I spoke too soon

Aaagh, I am having the same problems as with Flickr and I really thought Picasa was the solution.  If anybody has a solution to how I can get separate albums/collections/sets to show up Blogger please let me know!

Hilary

Getting up to date with images

I have followed Marion's lead and signed up to Picasa as they seem to be much more flexible and orderly than Flickr with being able to sort images into albums and then only upload the albums you want.  Hurray - we now have three decent sets of images.

We would love to have the missing ones - where are you Rosie and Venetta?

Hilary

On holiday in France

Thought I would send you a couple of images from the Dordogne area of France where we are on holiday.  It is east of Bordeaux and our holiday appartment is in quiet rolling countryside between Perigeux and Bergerac.  The area is steeped in history dating back to prehistoric times - the famous rock paintings at Lascaux are a few miles away and because the area is carved out of limestone there are plenty of trogladyte cave dwellings.  Then came the Romans followed in medieval times by the crusaders, Richard l and Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc, hence all the wonderful fairytale-looking castles which literally face you round every corner.  Lots of wonderful medieval towns and buildings.  Below is a typical house built of the local stone (a lovely creamy yellow colour) with the famous wode painted shutters.

Some gorgeous ornate door furniture in a side street.

Sorry, these are not in logical order but working on an ancient laptop and a weak wifi signal is testing to say the least!  This is a wall mural in a small chapel in one of the castles - the Last Supper.

A typical castle - Chateau Bannes.

And what about some relfections - sadly I couldn't get passed the trees without falling the river which although it was wonderfully still is a fast flowing river.  Still it makes for a touch of mystery....

This is the entrance to the holiday village (it is a bit like timeshare but different) - the architecture is typical of 'modern' Dordogne with steep terra cotta tiled roofs and bits of timber framing worked in with the local stone.  Because the weather until today has been quite good, we haven't seen many people but I do notice the number plates of the cars when we get back - French, Danish, Portugese and English.

One of those ancient houses showing its structure/skeleton.

The French have such style - the interior decorating shops are too die for!

Close up of one of the castles - difficult to get all the castle in when they so big.  This was taken walking up to the entrance to Chateau Biron.

The area is also right in the middle of the walnut growing and the foie gras producing areas.  The local wine isn't that special but you only have to drive west a bit towards Bordeaux and St Emilion for top class wines (mostly reds).  We have also found the most delicious prunes (Agen to the south is famous for prunes) and the produce found at the local street markets is tops.  Also grown locally (strangely) is tobacco!  I would like to take a photo of the tobacco drying barns befoe we leave - they have vertical window areas with horizontal wooden slats compared with the paper mills which have horizontal window areas with vertical wooden flaps to control the air and sunlight!

Hope I have given you a petit gout of the area - not much in the way of quilting inspiration - yet - but I have taken loads of photos of close-up details of various bits and pieces.

Hilary

IQA Journal International Spotlight

I was just featured in the International Quilters Association Journal (scroll down to page 18), so I thought I should share the news! What a tremendous honour. It was in fact a friend in Chile who let me know it was available online. The print version has yet to arrive in my mailbox.

Finally, but not quite.  I have yet to put a border on it, but otherwise it is done.  Sorry it's so late.  Sometimes procrastination has the effect of stimulating creativity and speeding up the process, but this time I got lost in my idea.  This is not at all where I started out.  I was going to do one showing generations of women in my family as a mirror image to one of my daughters.  Which requires more expertise in photoshop elements than I have right now, and after changing the mirror angles, I needed another shot of my daughter - we'll get there yet.

This is based on a piece of textile art that I bought by Michelle Dobrin.  I think it's a wonderful way to use photo images - and I have so many that I would like to do!  This particular photo is of a lake on a golf course south of Montreal.  One of my quilt groups meets at a nice hotel (off season - in November) and a friend and I go walking early in the morning, often just as the sun is rising, and the mist is lifting off the lake.

small pieces

A local school, the Centre des Textiles Contemporains de Montréal, is holding its second 20 x 20 auction / fundraiser. They are asking for donated textile pieces, measuring 20 cm square. I participated in this last year and it was a lot of fun to see the variety of work on display. I have made four pieces to contribute.
These pieces all began with hand-dyed fabric which was then stenciled, stamped and silk-screened.
The first one was completed with commercial cotton, organza, painted lutradur and tulle; the second with printed lutradur, scrim and cheesecloth; the third with printed rice paper, a zipper and buttons; the fourth with printed rice paper, grommets and some specialty papers. All were fused to black polar fleece and stitched.

They all have an urban feel to them, so I hope they will be well-received by the viewers.

I will be attending a Sandra Meech workshop in Ottawa next week with Pam Chasen and Michele Meredith. We have been asked to develop a theme to work on, so I went to a local construction site and took lots of industrial-type photos. I have been fiddling with them in Photoshop and having lots of fun with that. Hope the workshop is as enjoyable as the prep!

Reflections

Hi everyone,


Firstly, humble apologies, I am late AGAIN, but as always I have a good excuse - the dog ate my homework!!  I will have the piece done as soon as I can, but things are in flux here at present and as soon as we're sorted I'll be able to show you what I've made!!


Fantastic quilts, love them all, and such a varied interpretation of the theme, and interesting techniques.


I have my quilt in my head, and when the new printer arrives I'll be able to make some headway.


Frenzy eh?  That's another brill theme.


Catchya
Rosie

hi from pam

hi all

got back from SA last night after being there for 2 weeks mainly to see my very frail mom in law. other than the huge sadness of seeing her so frail, it was so wonderful taking in the sunshine, friendship, great food, excellent medical services (we all had all our check ups done) and so much more. Waking up every day to familiar bird calls and outside noises was so welcoming and comforting.
just finished looking at all the beautiful pieces that came in for our theme of reflectons.' also enjoyed seeing heather's paper piece and her 2 suitcases (keep your eyes on them heather). once again i am in awe of all the pieces - well done to everyone for creative, well thought out, beautifully constructed works that do justice to the theme. looking so forward to seeing the outstanding ones.
loooking forward to 'frenzy' - i feel i could also call it 'a day in the life of pam chasen.' maybe that's what i should be looking to.....
much love and well done to you all

pam

Reflections - the one that got away

Now that almost all the pieces are in - just waiting for Venetta, Dianne and Rosie - I will tell about the idea I didn't do.   Heard the one about:  Mirror, mirror on the wall - I am my mother after all!?  It would have been me standing with my back to the viewer looking in a mirror which is reflecting an image of my mother...


Hilary

Zanzibar - reflections

My apologies ...... I mixed up my title with the label option on the posting in my excitement. It should have read Zanzibar - Reflections. We spent 2 years in Tanzania and were able to take a number of trips across to Zanzibar which I loved. Frenzy! Love this one. Hint ...... we have a frenzy off our coastline once a year?