Multimedia Week

I suspect this is going to be a very inspiring week. Of course that means by the end of it I'll be itching to take up a half-dozen projects in various fiber media...

Yesterday I went with a friend, Meredith, to a show by one of the quilter's Guilds in town. I have the one quilt in progress which I haven't worked on in a couple years, and going to the shows like this always makes me feel like I want to get back to it. And then do more - lots more! The show was amazing, always is. I wish I had brought a camera, so I could show you some of the stuff - but I didn't know we were allowed cameras until we got there. There was one quilt, which had about three award ribbons, where the quilter had designed something like stained glass, with celtic knot-patterned vertical panels as the 'leading', and batik fabric in jewel tones for the 'glass'. Quilts like abstract paintings, exploring light and shade. Quilts with fine floral applique. Whimsical quilts for children - one had a collection of cartoon animals wearing a variety of shoes. Another had an open book titled 'A Collection of Animal Tails', with all the tails sticking out of the book, Swiss-Army-knife fashion, including a pompom for the bunny tail. Quilts with lace or jewels or charms added. Exchanges and challenges where you could see what several people had made out of the same collection of patches or a set theme.

Included in the set theme category was a popular exhibit, where each person had had to create a square that was a rebus of a flower name. They had a contest going, for visitors to try and figure out what they all were, and people were into it. Sitting on the benches, flipping through seed catalogs provided, Googling ideas on their phones... I think we spent at least 10-15 minutes there. Some were obvious (heart with drops of blood = bleeding heart), some funny (black bird with swearing symbols at it's beak = crow-cuss, crocus), some requiring more thought that others (plain beige square plus letter C = tan-C, tansy).

I didn't buy anything from the vendors, but it was tempting. Fabrics in every sort of print and color, alone or packaged in lovely combinations of colors, threads ranging from silk to metallic, books and patterns...sigh. Must do more quilting.

We ran into someone from the Knitting Guild, and I discovered a) the meeting is tonight and not next week, and b) Cat Bordhi is the speaker. She's been in town doing workshops this weekend, and from what I understand, she has a math background, and is known for novel ways of getting to a particular result. Right, so, must go. I think that would definitely be an interesting talk.

I also found out that the Embroiderer's Guild has a show on at the Almonte Textile Museum. So Friday afternoon, that's where I'm off to with my mother. Meredith said it was definitely worth seeing, only poorly advertised. Since I've dabbled in embroidery as well, I expect I will come away with more ideas and wishes to start something. Again.  

Redwork and Other Needlework

A friend e-mailed me the other week to let me know that the museum in Smith's Falls was putting on an exhibit of redwork embroidery, if I was interested, although she wouldn't have time to go. Interested? Heck, yeah! I didn't actually know Smith's Falls had a museum, even. The website, when I took a look, described it as a house with period Victorian furnishings, and a two-storey privy. Since my mother is also a fan of old houses and furniture and needlework, I passed the info on to her, and we decided we had to take a look.

The museum turned out to be a very nice house. Only one staff member there at the time, so we got to poke about on our own, which is the most fun way to do it anyhow. Generally I don't want a speech on who lived there, and we know how people lived already. For us, it's a little more like a showroom, a place for ideas and comments. "I've got some redwork pillow shams in that exact pattern.""Look at the sampler on that wall. I need to make one like that sometime.""Come take a picture of the pantry. That's what I want mine to look like."

They had turned the space above the summer kitchen and shed into a gallery space, and part of that was more redwork, both new and old, from the collections of two friends. And didn't we have fun looking!  Unfortunate that I didn't manage to take better pictures.

My fingers are itching to do some embroidery. Redwork napkins maybe - I loved the ones we saw there, even though I use napkins once in a blue moon. Maybe handkerchiefs would be more useful.
And I want to graph the sampler we saw.

And try rickrack/crochet edging.

And I wish my pic of the needlepoint fireplace screen had come out. But I think I have enough ideas to deal with for a while.
We did see the two-storey privy as well. Separate shafts for each floor. Doubtless very convenient. And in the gift shop there was a reprint of Catharine Parr Traill's "Pearls and Pebbles" which I hadn't seen before, so that was a nice find that came home with us. Definitely a worthwhile trip.