What was I thinking about???

This seemed like a good idea at the time. I've been tidying up (Again!) and came across a bundle of fabric pieces approx 8" x 11" and approx rectangular. I'd won these pieces at a Quilters Guild Regional Day - I could have donated them to another raffle, I could have cut them into quarters, jumbled them round and sew them back together again, I could even have put them in the bin! But no, a little voice inside me said it would be fun to cut the pieces randomly and put them together again, and I believed that little voice!
So I've learned another form of prevarication - do something uselesss instead of getting on with things. I'm still mulling over my Elizabeth Barton class, I've a blog post in draft and an idea to explore the lessons I learned, and what am I doing - almost impossible fabric jigsaws!
The completed jigsaw will make a top roughly 24" x 30", the next step is to give it a tea bath, then I'll layer it and add some extra large white daisy style flowers to make a Linus quilt. (And that'll put off commiting to anything more serious for another couple of days!

Scanners and Divers

From http://annekata.blogspot.com/2010/08/about-scanners-and-divers.html

""Scanners love to read and write, to fix and invent things, to design projects and businesses, to cook and sing, and to create the perfect dinner party." This is how author Barbara Sher describes people who get passionate about anything and everything. People, who want to do a million things at the same time and can't decide on just one career or passion to occupy them for the rest of their lives.

Scanners often perceive specialization as limiting, or even boring. They explore many different ideas and learn new things constantly. Once they feel satisfied with their skill level, which can be quite advanced, they have no trouble abandoning their achievements. The world is too big, life is too short and they're on their way to the next exciting idea.

Divers, in contrast, do the opposite according to Ms Sher. They become completely absorbed in a field of their choosing and are often found in professions that require highly specialized skills, such as scientists, musicians, dentists(!) and athletes amongst others. While scanners explore the world broadly, divers explore in depth."

I'm a scanner - though I think I'd prefer to be a diver! Barbara Sher is the author of several books including one called " I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was" which describes the way I often feel! The full article that Annekata referenced can be found here .

What are modern mothers coming to?

A good scrub with a flannel was all that was needed when I was young....

Old me - new me...

... or at least I can hope!

I was going to post two photos, one before and one after but there was so much reflection that you can barely see the difference so here is the after shot -

This trapping of assorted threads and fabrics was begun in a machine embroidery class last year. The bits were held in place with a layer of organza stitched with some large vermicelli machining - too large. So last week I ran the straight line stitching across the piece (approx 8" x 6"), then the questions began - "Was there enough stitching?" "Did I need to add more layers?" "Did it need more....?" and that's when the old me kicked in! I put the piece to one side to think about, because whatever I decided to do could spoil the work done so far - not that it was ever a labour of love in the first place.

Each time I went into my room to sew I looked at this thing and it wasn't talking to me at all, then I suddenly realised  - I won't know what's going to spoil the piece until I've spoiled it (or not) so I might as well get on with something and treat it as a lesson, and the new me came out to play!

I added no more stitching, just got out the heat gun. The results were interesting but disappointing, where the vermicelli was less dense I got some interesting holes, but these could have been achieved with more control using a pebble stitch. Nor were they very visible. So I got out some bronze fingering thinking that it would catch on the burned edges of the organza, but it actually spread all over the surface picking up best on the light coloured thread I'd used for the horizontal stitching, blending it in more with the whole. Now that was interesting - I hadn't expected the thread to pick up the colour so well or so easily. 

So in future the new me isn't going to prevaricate, the new me is going to jump in and get those mistakes (or not) made sooner, so that I can get on and make some more mistakes, or not!

One week on .....

Café con leche - Milchkaffee by marfis7

Attribution-ShareAlike License

I've been at home for a week now, officially I'm on holiday until the end of July when I formally retire but I'm done and gone. I already feel free!

So far my worries about being at home haven't materialised, but then it's early days and I haven't been at home too much either! Trips out have included a visit to the Quiltart exhibition at Bankfield in Halifax and a coffee and stroll around the unique Beech Road in Chorlton.

What I have found is that I'm needing to keep a record of what I have done. I imagine that this is all part of the transition when my own time still seems very precious, as if I have to return to work shortly. That said, I would like to use my time rather than simply let it pass by -  the arrival of the bus pass does make you reailse that time is a limited commodity!

Procrastination - again!

Just before the bank holiday weekend I read an article about procrastination (will I ever remember to write down the sources of these things???) which acknowledged that spending time in front of a screen is the easiest form of procrastination there is. The solution was to realise that that was what you were doing and spend that procrastination time elsewhere, doing something 'useful' instead like the ironing or preparing veg. for a meal.
These tasks are finite so there is a what next element when they are completed, but also in completing them they don't get in the way of the time you have when you're working on something interesting.

I tried it, it works. Now I just have to remember to do it again!

2009 - Word of the Year

This year my word will be Explore - not dissimilar from Play but a little more purposeful I hope.
Again I can see myself using my word in different ways:

• using my studio journal to explore variations on the ideas that come into my head. I frequently 'see' completed pieces - some of them come off, some don't. I'm not afraid to change the work as I go along, but what would happen if I explored the idea before I got to the fabric?
• exploring my use of time as I change from a five day working week to a three day week. I'm sure that I'll slow down - from other people's experience that seems inevitable, but I want to explore different ways of working to maximise my 'studio' time.
• exploring my environment. When you live in the same place for 35 years your eyes glaze over - I want to take myself into places I pass by, walk along roads I don't normally use. Not big stuff but enough to make me look!
  

Power hours

Sometimes you feel as though someone knows you better than you know yourself! This came in last week from Robert Genn's 'Painters keys' -

"In my part-time, unpaid job as an art coach, I hear from folks who are suffering from lackadaisicalitis. While they may be naturally talented, they seldom produce art and have little motivation. It's easy to say they don't want things badly enough. ................ The idea comes easily to some and runs against the grain of others. It may have something to do with fear of failure. "Organizational fatigue" is where a person gets tired of being in systems that are frequently aborted. In supposedly self-motivated lives, I call this problem "the contrarian trap," and some folks have it in spades.

lackadaisicalitis, seldom produce, fear of failure and particularly, organizational fatigue - I recognise them all. The very fact that my last post was full of re-iterations of things that I can already do proves how far I have retreated recently and that a boost is needed.

Genn goes on to suggest dedicated 'Power Hours' planned into the day and I think this has to be something I try as soon as possible!






Ho goes on to suggest dedicated pre-planned 'Power Hours'

August TIF

The theme this month was balance, and I was inspired by a diagram from an article linked to in this post - http://sharonb.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/composition-and-the-elements-of-visual-design/ :

It almost seems to sum up of my life :-} The big, almost central, circle being the day job, and the smaller, out on a limb, circle representing the stitching I'd rather be doing! It's all rather strange but since I've had to re-consider my working practice due to changes at work, not working at all seems to have become very desirable!

Klimt Exhibition

Yesterday saw us at the Klimt Exhibition at the Tate Liverpool. We walked through the new shopping development to get to the Tate and it was wonderful to see Liverpool as it should be. For too long the City Centre has not reflected the warmth of its' people. I only hope that the shift of the commercial centre has been planned for.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition - as well works by Klimt there were on display works by other members of the Viennese Secession and the Weiner Werkstätte. I was particularly taken with the work of Josef Hoffmann, a new name to me.

Without reference to the catalogue or my notes the outstanding things for me were:

• the sharp contrast of faces portrayed in the Beethoven frieze and earlier portraiture


• the silver pieces of Joseph Hoffmann


• a simple, small table with a single drawer. The proportions were breathtaking - they just seemed so right.


• the appalling quality of the landscape reproductions on sale in the shop!!!!!

After the tour we had lunch in the adjoining Tate 'cafe' overlooking the Albert Dock. For a Monday the place was amazingly busy, service was poor and the quality of the food wasn't a reflection of the prices! That said, an after lunch tour of the dock proved that there was plenty of choice on offer as far as food is concerned.

It wasn't the best of days to take photographs but I always find it difficult to relate this tourist attraction to the intimidatingly busy, then intimidatingly derelict, dock landscape that I visited in the late 60's and 70's.

noreply-comment@blogger.com

In trying to reply to comments I keep coming up against the 'noreply-comment@blogger.com' address which means I can't reply personally to the sender. When I first set up this blog I was wary of inviting unwelcome intrusions into my life (My Space, Facebook etc. were unheard of at the time) and set my comments address to no-reply.

Recently I've changed this to a web-based address, so that if things did get sticky could be deleted, and what a difference it has made - dialogues have begun with blog visitors, none unwelcome, that I couldn't have dreamt of a while ago.

I'm thinking of starting a campaign!!!!!!!!

You know you've got the bug when...

.. you and your other half take 100+ pix on holiday and only a small percentage are of people or places!

Rochester Cathedral

Chatham Dockyard

Boardwalk, Whitstable and beam in holiday cottage

St. Albans Cathedral

"I'll do the veg. for you" !!!!!

????????????????????????????????????????

Deadlines

From responses on and off blog - it seems that we love them! And I'd have agreed with everything Mags said in her comment, until this last quilt. Perhaps what got to me was the fact that the deadline was artificially imposed by 'external forces' - but my back is much improved, thanks for the well wishes.

As part of the day job I'm rolling out a technology that will allow children to submit work on-line. It's in its' early days in schools but a serious research study has proved that post-16 students show a consistent pattern of submitting work between 11pm and 2am on the day of the deadline. Research? Phrases like 'money for old rope' come to mind. Isn't this how we grew up? Isn't this the pattern for most of us?

And just because I like pictures, I did a search for textures on my favourite image site www.sxc.hu and came up with this from Nicolas Raymond of Montreal.

April TIF Challenge

This month's challenge is 'How do you see change?'

This immediately lifted my spirits! I'm very fortunate not to have been hit by the uncontrollable cataclysmic changes (accidents?) that can affect people. The changes in my life have been down to the normal life cycles of a family, relationships and of and at work.

Not all of these have been pleasant at the time. Some have been a matter of circumstance and some have been of my own choosing (mostly the latter in recent years). Some changes are quite distinct whereas others are a matter of evolution. Either way change brings out my "cup half-full" mentality and I can look for positives.

The best changes of all are those you can control and that also bring with them opportunities for learning and subsequent personal growth. I'd hate to envisage a time when I'm unable to bring about changes in my life, however small - I fear that I would become quite diminuished.

Enough! Where has this brought me to in terms of the challenge?

I see change and growth as circular, though not necesssarily evenly so, hence the sketch below.

Some years ago I was given a floating candle set which I've never opened because I could see the format of the packaging/shapes becoming a design layout at some point in the future. That future is now!

And the colours are part of that 'just popped into my head' moment. I've never combined these colours before but I presume I've seen something that has influenced m choice - but I can't think what, right now!!!

Play - a quarterly review!

In January I wrote about an alternative to the traditional New Year resolution - http://bilsblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-new-year-resolution.html and chose Play as my word.

This operates at several levels:

• related to the goal it means ‘work less and play more’. As I move towards retirement I need to shift away from work as a total pre-occupation. I enjoy what I do and spend ‘leisure time’ reading and researching around my job, but this will be redundant when I retire so I need to start replacing that activity with others.
• It’s been a busy time at work but I have managed to work less at home, probably because I’m too tired in an evening to do much! I have deliberately spent less time reading/blogging around the day job, which has meant that I’ve managed to contribute to this blog more regularly - and I know I’ve benefitted from that.
• I spend a lot of time at the PC prevaricating and know that I need to be doing something more positive - I need to play (aka stitch!)
  I have definitely spent more time in my sewing room than ever before and have finally (though not necessarily permanently!) conquered my inability to stitch/play for extended periods of time. I am now regularly losing myself in my work - no artificial cut-offs after 20-30 minutes!
• when I play (aka stitch), I want to experiment more. I’m taking small steps but doing this on my own seems to mean that there are never any giant leaps or sideways steps going on.
• Hmmm - not so sure about this, but perhaps this is a hard judgement to make about yourself. What I have done is had a re-think about the definition of play, or more to the point have thought about how children play. And the key here is repetition - the same game, the same characters, the same toys over and over with little variation until something else catches their attention.
  I think I”ve been quite hard on myself, not allowing myself to re-use colour combinations or techniques because I wouldn’t be ‘pushing’ myself. But if I’m really going to play not only do I have to give myself permission to re-use ideas I need to actively encourage myself to do so!

NOT the road less travelled

As I start to think about what I remember of my early childhood for the TIF challenge, one of the things that has struck me is my sense of place. From observing where a lorry regularly parked on our suburban road, through the walk from Grandmother's house to bustop to my own sense of place in different groups, I seem to have an almost impartial observer's view on things. This all suggests to me that my interpretation of this month's theme could take the form of a map, which in turn could reflect how I got where I am now. I've never chosen the road less travelled and in fact have not made many significant choices at all, preferring to 'go with the flow' - though I haven't been above manipulating the direction of that flow, on occasions!

What I can't work out is how the map idea will translate itself into a visual image.....

What are you old enough to remember?

The wording of the TIF challenge is quite interesting - it sounds as though the older you are the more you'll remember, but I'm not sure that that is true! I've been surprised to discover how little I remember as opposed to things I associate with photograph's from the past. A psychiatrist's delight perhaps? I don't thibk so, there are no skeletons in this cupboard but it has left me wondering what age people do have memories of.

As far as the challenge is concerned the difficult part will be avoiding the obvious collage of images and representations. I'm thinking layers of pattern and pictures at the moment but can't quite see how it will all work out - it's a good job that February is a bit longer this year!

Still playing!

I've been meaning to ask - how are people doing with their words ? Mine is working out better than I'd thought - because in addition to trying to play more I'm clearing a path to playtime. Yes, much to my amazement I've turned domestic - I'm putting things away and generally clearing up as I go. The only thing I can put it down to is the focus on play! My mother always said "If you're a good girl ....".

Poster collection

An ongoing series of posters designed by graduates of University College Falmouth for the purpose of pasing on advice and inspiration to first year students.The scheme began in 2006 and was repeated in 2007. An advice to sink in slowly poster is given as a welcoming gift to every student enrolling on a BA course at UCF.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adviceposters/sets/72157602720078403/with/2091992488/

Particular favourites are -






And because I've met this seagull .....