BLOG 124

This coming week, I will be going away for a break to Malta. I have never been before so know little about the island apart from what I have gleaned from the internet. It’s the varied reactions of other people that have been interesting: … ‘I won’t say much about it and leave it for you to make up your own mind’ ….. ‘It’s an island that you either love or hate’ … ‘It’s either very green or not very green’ …. ‘Don’t they have fish and chip shops and red buses over there?’ When I post Blog 125 in 2 weeks’ time, I will have the benefit of experience!! Can’t wait!

Cathedral hanging continued

This week I have been working on the lines of colour that rise from the top of the tree. Each shape is traced onto the RS of freezer paper and cut out to size. I have boxes of ready-fused fabrics left over from previous projects so all I have to do is locate the correct shades from dark through medium to light.

 

 

                               Freezer paper shape

 I secure the freezer paper shapes under a sheet of baking parchment and use a hot iron to fuse the small scraps of colour on top, so that I get a run of colour. I make sure that the fused shapes overlap slightly so that they stick together. I have to fill in the whole freezer paper shape and make sure there is a good seam allowance at the edges where I start with the darkest shade or where an edge will be overlapped.

 

 

                    Fusing small shapes

Once I have created the colour run, I iron the freezer paper cut-out on top of the fabric (always working on baking parchment so it can be peeled off easily) so that I can cut away the excess fabric along the long edges.
 

 

                                   Ready for trimming

Each colour line is worked separately and then put back into the design.

 

 

                                        Coloured lines

In my mind I suppose I am thinking of the church as a tree, rooted in the fabric of the building. The tree offers protection and allows growth during life and then releases into an afterlife. The dove is a traditional symbol of the spirit so perhaps coloured doves could soar to the top of the hanging as in ‘free-spirited’. Here are some initial doodles for the doves; I particularly like the rising doves.

 

                                 Dove doodles

I am trialling the doves to see what they look like in situ.

 

 

         Good progress

I’ve mentioned before that I always work impulsively and spontaneously but never tidily and here is the proof if you should need it!!
 

 

                                      Work surface

 

                                     Floor surface

We have many visitors to the bird table but these are some of the more unusual ones. And this morning we found that a crow had managed to lift one of the feeders off its hook and transport it somehow to the other end of the paddock. It was then trying to find a way of liberating the nuts. Clever blighters! My sister and brother-in-law will be living in the house whilst we are away; they’ll sort out that crow!! And so to Malta.

 

                              Squirrel

 

                                         Pheasant