Island Threads - December 2007

the sunrise over the moor this morning was very welcome so I took a few photos as it rose….. no I was not up earlier to take these it was between 9.15 – 9.20, only 11 days to the shortest day and as I am down the hill the sun graces my house later and leaves earlier,





if you enjoyed seeing these photos remember when the Lewis wind factory is build this hill will be covered in the tallest of wind turbines, it’s not too late to protest take the RSPB link and send to the e mail in the box at the bottom of the page, have a nice day……

when I took the above photos I also zoomed in to take some and they came out a bit blurred but the colours are interesting so I thought I’d show a few,

8.47

8.54

9.02

I had noticed when resizing the photos that if I clicked ‘enhance photo’ they took on a more purple or blue sky, so on the last photo I left it, then I started to play with the saturation…..mystic sunrise over the fank….)

9.08

the light this morning before the sun rose was beautiful so I just had to take a few pics,

8.43

8.47

8.48 I turned the camera for more sky,

8.54

9.02

9.08 I don’t know where the red light came from except that a green light flashes as a photo is taken, so could this be one of those things where if you look at green then when you look at white you see red, if anyone follows that….

9.10 and this was the last we saw of the sun before it pulled the blue/grey blanket over…..sigh…..(


now the rabbit? it is, I think, living in among my lodge pole pines, alone,
questions?
1 I thought rabbits hibernated?
2 I thought rabbits went around in gangs?
3 are there hares on Lewis?

I enjoyed reading blogs that were participating in Sharonb’s Tast (take a stitch Tuesday) challenge this year but knew I would not have time every week also I did loads of stitch samplers when I did the City and Guilds Embroidery all those years ago, when reading my blogging friend Conni’s blog The Scoop Score and Deal, I saw that for next year Sharon has planned a monthly challenge to Take it Further and you can choose your format, I missed not doing journal quilts this year so I am joining Sharonb’s challenge and it will be the base for my monthly journal quilt, if you want to join the more the merrier as they say follow the link, take a tour of Sharon’s blog In a Minuet Ago anyway lots of good stuff there,

Earlier this year I did a painting of sunflowers, when finished I wanted to try the idea as a quilt, I loved the blue flowers and green/blue background so used it for the amaryllis quilt which is based on drawings I did of my fathers Amaryllis,
H 160cm x W 120cm (63” x 47”),
I am not satisfied with the quilt and wonder if it is just that it does not work as well with the amaryllis as the sunflower, I think the sunflower worked so well because of the contrast of the dark centre and white petals which an amaryllis does not have,

I had a lot of problems painting the background and finally gave into the fact that I was not going to get the same effect on cotton fabric that I had on paper, the background is more blue than it shows in the photo, I tried to get it right but the green insisted on dominating, to begin with I wanted to leave the amaryllis white but that did not work, eventually I painted some lines and lightly coloured the centres then used couched thread and beads for the stamens, I am still not entirely happy,

I know what I am doing is unquilterly but that is because I wanted to try some less stitched work, just to do it, see it and how I feel about it, there is some quilting on it but I do not think it shows, the stems and leaves are outline stitched in deep blue and there are curving lines down the background 5 inches apart in blue/green variegated thread,




I have been asked why I didn’t do it on canvas, the reason was because I didn’t think of it, I have never worked on canvas, I am interested in knowing more about paper/canvas/board art, I think I will do a small version on canvas,

South Dell 9.08 21 December 2007

Wishing all island bloggers and readers a very Happy Christmas


As island threads is a textile blog I felt I should show a photo of a textile nativity, I love this little nativity and how someone made something so beautiful with limited materials.
"Handcrafted artwork created by Chilean women belonging to community organizations formed in poor and marginal neighbourhoods. The income the women receive from the sale of these arpilleras in often the only means they have for supporting their families."

The BBC radio 3 play last Sunday was a true story about a group of coalminers who attended an art class in their town of Ashington during the 1930’s and became exhibiting Artists, it is very interesting and is available to hear online until next Sunday, the BBC webpage also has a slide show of some of the paintings and anyone in or visiting Northumberland can see some of the paintings at the Woodhorn Colliery Museum, I tried to find a link for the museum but couldn’t, the BBC has a link to the webpage for The Ashington Group as they are now known,

My father grew up in a south Wales mining village and my grandfather died due to related dieses so I always take interest in the mining industry particularly in Britain pre 1950, my father never ‘went down the mines’ the government sent him to London on a government apprenticeship scheme on leaving school because the mines could not offer work to all school leavers in 1928, the paintings are a piece of social history.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year whenever your new year is (for those on different calendars),
I hope 2008 will be a wonderful year for you and yours,