Cleaning up but not clearing out....

In preparation for the New Year I have been bringing in the new and getting rid of the old.

The New Year ahead will bring many changes for me, milestones to chalk up and challenges to face....

Looking forward to the road ahead...............

My London dayout WORDLE

My day out in London yesterday

Feeling a little frustrated......

I feel like my hands are tied at the moment. I have a room full of works in progress, no work surface and no proper light, I know that things have to happen slowly but this is just a bit too slowly.

On the otherhand I have to look to what I have a chieved:
I have managed to get most of our posessions unpacked,
I have accomplished the disposal of all the unwanted packaging,
I have managed to do some sightseeing,
I have made contact with my best friends daughter and even had the time to show her how to crochet,
I have registered with several employment agencies,
Today I opened a banking account,
I have ventured to neighbouring villages and ventured on trains and busses alone,
I have explored my village and surrounding areas looking for walks to take our dog on,

So looking at this list I have managed quite a lot, but not my real passion.....embroidery....well it will come in time hopefully this weekend.

It is raining again....... Oh Rain rain go away come again another day.....

The Fog is beginning to clear

At last we have moved inot our new home and have our internet connection. The study cubby hole is a dumping ground at the moment (will I ever get it the way I want it?). Patience is the keyword this week. Everything is on hold until after the weekend as we are off to Somerset to see our dog. This will be our second visit to her since we arrived in the UK. Fortunately she has been visited every weekend by MDB's brother and sister-in-law.

Here are a few pictures of her ......poor baby.....I don't think she looks too unhappy...

In Limbo at the moment.....

I have been absent due to a move from one continent to another.....living out of suitcases is not fun at all....no sewing has been done.....things are just a tad upsidedown right now.....looking forward to new beginnings in a new home.......a new country.......more when I am settled and I can think straight.......

Packing, Lunches and a travel kennel

The last couple of weeks have been so hectic......what with packing, farewell lunches and arranging a dog kennel for our baby. The packing is a little testing as MDB is finding it very hard to part with items that clearly he has not used since his arrival here four years ago. I on the otherhand have been there and done that so the precious few items I have left I am holding on to. All in all it has not been too bad, some heated moments have been smoothed over with a glass or two of red wine, much discussion and compromises galore.

In and amongst the packing there have been the lunches, absolutely wonderful to be with friends making memories that will be visited often in the months to come. Sadly though the waistline is really suffering.....

The most stressful thing has been locating and getting an IATA kennel for our Greatdane cross ridgeback. After much nail biting and stern telephone converstions our freight agent came to the rescue and located a perfect match for our girl. Now the stress levels are rising even higher as we are not able to get her to go in the kennel. Last night MDB and I took turns sitting (that is how big the kennel is) in the kennel with her while she tentativley ate her dinner stretched full length with back paws placed firmly at the door of the kennel. In addition to this the question to tranquilise or not......??

It will all come to pass and in a couple of days she will be in the UK in a snug Quarantine kennel dreaming of her next meal.....

May TIF

What do I call what I do and why…….

I really don’t know how to answer this one come to think of it I can’t recall ever having been asked. Well the question is posed now and I’m stumped.

Having visited many of the embroidery sites, I consider that what I see is art; comparing what I do with these sites, I would have to say that what I do is art, yet I am very uncomfortable using this label for myself. I prefer to think that I am creative and am developing towards being artistic…..

MDB says that what I am doing is not art because fundamentally art is not functional but he considers what I do is functional with creative decoration.

I have chosen to use the palette colours for my piece this month, I also tried to use different stitches, not very successfully though. The colour palette was quite a challenge and at times I found that I was having to unpick work as I had not varied the colours enough.

May TIF - What do I call what I do and why

Sharon B's challenge for May

"I hate that what do you do question as I have often wondered how to describe my various creative activities.
How do you describe yourself as an artist? One moment I am doing one thing that could be described easily as Art and the next I am doing something else that is craft! One moment my curiosity has lead me to to look at something quite strange as beautiful like the mould that grows on food in the fridge and the next I am looking at something most people would find familiar and boring and finding it fascinating like the bubbles in the washing up water.
Have you noticed that the term maker is being used to describe the activity of various people who may in the past be referred to as crafts person, or applied artist? For instance the British Crafts Council provides some interesting and thoughtful reading but in the Makers in Focus which looks at the working environment of West Midlands people producing crafts, the term ‘maker’ is used to encompass practitioners who variously describe themselves as craftspeople, or applied artists.
One of the ways I try and make sense of what I do is by defining what ever it is, as clearly as I possibly can. I think most people do that. The way I see it is if you can’t talk about what you do, or haven’t taken care in how you think about what you do, how do you expect others to respect the way you spend your time? Or how do expect people to respect what you make?
OK there is a few questions in the passage above but this month the challenge question is what do you call yourself and why?
Hopefully this will have everyone scratching their head but if you don’t like the challenge question you can elect to use the colour scheme instead. "

April TIF

Change – I really don’t have a problem with change, in fact I look forward to change for me it is an opportunity to reinvent myself. My mother once said to me that I am like a chameleon because I adapt to change very easily almost blending in with my surroundings, hence the chameleon in this piece.

There are three parts to this piece, the changing of the seasons, the chameleon and the change from day to night.

The changing seasons - Having lived most of my life in a coastal town the changes of the seasons were always so subtle that one season melted into the next barely noticeable. A few years ago I moved inland where the changes of the seasons were so outstanding. In spring I noticed blossoms on trees everywhere, the grass started to turn from brown to green, summer with long hot days clear skies, then autumn when the leaves on the trees turned to yellow, then red suddenly it was winter with crisp chilly mornings, fires, hot bowls of soup.

The chameleon – blending in with surroundings, for protection, for me a chance to do different things meet new people see new places.

The change from day to night – every new day brings with it new beginnings, new adventures changes and challenges making like interesting.

What's happening in the studio.....

I was inspired by a picture I saw in a frinds house, the picture in her house was in colour and the pots were filled with flowers.

This piece I started some time ago, I pick it up when I have nothing better to do.

This piece was finished (at least the embroidery was completed) some time ago. I thought I might make a bag but unfortunately I did not measure carefully, so now it is just a piece of denim with embroidery on it. Perhaps some day I will find a use for it.......

April TIF - Change

Change and what it means to me.....I love change........ someone once said to me that the only constant is change. How true this is; my life has been one big change; I have with every change grown and been able to reinvent myself. My mother once referred to me as being like a chameleon, because I have always managed to blend into the surroundings I find myself in.

I am about to experience yet another change in my life, in July I will be moving to the UK with MDB, starting from scratch with a clean canvas. We have just purchased a flat, I will be looking for work in a new country, I will be shopping in different stores, I will brave weather I am not accustomed to. Commuting will be a new an adventure (or misadventure, as I have been told taking the train into London at peak times is a nightmare!). Well what ever it will be new and exciting.

My April TIF is not finished yet but soon will be......

Visitors to my Blog

Dear Ladies

Many thanks for visiting my blog and leaving comments here and on the TIFC blog. I have visited your blogs and feel privileged that you have taken the time to read and leave comments.

Please accept my apologies for not having returnd the favour when I have visited your blogs, but our connection at home is really awful and most frustrating. At the moment I am writing this from a smelly internet cafe....not my favourite place, but I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your time and attention.

Many thanks
Leslie

March TIF -A warm embrace

An embrace is a small thing but when you are the one receiving it ......... phew!

After an inspirational surf search on the internet some time ago I came across this sketch by Klimpt (one of my favourites). I was really moved by it's sensitivity so I painted it and today it is on the wall in my studio. I always feel good when I look at it. At the time I painted it I was going through a very dark period in my life so I used this picture to remind me that there would come a time when I would receive a warm embrace from someone special.

February TIF - Sharon's colour palette

After much deliberation I decided to use the colour palette Sharon B set. However the other part of the challenge took be back in time to visit almost forgotten memories.

I remember when with R1 my mother would put 50c petrol in the car, which gave her a weeks worth of travelling backwards and forwards from home to school to work and back again. After we had filled the petrol tank we would drive around the corner to the Café where I would go in and buy a loaf of white bread, a loaf of whole wheat bread (this was for the dogs as we did not eat brown bread then), two packets of crisps and pa packet of beeches peppermint. I would come away with change in my hand.

I remember getting a record player for my 13th birthday, 1972, I had three vinyl records, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and two seven singles; one by Elton John, one side played Candle in the wind and the other Bennie and the Jets. The other single was Cher, with Dark Lady on side one and I can’t remember what the song was on side two because I only played Dark Lady. When I hear any of the above played now I am taken immediately back to my room in our house in Wendywood.

I remember spending the summer weekends in the pool from early morning to early evening. I was never told to stay out of the pool at midday, I never once used sun protection cream….what was that? Sometimes at night I would have milky vision from the chlorine my Dad used to put in the pool water, but that was nothing a good night sleep couldn’t cure.

As both my parents worked I used to go to an aftercare centre when school finished in the early afternoon. I used to walk the 6 blocks from the school to the aftercare centre, sometimes alone and sometimes in a group. Sometimes when there was a group and mulberries were in season we would stop at a house en rout to the aftercare centre and feast on the mulberries from the branches hanging over the wall on to the pavement. We would be late getting to the aftercare centre; we would not be scolded for our tardiness, but we would be severely reprimanded about the mulberry stains on our clothes.

I remember the sad day when it was announced at the assembly that the church was going to be locked because the previous night it had been vandalised. This was unheard of; I remember one of the nuns crying at this ghastly incident and the outcome.
Memories have come to the forefront of my mind, some are wonderful, some have made me sad, especially because some of the people who helped to make the memories are no longer here…..some memories are just too painful to visit….some memories have made me smile and left me with a warm feeling.

I managed to complete my project on time but due to circumstances beyond my control I have not been able to post before now. Yet another challenge for me, I’ve tried where possible to stay within the palette set.

On my piece - going through my fabric and threads I came across a WISP and noticed that the colours in Sharon's palette, so I was very lucky not too much preparation was required. I had intended for this piece to be a bag and now I have managed to complete this WISP.

January TIF - Women of Malawi

My January Challenge is done, I have to say that for me it was quite a challenge, the colours, staying in the lines, fun, lots of fun!!

February starts on Friday looking forward to the next challenge!

Take it Further Challenge - the beginning.....

At last the dial up is connected and I am able to just be in touch with the internet world. Malawi has many advantages, but there are some very small disadvantages – one of them being dial up internet connection – but enough of this on to more important matters.

The challenge for this month; I have decided to use both options for my January challenge, which I am going to call “Women of Malawi”. The reason for using the colours is because I saw this as an even bigger challenge for me, why? Because I can’t say that I am excited by these colours, however, when sitting on the veranda of our house looking out into the garden there before me are all the colours.

Now I am going to digress slightly to a conversation I remember having with my Granny when I was about thirteen when matching just the right colours was very important to me. I remember this as if it was yesterday; my Granny had just put a vase on the dining room table where I was sitting drawing; she said to me – “Isn’t nature wonderful, she can put colours together making them look as though they were meant to be together…….in the vase was a mixture of colours, golden yellow marigolds, soft lilac cornflowers, deep red roses, bright yellow daisies, yellow and purple pansies with their smiling faces. As I sit here on the veranda, I am faced with a similar bouquet; only this bouquet is not in a vase on the table but in the garden before me. How lucky I am!

Back to the present – I have chosen the Women of Malawi, because they work so hard and have to endure many hardships. Driving through rural Malawi it is not uncommon to see the women working the fields; usually she will have a baby on her back and two or three playing around her feet. When she returns home from the field she will have to go to the pump with a bucket to get water, then she will have to see to the children, make a fire, if there is no fire wood she will have to collect this first. Then there is the evening meal to prepare. In the morning she will stamp the corn, lay it out on a mat to dry in the sun, then it will be off to the fields again. Some young girls become women at a very early age, being left at home to look after her siblings. It’s a hard life for Women in Malawi – I know that Malawi is not the only place where a Woman’s lot is difficult, but I am here and I see it almost everyday.

Despite their hardship when greeted they reward you with the warmest of smiles.

I have also decide that in my challenge the piece of work I make will be incorporated in an article to be used, this month I will put my work on to a tote I have been crocheting.

My mind map.