december arrives...by Amanda

I promised an update mid-November, well, it's December now, other projects pushed their way to the fore and Forum work is waiting for attention. I have spent a month developing a character design for a pre-school children's book. This is almost complete now so will be sharing that on my own blog before Christmas.

Life is full, Stitching the Legend is still in process. Sometimes it takes months of waiting before an idea sparks the project off again - it's all part of the creative process. The Ulster Musuem has a small costume display which includes a beautiful Schiaperelli gown. I'm not sure what the fabric is because there is little detail and you can't touch it to find out! I'm guessing it's silk crepe de chine. The colour is a muted soft pink so that will have to be included somehow into my Schiaperelli piece for Stitching the Legend.

Here's a quote from the famous lady herself:

'Never fit a dress to a body but train the body to fit the dress'

Back onto the exercise bike for me then!

eager to stitch

Seeing the cartoon, Amanda, makes me eager to get back to this project. Until I get a 'thumbs up' from the surgeon, however, I continue to be limited to thinking and researching. See you all at the Bee Hive on Saturday. Frances

looking ahead by Amanda

Our Make it New work is still available for exhibition until next summer but meanwhile Forum members press on with our new theme 'Stitching the Legend'. We are planning for and looking forward to our next residential week in March 2011 when we will be focusing on the theme and working together to bring our ideas into reality. Meanwhile Autumn is here, the weather is cooler and the days are shorter, the perfect season for turning up the heating in the studio and spending time in creative mode. Each Forum member is busy with their own lives and work, slotting in Forum time whenever possible. For me, October is an important month for updating my own website and for working on the allotment, planting fruit canes etc -November /December are my forum months so, all being well, expect an update from me mid-November, maybe sooner if inspiration takes over and I start working through the night!

update from Amanda

The exhibition is in progress, so while we wait to hear the responses of visitors, work continues on our current projects. My Stitching the Legend pieces are in the 'thinking' process. Who knows how long this will take - while I meditate on the work so far and make decisions about the next step my fashion icon outlines stare at me from the wall of the room where I work waiting for inspiration to hit.

Until I have further news here are a couple of photos of the fabric collage that I made to accompany the dress in the current exhibition. Photographs of my model have been transfered onto composted cotton, applique has been added and the resulting quilted piece stretched around a frame. The colours are muted yet earthy, the message is gentle but potent - 'Respect the Planet' - Let's take care of this wonderful, unique place we call earth.

more Cavan exhibition photos from Jan

Finally back looking at the pictures I took on the current exhibition in the County Cavan Museum in Ballyjamesduff I thought I'd share the following from the exhibition. When we were in Ballyduggan, County Down in March of 2010 one exercise we all did was to do a self-portrait as a single line drawing which was quite entertaining and both Frances and Amanda managed to get their drawing moved to a composted fabric and included in the exhibition as seen here:

Here are two of Esters rock pieces; one with the rocks as separate pieces incorporated into the wall hanging and one that was one piece of fabric that with the use of just threads she created the same effect - most amazing when you sit and really enjoy the work done:

The final series of Will Tell pieces that I did were done with the original design (using only arrows - palms depending on how you see it) that incorporated fabrics from the Escheresque series and while not as striking as the red/yellow series has a unique quality with the different fabrics and threads used in the quilting of these A4 pieces:

Cavan county museum exhbition starts

Well finally we've gathered all our pieces and have hung the exhibition at the Cavan County Museum from the 1st of September 2010 through the 30th of September 2010! I'll be adding pictures over the next week or so of the pieces but thought I'd start tonight with a shot of each of our primary walls (except I forgot to take one of mine). Amanda had her pieces centre around the bull rushes that we see during our residence week in Ballyduggan. She used techniques like dress making using stamped fabric and fabric painting/stitching them as a wall piece; all of which have been done on composted fabric.




Ester has included a few larger quilts so we have one wall that contains all her rock wall hangings that each contain their own unique style. I hadn't realized that some of them were created from one piece of fabric and the stitching was what defined the rocks vs the ones that had individual stones (of various sizes and fabrics). In the next few days I'll add along some of the bigger quilts which include fabric from her son's early shirts along with detailed pictures of the rock series.




Frances has continued on with the Making it New theme to include a series of watercolour techniques for the 4 seasons of the year along with heartfelt depiction of the disasters that have hit the waters of the world with the Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989 and more recently the Gulf Oil spill caused by a catastrophic uncapped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Finally my favorite project involved taking a quilt I had started in 1973 when I started a Grandmothers Garden pattern (long before I knew what quilting really involved) made of scraps of fabric my 4 sisters and I used to make clothing in our teens. I have since taken it apart and put it back together and loved the memories as I worked. For anyone actually attending the exhibition you'll see almost all my entries are hexagons (the framed piece includes hexagons that are only 5/8" big) and hopefully I've outgrown that phase at this point!

here comes the Exxon Valdez

At last! The piece is finished and titled 'Here Comes the Exxon Valdez.' It is a warning to us all of the havoc brought on by the greed of oil companies, by our own thoughtless use of petrol and by moronic statements such as those from Sarah Palin, "Drill, baby, drill." And, to my delight, the quilt placed second in the wall quilt category at the recent Tinahely Quilt Show.