back home

our first caravan trip of the year - up to a corner of staffordshire on the edge of the peak district national park - lots of textile related things for me to do and see and plenty of lovely hilly quiet roads for him to cycle

also time to think about future projects, as i don't have nearly enough ufos to be getting on with!  

i ecodyed a couple of strips of linen, reclaimed from a top i bought here - have collected some tiny green sycamore or ash keys which are drying along with a few small leaves from trees on the site - started to thing about next year's natural colour event at ..... and suddenly realised i have the makings of a memory stick ...... a record of our stay and a piece for the exhibition

i could also make other pieces on future trips this year ...... but let's not get ahead of ourselves, i know what i'm like with such plans - i'll see how this one goes first, starting with a few simple ingredients

on thursday we visited little moreton hall, a tudor gem, lots of patterns and motifs in the decoration of this wonderful half timbered home - there was also an exhibition by cheshire textiles which gave me an extra reason for the visit

earlier in the week we visited quarry bank mill - one of the first in this country to harness water for industrial processing of cotton - it was interesting to find out more about the sequence of financial, political and technological developments which led to the increasing popularity of cotton (an imported fibre) over wool and linen (native to the u.k.)

these visits have already provided more than enough inspiration for several memory sticks - as usual the challenge will be in distilling the essence for a small piece of work

these days i keep coming across pockets of information which help me make sense of the disorganised mess of historical bits and pieces i have picked up along my way - textile seems to have provided a point of reference or unifying element for me - it makes me a little sad to think how much more interesting school history lessons could have been, but at least i am catching up a bit now ..... without the pressure of exams

the sort of history i got at school seems to me to be a waste of time on young people, they haven't had a chance to see what a mess we make by not learning from history - but by the time we do learn the lessons of history we have already made all the mistakes we could have avoided by learning from history earlier....... oh dear i need a cup of tea after that!