Magic Feathers

Jude Hill, of SpiritCloth, is gathering 1000 embroidered feathers from around the world and sewing them together.   She says: 

"The Magic Feather Project is a collective stitching project focused on creative sharing and giving. The magic feather has been my personal symbol for almost forever. With the idea of making it a symbol of something bigger than just myself, I thought I would share it with you and you in turn might stitch one (at least) and send it to me so I might, in turn, sew a bunch together and put the larger cloth to some charitable use.My target for any charity efforts connected with this project  is children. Their well being and education. I may give or donate some of the cloths directly or donate them for auction. We'll see."

She also has a Facebook page and a Flickr page, if you would like to see some of the wonderful donations she has already received.

I'm finding them a bit addictive to make....  These are sewn on a piece of roughish cotton which I indigo dyed at the shibori workshop I went to earlier this year.   The one where I had to walk home 3 miles carrying a bucket and drainpipe and looking like a bag lady. Oh, don't remind me.  Anyway, the bits where the dye was resisted look a little bit feathery in places, so I though I would use silks in similar shades to create some harmony.  

The backing cloth in this one is an old soft thick piece of cotton which was an altar cloth in a previous life.   It's actually a bit more of an ochre colour than it looks and is gently faded in the folds.   The thread was some hand-dyed I bought years ago from Myfanwy.

In between feathers I've free-machine stitched some little brooches.   This poor bunny perhaps needs reporting to the RSPCA, with its dislocated tail and withered back leg....

Job for today:  removing Bondaweb glue from the ironing-board cover before my husband permanently fixes his work-shirt to it....

Chrissie

pussycat pussycat, where have you been

Not to London to visit the queen.   But to South West France, deep in the countryside in the Lot valley.    Along with quite a lot of the population of Holland, it would seem!  

Eating chocolate pud and creme anglaise a la menthe

here

watching the twinkling reflections of the stained-glass windows in a tiny hill-top village church

 fois gras central in St. Cirq Lapopie

ancient village on a very steep cliffside overlooking the river Lot

33 degrees C at 9.15 a.m., so made a very sweaty retreat back to the house and into the pool......

A very special treat the day before we set of for France was a quick train trip up to Birmingham NEC for the Festival of Quilts.   And it was worth it just to see this masterpiece by Carolyn, a kind and lovely blogger friend.   See more about her quilt here.

I took some more photos, but in my excitement and because I hadn't invested in a programme, I didn't have the artists' names.   So sorry.

little boxes and indigo

domestic scenes

unfurling ferns

no visit to FoQ complete without some purchases

sari silks

and threads

BIG ceramic hearts

REALLY BIG ceramic beads in lovely shades

slightly smaller versions

sweet little free-machine stitchery on felted blanket by Janet Clare

(v. cheap, so treated myself!)

And another one which became a brooch yesterday

Talking of brooches, there was quite a gathering of bloggers at FoQ, photos of which you've probably seen on other blogs, and I met some of my heroines that day.   One,with quite unexpected generosity, pressed this awesome beauty into my sweaty palm.   I was quite overcome and couldn't believe my eyes.   I love Viv's work and just wish I had a smigeon of her artistic talent and freedom of expression.  

Cakey interlude - three types of plums from our garden

And another 'birthday treat', something I've wanted to do for years-and-years and eventually managed to get to a few weeks ago - Gifford's Circus.   They travel around the Cotswolds area during the summer months, camping out on common land with their traditional vehicles and bite-sized marquee.   We went to see then when they were on Minchinhampton Common, for a matinee performance on a beautiful summer's day.   I have to tell you that I haven't laughed so much for ages and was completely transported by the effervescent theatre, gymnastics, music and 'pure magic'.

OK, so this smart-alec can not only play the violin, she can do it dangling from one leg from the topmast of a circus marquee

sorry to have been gone so long - I'll be back soon, promise .....

Chrissie