being (t)here...again

it was lovely to come back to Newburgh

to work with Netti and Alison

who are like sisters and very kind to me

we worked on paper

first with words

and then with dyes

 local meadowsweet

made lovely colours

 we made a concertina river book

and a new sweet folded book

that i developed especially for the class

i call it the "island book"

because you have to sail around it to appreciate it fully

 trusty studio assistant Jazz cooling off

 wonderful peonies

 and the beautiful river

fresh and full of new stories each day

 we wrote and shared poetry

 found hearts in the streets

laid bundles in patterns here and there

and generally had a wonderful time.

Isabel [who works at the charity shop]

told me how the church [where our workshop took place]

used to be the drill hall for the "territorials"

and then that the Poles lived there during the war

and that there was a dance held there

"and the floor was ever so slippery"

+

the trouble with having good friends scattered around the whirled

is having to say goodbye. 

but not forever, merely ae fond farewell [misquoting Robert Burns] until next year

you can see more pix from class

here

and

here

And please, Father Christmas, may I have a bear like this?

the bundle book

many of you have written to me and asked if i would consider making a pocket-sized book that simply looked at ecoprint bundling.

you told me that 'Second Skin' was a good read but it didn't fit well into a travel bag.

i'm a girl that can take a hint. especially when it is a good one.

so here it is, folks. the bundle book.

and yes, at long last, it has a section about printing on paper.

i hope you like it.

blues, riverside

i left Portugal behind [with some reluctance but also with plans to return]

headed for another good place

back to the beautiful Tay River at Newburgh, Scotland

to immerse myself in two days of blues

with none other than the bluesmaster himself,  Michel Garcia

my banana blues in New Orleans were good

but his henna blues were better. much better.

and of course being back at Big Cat Textiles is wonderful

Nettie and Alison gave me such a warm welcome

and when i tottered down the street for supplies i bumped into several people i knew

Newburgh really is another home from home

and then there's the bonus of peonies
[these are in the garden of the lovely woman who bakes our bread]

and down the lane near the river are spectacular dark-leaved, pink flowered sambucus

now i have two days in preparation for 'being there'
and there may just be a little more indigo dyeing this weekend
because i have to maintain my blue fingernails

so i'll leave you with another bluesman
the fabulous Hugh Laurie

Midsummer murmurs

i had made seven dresses

for the seven daughters-seven sisters exhibition

due to open in Portugal next weekend

but in a bit of a Sagittarian moment

i had an attack of claustrophobia

caused in part

by someone telling me they'd seen clothes

looking very much like mine

in a store in LA

that wasn't Church Boutique

i suddenly decided those seven sisters

needed to be a completely different shape

and so 'slow cloth' went out the window

and speedy sewing came in the door

assisted by Yoda-san

he found it exhausting

so did i.

but it was worth it in the end

and now they are in the cauldron

and that, my friends, is as much as you will see of them

until they have had a chance to dance at Evoramonte

because i want this exhibition to be fresh and lovely

not

a dim shadow

that has already been replicated

and offered for sale by someone else

before the sisters have had time to settle in their castle

+

now please

don't bother making comments that shout down the replicant

or are intended to bolster my ego

this is not about that

because

by happy coincidence

the Dogs Above smiled

and showed me a new way of putting together cloth

to form three dimensions from two

literally sculpting dresses from silk

although

almost impossible to draft on paper

it took me into the Gehry zone

where the model has to be made first 

in order to understand

how the engineering works

and while i don't think i can explain the process

i'm pretty sure i can do it again

the colours of Eugene

astonishing colour from dahlias

weld, a local weed

oak leaves

Eugene's sweetheart, Izzie

birch magic

woad found in the back yard

-->

Eugene has been a most interesting experience. there were lots of lovely coloured leaves drifting about

there was a sweet repeat student [who had been at class in Cleveland a year and a day ago]

i had the opportunity to actually meet several kindly folk with whom i had been corresponding but had not yet connected names and faces in the real whirled

and i had some truly delightful students who bravely followed me into metaphorical woods and greeted the bounding sleeve-rabbits with all the right noises. you know who you are and i thank you!

Koha

+   +   +

when my friend Rachelle decided to leave the land of clouds

for the West Island [usually somewhat dustier pastures]

she kindly left a treasure parcel behind

for me to collect the next time i drifted into the city of winds and waters

i arrived in Welly to find that our mutual friend Caroline

[who had been the guardian of the treasure in the months since Rachelle departed]

had kindly delivered it to my helltell.

there were many treasures

including things found, stitched and dyed

gathered by Rachelle over years

[her gathering skills are legendary]

+   +   +

had it been a weekday i would have been tempted to ship my Koha south to await my next visit to the Lud Valley

but

it wasn't, so i unpacked and repacked.

fortunately i had been travelling relatively lightly 

[bar feeding the book addiction with acquisitions]

in the end i was left with the empty red suitcase

[i did try fitting it inside my bigger one]

and the question of what to do with it.

giving it to the Sallies was a possibility

but i was sure there was a more amusing solution

so

i decided to step out into the whirled 

and see where the colour red might lead

maybe the red suitcase could follow red markers and

find a new home

drifting along my trail

i found myself on Cuba Street

then wandered a little sideways

through a park with red gates

and saw Global Fabrics in the distance

upon which it occurred to me that quite often [on a Sunday]

there are students and other young folk working in the store

who might be able to use a suitcase

and

i

was

right

 

 

Brooke Barrett 

was very happy to give the suitcase a home

+   +   +

after which i followed some more red marks

and went home myself