Wells Art Trail II

We pottered off to Norfolk after seeing a video clip on Facebook of the Lifeboat Horse sculpture by Rachel Long here.  The cottage we stayed in looked out over the marshes and we could see the horse from an upstairs window.

The tide only covered the feet on our last day as the tides were all very low while we were there. 

I've still not managed to see the Anthony Gormley metal sculptures in Lancashire but I'm delighted to have seen this Lifeboat Horse.  You can really feel the wight of the horse and I have been fascinated by the rendering of the head which is a beautiful shape.

The other work I really wanted to see was View From the Shipwrights by Debbie Lyddon whose work I have followed on't internet for some time.  I got rather carried away trying to capture the piece in various lights and in many states of movement, especially as the wind was trying to rip it from its masts.

You can read more about Debbie's work for the Art Trail here.  Do click on the photos in this post to see them in a larger format.  There's also an interview with Debbie Lyddon here.

Seeing Debbie's work and the way she has used spaces in the fabric has sparked off potential thoughts for weaving techniques and ways of making see-through areas in my cloth.  I've already experimented with something called cool cross which enables you to open out the fabric and create movement so there may be more to come.   (Excuse the vibrant colour in this otherwise calm post).

Watch this space (no pun intended).

The cottage we stayed in was right on the quay so we could enjoy the changing views from our bedroom window.  You can't beat Norfolk skies.

 Not exactly from our cottage but the iconic Wells view across to the Granary.

A Jaunt, an Anniversary and a Quilt

Well, we took our germy selves off to the east coast last week for a few days with the flimsy excuse that it was our wedding anniversary and we thought some sea air would help chase the grotty cold and cough germs away.  You know what thought did?  It thought wrong but at least we did have a lovely week and the weather was kind to us.  

We stayed at a little place called Kessingland in Suffolk in a compact and bijou bungalow on a small private site.  The owner lived just around the corner and let us in and made us feel so at home from the get-go.  The bungalow was metres away from a footpath to the beach and the everchanging skies were beautiful.

DH took a photo of our anniversary cards - 8 years wed and never a cross word!  Well, hardly ever ;-)

There was lots of inspiration in the patterns in the dunes and the edge of the sea.

We didn't go very far as energy was decidedly lacking but we did take the bus to Lowestoft (why drive if you don't have to?).  Here again there was plenty of inspiration in the sand and groynes.

On our last day and our wedding anniversary day we took another bus into Southwold.  The bus driver spotted hubby's camera and told us to go to the harbour instead of the pier end of town as he thought we would get better photo opportunites.  He wasn't wrong, although we had to play dodge the very heavy showers and had to shelter in the pub, twice!  It's a hard life!

I hadn't exected to see this style of shed here.  You get similar black boarded buildings in Hasting but they are twice the height to dry the fishing nets.

This little shed on its raised up blocks really appealed to me and made me think of  Scandinavia.  The little windows are draped in nets.

I'm sure I can use this text somewhere.

Since we've been back we've both got worse with our coughs and 2 trips have been made to the doctor's, returning with antibiotics of the strongest order.  I think today, finally, I can sense a bit of a turnaround and I can actually speak without collapsing into coughing.  DH is still making a fair amount of cough-y noise but he is improving.  We have to be better for tomorrow as it's Mothering Sunday and we want to fetch Mum from her care home.

I havn't been completely idle this week while I've been stuck at home.  I've been working on the back for the Take 20 quilt top that I have been making with mum's pinnies etc.  I decided to carry on using the vintage fabric for the back so that the quilt will effectively be reversible.  So, I have made 30 blocks, some of which have had to be pieced as I didn't have big enough pieces of fabric left.

Above are 2 squares 15" x 20" which the whole back will be made up of.  I am pondering whether to cut the blocks through and rejoin them combining different colourways to break the big chunks of colour up, but that may be a step too far.  The beautiful hand dye is by Maggi Birchenough.

This is the pile of blocks waiting to be ironed and then designed into a quilt back.  I think I may have to use a room at Stitchcraft Studio to sort out the arrangement as our bed isn't big enough and I don't have any floor space that size either.  I can hire a room there for just £5 for 3 hours so well worth it.  Once I have everything ready I am going to get Trudi Wood to do the quilting as it is way too big for me to cope with.  The quilting will break up the solid blocks of colour so maybe I won't fiddle about with it.

I think my fat quarter drawer is a bit revealing:

Liking blues?  Moi?  I think I need to have a dyeing session and get some reds, oranges and yellows in there!  Obviously this is not the only fabric I have, larger pieces are stored elsewhere.

As I said earlier, it's Mothering Sunday here in the UK tomorrow so if you are lucky enough to be spending time with your mum have a lovely day.  If you cannot be with your mum I hope you can enjoy happy memories of good times past. 

Easter trip - Part I

Hi Everyone! I feel as though I've been away for weeks not just a few days. I hope everyone had a good Easter break. I've had a quick whip round the blogs I keep up with and it looks as though you mostly did.

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We had a fairly successful visit to my Mum's. We managed to get rid of quite a bit of stuff for her without anyone falling out! Phew! We made 2 trips to the Charity (Op,Thrift) shops with car trunkfulls of recylable goods and left her with a considerable pile of rubbish for doorstep collection (or failing that a trip to the local tip by a friend). Surprisingly Mum didn't take too much convincing to part with her stuff this time. Mind you, Stewart did suggest we part her from some of her army of skirts, coats and shoes but she dug her heels straight in! No way, Jose!

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I've come home with some of my Nanna's old papers and notebooks that she kept over the years. I didn't know that my Nan rented rooms to paying guests and holidaymakers in the 50's and it has been fascinating to read the messages of Thanks in her Visitors Book. They start out with messages from military personnel at the end of the Second World War and then move on to holidaymakers after that. An ongoing theme in all the messages was thanks for the marvellous food my Nan provided!

In looking through this book I can't help but wonder where these people are today, especially the children who left their messages too.

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While the weather was pretty wintry throughout our stay we did venture outside to the seafront in the hope of catching a few crashing waves! Unfortunately the wind was pushing the waves off the shore so no dramatic photos. However, there were some lovely textures in the fishermen's rowboats secured up against the seawall.

Every time I see these boats lined up like this I think of the paintings of Terry Frost who lived in St Ives. He abstracted the rhythm of the shapes of boats and painted in joyous bright colours.

Blogger has now gone off me and won't upload anymore pics so I'll continue this in another post!