Pointless

On Sunday we dropped the pups off with Elsa and Mike and headed off to London City Airport, not somewhere we've flown from before. John had arranged a few days away for us in the mountains of Mallorca before the build really begins, the builder is happily staying there making a start.

Monday late morning we took off.  We had a wonderful flight with a fairly excited group of young teanagers babbling away towards the back and sitting across from Colm Meaney who lives on the Island (John is a bit of a closet Trekkie). The BA inflight lunch was fairly good and the sky was fabulously clear. I pointed out to John the snow on the Alps as we flew directly over them and how beautiful they looked, it's not very often it's clear enough to see so far down.

We landed safely and drove to a wonderful hotel in Puigpunyent, had a wander, ate dinner and planned a little for the next day.

Tuesday we woke and went exploring and then heard the horrid news of the aeroplane crash in the Alps, the same mountains we had been admiring only a few hours before.

Today's news is even more horrific as it has come to light it was a deliberate act by the pilot in charge of the aircraft at the time. What goes though the mind of someone like that? What drives them to do such an act?

May you rest in peace all you who had your life taken away from you, especially the little one who's life had only just started. Wishing strength to all those who now have to deal with this seemingly pointless act.

We fly home in the morning.

Monkeys in the Rigging

This week I have had a bit of a mixed bag.  Lots of blasting on with samples for my course. Sampling means lots of pulling of fabrics and any other bits and my little studio is a wreck!  Other than that I have done......

A little bit of papier mache.

Some weaving with pipe cleaners and cotton string.

Here is someone who will eventually make use of the above.

I still have a fair bit of the twiddly bits to do but he's not too far off being finished.

Also I finished another bag made with flimsies and silk.

The title of the post is in reference to the amazing guys who have done this to our house this week!

I cannot believe how they scramble around up there with such ease!  Mind you it's a fairly solid structure now and Monday will see it being covered in plastic.  John calls it our very own Faraday Cage and it certainly blocked the Sky signal and the internet one too so all that has had to be moved temporarily.  Here is John, who absolutely hates heights, having a look to see what our new view will be when it's finished.

When the plastic is on we won't be able to have any fires.  Mind you that's not too much of a problem with the big one in the snug at the moment!!  That end wall has to come down and be rebuilt as the chimney is coming away and that's the end where the bats are.

I have a special section of scaffolding up and over my studio to support some boards which are to stop anything falling through the roof of it and it's a little darker in there than I'm used to but I think I will be hiding in there quite a lot!

It was good to see the start of the F1 begin again with an interesting Quali for some of the teams.  Things can only get better we hope!  We have rugby this afternoon and tomorrow too, sadly already nearing the end of this years 6 Nations.  At least we have the world cup at the end of the year!

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.

A Few Finishes and a Yay!!

I have really been stalling lately and decided to just pull some fabric, play and stitch and see what came out of it. No planning or too much thought, I just needed to try and kickstart a creative flow.

I cut up a selection of fabrics, layered them, stitched them together then cut them up again. It was fun rearranging them on a background and stitching again.  14 inches square.

They did need just a little bit more though so I folded some of the corners revealing even more layers and added beads.

I also managed a start on one of the purse frames.  I've had this piece of patchwork pinned on my wall for years!

I was never overly fond of the colour so I added layers of wool tops with the embellisher, yes it coped fine with all the seams. (And a form of felting I actually enjoy!)

I added machine stitch in a pattern with a sort of wisteria idea in mind.

I then added lots more stitch, some chopped sari silks, a layer of chiffon and even more stitch so I think that idea went out of the window.  I made up the purse shape and added beading.

In the end there is virtually nothing of the original fabric left on show but I'm quite pleased with the result.

I did indulge in spending a whole day just with pencil and paper.  I'd forgotten how much I love just line and tone. These don't photograph too well I'm afraid coming out a little harsh and lacking in the detail.

Ruger

Ellie

And finally, our front lawn this morning is starting to look like this.

And the view from the in the house is very exciting!! (Not the man, the scaffolding!! What are you like?)

You would not believe the drawings for this project.  For now I will leave you with what the front of the house looks like at the start of this project.

Fingers crossed it looks as good as we hope it will at the end!!