minutes before the check-in opened and because of the queue, and the queues through security, I ended up running for the gate and getting there (very hot and bothered!) with half the passengers having already boarded! I tore myself away from Mum at the hospital to leave early (not sure how long the journey would take) but if I hadn't, I would have missed the flight for sure. EasyJet? No, that's not fitting either! As Londoners would say, they're 'aving a laugh! Air R.Soles would be more accurate.