The Art of Stitching

Those of you who follow my blog regularly may remember that I stitch and exhibit with Great Western Embroiderers, a group of enthusiastic stitchers who are based in Cricklade just north of Swindon.



In November, we have our second exhibition of the year, this time at The Subscription Rooms in Stroud. This is a new venue for us and a little way from our usual stamping ground so it will be very interesting to see how our work is received.

We will be exhibiting our usual varied selection of pieces from the traditional to the more experimental, all of it exploring either directly or indirectly the art of stitch in the surrounding Cotswolds.

We would be delighted to see any of you who live close enough to come and vist our exhibition, although we recommend that you check opening times with the Surbscription Rooms before setting out as the exhibition may occasionally be closed.





Further details of the exhibition and the venue can be found at www/subscriptionrooms.org.uk.

More about us can be found on our blog at https://www.greatwesternembroiderers.blogspot.com.

Pennsylvania and the canyon lands of southwest USA

We had a wonderful and extraordinary trip to the USA and I took a huge number of photos with the new camera that I posted about before I left. It more than lived up to my expectations. It was very easy to use and coped beautifully with the tricky demands of the bright light in the National Parks of the south west desert country visited in the second half of our time away.

I'm now trying to search through and to cull all the duplicate or not-worth-keeping photos and to assimilate my impressions.

Above all, whenever I visit the USA, I'm struck afresh by its sheer size, and by the grandeur, the space and the huge contrasts between isolated, quiet, back country and the manic and, at times, saddening city life.

As we journeyed around, I tried several times to post photos and impressions but failed. Either Blogger wouldn't let me log on or I was mystified by the workings of my husband's newly acquired Nexus tablet - or perhaps a bit of both - so I'm sorry you've not heard from me for so long.

Here now, is a small selection of the photos I took and some thoughts and impressions of it all.

We found wonderful views, here in the Grand Canyon in Arizona ...

... amazing and very accessible modern sculpture, much of it by Seward Johnson in a 50 years retrospective, in Trenton New Jersey (and no, she's not real, though I had to go up close to make sure, just like many others before me) ...

... traditional North American Indian art in a tower near the Grand Canyon ...

... and beautiful Navajo weaving in a museum in Page, Arizona ...

... profound and never before experienced silence in a wash canyon in Capitol Reef, Nevada (how do you photograph silence but through faces upturned in amazement?)...

and great companionship with life-long friends.

But there was so much else besides which may or may not find its way onto my blog in some form or other though I'm sure there will be more in later posts.

I also think there are seeds for my textile work in some of the photos I took, especially of patterns, dead trees and crisp shadows. I haven't shown them here as gestation time will be needed for all that.

For now it's enough to say that we had a fantastic and unforgettable time - but it's good to be back.