Memories

Well hello... Yet again I've been gone a while being busy with other things but it has been a good week. The sun has shone, I've dried washing outside, planted up some pots with primroses, been for walks... But best of all I have finished my big commission which feels like it has been hanging over me for weeks... Literally... it is a very large wall hanging!

Back at the end of November, I met with some of the residents of Edward House, a residential home in Cambridge. The ladies, whose ages ranged from 87 to 101 chatted to me about their memories and my brief was to convert them into a wall hanging. It was very exciting!

 

I knew I wanted it to be a type of quilt with a lot of text... I was inspired by Tracey Emin's blankets.... But without the profanities! I decided to use old table cloths as my background and started with a memory from Bernice, who at 101 remembered her Dad giving her 2d to clean his boots when she was a girl.

 

Several of the women remembered having to wear Liberty bodices... Some with suspenders attached to hold up their woollen stockings.

We spoke about playground games, shopping, washing, rationing.... So much that it was a problem knowing what to include and what to leave out.

 

 

But it has taken so much longer than I anticipated and over the past couple of months I've come to really dislike it. I'm not sure why really.. it's not my usual colour palette nor really my style. Also because it is mostly linen it looks awfully creased and crumpled... although it's not nearly as bad as it looks in the photos! Everytime I thought it might be nice to spend some time in the garden or read a magazine or something similar, I've had to stop and think no, better spend another hour or so on the quilt. It has taken hours and hours, so instead of feeling like a pleasure it has become a chore. 

I kept thinking that if I had the time and money I would have liked to have started all over again... although I'm not sure what I would have done instead!

 

But on Tuesday I finally finished it and this afternoon with anticipation and a certain amount of anxiety and dread, I delivered it to Edward House... I was convinced they wouldn't like it either.

But the staff and ladies absolutely loved it... they loved the colours and the details and I got a spontaneous round of applause! I still don't like it but it was huge relief to hear their excitement. Especially hearing the ladies as they were reading out parts that they remembered. And Bernice was especially excited to see it today as it was her 102nd birthday!

And it is also a huge relief to have it out of my house allowing me to get on with some other things

Although not until after this weekend... I'm off teaching at Missenden Abbey again tomorrow. Bad planning to be teaching over the weekend on Mother's Day but never mind. Hope you have a lovely weekend... And if you are a Mum, hope you get thoroughly spoiled.

A commission

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with commissions. I am always thrilled and flattered to be asked to make something specific but then spend the whole time I'm making it convincing myself it is going to be awful.

 

 

I have imagined conversations where the recipient points out everything that is wrong with the offending item... which of course never happens (I don't think anyone would be quite that rude)... but it is stressful all the same. But then once in a while I get a commission that is fun from start to finish. Our friend Janet wanted me to make an apron for her husband's birthday. The brief was that it was to have a list of words that when placed in a certain order would spell out his name vertically.

 

We talked through the options together and decided that highlighting the name as Scrabble letters would make them stand out. Before anyone points it out (it was the first thing one of my sons said) the letters do not form a crossword. That would have been too clever, as we had enough of a challenge to find suitable words that made a pleasing arrangement and balance of letters.

 

I loved fiddling around with the spacing and the colours and although it took forever, sewing in all those ends and making it neat on the reverse, it was a real pleasure.

 

I got my in house model to try it on for size before handing it over... his name is not Pete!

 

And then yesterday Janet sent us a photo of Pete trying on his new apron on his birthday.

 

I think part of the pleasure was making something for a special friend... and knowing it would be appreciated. It looks good on you Pete!