Much as I enjoy being with youngsters, and even though I am in many ways a fairly conservative person, I am quite happy with being a "mature" adult these days where there are less rules about how to dress, what to wear, how to act and what to think than in previous generations. I get great inspiration from women like Iris Apfel, Judith Dench, Beatrix Ost, the late Margaret Olley, Angelique Kidjo, Emma Thompson, Maya Angelou, Jane Goodall, and men like Michael Kirby, Nelson Mandela, Akira Asigowa, Jean Paul Gautier, Billy Connolly, Kazuo Ishigura and Samuel L. Jackson, all people who don't fit into boxes whether in personal style, behaviour, or attitudes , and have the courage to break rules. This very convoluted train of thought derives from the fact that I am currently working while listening to Triple J ( a "young people's radio station" for those of you not in the know) for the first time in a while, dressed in a track suit, with coloured socks and fluffy slippers covered in hearts, my hair in a messy Afro, planning some more koi fish, and thinking of my over-40's, very interesting, and very individual friends.
To move on to more logically linked, and more relevant, thoughts, I am working a bit of a hotch potch of activities at the moment.
The knitted blanket is plodding along slowly.
I have started making more felt animals and have completed two hand dyed felt horses from the patterns in "Sew Soft Toys". I love them! I have always wanted my own real horse and these are nearly as good as having one.
I am also making more clothing for my hares, and am in the process of making a fabric house to keep them in.
This cloth house is proving to be problematic as my plan must have been done on a fried brain and none of the panels matches together. I am having to unpick and redesign, and, as a result, am running out of fabric. What an idiot! I once was told by a primary school principal that mathematics is unimportant as a skill because very few people use it in adult life. As you can imagine, even though I was an Arts major, I exploded at the time. My life as a crafter is proving that Maths does matter.
I have finished joining my blue and white Japanese squares together, have backed them with wadding and cotton, and am using the threads I bought in Takayama, Japan, to quilt them with.
I love blue and and white round the house. It adds so much light, crispness and homeliness. Perhaps that is why so much of my china is blue and white - both the Asian pieces and the European ones.
This week I start my etching classes. I am very excited. Must go through my sketches for some inspiration.
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