Post archive
My Relationship with the Singer It all started about eighteen years ago; you know how things just happen, they're not planned, you're not prepared for it, you have no thoughts in that direction, they just happen and from that moment on your life changes - you know with certainty you can never go back to being the person you were before.    Maybe this was when you finally laid things to rest and moved on or did it become your first real encounter with love, you know what I mean when I say this - that all consuming out of control fire that burns and scars your soul. Well anyway this was one of those moments and it all started with a chance meeting in a tiny antiques shop in a backwater town one Sunday afternoon.    I don't know what your average sunday afternoon is like but for me all those years ago they followed a certain pattern, a steady ritual of boredom that consisted of visiting places of 'interest' that might if I was lucky distract the family long enough to stop the bickering. I slowly walked from room to room in the shop seeing nothing of interest when suddenly I noticed her.    I could tell she'd been round the block a few times but I just couldn't help myself, I fell head over heels in love, it was like nothing I'd ever felt before, there she was my little Singer, over a hundred years old and still working. Three drawers and a treadle, what more could you ask for, it was a match made in heaven and she was mine for £17.  I took her home and over time with much tender care I restored her to her former glory and I've been sewing for England with her ever since and I have to say she's the best little Singer I've ever had!  |
Posted @ 20:15:33 on 17 April 2010 back to top
| A Josie Fix I've got Josie on my mind today, she makes me smile, she's forthright, off beat and 'special'. Josie is the one that says 'NO' and tells me off for not getting on with things or for being lazy. I love watching her talk - she's very visually expressive, describing everything with her hands. For instance, if she said something like "I've just finished that cross stitch project I was making for Alice" she would be indicating with her hands just how small the project was and if for some reason the conversation became deep and long then the whole thing would have me rooted to the spot as I watched the hands.  I write all this with a smile on my face because I could do with a 'Josie fix' right now, a ten minute conversation with Josie has the potential to keep me chortling for a good few hours plus she's the perfect giver of gifts, for years she has kept me supplied with sketch pads and journals, all of which I have systematically filled with ideas, thoughts, colours and designs. She also thinks to present me with the small things in life like a pink tin of pins or a tiny set of Winnie the Pooh lead pencils, ideal for thumb nail sketches and when she has got the right head on she has the ability to bring order and neatness to almost any situation.  There was a time when we worked together in the church coffee shop and it was at that point that I truly learned to appreciate her ordered systematic skills, so Josie I doff my cap to you my dear and say thank you and don't change. Well I had a great time on Saturday at the Masterclass and I can't believe I spoke so much that I lost my voice; there is such an excitement in passing on a personal technique and watching what people do with it. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the finished pieces and will be making a little gallery for them at a later date. I'm planning to do further classes during spring and summer, concentrating on unlocking your creativity, wooly clock making and silk painting with a difference.  Masterclass Wallhanging |
Posted @ 22:23:45 on 02 April 2010 back to top
| Watching for Signs Could it be true that spring is really on it's way? The birds certainly think so, even my 'older than Noah' cats are behaving in a strange joie de vivre way - they've dared to go outside and sniff a tree or two - that must mean a change is on the way, also the sun has finally hit the lounge. Living in our little cottage is sometimes like living in a Hobbit style hole, with its thick walls and west facing windows the sun has to be highly determined to penetrate to its inner core and only manages it seven months of the year, when it does I dance a tiny private jig.    This is the time of year when I look out on the moors and see plumes of smoke rising as they set large patches of heather on fire to encourage new growth, it's a strange sight tro see the moors alight but it's a sign that spring is upon us again. If I look carefully I can see signs of new growth in the garden too, even the rhubarb has finally pushed its head out. I have a soft spot for the rhubarb patch not because I enjoy eating it but because of its other qualities, mainly for its dyeing qualities. A while back, in the days when I had a spinning wheel, I had a desire to knit my husband a Guernsey jumper using some of the patterns I had seen in my Batsford books and me being me I really wanted to see what it would be like to do the whole thing, spin the fleece, dye the yarn, sort out a pattern and knit it up.   What a marvelous experience that turned out to be, it was my spare time hobby for a year. The first thing I did when I got the fleece was to dye it and because I wanted a dirty green colour I used rhubarb leaves and lots of them, my word what a smell! What a mess and what fun to see it all finally hanging on the washing line dripping and drying. Over the next few months I spun and then knitted the yarn in to what I consider to be my all time favourite wooly thing to fondle.  View of Moorland from my Studio Window |
Posted @ 21:44:27 on 15 March 2010 back to top
| A Major Influence I've been sitting here thinking about a conversation I had with a friend the other day. We were talking about our parents and the influence they still have on us today and I recalled one of my earliest memories of my mum, I can't remember how old I was just that I was very young. I was sitting on the floor drawing a picture of a swan and thinking how I wanted to make it look like a design for a postage stamp. My mum and an aunt were watching me while deep in conversation, then my aunt said something nice about my drawing and my mum replied with a comment that set the course of my life influencing some of the major decisions that I was to make as an adult. She said "Yes when she grows up she's going to be an artist." Just one small sentence that I have no doubt my mum forgot about directly after she said it, but for me it stuck and I'm so thankful I remembered as it has taken me down many a delightful path and given me much pleasure.    My mum passed on to me her knowledge and passion for knitting, that thrill you get when you collect your bag of new wool for the latest project and then you sit pouring over the new pattern trying to get a feel for the rhythm of the stitches; the impatient need you have to get started right now no matter what other demands you have to be elsewhere, O joy O bliss! I particularly enjoy old British patterns and stitches like traditional Guernsey, Aran or Fair Isle, my collection of knitting books reflect this passion. I have a number of old Batsford books that I treasure with titles like 'The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting' or 'The Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting' that I read like novels   My mum was just one of the influences in my life that made me want to be involved in arts and crafts, what are some of your major influences and inspirations I wonder? Masterclasses This month I am involved in a charity event run by Huddersfield Christian Fellowship. They are running a series of masterclasses for one day only on the 27th March. I will be running a four hour workshop on Textile Arts for a very reasonable fee! Find out more at www.huddersfieldchristianfellowship.com Places are limited to 20 so its important to book early. You will find me under Textile Arts and they are using my other name Carol Bostwick so don't be confused if you don't see Annie! |
Posted @ 20:25:05 on 04 March 2010 back to top
| A Tiny Obssession I have many rituals in my life, little routines that come about quite accidentally and then are kept up because in some way they please or comfort me. One such ritual is home-made soup. I love the methodical process of making soup, especially deciding what ingredients to use. There are days when nothing will satisfy me until I've made a rich red soup like spicy red pepper or tomato and basil. My greatest soup yearning is tomato, I come back to it frequently like wanting to spend time with an old friend. I make all my soups in the slowcooker which I crank up first thing in the morning while all are sleeping and the blinds are closed. This is when my tiny obssession begins and the slow ritual of choosing and cleaning vegetables, chopping and mixing herbs and grinding spices takes place so they can be added to the pot with wine and stock, then left for many hours to work their alchemy. What could be more comforting than this when it's deep and crisp and even outside or when the rain is blown up the valley aimed directly at the Cottage?    Of late I've been working on a wallhanging that I will be using in a workshop I'm conducting in March and I'm now at the final stage-the 'icing on the cake' stage when all beads, sequins and metallic threads take centre stage and I pick out and use as many as I dare get away with. This time, hidden amongst all the delights I have in my bead basket I found two silver birds given to me by my friend Jackie. I now have them in place; one perched in the lilac tree looking after her secret nest, the other standing on the picket fence looking out for dinner. I enjoy creating a liitle world where my mind resides for a while. Anyway here it is unfinished and receiving a lot of icing.  |
Posted @ 13:37:27 on 22 February 2010 back to top
Woody and the Wallhanging
  
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Posted @ 14:08:04 on 15 February 2010 back to top
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Home Is Where The Heart Is
| Home is many things for me, it is security and love and cats and cooking , it's singing at the top of my voice to a 1970's Joni Mitchell song, it's wearing outrageous clothing and nobody batting an eye lid, it's painting almost every surface in the house with whatever whimsical design that pops into my head , it's laughing my head right off listening to Laurel and Hardy or sighing deeply while watching Avanti and of course it's the birth place of all things creative. |
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| Oh the joy of knitting a rag rug with two enormous needles and a ball of rags the size of a small planet and the luxurious experience of painting images and memories (lovely memories) onto silk, images from my childhood like walking down Highfield with the cherry trees in blossom, that childish delight of being surrounded by polka dot pink confetti and not a care in the world. Don't you just love being able to use such memories in your work, I'm using the above memory and others like it in a series of wall hangings called Seven Perfect Days all about seven perfect moments from my childhood and also about the beginning of things. I'm obsessed with the book of Genesis, particularly the first few chapters when God created the world those seven perfect days when all things were new and pristine, I just can't get the idea and the images it conjures up out of my system they have inspired so much of my work over the years, there is such a depth of thoughts and images to delve into that, even as I write this I feel a tingle of excitement and my mind is racing like a whippet and I'm going to have to stop and get my sketch book out. |
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Walking Down Highfield
Posted @ 16:00:01 on 05 February 2010 back to top
