Just making...

It's been a busy time...making the fabric houses led on to an idea for cards...the time they took would not make them financially viable to sell, but I did have a lot of fun. I also feel happier for having come up with an idea and designs that were sparked off by what's around, but are mine.

Thank you to my sister, over in France, who gave helpful feedback via e-mail. The cards were finished in the morning...above is a sample...

...in the afternoon I worked at the foundry..

 The drawing is mine; the armature welded by my son -seen below, cutting with a grinder...always looks so dramatic- it's for a commission for a life-size sheep.

And I really am making this up as I go along because I've never worked in this way before. To date all my pieces have been on a smaller scale. Having recently worked out that for a lot of years I've been an "I can" person in fact, whilst mis-perceiving myself to be an "I can't", and that that can be the biggest brick wall, I am practicing "of course I can"...and as what I do is not brain surgery or high voltage electrical wiring, it doesn't matter that I don't know exactly what I'm doing...I'll work it out and with luck, learn something new. Was that a Pollyanna moment, or what? The new thing I will learn is to weld...because I'd like a few of these for myself, just as they are.

Also in the foundry that day...the (bronze) casts of my pieces, to be finished.

And then, in the evening...because it had to be done that day...

Real Seville marmalade.

After finishing the last rug...

...for reasons I cannot fathom, I took a picture of the back, but not the front...and feeling at a loose end, I finally started the patchwork for my bed - for which the fabrics were bought in May 2014.

The design is a combination of two nine-patch blocks. I wanted to use warm, rich colours and mostly succeeded in my choices, but when the blocks were spread out, there was one fabric that didn't work, so it will have to be unpicked and replaced. (and my wonderful daughter has gone to the fabric shop in Taverham to get me more fabric) I know from experience that if you're not really happy with some part of what you're making, it's best to be ruthless.

Making the blocks this big meant it was fairly quick to piece together, but I'm wondering if a bit smaller would have looked better...but then with several of the patchworks I've made, once it's finished I have wished I'd done it differently.  They don't always turn out as I'd envisaged them and sometimes I'm disappointed.

In this one, I wished I'd used warmer colours in the windows...or somewhere...it came out more blue/cool than I meant it to. About 90% of this was recycled fabric.

Whereas this one I was pleased with (not yet finished in this picture)...it was made because there was so much blue fabric left over from the big one...

In this one, I'm not sure about the blue sashing, but it was a case of using what I had, (which was an old Laura Ashley curtain) and I suppose that is in the spirit of the original patchworkers. Even further in that spirit, one of the blocks is made with mismatched but similar fabrics.

This one I was pleased with..also some recycled fabrics here...but only two colours makes it easier.

Looking back over what I've written tonight, I realise that I often don't know why I make things, but I'm thinking the 'why' is irrelevant..it's how I am made...it's what I have been given, and when I ignore it, it's painful.