British Summertime is (very nearly) officially over ...

In a few hours time the clocks will be put back an hour and that's that as far as Summer is concerned. It's always a little disconcerting when the clocks go forward in March or back in October. There's the feeling of being unbalanced. Unsettled by the shifting of time in this way.

I've spent part of today finishing this book, 'A Disappearance in Fiji' by Nilima Rao, set in 1914 and concerning the lives of indentured Indians on the island of Fiji. This was the days of Empire, of colonial rulers and sugar cane plantations where conditions were appalling for the thousands of workers bought over from India. Not only is it a well written story, but it gave me a glimpse of a slice of history I'd not known about. In an afterword by the author, she notes that between 1879 and 1916 over 60,000 Indians went to Fiji as indentured servants. Basically they were contracted to work for a fixed period of several years, for fixed pay, and weren't free to just leave or get a new job if they were mistreated. I know all this makes the book sound grim and might put you off, but honestly it's a good read and very enjoyable, despite some grim moments.

I also finished off the two folk art style angels I was making. This pair aren't the prettiest of gals. I think they're sisters, possibly Hettie and Harriet. Certainly the angel on the left has been over-doing the henna, and her wings are decidedly lumpy. Couldn't fly with those!

I've also been watching several Jude Hill videos, and have this slow-stitching piece that I'm putting together. The moon and a black & white feather are both motifs that occur in her work. I'm thinking of adding a comet - as you do - something like the one that occurs in the Bayeux Tapestry - and may add an eye, like the one I already embroidered on another project.

It is fun to start sewing, putting fabrics together, adding lines of stitching, and not know where it's all going to end up. Fun to let ideas pop into your head and not worry whether anyone else will approve or disapprove, whether they'll understand or think you're crackers!

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

Folding a zine and an alternative use for a bank card

Hello again, and excuse me while I scratch my insect bites. I don't know what it is, but at this time of year I'm invariably itching like crazy because I've been bitten by bugs. It seems to coincide with blackberry-picking season, but whether that's purely coincidental I don't know. Whatever's biting me, I'm obviously a tasty morsel in their world! I might try using a highly scented oil like Tea Tree oil, see if that deters them. Anyway, let's get on to more pleasant matters - I'm having a go at making a zine style booklet. Because I didn't have any paper large enough, I joined together two A3 sheets of sketchpad paper, using torn pieces of book pages for the joining. I thought that'd look less noticeable than packing tape or similar. Having chosen my colour scheme I used acrylic paint and an unwanted plastic bank card to apply the paint. Plus a stencil, sponge and modelling paste. Applying paint with a ATM card wa...

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