May 2020 – chrisse textile stitcher

It has been another two weeks of lockdown. It has its ups and downs, for me and everyone I know.

The ups – I had a corona birthday. I thought it would be very subdued but my husband excelled himself. I woke to this banner in our bedroom:

He also sourced 3 virus t-shirts – “It is my birthday party and you are not invited”, a martini glass with “quarantini” below and a Mona Lisa image wearing a mask. I have kept all my cards and plan to bind them into a book as a historical memory of the odd time we are living through.

I have been doing a lot of techie work – tidying up websites and building a new one. Creativity with fabric has been slow to put it mildly. I have started my SAQA donation quilt, a 12 by 12 inch piece – due for July 1st. It had to have a corona theme and here is the fabric:

I cut a paper stencil and applied it to a permanent screen with my scribble on it. It was a surprising result that I am really pleased with. Discharged, of course. And now I have a jug of formusol to do more printing with. But I had better stitch this mini quilt first.

At the end of last year, I joined the Handmade Book Club run by Ali Manning of Vintage Page Designs, a Brit now living in the USA. Membership of this club, has moved my book binding skills from basic to moderate. The last two books using Dragonfly stitch are the best looking I have made so far. However, my report would still say “Could try harder”.

Ali’s instructions are very good and the extra techniques that she add to each book design help to make the task in hand easier and more professional. Each month, Ali adds a different type of binding to the club. I have yet to make two of the bindings which were posted whilst I was on holiday – in another country in another life!! Will we ever be able to travel again?

Talking of which, being creative is still a challenge as so many of my artists friends are writing, even Leah Higgins whose productive is legendary!!

Please keep safe and well,