Anniversaries and Celebrations

Yesterday Dave and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary. We have had a house full of our children, their mates and little Ava our granddaughter. We now have a pop up tent in the living room, clothes, shoes and toys everywhere, books, photos and flowers. It is wonderful to have them around as it makes the event even more special.

When we were married 23 years ago, we would never have imagined that our journey together would have been like this. It has been full, overflowing with memorable times. It hardly seems that so much time has passed and that we too have changed and yet it sometimes feels like not much time has passed. How is that possible? As our children get older we too are ageing and that is a scary thought.

Dave has the ability to make me laugh and that is one of the many attractive things about him, when telling others about our anniversary he always tells the same old jokes, like " some criminals get less time for life in prison" and "I had hair when I married San she made me lose it all." I know he is joking and it does make me laugh.

The girl behind the mask

Thank you all for such encouraging comments. I have spent the last week in a battle with myself. When I started working on "The girl behind the mask" I thought that it would be a challenge, and it really is and has been a big one. I finally mailed the entry form to the festival of Quilts competition last night after much encouragement and deliberation with Dave and the children (Gina and Susan too, at our last get together). I will continue my work on it sharing as I go along the humps and bumps which I encounter. I have been working on the background and still have quite a lot to do. I now have to deal with each development one step at a time. As I work on this piece it is almost, as the name suggests, a focus on myself, my fears and insecurities, my desire to hide away instead of confronting any obstacles that come my way. I still struggle at 47 to be a strong woman who might take a chance, instead of the vulnerable girl afraid to fail. The important thing is doing your best, It is about self belief.

To be a Real Blogger is like being a Real Artist.

I must admit that I often times feel as if I am behind the times with blogging and even keeping up with new technology. When I follow other bloggers I am always amazed at the frequency with with they submit blogs. I find it equally hard keeping up with my emails. I am also impressed with those bloggers who have 300 followers and reply to all their messages, I have one or two and well, I often take a while to reply to their comments ( forgive me please). I know that I will somehow never reach that status by being on top of it all, but I will keep trying. I often put it off because I know that hours will disappear and I will still have a million things which I haven't done. The truth is that I still never get the million and one things done. This brings to mind my giant quilt which I am still struggling on with and on the verge of giving up but every time I reach that moment when I think that I will cut it up and make it in to cushions I remember what I always tell my four children "perseverance seldom fails" the real question is, do I truly believe this or am I just saying it because it was said to me. I guess, I do believe it because I am now off to continue working on the giant quilt. I will keep smiling and trudge on.

Friendship is a special gift

Last Saturday Dave I had a lovely time at my friends Susan and John who had invited us over for dinner. Gina and her partner were also there and we had a great time talking about art, life and children. Over this week I have had time to reflect on the event and I realise how much I appreciate them and their friendship. Our links or connections came through work but has somehow evolved into a warm caring bond and there is that genuine concern for each other that makes it very special. We might not speak to each other every day or meet up often but when we do we are guaranteed to have a great time. I learn so much from them all. They inspire me to be more than I am.

I have been out this weekend as well, but on Friday night for dinner at a local pub with different friends. This time all mums and our links have been formed through the school in our village, we have or have had children at the same school. The connections this time were different and the relationships different, but a bond has been formed, I believe that I am in the process of making a few more special friends.

Thank You Friends.

Plaster board and quilts!

What a day I have had, well the week really. Working on this large quilt is surely a learning curve. I have bought a plaster board to help me view and work on this large piece of fabric in a verticle position rather than on the floor. It is not easy reaching the top of it being a little on the short side myself. This new and elaborate arrangement has meant that I have been carrying it everywhere, into the house, then the studio and the garden, like a huge portfolio. When the weather was great I had it leaned up against my studio and balancing on a box (see Photo). Then it got a bit colder and grey and everything was moved indoors. This meant that my studio was even more cramped than usual (because it needs tiding again and the board is massive). I managed to do a bit of painting and some sewing on it and feel better about it than I did last week. While taking photos of my work and the plaster board's journey, I realised that my garden was looking quite summery too, so I stopped and photograhed it to share with you.

Stitching and Stitching

The sun has gone away again, today has been wet, windy and grey. I have been looking at and changing things on my most recent work. I have even thought of starting over but I am trudging on not giving up just yet. I have worked on the dyed background with oil sticks to lay down the features of the girl in the portrait. At the moment her soft features and subtle expression of shyness are being strongly contrasted with her painted mask design which is quite strong and overpowering . I have used paint and stitch for this. From the overall image you can see that I still have quite a long way to go, I intend to include some printing and applique onto the background and will add more definition to the face. The machine embroidered round shapes seem to work well in representing the texture of hair, I intend to add beads and printing to this as well. It is quite an overwhelming task which I have set myself and as I do not consider myself a quilter I am giving it a go and I am using quilting as a new means of expression.