Primrose Corner

Why the rose? No real reason - it’s just beautiful. It’s a really old variety of moss rose, sadly it only flowers once in a season. There’s none of this coaxing it to perform twice by chopping its heads off. So, we just have to enjoy it when it graces us with its prescence. Beautiful perfume too - but you’ll have to imagine that for yourself.

I’m romping wading working my way through an activity for the City and Guilds Patchwork course I’m studying. (I can’t say that without smiling. If you’ve ever read any Terry Pratchett books you know what I mean. Brilliant!)

I started off this acitivity thinking ‘Yep, I know exactly what this means!’ but I’ve been surprised. Basically, I’m supposed to be collecting pictures of ‘items’ with analogous colour schemes, making a collage using just the colours and writing a few words about how you respond to the colours. So, is it warm or fresh or energetic, you know the kind of thing.

I’ve not found it that easy to find pictures like this - always the way isn’t when you really start looking for something - there aren’t any. Of the ones I have found, making collages of just the colours involved was fun (think ripping up paper, bits of fabric and glue and generally making a mess) and then I noticed something.

When I was happily describing the colours as fresh, spring like etc I realised just how uninteresting bits of flat colour are when compared with the picture of the actual thing. I’m not sure I’m explaining myself very well. It’s as if it’s the shape, the form is as much part of the response you make to a colour scheme as the colour. Therefore, (big deductive leap, for me) it must follow that the quilting lines, patterns that you sew onto quilts must be at least or even more important as an element of any quilted article as the colour.

I’ve spared you my descriptions!

You already knew that didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me? You know it always takes time for things to sink in. I know I get there in the end but even so!

And then…. there was the difference it made when a colour was neighbours with another colour. I’m thinking yellow with greens and then the same yellow with reds and oranges. I think I always did know this but it was quite startling to see it quite like this.

I’m feeling a bit like a child with new toy.

I think I need a new sewing project to experiment with … ummh.

I wonder what my tutor will think! (ooh!) I hate that waiting bit between submitting work and getting it back. (She’s very quick.) Too much like school, except no one throws anything at you.

I’m dyeing a colour wheel next….. can’t wait.

The weather is absolutely awful here (East Midlands) so I thought I’d post these sunnier photos just to make us all feel better. (Well, it helped me.)

or this little chap

Did it help? Do you feel sunnier inside now? (Just stay away from the window – reality is hard and who needs it anyway.)

I’ve never written about my visit to the Bramble Patch to see the Thr3fold live exhibition/demonstration day with Laura and Linda Kemshall and Catherine Nicholls. Wow!

There was so much to see and so much more to take in. It was quite informal so you were able to talk to Laura, Linda and Catherine about the quilts that were hanging on the walls. There were ‘samples’ – maybe examples is a better word of the bags and cushion covers that are demonstrated in their thr3fold journals.

There were some gorgeous quilts being beautiful and thought provoking hanging on the walls. There were various samples showing different stitching/quilting approaches. Throughout, there were demonstrations of methods for painting fabric and and examples and demonstrations of screen painting approaches. It was a completely fluid, apparently unchoreographed day with people who are clearly very comfortable with each other. I was sorry to have to come away early but I had to be back to pick the children up from school, you know how it is.

The ‘thr3fold journals’ are amazing. They’re called ‘thr3fold – the journal of creative vision’, and that describes them very well. They’re a work of art in themselves with beautifully detailed pictures and explanations. The latest issue, 3 (I couldn’t not could I?), explores screen printing onto fabric, talks about design and transfer printing onto fabric and there are some lovely projects to do and video demonstrations of techniques on the accompanying CD and templates to use. They have a website for the journal here. (Sorry! this is beginning to sound like an advert, but they’re just so lovely.)

What I really love is that the three of them clearly have an amazing amount of talent but all of the techniques they demonstrate appear quite accessible to mere mortals (me!) at one level or another. You could imagine (I’ve a good imagination.) all the different ways to use the stitching, painting techniques, screen printing and endless other approaches to create something truly magical even if like me your drawing ability doesn’t extend much beyond leaves.

It was a totally inspiring day and I’ve carried part of it home with me in this journal. One happy bunny!