Well it is done. It will be.

The year end exhibition for the City & Guilds course was again really wonderful. The talent and sheer hard work of the students is so humbling. You may be able to gather from my tone that I am not happy, though. I feel, no I know, the effort from this corner was not as it should be. And, if I fail the assessment, and have to re-do it, then I will.
Oh, I have all my excuses – I took on too much work, I am moving home (this week) both my husband and son have had back surgery, and my daughter has needed me more than usual, for childminding (due to her ill health and new job).
But, get the panel done, and get my sketchbook worked, and submitted, I did. And, as soon as I did I literally came down with a nasty cold, that put me into my bed for the whole of the next day.

But, if by some fluke, I pass this one, I have plans for the next year’s course, and have started thinking about it already.

Next Year’s will be involving Arts and Crafts, and or Art Nouveau. I had a quick discussion about it with my tutor, and she has suggested I don’t limit my area for research. I am to think of something I would like to research, and perhaps I can bring in elements of the A & C or AN.

So, a possible idea is to look at shape and form – but, I don’t know if that is now too wide. And, I must not just ‘Think’ about stuff, I have to get ideas down, and ‘play’ with them. I definitely need to do much more work than I have before, so that there is much more depth of exploration.

Hmm, I wonder if this is what I will be told when I receive my mark, from the assessment, and outside verifier.

Still at it!

Yup, still at it with the course, and as usual I am behind.  What’s new?  Nothing.  Except, I now have all the elements of my project in mind; and mostly how I’m going to do it – even to how the elements will fit together.

Just one hold up – roses.  In the back of the hanging panel are five roses – from a fertile rosebud of the woman as a bride, through to her blossoming, then in full bloom.  The last two are of her fading, with petals falling, and the ‘elderly’, frail and dried flowerhead.

I have pictures of roses, lino printing has been explored, as has appliqué, aqua-bonding and machine-satin stitching.  But, really all I want to do is hand stitching.  There, I’ve said it.  I love holding onto a needle and thread.  And, I might just do it by hand.  But, the front panels – yum! they are to be hand stitched, aqua-bonded – I just decided!

Thanks for listening to my waffling. x

Next is colour.  It will still be gold, yellow and green.  Yellow roses mean happiness and joy, I found out.

City & Guilds update-ish.

Well, I’m back at college for my second year of City & Guilds.  I have had to miss several sessions due to holidays and then illness, and it kind of gets me out of the ‘zone’ as it were.  Consequently, I am struggling  a bit with getting my ideas to formulate some sort of plan.

I have started with an aim to do something around a wedding veil – a golden wedding veil.

Not just from the royal wedding of earlier this year, but also a very lovely friend of ours was married in May and a beautiful cousin was married in July.  Hence, we were wedding-ed out.  Then, I saw some veil samples and fell in love with one in a golden colour.

At the end of last term we had a workshop on layering and I did a piece that included a purple and yellow tartan, with words from Scottish wedding services, as well as the rings.

My sketchbook has since been full of experiments in the shape of netting and lace.  I did start to go off on a tangent of oranges and reds when playing with colour, but need to come back to the purple and yellow, somehow.

The course is on course

I am so enjoying my C & G Creative Textiles course.  Only trouble is (which is fairly typical of me) that I am behind with the work and setting stuff into my book.

As I was on my hols for two weeks, the tutor gave me permission to attend the other day of the course, to catch up.  So, I now have two weeks’ homework to get together – eek!  Ah well, who doesn’t want to play about with machine embroidery, stitches and quilting.

Another trouble is that we have blummin’ Halloween on the horizon.  With one granddaughter needing a pumpkin outfit and the other wanting a ‘Dead Alice’ from Alice in Wonderland, constumes making, I am a tad busy.

I also have meetings, supervision and reports to do for my two existing students, and another new student starting mid-November.

Oh, and since returning from my hols on a ship housing 2,500 people, of 62 different nations, I’ve caught a stinker of a cold from the air con on two aeroplanes, and travelling home for two days, gah.

 

My first post here

Well, I have finally found myself here.  Isn’t it lovely?

A fresh page, a fresh start for the Autumn.  I shall have to get to know everyone.  Those I already know use other places.

Wow, a fresh world.

Hello, for now.