BLOG 471

Blog 471

I started to apply and sew the iron-on bias binding along the appropriate pattern lines and then decided to make a slight alteration to the lower part of the basic design. I was happier with the simplicity of the final attempt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Bias binding start

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       Bias binding finish

I added some decorative stitching to the background colour for texture (Note to self: it would have been easier to do these before the bias binding was applied!!). Once this is bound, it will be ready to hand over.

The city of Chester is over the border in England and only 14 miles away from where we live in N Wales. We visited it yesterday for two reasons. The Christmas Market was the first reason. Now I don’t usually think about Christmas until Dec 1^st and I avoid shops and shopping like the plague until then. But we were meeting up with some special friends and I have to say that the colour, the smells, the hustle and bustle, the brilliant busking and the magical atmosphere made it all amazing. I finally caught the full Xmas spirit when it started to go dark and all the Xmas lights came on; it was really lovely. And I have to say that the imaginative and talented busking beat the usual Xmas’s dirges in the shops hands down! No I don’t want it to be Xmas every day, nor will it be a blue, blue Xmas without anyone, and let’s have ‘here it is merry Xmas’ when it is actually here!

The second reason I went to Chester was to see the Knife Angel. Sculptor Alfie Bradley created the Knife Angel along with the British Ironwork Centre in Shropshire. It was created and exhibited to raise awareness of knife crime in the UK. It is also a memorial to those young lives and it gives us a chance to reflect on the grief that knife crime causes families and communities. Over 100,000 bladed instruments (flick knives, pen knives, machetes, samurai swords, kitchen knives) were collected in amnesties by all 43 UK police forces and they all had to be sterilised and blunted before work could begin. That’s the information from the brochure. On a personal level, I found it a very emotional experience and I was overwhelmed by the size of the sculpture and the vast number of weapons used. The exaggerated face of the angel is studying his equally exaggerated hands as if to try and comprehend why they would want to pick up a knife and inflict damage on another human being. Well done to Alfie Bradley!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Knife Angel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      View 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View 3

 

And finally, I have some new furniture for the bedroom; just another place to display quilts as far as I am concerned!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New furniture