MTF Exhibition

I am preparing for an exhibition by Midlands Textile Forum at The Public, West Bromwich called 'Celebrations and Festivals'. It runs from 7th November 2012 to 3rd Februray 2013. This piece  is  'Candles for Diwali' done on 32 shafts in Diversified Plain Weave. I then overpainted all the candle flames with gold textile paint - made from powder which is stirred into textile medium. It had to be lined (white cotton) and have a sleeve similar to a quilter's sleeve attached at the back. The gallery wants everything screwed down using mirror plates and I have a suitable length of wood which will be held in the sleeve.

This is the second DPW piece, 'Fireworks'. It has caused me some grief. The Catherine Wheels are okay, but the Roman Candles were not good and the woven rockets at the top just disappeared. So I overpainted three of the Roman Candles with gold paint and then machine stitched the two rockets at the top in white/red and gold. More gold paint and sequins finished them off. In the end the piece was quite effective. And I even like it. I was not too happy about the lining on the Candles piece, so I found some black fusible knitted lining in the box of linings and fused it to the entire back of the fabric. Then sewed the black cotton lining on. It is a much sturdier, tidier piece than the Candles and I am pleased with the way it has come out. 

I have still to warp up the third piece on the Megado which is a triple weave. The cotton warps are wound and ready. I have to wind the silk on  to the sectional beam and thread up and complete by Wednesday!

The teenage grand children were here over the weekend and then everyone came to lunch on Sunday so there was a lot of cooking and running about. Madi is doing a good job using a slide scanner I bought this summer. We are turning all the slide collection into jgp files to be shared round the family. There are even slides of my wedding which was 51 years ago in Edinburgh in December and it snowed. I reckon there are 3000 slides and she has done about 600. Chris planted up a section of garden where we have removed a large conifer and also helped clean up the  garage - and take a car load to the tip.  So things are looking up.

Michael's musical instruments are now listed on the web for sale. I have got rid of a lot of stuff, plastic recorders, music stands but still have to get rid of a lot more.   I am thinking about taking a deep breathe and trying to sell some of the remaining musical stuff on Ebay. My son-in-law asked me if I had any removable drawers with hard drives installed. The answer was what sort would you like! There are lots!