A little R & R.....

I had decided that I wanted to do some exhibitions while I was in London, so decided that I would take myself out and about for the next few days. As I had had such a busy week, I didn't go to far on the Monday, I had to return my car to Gatwick, it really is pointless having a car in London when transport is fairly reasonable and relatively easy to get around on. So my day started at the airport and then I caught the train back to Croydon. I thought I would have a leisurely day, just wandering around the town.

It was a gentle day, a little shopping and then back to the house in the afternoon. A quiet evening in and an earlyish night. The next day I went to the V&A.

Glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly

I love this Museum, the mix of exhibits is quite something, Samurai armour to ceramics and all in between, a good eclectic mix. I specifically went as I wanted to see the From Club to Catwalk exhibition which is on and features Fashion from the 80's. The music took me back, and it was interesting to see the influences on fashion at that time, New Romantics, Boy George and a myriad of other groups who set the pace, plus the clubs that they frequented. I worked in a Department store during the 80's, originally as manager of the dress department, Dynasty was THE tv show, so fashion was influenced by that and Princess Diana was also news at that time, so things were beginning to change. I then took over Young Fashion, oversaw the installation of a brand new department and saw the influences slowly filtering into it, Cyndi Lauper, (think bubble skirts and sweatshirts).

The point of me telling you all that is that I think fashion changed dramatically at this point, it started to slowly filter out of London and make its way into the suburbs. Now, shopping in any town is easy and it isn't necessary to go to the city. However, I used to love shopping in London, and so having done the exhibit at the V&A, i walked back to Harrods.

Now there are several things I love to do in London, one is walk everywhere, you see so much more, and I got to know the backroads from Victoria station to Knightsbridge well. The other thing is wander around the top department stores. I used to love the Harrods Sale, and had an account which was always used in the Sale, the first Saturday was always an extra ten percent off so well worth going, and the husband would quake. My first stop would be the shoe department, Ferragamo was my shoe maker of choice, and I bought some beautiful ones in the sales, some of which I still have. The one thing about living in North America is that I have discovered that I have English feet, they are used to being shod in leather, uppers and soles, and not in North American plastic, I don't mean that in a disparaging way, but there is a tremendous difference. The other thing with shoes here, is that I can't find a size that fits.

Anyway, there I am at the doors of Harrods and in I went. Well, the one thing the husband says is that I knew that store like the back of my hand, that is, until they have now changed everything around, and I actually got lost. Absolutely impossible but yes I managed it. It's been a while since I was there admittedly, but I wasn't expecting it to have changed quite so much, the shoe department was so different and I restrained myself, (the husband thanks me), although I had trouble not dribbling over them. I eventually managed to find my way to the Harrods Souvenir department, (as I mentioned, I was Christmas shopping), and bought some items there, then I wanted hosiery which used to be on the ground floor. They have moved it to the first floor, and I had to walk around the store a fair way until I found it.

Harrods Teatowels

Baseball cap

Pug purse

I had a quick visit to the Food Halls, the husband and I used to meet for lunch there quite often but on the whole I was glad to get out of the store. A wander along Knightsbridge to Harvey Nichols was in order and it amused me that things hadn't changed. Tourists amble along without a care in the world and those of us who wanted to get places do what we normally did, walk in the road to get round them.  Harvey Nicks has changed too, and not necessarily for the better, I thought it looked a little tacky. Anyway I had my shopping so decided to go home.

The next day, I was at the Royal Academy. On my walk up to the Academy, I go past Buckingham Palace. There were hundreds of people and the Police were doing their best to clear the entrances to the Palace. I heard them say it was for the Changing of the Guard. Well, I didn't have time to wait and see it so carried on and was waiting to cross the road, when who should come riding past me but the Horseguards!

The Summer Exhibition was coming to an end, and I had purchased my ticket online in readiness. Used to go every year and really enjoyed it, so it was good to get back there and see what art was hanging. I soaked it in and felt inspired, got some ideas for work, but would loved to have taken photos, yes, I could have bought the catalogue, but papers heavy to carry home. I think the highlight of the show were the Grayson Perry tapestries. Exquisite work and the story in them was very interesting, I could have spent a lot longer looking at them, but it was beginning to get hot and stuffy.

I decided lunch was in order and took myself off to probably my favourite store, Fortnum and Mason's. I had been given strict instructions to top up the tea bags! The husband loves F&M's Earl Grey bags so I didn't dare come out empty handed. This is another store that has gone through a makeover, but is still as lovely as ever, I didn't get lost so that was a good thing.

The front of the store is lovely, and the window displays are always good to look at. I managed to miss Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason coming out of the clock on the front of the building. If memory serves me, they used to come out on the quarter past the hour and quarter to.

I wandered the Burlington Arcade, and then up Bond Street, breathing in all the expensive stores, and then popped out onto Oxford Street. John Lewis was my next stop, another favourite. After all this it was time to go home, I was exhausted!

The rest of the week went by gently, dinner out one evening with the gang, we all used to live in the same street and next door to each other and is usually a feature of a visit. I love to see them all, the kids come out too, although now they are married and have families of their own!

Before we went out for dinner we visited Dave and Pauline's house as they had just added an extension on the back so she has a beautiful kitchen and garden area now. It also took us past our old house which hasn't changed since the day we left 10 years ago!!

Our old house!

Graham, Chris, Dave, Dennis, Pauline and Wendy on the new patio

I spent the weekend packing and then was up early on the Monday morning, ready to fly home.

 It's always lovely to see everyone, and this trip was no exception and I had a great time meeting so many people in Birmingham, I think next years Festival will be a lot of fun! Now it's down to getting the details organized!!

All's quiet.........or so I thought..

Things got very hectic for a while. I shut the door on the studio and decided I should start packing for my trip to England. I was attending the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham on behalf of the ACCQF, acting as the representative promoting Quilts of Great Britain next May.

Cathy came over and loaded me with posters and bookmarks to hand out at the Festival. I decided to take little with me as I wanted to do some Christmas shopping,(yes, I know it's early but I like to get a head start on things). So off I went.

The airport was busy, but I got checked in early but too early for my luggage so, "leave it over there", well, hope I see you in London, suitcase. I am beginning to learn that I need to lighten my suitcase a lot more, it's a hard shell, which several years ago would cause no problem but because airlines are now so sticky about weight, cost me excess baggage on the way back. In fact, I think they got cross with it, dropped it from a great height as it is now broken, so I guess I am buying a new one. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself, but I just wonder why the staff at airports have to make the experience as unpleasant as possible. I spent my time sitting at the boarding gate watching aircraft take off, land, and listening to the last calls for passengers, and actually watched them unload luggage from one aircraft at the next gate for a passenger who failed to show. The flight itself was uneventful and I slept all the way, only waking for food which we will not discuss, it was as bad on the way back.

I landed on the Tuesday morning at Gatwick and found my way to car hire, checked in, was shown to my car, Hyundai i40, and told how to use the handbrake and off I went, drove out the car park on the wrong side of the road, but soon got into it. I was staying with friends in Croydon, so a half hour drive.
I arrived safely you will be pleased to know, found my way and parked to be greeted by my friend with a big hug and .......couldn't get the car key out of the ignition. There followed a good fifteen minutes of fiddling when all of a sudden, it popped out. Apparently, you had to push it in and then slide it out, who knew?

Well, I had a lovely day and managed to last until quite late which pleased me and after a good nights sleep, I was up bright and early as I was going to be seeing my Aunt the following day as she was holidaying in Sevenoaks. Aunty had been born and brought up in the village of Ide Hill, not far from Sevenoaks, so was making a trip down memory lane, normally I would be staying with her at her home near Cambridge. We had a lovely day at Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill. I love visiting this National Trust property, it never fails to bring me a certain peace and calm, the gardens are beautiful, and I particularly love the Sun Room. 

The view over the Weald of Kent is spectacular, although it was a little cloudy this day. It was lovely to catch up with the news and also to see my cousin and his wife, we keep in touch sporadically, so it was good to see them. Jane is a quilter, and last year, I was able to see her at the Festival of Quilts last year along with her two daughters, Philippa and Susannah. So we talked quilting for a bit.

The day went by all to quickly and then it was back to Croydon and get myself ready for the following day as I was travelling to Birmingham for this year's Festival of Quilts. I left at six in the morning thinking there wouldn't be much traffic at that time. What was I thinking? It's a while since I've driven the M25 but I wasn't prepared for it. I thought I was travelling a reasonable speed, but others were flying past me, I didn't remember the traffic being this bad last year. 7am saw me the other side of Oxford, so I stopped at the first services I found, got out of my car and shook like a jelly. I thought this was slightly ridiculous as I used to travel these roads regularly and went up to Liverpool every six weeks at one point, but, I guess you get out of the way of traffic. Living in the boonies of Southwestern Ontario, heavy traffic consists of maybe a dozen extra cars between the hours of 6 and 9, and the school buses! I exaggerate, but you get the idea.

I made good time on the rest of the journey, and got parked easily at the NEC and followed the stream to the Convention Centre. The queue had already formed, and quite by chance, I met my contact with the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. She very kindly got me sorted out with an Exhibitors pass and took me into the hall. The stand for the Guild is the first thing that greets you upon entry, and I had a table which had been draped in purple cloth with an advertising poster and a power point, so I set up my computer, turned the music down, and played the presentation I had put together showing the ACCQF from set up to take down and shots of all three shows.

I put my poster up and a display of bookmarks out and waited for the doors to open. Oh my goodness!! I'm not sure I was prepared for the rush through the doors! I spent the next four days talking to hundreds of people about the Festival and barely leaving the stand, although I did pack things away and go for lunch, leaving plenty of bookmarks out only to find the table empty when I got back! I was busy which was good, everyone was interested in what a small town was doing and amazed at the support we get. I was able to meet with my teachers who will be coming next year, and they were just delightful, I think we have a great mix of workshops.

These were a few of the quilts on display, I took so many photos and haven't got room for them all.

Inner Circle, flower of Scotland by Kay Bell

Gillian Travis- Wired Flowers

Gillian Travis-Indian Women and others

It should never have happened- Edna Standley

EQA display-Italy

EQA display-Spain

Transported-Tolpuddle by Kate Dowty

A small taste of what was on display. The show was excellent this year, the standard was good and the layout much better. I was very tired by the end of the show on Sunday, especially as the fire alarm had gone off at 4am that morning in the hotel! We all dutifully trooped outside and found it was a false alarm, but better safe than sorry. My journey back to London took three and a half hours and I was glad to be able to relax and was looking forward to the following week....

To be continued........

Safety first....or maybe not

I've had a bit of a strange week. I was very much looking forward to it as I had a young girl (13), who I thought was very mature for her age coming to do ice dyeing and fabric painting and whatever else I thought she could do and enjoy. She had come to the Festival and spoken to our quilters at length.

Monday dawned and she arrived. I took her to my studio and explained what I thought we would be doing this week, and expressed the fact that we handle these materials carefully, wear masks etc.,  I'm dressed in white lab coat and rubber gloves....she said ok, but this is what I painted the other week and just had to show you........

I was a little nonplussed but made all the right noises, and maybe we could get back to what the week is about.

Well, start by cutting your fabric, which I had provided, into smaller pieces and soaking it in the soda ash solution, please wear gloves as this stuff is horrid to your skin. OK, 30 minutes has gone by, lets start dyeing layer your fabric in the pot provided, you really don't need quite so much dye, ( 2 teaspoonfuls of one colour), ok, keep building layers and we will set it aside. I've made up some dyes for batch dyeing, just the primaries but that's what I normally work with, put the soaked fabric into plastic bags, and dribble dye over it, be careful, your dripping dye all over. I have no clue what time you want to leave, I was thinking you'd be leaving about 4, but if you want to leave now that's fine.

Tuesday, I had two girls. Or rather one to start with.

No, I wasn't picking you up today, it was tomorrow after I'd seen the Dentist, sorry but we were obviously at crossed purposes. Ah, you made it. Well, I put your pot with the ice dyes in the sink, so I think we will use the hose outside and rinse the dye. Be careful!!!!!! .........Oh well, accidents happen, but I did warn you not to carry the pot like that then it wouldn't have spilt all over the floor.  Ok, now rinse it carefully, you have dye all over you I will get some soap. Rinse well as red takes forever to wash out, take the bags out and wash those fabrics out, you do know you are covered in it don't you? I have told you to be careful...

the two girls are working well together, I carried dyes outside carefully, lids screwed on pots and all contained in a roasting tin so as not to make a mess and damage anything.

I will be back in a couple of moments........ come quickly!!!! Why, what's happened? A bit of a mishap, dye has been dripped on the patio, no problem it will wash away, no not there! Up there..........and the brickwork at the back of the house above a door frame has blue dye spots, what the...........??

Did I not say be careful? Am I a joke? Do you have no respect for me or my studio???????

I decided I couldn't face the rest of the week, so asked that she didn't return. The energy in my studio is unsettled, I can't face going in there, and have had a problem just opening the door. I have had to go in to get things for my trip next week, but  run out quickly....

Ho Hum........

I don't often get bored, there is usually so much to do, but I have to admit to feeling a little bored this week.

The reason for this is my frozen shoulder. I had one maybe two or three years ago, and it never really healed, and it came back with a vengeance not long before Quilt Festival, (I think it's the stress), and entailed several visits to the Chiropractor to get it into some form of working order. He gave me exercises to do which I have, and there have been periods of time when it has felt great, no pain etc., so I think I can work and the next day I'm back to square one. The funny thing is, I have become very aware of how I work, I suddenly discovered that I seem to pull my shoulder up on the left hand side which seems to cause the problem, so I find myself deliberately pulling it down.

Computer work aggravates it too, so I have tried to limit that, unsuccessfully I might add, and as I write, I am pulling my shoulder down to stretch those muscles.

So, I thought this might be an opportunity to bore you all with the finer points of China Restoration!

I mentioned in my previous post that this was my career prior to quilting. I sort of fell into it. The husband and I used to buy and sell 1930's china, Art Deco period and we also collected wonderful designs by some very innovative FEMALE designers. I put that in capitals as I think for the period during the two wars, it was pretty unusual. Clarice Cliff was one, and Susie Cooper was the other, and there were more, but these are probably the best known.

We collected the work of Susie Cooper, it was one of those things, you collected one or the other but never both. Miss Cooper, (forgive me, but it would be unforgivable to call her by her first name), came from a good family, and studied at the Burslem School of Art. She worked for Gray's Pottery, and I had some truly lovely early pieces of her work from the 1920's through to the 1960's when she worked for Wedgwood. Her designs were neat and well thought out, the early ones being colourful and then becoming more muted. She also designed ceramics, teapots, coffee pots etc., as she said that it was obvious a man had never poured from a teapot, and I have to say, that her pots pour beautifully, the best known design would be Kestrel, a really pretty shape and one of my favourites. I still have some of her pieces especially the very first coffee service we ever bought from a lady who is now a very good friend, but who dealt exclusively in Susie Cooper.

Clarice on the other hand, (and it's ok to call her by her first name), came from a completely different background. One of a large family, painted her bedroom black and orange, and caught the eye of the factory owner. She was asked to leave home. But again, one of the most successful designers of that period. Much more colourful than Susie Cooper, the designs were brasher but no less exciting, and if you were buying at antique fairs, her work commanded higher prices. Her workshop was laid out in a particular way so that if the girls were working on the Crocus pattern, which was one of the best known and most popular, there would be girls who would paint the orange crocus, others would paint the yellow, and others the green leaves, repetitive work, but they would have a jolly sing song while doing it.

I always got the impression that it would have been more fun to work for Clarice than for Miss Cooper, just because she was more "one of the girls".

This piece is by Susie Cooper, and dates to the late 20's early 30's. There are no factory marks or stamps on the back, but I have seen other pieces in this design which come from the Susie Cooper factory.

This is one of my favourite  pieces of Susie Cooper, a Sgraffito bowl, which means the pattern is incised, and an incised signature on the bottom, these were made during the 1930's and in various colours always with a matte glaze, I've seen them in black, pink and brown. 

This  is a sugar bowl/jam pot/marmalade pot I think, it has a small lid on the top. The pattern is hand painted onto hand painted bands of colour and would probably have been don in the 40's, it would reflect the more austere times. The mark on the bottom shows that this came from the Susie Cooper works in Burslem, the number refers to the pattern.

This is a soup bowl from the 40's, it has a handle missing and I had every intention of replacing it and putting it back to an almost original state. The pattern is a lithograph which was a method which had been developed of transferring printed design during the firing. The banding and handle is hand painted. I do have a banding brush which I bought in the Potteries and have used it on occasion. The trick is to put the ceramic on a small pottery wheel, give it a spin, get the brush loaded and then gently lay it on the area and let the paint flow.

I used to visit the Potteries quite regularly, partly because it was on my way to the Wirral, which is where I did my Restoration diploma, and, if you look at a map of the British Isles, looks like the little arm sticking out between Liverpool and North Wales, but also because I chose to do my written thesis on the work of Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper, comparing and contrasting the work of both. I was able to gain access to the Archives in the Central Library of Clarice's work, it was amazing to see the patterns drawn out in pattern books with annotations.  I was unable to view the archives at Wedgwood which held Susie Cooper's pattern books, as, just before I was due to keep the appointment that I had duly made, several items went missing from it so all visits were stopped which was a great shame.

The Crown Works which was Susie Cooper's factory, I got to know quite well as it owned by a couple of young men who produced Moorland Pottery from it, I used to take people up for tours of the pottery which hadn't changed since the 1930's apart from the fact that it was fired in more modern kilns. The decorating shop was still up a set of rickety stairs on the outside of the building. 

One of my other favourite places to visit was the Gladstone Pottery which was a working Museum and one of the few originals left.  It was an experience walking into a kiln, and to find that a Sagger Makers Bottom Knocker really did exist! Not a lot of people know that when the Potteries were working at their fullest during the 19th Century, there were many kilns and lots of small family factories working from home, some of the best pottery and china in the world was produced in the six towns.

You may be asking yourself what that is. Stoke-on-Trent is made up of six towns, Hanley, Burslem, Stoke-on -Trent, Longton, Tunstall and Fenton, which was a smaller producing area. All I can do is to direct you to google "six towns of Stoke-on-Trent" and you will find lots of images. It was a place I was very fond of, but manufacturing of pottery was dying and has since all but dried up I believe with manufacturing being moved to the Far East in many cases. 

So, where are Clarice's pieces? Well, I didn't have very much and we did sell a lot before we emigrated, so I think I have one small piece left which I will have to find and post later. However, I do have some Wedgwood reproductions.

This is Blue Trees from the Wedgwood Centenary collection of Clarice's Bizarre ware. If you saw an original piece, the differences would be very obvious, but this was more affordable than the original.

There were so many factories producing during this period, so I have included a small selection,

This  beautifully decorated coffee can is by Crown Devon. The Crown Devon factory produced some beautiful pieces of ware, some were highly decorated such as this piece, and would have been very expensive, not only to buy, but to produce, this piece could have been through as many as eight firings, which means that it was baked many times. The gilding would have been added last and been the final firing.

Another of my favourite factories was Shelley. Both these pieces were damaged, if they had been perfect, I wouldn't be able to afford them. They are very thin china, and totally impractical! The cup shapes make the tea cold very quickly as there is too much surface area, and they are horrible to hold when full, trust me, I've tried it. But the design was modern and very stylish and it is a pleasure to own such pieces.

The Art Deco period produced so much that was exciting in the way of ceramics, furniture and clothing that it would be too much to list here, so it will have to wait for future posts. It also created a huge collecting problem, because we then moved into the 1950's, 60's and 70's. I am really going to have to clear some stuff out to display some of it.

But anyway, back to the finer points of china restoration....................

It's been a funny old week............

So, after the excitement of last Saturday, life was supposed to return to normal, but, as I mentioned in the previous post, we were hosting a soccer coach at the behest of my neighbour.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, and I had a meeting planned with Cathy to go over Quilt Festival stuff, as we, or rather I,  need to be on the ball when I get to the UK in a couple of weeks. So we went out for lunch to catch up, and then went back to the studio to talk about various aspects of the Festival which always takes several hours rather than just one.

After she left, I made sure all was ok in the way of towels, cleaning etc., before going to the soccer ground with two children in tow, to pick up the coach. We went about fifteen minutes early as I thought that way, we would be ready and waiting at the appointed time. We got there, to find them already waiting for .........someone! Two young people, got out of the car, and we introduced ourselves, They noticed by the accent, that I wasn't local, so where was I from? "Croydon", says I, "No way!", says the girl, "I'm from Wallington!" Dear readers, that's about five miles or so from where we used to live, so we "knew" each others areas quite well.

The Coordinator and another family turned up so I made sure they knew that I was expecting to be hosting "a girl", and off we went.

I have to tell you that we had a truly wonderful week. Our lodger, Bailey, was just lovely and fitted in very well with us and was no trouble to look after, I was delighted to have her. She worked hard, and did manage to have a couple of afternoons off, so we went Maple Syrup hunting one afternoon, and then to Grand Bend the other free afternoon. That was probably the hottest day of the year, but we had fun. I enjoy shopping, (please don't tell the husband, the less he knows the better), and so does Bailey, so it was lovely to have someone to go with. We putzed in and out of the stores, and did pick up a couple of pieces. We had a brief walk through very hot sand and then got back into the car and straight to the neighbours house for supper! We also took her to Ipperwash to see the sunset, which would have been lovely but it was a little cloudy, but still beautiful.

From her point of view, it was a funny old week. The Soccer camps vary from place to place, and while she had some kids who really wanted to be there,  I got the impression that it was very much a babysitting exercise this time. There was very little interaction amongst the majority of parents, and, I don't think anybody thanked them for all the work they did with the kids. I have to say that I was lucky enough not to cook for several days this week, as the neighbours were extremely grateful to me for having one of them, and the kids had a lot of fun, but they were the exception. Very disappointing for them, especially when I hear about what other clubs did for them over the past few weeks. Oh well, I guess that's how it is.

We went out for supper on Friday and had a great time. Bailey is a big Timmy's fan, so I will be taking a surprise for her and leaving it with my friends in Croydon, then, I will have to send her on a scavenger hunt to find it! Didn't want to make it too easy for her. Sadly, I won't see her when I'm in the UK as she will not be back until the end of August, we miss each other by about two weeks.

This week for me, is going to be very busy. I have to finish my slide presentation for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. I am very excited about this, and will be spending the next few days working on it before going to the Apple store to learn how to" bed it in". I must admit I thoroughly enjoy my sessions, but wish I could remember it once I finish!! The hour goes so quickly and there is never enough time to write it all down, so I forget what I'm supposed to be doing. But I will try and struggle on this week with it, I managed to get an appointment for later in the week.

I am excited about meeting my teachers in Birmingham, and hope that all will be well. One of them is teaching in New Zealand this week, and tells me that there are earthquakes happening, she said she was not sure if its her presence causing it or nature at play! Knowing what she's like, I'd like to think that the earth is moving for her.

I will be out of the studio for a while, but have been trying hard to keep up and get some work done for the Gallery. I will try and go down this week and put some new things in.

The other thing I am looking forward to on my trip, is visiting Museums and galleries in London. I already have my ticket for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and want to go to the V&A to see the David Bowie exhibit, that might be a stretch as I have to do that the day after I land in England as it ends when I'm in Birmingham, and the Club to the Catwalk exhibit there too, so lots to do. Will try and get to Tate Modern and look around to see what else is on. I am hoping not to take too much with me as I want to do my Christmas shopping, yes, weird I know, but fun, and I want to shop for me!! I'm also hoping to meet up with friends for lunch in various places so that should keep me out of mischief and I know my second week will fly by. It will also give me the opportunity to tie up any loose ends, but I don't think there will be any-fingers crossed!

A perfect ending..

This entry will not be a quick one. I am still assimilating information and pondering on what was a very interesting and wonderful day, you might be hearing about this for weeks!!

As I mentioned in my last post, we were going to the Sabbath service at the Synagogue, and then the Kiddush lunch afterwards. The husband and I arrived at the Synagogue and walked in, to be greeted by the Programme director from the Community Centre, and a good friend of mine who I knew from the Embroiderer's Guild. The husband donned a kippah and we entered the Sanctuary.

We entered and sat with our friend Fred and several other committee members, and it struck me that we were lucky and privileged to be there. I have always had the deepest respect for Jewish people and have known and worked with many over the years, so I tried very hard to take everything in as I didn't want to forget a single detail.

It was an amazing sight. The synagogue wasn't particularly full, but the Sabbath service is two hours long, and people kept arriving throughout. My delight was in seeing men and women in prayer shawls, and that the bulk of the service was sung or chanted rather than spoken.  The young lady who led the Torah service had the most beautiful voice. Fred told us which pages to turn to, and helped us along, the service is in Hebrew, and it was lovely to hear the words. The opening of the Ark was breathtaking, and the lights sparkled on the finials to the Torah's stored there.

A Torah was then lifted out, and carried around the Sanctuary, and the congregation came down and either touched a corner of their shawl, or bible (although I don't think it's called a Bible),to the Torah, before it was taken to the lectern. The finials were removed and the cover removed, and then the Torah was unrolled. The Torah reader then used the Yad to follow the writings  while we followed in our books. To be honest, it seemed at times a bit chaotic until you realised that all the people on the dais had a role to play. There were several readers, and we had help from a lovely young lady in knowing which page we should be on.

The second service was led by our friend, and was lovely. Again, there were readings and several moments of private prayer. I found it fascinating. The Torah was then rolled and put back into its cover and the finials replaced, then taken around the Sanctuary again before being replaced in the Ark. The doors to the Ark were closed, and the service continued. Then, a short while later, they were opened again and then closed. The children then came up and closed the outer doors to the Ark which was lovely.

The President of the Synagogue made a closing address and then the Rabbi did a Kiddush toast, cleansed her hands and broke bread. After this, the service ended and we all started to make our way to the hall for lunch.

Everyone was so welcoming. There was not one moment when we were left on our own, we were well looked after and the food!!! Oh my goodness, it was lovely, salads, bagels, lox, hummus and a dessert table laden with fresh fruit and pastries.

I actually felt a little overwhelmed by it all. I had taken my camera thinking I would take photos at the lunch, but completely forgot about it, but then perhaps there were other reasons too. It will be a long time before we ever experience anything like this again, a community opened its hearts to us in grateful thanks for something we just thought would be fun to do, I don't think we even gave a thought to the impact that it would have but I am so pleased I had that opportunity to make new friends and to experience so much.

I also found the service interesting, looking at it from the viewpoint of an outsider. I converted to the Catholic faith at Easter from Anglican. Not too much of a stretch as the faiths are similar in a way, the Catholic Church is perhaps more rigid. I'm sure it will shock some people, but I had a rough year last year and needed an anchor to hold me steady. I have, over the years, had many Catholic friends and been to Mass more often than any other service in an Anglican church, so for me it was a natural thing to do.

Hmm, this is quicker than I thought!

So, what does today hold? Well, I will be having a visitor for the next week! My friend's children are going to Soccer Camp and they need a billet for one of the coaches, guess who was volunteered?? I have never had, and neither has the husband, any interest in Soccer so it should be a very interesting week, I hope they don't mind. I am also going to be having three young ladies over to do some"Art". I put it like that as one of them called to ask if it would be ok if they came to do something with me, I am always pleased to have company in the studio so said yes, what would they like to do? Something "abstracty" was the reply. Well, that was helpful, I will also spend part of today tidying the studio and preparing for the workshop and looking at the fabric I dyed on Friday, so, busy, busy, and thinking about what I will be teaching these girls, I do have one or two ideas but we'll just have to wait and see.....

Oooh! The anticipation!.........

I don't normally wish my life away, but I really cannot wait for Saturday this week!

The Quilt Festival committee have been invited to the Synagogue for the Sabbath service and Lunch, which is being hosted by the Jewish community as they wished to show their appreciation for the Quilts of Israel show we held in May.

One of our contacts in the community, Fred, has been instrumental in putting this together, and I for one, am extremely touched and honoured.

It turns out that Fred is a bit of an artist himself. He had read that my previous career had been as a Ceramic/china Restorer/conservator, ( I have to put both ceramic and china in, as if I don't, people think you do one thing and not the other. The times I've been asked when I say I repair china, "oh, don't you do pottery?' or vice versa), and told me that he had had a go at doing stained glass. He has ben going to Port Stanley on a regular basis to take classes with a stained glass artist there, and sent me photos yesterday, one of which I will share with you as it is breathtakingly beautiful work, and deserves to be seen.

I love the colour and the movement in the design, and hope that I will see it in the flesh very soon. The Shofar I think is particularly interesting. When Fred told me he was doing this, I started thinking about Art in general. There are so many different types, and along the way, we might get to experience working in some different mediums, painting, fabric, metal and other types, what draws us to do something different? I once did jewellery making. The husband was doing an evening class in it and thoroughly enjoying it, he thought I would like it and be good at it, after all I fiddled with minuscule pieces of ceramic from time to time. Well off I went full of hope........and hated every minute!!!! It was the longest ten weeks of my life, and the only thing I have to show for it is a copper ring that I made and never wear.

I recently took two classes at the Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, loved one but didn't care for the other, I wonder if it's the subject, teaching, or, how I approach it. I taught china restoration, (see, there I go), for almost 10 years and didn't lose too many students along the way, and although I left the UK 10 years ago now, I know that some of them still meet on a regular basis, which makes me feel that I at least gave them enthusiasm for the subject. I would often be asked to demonstrate it at various places, but believe me, it's like watching paint dry. One of my classes always said my epitaph would be, "yes, it's coming on, but it needs a bit more filling".  I was extremely lucky to have been taught by a wonderful restorer who did a lot of private work, but also a lot of Museum work too, and I was lucky enough to go to the Museum in Birkenhead and watch her repair some of the Della Robbia collection that is housed there.  She is also an extremely talented Botanical artist, and I did take a couple of classes with her which I really enjoyed. Helen used to tell me that I was a better restorer than she was(!), which astonished me as I thought I wasn't very good, although I did get a Distinction after doing a two year part time Diploma. I think my problem was that in my mind I could see how I it should look, but to me it never looked as good as it should have done.

Having said that, I am a dab hand at painting freehand straight lines, copying flower designs and colour matching. It's a long process which I won't bore you with, but when the filling is so smooth that it blend in with the original, then it is ready to be painted. My dears, there are two schools of thought on that one!! I used an airbrush, some people would faint dead away as they painted everything by hand. Imaging doing a crack and hand painting it. I can, but it's so much easier and smoother to use the airbrush. So, you would have to match the background colour of the piece. Not a lot of people realise that the background colour is actually just the pottery/clay colour covered in glaze, and, please, don't get me started on thick glazes which would leave a shadow line which would cause angst and trauma because it looked awful, and no, it is not an option to paint the ENTIRE piece just because that would get rid of that problem, (although I have seen that done, but that's another story). Anyway, in a perfect world, you would have airbrushed the repair, seamlessly sprayed thinners into the edge to lose it, and then and only then could you get down to the best bit which was the hand painting usually a sprigs floral design or a gilded line, -there's another story too.

I find that working with textiles and fibre is much easier. I can put things on, take things off, and if it's a bit out of alignment, then the whole thing can, if I wish, be straightened with the stroke of my rotary cutter. Ceramic (sorry), works differently, for one thing it's not pliable, so if it is out of alignment then it causes all sorts of problems. Depending on the piece I'm working on, it doesn't matter if I rip it, cut it or shred it.

I did try artistic metal work once as well, but the husband does that better, which reminds me, I need to get him to fire the forge up when the weather cools down a bit to see if it still works. We have a relationship of me, artistic director and him, artisan. I need to get him back into that as he's really quite good. 

A plant stand in the Art Nouveau style

Pottery was another class that we took together and both enjoyed. The husband would do lots of different things and I did sheep. They would be singing, one even had a pair of knotting needles at the base with a strand of "wool" coming from its body, there was a builder, a Barrister and I even did an accountant. They were quite fun to do.

So now, I am looking forward to working on the next piece of fibre art. I had a brainwave in the middle of the night, I have beautiful piece of ice dyed silk which is lovely and I had started working on it and was thinking the piece would be about 18x22 inches, a little boring and predictable. So what would happen if I cut it into three pieces? Well the result is a lot better than just the one piece.

I started putting the backing on one piece and hope to be working on it again very soon and will have better photos of it, but I am pleased with the way it is looking, quite inspiring. But, for the moment that will have to wait. I have a two hour dental appointment tomorrow, so will be playing the poorly invalid, and that way I will get to play in the studio all day Thursday and Friday!

So, then I will be ready for a really lovely day on Saturday.