Tuesday, April 22, 2008

OMAR

Our Mountain Art Retreat. I flew out to Houston to meet Diane. We had a lovely day together, went to a fabulous fabric store - I had to be very restrained as it had to come home on the plane with me. (I admit that was unsuccessful, Diane will mail some of my purchases on to me). We went to the Craft Museum and saw the 'Craft in America' exhibition. http://www.craftinamerica.org/?

Wonderful stuff and worthy of a visit.

The next morning we flew to El Paso to meet Rachel. Rachel drove us up to Ruidoso via 'White Sands National Park'. This place is incredible, with brilliant white sand dunes with buried trees, un-buried shrubs which look very strange. The shadows were amazing and we took loads of photos. The place is very peaceful and awesome to see. I especially loved the tire tracks, foot prints and animal tracks which were everywhere. See my Flickr pics for more.


We had a lovely three days crafting and chatting, loads of laughing. We made wild women (Sarah Lawrence) using dry felting, silk paper using silk cocoon strippings, we made collages for the CPS 7 day collage challenge. Diane taught me how to weave using a lolly stick loom, Rachel did some machine embroidery. We stayed up late and got up early to watch the deer and wild turkeys go by. We didn't see any bears. There was a little flurry of snow and Diane got very excited. The pic shows Rachel and Diane with the luggage we managed to cram into the car. Not bad considering two of us had caught flights!



Whilst we were out and about we came across this castle keep. I smiled at how historically incorrect it was, wouldn't have liked to be there in siege times, but there were loads of details which I found inspiring.
This one is the pulley holding the huge chain which in turn was holding up the not-draw bridge.
Rachel is queen of garage sailing and we managed to fit in a couple before we had to catch the plane back to Houston. We bought antique linens, broken jewelry and other stuff to be creative with. Diane took me to Joanns and Michaels on the way to the airport and I bought more great stuff, patchwork fabrics, neat crafty items and some fantastic buttons. I managed to stuff everything into my cases without busting the weight limits. I did have one bag searched, collecting the note from homeland security is a bit of a tradition. Now I just have to find a home for all my new stuff.
I had a great time and can thoroughly recomend going off on an art retreat. My inner batteries are all charged up and I am inspired to create.

ATC for Katherine


An Atc made using the techniques learned with Gwen Hedley.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Waggiest Tail

13 years ago we entered puppydog Katy into Scrufts, the 'unique' dogs version of Crufts. Katy won 1st place in the waggiest tail class and we have the certificate and ribbon, not that we needed it, Katy's friendliness and joi de vivre shone from every scruffy hair on her body.









Today Katy couldn't wag her tail and we had to say good-bye. We have tears and heartache and a big empty space in our lives for the little dog who gave so much and asked for so little in return - a cuddle, a walk, a biscuit,the 8 o'clock play, her 9 o'clock wee, the squishy bit in the middle of the bed...








Miss you sweetheart

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Workshop with Gwen Hedley



I went to Broadlands Art Centre this weekend for a workshop with Gwen Hedley. Gwen challenged us to join pieces of fabric and paper without using stitch. We used staples, wire, sticks, gromets, paper fasteners etc to join our pieces together, then we embellished with thread and beads, but no stitching! Lots of weaving and wrapping though. I did loads of samples to try to help remember as many methods as possible - none of my pieces are finished yet. The piece on the left used grommets, paper fasteners, beaded wire and staples. The one on the right has staples, paper fasteners and tooth picks. There are more photos on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmaemmeline/sets/72157604347506009/


Garage/studio update


What a difference a few sunny days make. My garage/studio is starting to look real at last. This is the view from the garden showing the side door and two windows. From the front it will look like a standard garage. I am looking forward to being able to make a mess with abandon.