Wednesday 2 January 2008

Good Start to the Year

First posting of the New Year and it’s the usual drivel. Thanks so much for all the good wishes from all around the world. I’m not sure about the genius bit but we’ve certainly done well on the domestic disaster front.

Margaret - getting down was OK, the problem was getting up. I’m getting to the stage where, if I’m on my knees, I think ‘What else can I do while I’m down here’.

Pat - good advice about keeping the laptop out of the kitchen.

Carol’s handbag disaster eclipses all mine, I think. I can live without the oven but cameras and phones are lifeblood. Poor you. Dorothy has noticed that it didn’t take us long to get the laptop sorted but we still haven’t done anything about the oven.

T’other Maggie - I have to confess that Clive already brings me breakfast in bed. We are supposed to take it in turns but, somehow, I’m always asleep.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and started clearing out my ‘finished pieces’ cupboard. I was looking for a particular embroidery for an article I’m writing but it was all in such a muddle that all the work was dragged out. So a big throwing out commenced. Why do we keep so many little bits that ‘might come in handy’? Anyway I was strong and the dustbin is full. In the process, I found lots of long lost work.

This little bag was one of my early attempts at using embroidery software. It was digitised and stitched on the Janome 9000 and the stitching area was very small so I made tiny units of houses. It was all about terrible floods that had just happened, so nothing changes. I was working on a Hundertwasser theme for a design course - hence the squares.
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Here are the little houses sitting on top of the waves - made by using a pattern fill within a small wave shape. This formed the strap, too.



I was in the middle of this when Clive suddenly noticed that the weather was getting much better so, on a whim, we downed tools and set off for the Purbeck hills. We are lucky living here in having the New Forest one way and the Isle of Purbeck in the other direction.

Had a great walk at Arne, which is usually a good place for birdwatching, but they all had hangovers and were staying in bed. Excellent walk though, with lovely views of Poole harbour and the hills. Drove past Corfe Castle and on to the ferry at Sandbanks for a short cut home. It was lovely.

Today we are off to Bournemouth with smallest grandchild but I am not feeling guilty as I’ve been up since 6am and have finished setting a workshop.

7 comments:

The WestCountryBuddha said...

What a lovely bag Maggie! I thought I'd just let you know that I'm off to see Alicia's quilts on the 9th Jan and will be there at about lunch time providing I don't get hopelessly lost (a speciality of mine) If you're around I'd love to meet and say hi. I guess the chances of you coming on the same day are quite slim, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

artisbliss said...

My problem with throwing out little bits and pieces is that as soon as the garbage truck has rumbled off down the street I'll find a use for whatever is now irretrievable. At least that's my fear! I'm probably neurotic.

Hilary Metcalf said...

Maggie - I feel faint at the thought of you tossing pieces of your work into the rubbish bin - you know what they say - one (wo)man's trash being another's treasure! Maybe you could do what Dale does and put stuff out front of her place for people just to pick up! Or put it into 'lucky dip' bags and run a cyber lucky dip!!
Cheers
Hilary

Pat said...

Your bag is just gorgeous, workshops V smallest granchild, no contest.

lorna said...

hi, I am A Alevel student at stafford college and have chosen you as inspiration to resurch so I would be very greatful if you could tell me about your work such as what inspires you and who, favourite materials to work with and what qualificatons you have got as i am having difficulty in finding info on you. Thankyou, lorna

Megan said...

Ooooh Maggie

Just two questions - what's your address and what night do you put your dustbins out?

We might all sneak around and have a bit of a ferret through!

Happy New Year.

Megan

sharon young said...

What a beautiful bag, Maggie, I just got a Hundertwasser book out of the library and I think your interpretation of his work in this piece is stunning.
His colours are amazing!