Hemmed in: sorry it's finished......

There have been textile ups and down's in 2012, I'll gloss over the downs and concentrate on the ups for now....

This 'was' a lovely and inspiring exhibition in the crafting metropolis that is Milton Keynes, I went to the opening evening and was blown away with the collection of textile greats and inspirational delights. Fully intending to blog and report much sooner, I have failed too, so sorry if you missed it. But on a good note, I filled in the photographers permission form and took some pics for your delight and deliberation:

Step back and be inspired

Just before the wet and soggy half term, I took a jolly trip to London to see The Queen.

Errrr no.

I took a jolly trip to see the exhibition of textiles to see the 'Queens' of modern textile design at the FTM in Bermondsey. Set up 10 years ago by Zandra Rhodes a great pink building in the middle of a bustling south London street, now in the shadow of the Shard. I had never been before - shame on me.

Anyway, a very lovely time was had. And although I have seen most of these fabrics in books, it was great to see the scale of them and see them appreciated as art.

An overall view of the main room.

Images taken through glass, on the sly.

Then I realised that no-one minded me taking pictures, so I got a bit bolder....

A view from the gallery

I have since looked for this book, needless to say it is rare and costs a smallish fortune - one day perhaps.


The following pics show various fabrics in different colour combinations, I could work out the names of the fabrics, but I haven't got time - sorry :) I'm sure you could find them in a reference book.

There was also a bonus small room of the history of Sanderson fabrics, with a VT of traditional printing and images of modern photoshop printing (this is not mentioned on the website and was not there at Easter) I had been to the Sanderson headquarters back in the mid 80's with my art foundation course. Cannot remember much about it, which is a shame. It's now the Sanderson Hotel.

Easter jolly

School holidays for me always bring a mixture of so much time - but no time. Everyone has their own expectations.....and quite rightly too! But it's always a challenge to please everyone all of the time as you no-doubt know from first hand experience. So I find myself thinking and planning textile work while I am doing the ironing and then I might throw a couple of samples together when I can.

Yesterday I managed to take No3 out for a 'ride in the country' with a packet of wine gums as a bribe! He was quite keen as No1 and No2 were out with friends. He sat in the front seat of the car and we chatted all the way, all was good.

We were off to the Bramble patch, one of the best quilting shops in the area and about a 40min drive. Also a textile exhibition was coming to an end and I needed to go - result!

Actually No3 was quite interested in some fabric and started planning things I could make for him.

Anyway, back to the exhibition:

A range of work by tutors and students from the day a month course from 2011, I took pictures of things that caught my eye. Lots of lovely work, but the glare from the sun got in the way at times.

No3 started reading this piece out load, I hoped there were no naughty words in it, but thankfully he didn't spot any if there were!