charm{ed}...

You know this strange old internet based world of ours and all the friends we meet on the way but only communicate through the screens and keyboard in front of us? Well, I'm very excited to be meeting one of my cyber friends at the weekend. 

I have been following Nancy on Instagram for a while now, having fallen in love with her quilting style and she was following me back, having been quite smitten with my fabrics. One of those online friendships developed. You know the type...I live in UK...Nancy lives in USA...never the twain shall meet...

but no! Nancy is over in the UK at the mo on holiday and is planning a stop over at mine on Saturday to pick up some fabrics she has ordered! I can't wait! Nancy has such a fantastic eye for colour (she put together the charm pack above and below) and I can't wait to meet her!

Building the charm packs for Nancy whilst chatting over IG was such a pleasure...seeing the colour mixes she was after was pure delight. I am very excited to hand them over to her and can't wait to see what magic she produces with them.

I really do get a kick of our cyber world and all the friends we make on the way. And if we actually get to meet in the flesh...well that's a real added bonus.

The yellows above and a blue-substituted-for-purple pack below are more charm packs that have been custom built for more cyber buddies that who knows maybe I will meet one day too. 

One thing I have learnt is never say never and keep those friendships blossoming for the day that it actually happens. x

London bound...

 Last week I had one of those rare pure escapism days. No work...no tutoring (that's work too)...no children...no cooking...just pure escapism.

My niece has been doing a year's art foundation course in London so my sister and I hopped on down on the train for the day to see her end of year show. Now being an arty type this obviously appealed to me but so did spending 2 1/2 hours each way having the luxury of nattering to my sis. That in itself was a rarity.



First stop when we arrived in London was to head straight to Camberwell to the London School of Art where we met Ella. At this point I will brag about my talented niece...I think it is okay to brag about nieces and nephews in a way that you can't necessarily about your own children...her weave top left was for me the star of the show before I even knew it was hers. It is actually hard to get a real feel for it here, but Ella had dipped dyed all the threads so there was a natural irregularity through the whole piece.

There was some other beautiful textile work that I was also particularly drawn to. As a child I would have loved to have done what Ella has done, even if I had then returned to a more traditional path, but to have had that opportunity at that age. I wasn't allowed to do art...only Latin...which I failed on purpose just to prove a point. Ella meanwhile is going on to do Medicine next year (yup, the girl has brains too) and I really admire my sister for supporting her choice of having this year to indulge in her creative side.

After looking around the college we sauntered around sunny London and found a nice cafe to have refuel before we headed to the Matisse Cut Outs exhibition at the Tate Modern. Wow what an incredible exhibition! I think it is on until some time in September so if you have the opportunity to go see it you really must. It is quite incredible. The talent of that man is even more evident with this almost accidental technique. 

(There's me and my sis in complete awe in that bottom right pic and my niece taking forbidden photos...tut tut...not such a good girl after all.)

Just time enough after that to bid farewell to Ella, hop on the train back home and get our minds in gear for heading back to reality the next day.

One thing for sure is, a day of pure escapism in London is a real tonic for all ails and stresses of life. They don't disappear and they are there when you return, but to disappear for a day does the world of good. I am definitely planning on doing it more regularly. And besides I am refuelled with inspiration...I think there will be some Cut Outs influenced screen printing coming soon...