Stourhead

Mr DT and I were invited to a good friend's wedding in August this year. It was a no children event which posed some problems for us and how we were going to work it with Baby F. It's not that we mind weddings being child-free, he would have run amok anyway, but it was in Bath so a several hours drive away and we were trying to go through all of the options of how long we stayed away for, did we just go up that morning and stay one night with Baby F having a sleepover at Nanna & Poppa's, or did we go the day before so we weren't rushed and stressed on arrival...in the end, we managed to swing it that Nanna and Poppa, and various other family members would all come with us! Combining a customary big family holiday with the wedding! Genius. So we went and stayed for almost a week in the Bath area and then Mr DT and I just popped off to the wedding one afternoon/evening and went back to our family holiday home afterwards. 

It worked out perfectly! I can highly recommend taking the childcare with you (hee hee). 

It also happened that it was The Mother's birthday on the day we travelled to Bath so she was allowed to choose where we stopped for lunch. All of us are National Trust members and we find it easiest with the smalls to set off fairly early in the morning, stop for breakfast at a service station and then head to somewhere National Trust owned for lunch and to hang out until our holiday home is ready - it's a routine we do almost every time we go and stay somewhere in the UK. The little ones need a good run around after sitting in the car for any length of time and big old country estates usually have enough space for that!

The Mother requested we go to Stourhead which was a huge sprawling estate with its own little village in the middle, massive lake with various follies, huge house and formal gardens... it just kept going! The lake part reminded me a little bit of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire which we had a family holiday at in 2015 (pre partners and babies!) which was also ornate lakes and water features with temples and follies set throughout the landscape. 

The Palladian villa that is now on the site, Stourhead House, was built around 1717, after Henry Hoare I purchased the land and knocked down Stourhead Manor to build this rather grand, presumably much larger building with nicely balanced features, stone columns and grand staircases. We did go through the house, although apart from the library, where Baby F sat down for a few minutes to read a book with me on the window seat, it was pretty much a whistle stop tour as big old grand houses don't actually impress 2 year olds and all he wanted to do was to be outside where he could roam free and pick up the thistles he couldn't touch on the chairs inside. 

Over the summer, many of the National Trust properties were having a 'summer of fun' I think it was called, and they had extra toys or things for children to play with in the gardens, usually on a theme. At Stourhead they had little ride on tractors which the boys absolutely loved, giant jenga and hoops to roll around. We stayed for a long time playing with the tractors and driving them around the haybale course. 

When we'd eventually got bored of that, you have to walk back the way you'd come to the house and walled kitchen gardens, and take another turn to what turns into a little hamlet with a road and more buildings arranged in what I think was a stable set up (a posh one) with a courtyard where you could sit and eat ice cream. 

Then you are able to get into this enormous landscape garden! It was built by Henry Hoare II and designed by landscape architect Henry Flitcroft in a classical style, inspired by Henry's Grand European Tours. The plants and trees have been changed over the years as new flora discoveries were made, or the next descendent coming in with their own favourite type of tree, but I think the general layout has mostly stayed the same. There are several buildings you can go in and explore, and you could find yourself coming across the Temple of Apollo, The Pantheon (I've been in the actual Pantheon and I'm not sure it compares but it's still pretty), the Temple of Flora, the Grotto, or walk over the Palladian Bridge. Every time you round a corner there's another beautiful view across the lake of another gorgeous building, it's really very clever. 

So many of these beautiful watery places are currently affected by the suffocating Blue/Green Algae which is why the water is such a strong colour in these photos. We came across it a couple of years ago at Painshill Park, which is equally very similar in style to this garden with the bridge and little buildings that look like they've been stolen from other places around the world. 

If only I had a garden where I could have all of this space to roam around in! Although the original garden I think had to employ over 50 gardeners to keep it in tip top condition so perhaps I should scale back my coveted acreage a little bit as that is a lot of people to employ for trees! The views I think are worth it though here. 

And, of course, walking so many miles around the houses and lakes and pathways, had the desired effect for us of completely wearing out Baby F and his favourite monkey, Bertie. The rest of the journey to our holiday house was very peaceful. 

Uplift Exhibition

 

I had my first proper art exhibition in July, submitting three pieces of work to be considered for a fundraising exhibition by Victoria Pavilion Arts who provide, and raise money for, an Arts for Wellbeing project at the Sussex Support Service. The theme of the exhibition was 'Uplift', chosen because it represents the benefits aimed to be achieved through the arts project and the emotions encountered from those taking part in the sessions - "a boost to mind and body, increased confidence, cheerfulness and optimism."  

The brief was: "Uplift. A simple word but what does it mean to you? Perhaps to transport to a happier or safer place; to inspire, to elevate or to raise the spirits. It may be physical, emotional or spiritual but the word itself undoubtedly engenders feelings of positivity, regrowth and betterment."

You had to send in images of the artwork along with their details, a biography and an artist statement - although these weren't actually used in the exhibition so I'll share them here because I was particular proud of the lofty artiness of my artist statement, I hope you enjoy it too; 

"The sea calls to me, and I have spent many a happy hour searching the beaches for the gifts the white horses bring with them in their race to the sands. There is something so soothing about the rhythmic push and pull of the waves, the pebbles rattling and tumbling hopelessly as the ocean sniffs them back in. 

I can't help but feel joy and a sense of freedom there. The salty tang in my nose, gulls calling overhead, or squabbling over an abandoned sandwich, children laughing as their legs are playfully splashed by freezing droplets, the satisfying crunch underneath my sandals as my eyes scour the sand for treasures to take home; shells with interesting holes in, sea glass that changes colour when you hold it to the light or a smooth stone that lives in my pocket. 

When I can't get to the beach I create my own, through fabric and thread, adding in a few of my treasures to give each hoop its own tangible piece of those memories and feelings, hidden in a simple shell. The smell never quite leaves either."

What do you think of that then? These are the three pieces I submitted for entry...

Title: Crooklets Cove

Size: Embroidery Hoop 15cm, Frame Exterior 24.5cm, Frame Depth 3.5cm

Medium: Hand embroidered textile art embellished with real shells

Title: Barnacle Bay 

Size: Embroidery Hoop 20cm, Frame Exterior 34.5cm, Frame Depth 3.5cm

Medium: Hand embroidered textile art embellished with real shells

Title: Camber Sands

Size: Embroidery Hoop 25cm, Frame Exterior 39.5cm, Frame Depth 3.5cm

Medium: Hand embroidered textile art embellished with real shells

And all three of them were accepted! Huzzah! 

It was very exciting. The frames got dropped off (although I got my dates muddled up so I ended up delivering them late as I'd put the wrong delivery date on my calendar) and then the organisers put together the display so the next time I saw them, after their arrival in an enormous bag for life, was up on the wall as part of the exhibition! How cool. 

The Mother and I went to the open evening, and I was surprised by two close friends who also came along to see it with me (thank you chaps!), which was really well attended and we wandered around with prosecco (or at least I did) looking at all of the other artist's work. There were a couple of other textile artists there which was nice to see, and one piece that was also hand embroidered but not in the same style or detail as mine so I think I stood out a bit. But that's a personal opinion and I may be biased. 

The lighting was a little bit dark as the building is actually the top of a cricket pavilion so the roof is all angles and skylights, but it wasn't too bad and when the sun came out the pieces were sort of illuminated by the evening sun which was nice. 

There was a fantastic sky outside that evening and it was quite hot inside so The Mother and I sat on a little bench next to the cricket pitch for a while cooling off before returning back inside and then eventually heading home.

I wasn't able to help steward much over the weekend as I had another Guide event on but when I did manage to get back there on the Sunday afternoon, it was to find a red sticker dot on my big Camber Sands Stitchscape!

Someone had purchased it!!! It hadn't really crossed my mind that someone would actually buy one of the pieces, and it's led to a lot of internal discussion about my pricing because I'd forgotten to add on an allowance for the percentage fee that was being charged for sales by the exhibition organisers so I didn't get a huge amount for it in the end considering its size but, I do happen to know the person who purchased it as she's a fairly prominent figure in the local area and I've had two of her children at Guides, and my Mum knows her because she taught her children at primary school so there's a history there and I'm pleased it's gone to someone I know will appreciate it. The Stitchscape was purchased as a gift for the buyer's parents for a special wedding anniversary so there's that as well and I really hope that they like it and find joy in the shells and stitches.

As one of my biggest pieces to date it was slightly bittersweet to say goodbye - I will have to start another big seascape now to replace its spot on my seascape display at workshops too!

After the initial, physically bouncing excitement was over, Reece and Baby F and I shared some delicious celebratory cake at the Pavilion and I stayed to chat to the other artists and visitors for the rest of the afternoon, then was able to wrap up and package my Stitchscapes and take home the ones that hadn't sold.

I might have caught an exhibiting bug as I'd like to try and get some more pieces into exhibitions and am now in discussions to potentially have a shared exhibition just with me and one other textile artist next year! How cool would that be!?!

Ardingly Quilt Show Exhibition

The Mother and I went to the Ardingly Quilt show at the weekend. It's probably one of the best shows in our area (without having to go up to London) and they pack loads of stands in there stuffed to the brim with fabrics, kits, patterns, bits and bobs, haberdashery.... Really it's the one time of year that I purchase fabrics for myself and my stash (other fabrics are usually gifted) so I'm like a kid in a sweet shop! 

I love an assorted bits/remnants bag, as does The Mother - there she is above, rummaging. And I did purchase a lovely bag from here full of Makower prints. From other stalls I acquired several fat quarters, some samosas (folded fabric in a triangle), fun shaped sequins, different sized remnant pieces and a kit that I have purchased for 'research' purposes as it looks fairly similar to a Stitchscape and I was intrigued to see what was included and how much details was written in the book. 

Upstairs there is an exhibition of quilts and, as well as the traditional designs all neatly long-armed or hand quilted, there were a couple of exhibitors this year that we absolutely loved! 

This one is Claire Tinsley, who only seems to have a Facebook page, although interestingly is also the founder of the shop I purchased the research kit from! She had some really interesting techniques which The Mother and I loved, very painterly but also quite experimental - the piece above is potato printed! Lots of reverse applique too which was very different to all of the other quilts on display. 

You were allowed to photograph the pieces but I also wanted to include the information that she herself had given for each piece so I've written the captions below each set of photos for the quilts I photographed. Her words are in italic.  

Going Dutch 

2000

This quilt was made for a quilt competition entitled 'Traces of Travel Brought Home'. I didn't have much time to make this quilt, so thought a quick way would be to potato-print the veg for the top. I machine quilted around the shapes and cut back to a batik underneath. It came first, which surprised a lot of people. "Paint on a Quilt!!!!!"

Beneath the Trees

2001

A home-dyed calico top painted with acrylic paint and printed with potato. It is layered up with purple echo lamé. After machine quilting around the shapes, the top layer was cut back to expose the lamé. 

Woodland Seasons

2010

I designed this quilt for the quilt festival where we had a stall. It shows off three rather beautiful strata batiks. I have used bonded appliqué and it is machine quilted. 

Hibiscus Trellis

2009

This quilt and 'Orchid Star' were made to go to the Caribbean, which explains their rather bright colours. Batik patchwork with bonded appliqué hibiscus flower. The shading and details are painted with acrylic ink. 

These Are A Few of My Favourite Flowers

2005

The design is supposed to show flowers in my garden as seen through a wire fence. The flowers are bonded appliqué which was then painted with acrylic ink. I used batik fabrics for the background and flowers. It is machine quilted. Winner of the National Quilt Championships, Sandown 2005. This quilt also came second in Europe and was exhibited in Paducah, USA. 

Poppy Love

I started this quilt while teaching 'Layered Landscapes' in Edinburgh. Bonded pieces of batik are layered as if painting with fabric. The poppies are painted with acrylic ink and it is machine quilted. 

A Moment of Reflection

2019

This is my design using strata batik for the background. The trees are bonded appliqué. I used organza over the lower half to represent the light on water. It is machine quilted. 

Deep Down Deep Where the Fishes Sleep

2003

A home-dyed calico top was painted with acrylic paint. It is machine quilted and then cut back to the batik fabric that resembles water. The sea background was then machine quilted with silver thread. 

Forever Flowers

2019

This is my favourite quilt. The title is from a poem and represents our garden. The flowers were painted over time at shows to demonstrate acrylic ink. Needless to say, I had to paint a lot more to complete the design. It was quilted on my Gammill. It won a 1st at Malvern and a Highly Commended at the Festival of Quilts. Look and see how many bees you can see. 

Flower Border

2022

I began to make this quilt when the first Lockdown came along. Our garden was our sanctuary and inspiration. The wall is part of our walled garden. Flowers now fill our borders as well as the quilt. Bonded, painted flowers on a batik background. It was quilted on my Gammill. 

I hope that you can see how different these gorgeous quilts are to your traditional quilts!! Your mind might leap to the flying geese, log cabin, pinwheel or star quilts (which were also there in the exhibition) but Claire's were something else!! And the gorgeous piece with the ferns and leaves was right smack opposite the doorway as you walked in, almost glowing with brilliant green! Really lovely. 

The other designer/maker I liked was Vendulka Battais, who runs workshops and makes kits if you are interested - I've linked her website here. Her entered theme was Wildflowers and whilst the subject of several of the pieces was the same, her play with colours made them different and interesting. She said in her biography that she "didn't have the time or patience for intricate small embroideries, so was looking for a way to do most of the work on the sewing machine and only add some detail by hand."  

It's a little different to my working approach - the dust on my sewing machine is about an inch thick and I pretty much sew everything by hand! Perhaps I should dust it off though and create some quick quilted backgrounds. 

As before I've popped her captions below each piece in italics. 

Allium and Lavender

This is one of the first compositions I made. the shades of grey are a perfect background for these large allium flowers accompanied by lavender. My class or kit samples are usually simpler, but I really enjoyed adding the seed beads into the centre of each flower; it really lifts them up. 

Cow Parsley in Mustard

Grey is a great companion to lots of colours and mustard yellow is definitely a great choice. As the colour was used only in the flowers of the cow parsley, I then decided to have fun with the binding as well and pieced it from a few greys and just a touch of the yellow. 

Dandelion in Bloom

Dandelions are such happy flowers! It seems fitting to use the traditional colours to do them justice. Their leaves may have required more skills in free-motion quilting, but the flowers are as simple as straight stitch. 

Allium in Waves

In this wall hanging I was exploring the different ways of creating a background. Organic wave piecing is quite easy and very effective. This is also the only hanging I have properly quilted with free-motion quilting, rather than adding lines. This is to show that neither of these is better or worse, and there are lots of options. 

Daisy on Canvas

I wanted to make a composition with daisies, which required landscape orientation to achieve the richness I wanted. To show a different way of finishing, I decided to stretch it onto a canvas for a change. 

Cow Parsley in Winter

I have joined the strips with curved piecing, and I was exploring the shapes of the cow parsley with Bondawebbed organza. To add the texture, I have used nice fluffy knitting yarn for the embroidery to add more volume as it's a large piece and small French knots could be otherwise lost. 

It's a great show to go to and possibly you might find some inspiration from these ladies - definitely go and check out their websites/pages for more of their work!