Tuesday, September 29, 2009

I just realised ...

... that I started blogging on 29 September 2005.

Can it really be that long ago?
Looking back ... little did I know then how things would change for me.

I certainly wouldn't have believed that I'd be part of the team running a community arts centre.

At that point I just thought that I'd jump on the bandwagon, and use blogging to keep a rough type of diary.

Together with my tattered travel sketchbook that was started in 1999, it gives a bit of a hint as to what I have been up to.

Optimistically, I intend to spend tomorrow getting on with a few projects other than the Art Room.But as you see here, the garden and yarn pull equally.

There is a bucket of reconstituted porcelain ready for me to play with. These were made about the time I started blogging when I had so much more time to myself.

And how about the spinning projects? It is going to be a complicated day, isn't it?

Then there is the backlog of laundry that has built up as we were away in Scotland last week.

So don't be surprised to see sliced pears acting as inspiration for all sorts of activities. I might even try to dry some.

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Friday, September 18, 2009

Finally, I made sense of my camera ...

... and can now reveal my latest parcel from my secret pal. Thank you so much - you got it all just right!And here we have: a fantastic project bag in bright colours, just my style!
Some fibres in a bright jewel greeny blue; some mysterious seeds (they came unlabelled) that I don't immediately recognise; and the most exquisite fine mohair yarn.
All this came recently, but I haven't been at home in daylight hours much recently, and then the camera batteries were flat!!
Excuses! Excuses, I know, but all true.
Meanwhile we popped over to Lincoln for the AIA conference, and took a side trip to Gainsborough where we saw this lovely passion flower creeping out from under the metal hoarding of a building site.
In Lincoln itself I was tempted by the texture carved into this stone plinth. It looks as though it would be really easy to translate this into crochet.
These are the latest socks off the needles: I now have a sneeking suspicion that the bright red wool element might not be machine washable, so their first wash was by hand. I will have to try felting a bit of the leftover yarn before I next want to wash them.

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Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Recently ....

... we visited Derby College that has built a new campus around the Roundhouse and other railway buildings near Derby station.There are new link buildings with the most amazing glass: blue on the inside,
whilst red on the outside.We have also had a few brief outings, including one to Manchester.

There are great opportunities for opportunist thieves in Manchester railway stations. It looks as though they are rostered along with railway staff and members of the emergency services to remove abandoned luggage from railway platforms! This jacket is in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. We were there to see the Beyer Garratt locomotive centenary display, but this caught my eye; downy seedheads arranged on a fine mesh of thread. I've no idea who made it, but it has great impact.

I also visited Lincoln for the displays and trade fair at the end of the Association of Guilds of WSD summer school.

Walking back down to the station I saw this rangoli near the cathedral. I didn't have time to stop to talk to the man who was still adding names to the design. Doesn't this look fantastic!

The Art Room meanwhile, has a sign up, new windows are going in and we are slowly finding where things have ended up after the move.
And those promised images of sock knitting are still on my camera and the batteries need charging before I can download them. Pictures of my second parcel from my secret pal are there too. I should be able to share them with you in the next few days.

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