Strength and fragility…

I searched back through for this post about a beautiful quilt I have – patched and pieced

It lies nowadays draped over my making table with the creamy white backing face upwards, and I often glance down and rest my eyes on the hand stitching and think

The sun shone through it’s fragile layers this week – areas are disintegrating and revealing the inside and the softness and melting colours were so restful

It could stay folded quietly away, but I love it’s ageing qualities – out of sight would I really be caring for it more?! I prefer to keep it with me, alongside me..

The white thread patterns texture the surface – stitches as strong as ever – the even rhythm of their work is quietly astonishing to me and connects me to so many stitching hands – I linger as I Iook, wondering about it’s making

It had an outing this last summer when family children were all camping in a yurt nearby and I thought why not?! I wonder if they will remember it in years to come…It came back smelling faintly of woodsmoke from the wood burner..

Queen bee quilt…

I love seeing these seams – the joining that holds it all together and the light shining through in the early morning as I watched it move in the breeze from the window where I left it overnight so I could look at it as I woke…

Pinning, stitching, pressing in a relaxed rhythm – growing the quilt

No set pattern for size apart from the same width for the strips, pieced with continual reflection – strips joining to search for balance – I prefer to work this way, to stop and look – to try out and think why some choices work..

Running stitch – beautiful, peaceful rhythm texturing the layers of cloth – the quilt lying warm and comforting across my body as I work – welcome as the mornings grow chilly with Autumn..

Why Queen Bee? Because this is the year I spent more time watching the bees, thinking more about their ways, hearing them, tracing their flight in drawings… I think the quilt holds some of this in its choice of cloth, its feel as I worked on it outdoors in the sun whilst watching the bees..

 

A delicate rhythm

Delicate Ryhthm 2 from Susi Bancroft on Vimeo.

Walcot Chapel Working Studio – 15 – 21 July 2013

Building on ‘a delicate rhythm’

pieced and patched comfort…

Not originally a family quilt this one I hold close

So loved and pre-loved  …

It is threadbare – worn, faded, torn – the wadding showing through, so beautifully soft to touch – those are the qualities I treasure. The colours are delicate and subtle, mixed with strong indigo blues.. The piecing is balanced, soothing but always offering interest where the eye rests..

When I was a child and ill, I would lie on a sofa by the fire wrapped in a quilt or eiderdown

I used to gaze at the patterns and colours and stitching. I find I still do.

The quilting, in white cotton thread, is so rhythmic, so meditative. And then, on the borders, best seen from the back, the stitching flows – how it flows!

rust kantha fragment

A stitched fragment

Rusted scraps of cloth and lace, skeleton petals

A slow stitch rhythm, thoughtful…

Small pieces separate yet gathered together

 

finished fragment

 

keeping going!

Sometimes it is best to just keep stitching!

holiday time!

A break –  family holiday time – can’t wait! With the rain – and the rain, and the rain.. some warm wool and bright colours will be the perfect antidote …

The quilt underneath I look at every morning and night!

Have a browse at Wool Hogs and Attic 24 for more – oh, and this was the last one – here!

Wool from Wool as well as what I have in my cupboard!

a mention and mending…

Lovely pics from Scrapiana about ‘Curiously Enough’ – have a look here!

Also look at the details of The Big Mend – brilliant idea – I will be going – hmm, what to take – tears, patches, seams, holes, buttons…?!

inching along again!

I missed the date for finishing my little quilt fragment for ‘inching along’ but I am not worried – the theme was ‘rhythm’ and it took on it’s own pace and time…

The first phase was documented here

The base fabric is a fine turban cotton which I left out on the beach every night whilst we were away, tied to some rusting old boat bits so it soaked up and imprinted with the rhythm of the tides. The walking rhythms of the days…noticing the changes to the tide lines… have become stitched patterns and pauses. The rhythm of stitching the piece has integrated into the past couple of months and is a practice I want to continue.

Now I look at this I feel a strong sense that I could have stopped here – I love the texture and movement of the cloth. But I carried on, the thinking and process of stitching took over and I ended up

As a piece in reality it is more cohesive and integrated – maybe part of this is enjoying the way photographing the phases of a piece can highlight aspects and enhance them..

I also like the way images can magnify, draw attention to detail, dilate my view

Have a browse..

The fragments of colour are naturally dyed cloth from Heike – Gerdiary –  her inspiring blog is one I so enjoy – natural dyes supporting the natural world matter to me

Onto the next quilt piece, the next exhibition, and the next body of work….!