Part Time Blogger

I seem to have become a part time blogger! There was a time when I could turn out three or four posts a week no problem but these days it's a struggle to manage once a week, if that. Since I was last here I had a super day at the V & A... Nothing to show for it but I enjoyed learning more about egg tempera... And no, I have not managed any more painting! But I will!

I have been busy finishing off these shoes...

Spectrum, the group that I mentor, were invited to exhibit at Textiles in Focus, a three day show that takes place in  Cottenham each February. As part of the exhibition we have all put in work that came from a joint project called "Thinking outside the Box". Members of the group could start with any type of box they liked but had to create a piece of textile artwork from this. I chose to work with a shoe box and made shoes for Frida Kahlo... Part of an ongoing body of work based on the Mexican artist.

 

I was inspired by a quote from Frida... In 1953 following the amputation of her foot, she wrote in her diary the following words...

So, I made fantasy shoes to be her "Wings to Fly". This is my display at the exhibition which opened today.

 

But this is not all there is to see... There is fabulous wearable art from my friend Gill.

 

Super quilt and panels based on gardens and ironwork from someone else you might know...Jill.

 

Gorgeous colours from Jenny and Margaret.

And these stunning cushions... From Jill again... she's so clever! And that is just a small taster of what's to see at the exhibition.

 

As well as exhibiting I have been teaching at the show too, so spent a whole day this week just putting together kits for stitched needle cases. The first class this afternoon went well and there is another to come on Sunday.

 

We also woke to water pouring down the light fitting into our dining room this morning... but the less said about that the better! (problem now fixed and everything is drying out before the ceiling gets repainted. The entire house smells damp!)

 



But on a cheerier note, as so many of you sent good wishes... I'll finish with a photo of the newly weds... James and Lizzie by the Rialto bridge. I've just realised that I've become a step-mother-in-law!

Have a good weekend!

Frida

My book last month for The Year in Books was Dear Life by Alice Munro. I had such high hopes for this - a winner of the Man Booker International prize by a Nobel Prize winning author, with some great reviews. I really wanted to like it - but I didn't like it at all.

 

 

I admit I'm not that keen on short stories at the best of times but I found these completely flat for want of a better description. I could appreciate the cleverly crafted prose and the economy of language but I found nothing appealling about this collection of dismal stories about dismal, shallow, sad people. We read it for our village book club and it wasn't that popular with anyone there either. In fact, I still haven't finished it... although I managed to finish two others in the middle of reading this. Both really good crime thrillers, one set in London and the other in Cambridge - both very familiar settings.  I thoroughly enjoyed both and I'm looking forward to reading the second in each series. Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough for Nobel Prize winners!

My book choice for July is a biography - Frida by Heyden Harrera. I've already started it and I'm already enjoying it.

 

 

And it has inspired me to finish off a doll that I started about two years ago.

 

I know it must be a long time because I only really make dolls when I'm teaching a doll making class and it is a really long time since I last taught doll making.

 

She has been sat on my shelf all this time needing those finishing touches... and I've ignored her.

 

But a combination of clearing out my studio, seeing the Made in Mexico exhibition, making flowers with the Young Embroiderers and starting the biography of Frida Kahlo has prompted me to get her finished

 

And although I'm never that keen on dolls, I do quite like her!

 

I've got some other Frida Kahlo Inspired work waiting to be finished so maybe I'll get going on that too!