It's about time!

Well, better late than never, I hope.  Oh my, but I struggled with time with this challenge.  The idea developed quite organically but the realisation of my idea presented me with a lot of technical challenges to solve, and it's quite a relief to have completed it, albeit tardily.

So, my time piece is - a time piece!

It is a quilt (or two) and it works!  For more about the inspiration, the process and the problems, please follow this link.  Now to get thinking about Felicity's challenge, Land/marks....  Hopefully my time prompt will help me with this.

Sue: Architexture - Memories of Marrakech

This was a challenging and frustrating challenge for me - not because I was not inspired by it, but because the combination of flu and ME/CFS after Christmas really floored me, and because I was unable to locate either my photographs of a very enjoyable and inspiring visit to Marrakech or the fabrics and threads I have amassed with the intention of making some textile art based upon the trip.  Marrakech is an extreme experience.  We stayed in a riad inside the old Medina, away from the modern   generic European architecture, so it was quite an immersive experience, too, and I loved it.  This is just scratching the surface of my repository of ideas and intentions based on the Cinnamon or Ochre City, but I have enjoyed revisiting in my mind while working it.

There were a number of striking features to buildings in the old cities I saw.  The pine-cone topping of walls fascinated me, and the use of ceramic tiles to introduce geometric pattern and colour to interior -walls.  Buildings tend to have plain exteriors clad in earth-pigmented stone or daub, but through the door one enters another world, peacefully arranged around a courtyard which lets in natural light, being open to the sky.  Walls and floors tend to be colourfully tiled in mosaic patterns, with carved plasterwork and shuttered, grilled windows adding to a richness of pattern and texture.  The best courtyards echo to the sound of running water flowing into a small plunge pool, surrounded by lush plantings of roses, bananas and sweet flowering jasmine.

I used a stencil and Markal sticks to give an impression of tile patterns, and took as my central feature the wonderful Almoravid dome of the Koubba, an ancient wash-house in which the faithful would perform their ablutions prior to prayer in the no-longer-standing mosque.  It is a stunning building, inside and out, which is now well below street level as the city has grown and redeveloped around it.  When we visited, there was a mother cat suckling her kittens in the shade of one of the external walls of its enclosure: the city seems to belong to the feral cats as much as to the people and the mopeds.

I wanted to convey the sense of enclosure within walls and the decorative interiors hidden by the dull exterior walls.  This is a land where the evil eye is feared, and wealth and good fortune traditionally not flaunted in order to avoid attracting it - except, of course, there are always subtle ways of showing off!

Again, I've roughly worked to a squared-off A3/A4 size, and used machine quilting on commercially available cotton fabrics, apart from my hand stencilled tile fabric.

Waving

My ME/CFS has been stoked by the fluey bugs I had since Christmas and I'm struggling to get anything done at the moment, although slow progress is being made on my Architextural piece.  I'm loving the pieces posted thus far and will comment on them when my piece is done.

Three questions:

1.  We've not heard from several members this time around - are you battling on like me, or have you dropped out?  Please let us know so we can progress appropriately :)

2.  Are you champing at the bit for the next challenge?  We have been working through our number alphabetically, which means that the next one should be set by Deirdre, I think.  Are you up for this, Deirdre?

3.  Does anyone have the waiting list of those desirous of joining us?

hoping for a very stitchy day tomorrow.

Sorry I'm very late

I'm not in a position to post anything yet, as I'm running extremely late.  As you may well recall, I had a hip replacement operation early in October and, while recovery is going very well, it is taking much longer than I thought and sitting comfortably has only recently become possible.  I have also been exhausted by the process of building up my mobility, so not the best of times to be creative and inspired.  I finally have had an idea of what I want to do but materials, whilst procured, are still on their way to me.  I will post as soon as possible but hope you will, on this occasion, forgive me for my tardiness.  I also dare not yet look too much at the other submissions, but well done, all of you who have managed to meet the deadline, and commiserations to those still on the journey.

Off the Wall

Like some others here, I had a couple of false starts.  One idea I really liked was way too complex for such a small scale textile piece, and another, ultimately, didn't seem enough of a challenge and I became bored of it.

Shadows on the Wall

Fortunately, inspiration struck via my blog reader.  A virtual friend had posted a photograph on her blog, which fascinated me.  She had photographed the shadows of leaves on her garden wall, and I was intrigued how the texture of the wall interacted with the shadows, being more or less visible according to the depth of the darkness. Meanwhile the angle of the sun and the wind playing with the leaves rather abstracted from their actual flat shape, which was also interesting.

Wall Shadows

I decided this was something I wanted to explore in my challenge piece, and here it is, worked on quilters' calico overlaid with black twinkle organza and black chiffon, stitched in shades of grey and cream by machine.  It's about 30 x 30cm or 12" square: I squared down a piece of A3 paper to get this size and was happy working to these dimensions.

At present the edges are raw and I'm not sure how or if to finish them.  The little quilt looks quite well in the mount I found which fits exactly (good old IKEA) so it may live in the frame for a while, until we determine some sort of common practice.

I enjoyed this challenge very much, however much panic and self-doubt it induced - and, as you see, these I overcame to meet the deadline (just)

Festival of Quilts

Anyone going this year?  First I wasn't going to, then I thought I might go on Sunday as it is apparently much quieter, but now I think I might venture into the dangerous waters of Thursday because several peeps I know are going....  Anyone fancy pushing my wheelchair and getting in free?!

I think inspiration may have struck!

I have been very restricted by my injured forefinger: gashed as a result of it being shut in a car door, it was healing nicely but then developed an infection: most owww-y and tender.  The antibiotics seem to be kicking in now so I hope it will soon co-operate with me in my creative urges as I have a lot of things I want to be getting on with.

Anyway, I was surfing through the www using my nine-fingered typing, and was once again failing to find a print of David Hockney's Garrowby Hill painting, when I came across the lovely black and white photography of William Guion, (more here) which fed nicely into thoughts I had been having about our Light and Shadow theme.  Also, dear Elma kindly put up her post and I could see that her take on trees would be different to mine, so I felt better about it.  However, Elma, I really hope you don't feel I'm treading on your toes...  One of the photos (I will not disclose which as yet) was particularly inspiring and I felt I could see how I would get the effect I want, which kind of related to the painting I posted recently.  My fingers have been busy, ordering some materials from eBay and I feel very excited about starting work when they arrive and my finger allows, hopefully before our holiday starts in 9 days time...!

Sue - here I am

Posting from London where I'm visiting my Mum in the house I grew up in.  Normally I live in a village between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, not far from the birthplace of our Annabel.  One day, I'll actually meet her.  I have met Liz, and know almost everyone else from blogland/yahoo groups and the like.  So, ladies, it's lovely to be with you here.

I'm going to be 57 next month and have had ME for 23 years, before which I was a zippy social worker and young Mum to Sarah (now 24 and living away from home).  I also have arthritis and am awaiting a hip replacement op, probably in September.  Harout and I also have Anna (20) and Ben (15).  I am not really a patchworker although I have dabbled a bit over the years, and especially when I took C&G Embroidery.  Thus I guess I'm more of an embroiderer but I'm a technique tart and dabble with many different methods of working.  I have also started painting again, having found a lovely teacher within reach who is helping me achieve acrylic paintings I'm well chuffed with.

It occurs to me that my most recent painting is kind of about light and shade, and that I took loads of light and shade-relevant photos at the Chelsea Physic Gardens yesterday afternoon (lovely place to visit).

Lots of possibilities to explore, aren't there? This is going to be fun!