Dizzy heights!!

Today it is the usual dull miserable rainy day we have become accustomed to. However a couple of days ago it was warm and sunny and the gable end wall of our bungalow was ablaze with the most incredible colour of the ivy. A photo opportunity not to be missed before a gale comes along and blows it all away. The garden is already covered with these red leaves which I don’t mind at all.

The best of the colour was up high on the gable which meant a climb up the ladder onto the garage roof!!! Now there was a time when that would have not been a problem but as I have aged - (and I aged another year yesterday as my grandson reminded me when he made me a birthday card with my age boldly on centre front) - I find heights bother me more.

My OH put up the ladder and held it while I climbed onto the roof. He then handed me the camera and I took several photos of the ivy. Going up wasn’t too bad. Coming down was not so easy. It is getting the foot round and onto the first rung that is the worst. Can’t believe how I used to go up and down ladders and hang from guttering while painting dorma windows etc and now!!!! However, I did it in spite of how comical I must have looked to the neighbours. It was worth it - just look at these colours.

The colours went from these

to these_

We have a spoil pipe up this wall but it is almost invisible behind the ivy. just the odd bit of pipe still showing. Funny, but I quite like this photo. Eventually, this means - no more painting.

I have been busy with some drawings for the publisher but I have also managed to be creative. I have stitched three more art quilts.

The first one uses the photograph I took of a Victorian wrought iron staircase at the Darlington railway museum. I put a filter onto it in Photoshop - then I used Find edges - and came up with a design I could use. I printed this in A3 size onto coated silk using pigment inks. Then I free machine quilted it using several different coloured threads. It is edged with black silk fabric.

The next piece used a design I had used before but this time I printed it onto coated silk and then free machine quilted it. It is smaller than the first one which I silk painted and traced before stitching. It also keeps the filled black design. I had problems finding a way to edge the piece as I couldn’t find a suitable colour which complemented all of it. Black dulled the piece and other colours didn’t suit all the other colours in the piece so I turned in the edges and stitched them with invisible thread as no one colour thread would do the job.

The third piece was originally a photograph of lichen on the stone wall of the North Yorks moors. I put it into Photoshop and again, as I always do, played with it. I used a special effect filter which gave a crazy paved look. I decided to use this as an art quilt. I printed it it in A4 size onto coated silk. Then I free machine quilted it using a number of metallic threads defined by the colours on the print - black metallic on black outlines, and similarly with silver, gold and copper metallic threads. I edged it with a brown and gold fabric which I found in my ’stash’.

I am, at present, nearing the end of the next one as well as preparing for another piece. I couldn’t decide about a background fabric for it so I have been crazy dying a piece of silk which is drying at the moment. Then I can iron it for the next piece.

Looking forward to Friday as I am going to the Fashion and Embroidery show at Harrogate.. It isn't the ‘crème de la crème’ of shows it used to be when it was run by Sarah McPherson under Madeira’s umbrella but it has improved over the last two years. I have a small shopping list and money given to me for my birthday to spend at the show. I will undoubtedly buy things I don’t need but can’t resist - oooooh can’t wait.

So cheers everyone