….tomorrow is sunday, and the large markets downtown will be operating. I have a bit of a ‘shopping/browsing’ list this time; flushed with success using leather bits in my latest piece (below), I can barely wait to get to the leather guy’s stall to get some goodies for the ideas swimming around in my head; DH agrees, lots of potential for something really different….

Today we were out and about, down in the tourist area, and although I had my camera, somehow I didn’t like to take a pic of some fabulous new floor rugs showing outside one of the shops there….they are just so new. They are made from horse hide, originally a bit dappled, but chemically treated so that some of the hair has come away leaving bald patches, the colours vary between natural horsey browns through to yellowy- and grey-greens or greeny-greys. The hide has been cut into approx 8″ squares and pieced, with a 2″ border around. The whole effect to me was quite beautiful, and not unlike a natural slate floor. One would look great in our entry area, but the sheepsy black brown and cream mariners compass design one ( as in April 28th post) we have there is only half worn ….. still, we have some Aus visitors coming in just over a month, so we will be down there again soon, and maybe by then I will feel able to take a pic. Maybe the leather man will have some snippets on his stall tomorrow……fingers X.

I recenly posted a UFO and then mentioned I had several ideas on how to tackle that theme again differently. Here’s one, combining the UFO’s design with other new work I have been doing recently. The piece I finished today , “Desert Tracks 3” is an entry to something I really want to get into, and the documents will be on their way in a few hours time. Of course, I have known of this deadline for many months, and have been ‘thinking’ about it, but only in the last week or so, at the last minute , once again I have sat up late at night, begun quilting early in the morning, hour after hour, and now need to send it by the most expensive method to meet the closing date for entries. Another artist friend and I were talking the other day about this and she maintains being hard up against a looming deadline brings out her most creative, inspired, work. I would like to think that, since I do this so often, I must be of the same type. So, Q: does the the quality of one’s work increase in indrect or direct proportion to the amount of time left to meet a deadline?

All very well in theory, this transparent piece , constructed in blocks, and bound with a beige silk organza binding, has never been shown. Why? Hanging difficulties – caused by my ignoring the advice I have given to heaps of other quilters that hanging arrangements must be considered in the initial planning. I ploughed ahead with what was satisfyingly challenging, and experimental, piecing and quilting, probably thinking a hanging solution would just bob up in time. It hasn’t.

It is so reversible that it is difficult to tell the front from the back, or irrelevant. An acrylic or glass rod through the top binding (and possibly the bottom) would overcome those aesthetic difficulties, but glass of course will break IDC , and acrylic sags with time, and even faster under lighting. To me, a brass rod with knobs sticking out each side doesn’t appeal.

I’m going to treat this subject again sometime soon, so any advice or comment you have would be welcome ……

postscript tuesday august 2nd
Several comments, by direct email and on this blog, are encouraging, so (1) next transparent piece I will design probably with an opaque border, which might look very interesting anyway, (2) maybe this piece is a useful sample, really, or a throwover for the al fresco luncheon table (3) next time I will consider the motifs from ‘Afterglow’, and finally, rethinking this all gave me (4) great stencilling idea….. (5 ) and a further idea, cut out the blocks, discard the sashing line things you can see, and ‘insert them’ into a new framework – I have some interesting gauze stuff, I just remembered, perfect for this… but that will have to wait, since just now I am using this same motif on a natural coloured fabric and have appliqued leather bits, with view to quilting using french knots, stemmed knots and large/long stitches. It’s large, and there’s a looming deadline, so I’m off now to do more on it, to the strains of the recorded book Blue Horizon by Wilbur Smith.

A major part of the quilting has now been done, although it’s been a bit stop and start. A recorded book helps keep me focused. Dare I think that tomorrow might see the last of it complete? I love the effect of hand quilting with the metallic thread. It’s not fast, although the stitches are big, as thread needs to be eased through carefully so that if it twists it doesn’t break

Postscript: tuesday 26th – all the quilting was finally finished last night and this morning the quilt will be bound, sleeved and signed, by lunchtime. I really enjoyed all the hand quilting and have plans for something more, in this genre, soon.

but it may not be what you want or need just now. I have commented before that you find the most amazing things for sale down in the sunday market, and these rolls of Made in Uruguay labels ( a la Cash’s woven name tapes) were just sitting out in the sun waiting to be snapped up by some garment manufacturer, I guess. … I’d have bought some if I could think of anything to do with it … well now that I think of it, I probably could have at least put one on every quilt I make while I’m here….well, next time we go I’ll keep a look out, if the stuff is still there I’ll take it as a sign and buy some to do something with. Perhaps something creative. Of course, if I go seriously looking for it, it won’t be there, may never appear again, things are like that here, quite often. Even in the regular supermarkets, things come and go from the shelves, sometimes reappearing, sometimes not. I suspect it is mainly fairly recent expats who really fuss. (We’ve got a pretty good stash of Vegemite, and sufficent hot english mustard to last for 6 months or more, probably) I have become progressively less bothered, and find myself shrugging my shoulders with out-turned palm gestures these days. There will always be something, it might not be exactly what I want, but it will probably do. Asi es Uruguay.