Table, chairs and Cornelia Parker

I've been thinking a lot about crafts and art. I recently watched a documentary on the bbc iplayer about Cornelia Parker. I found it interesting that she would formulate these ideas and then take her projects to crafts people to make her ideas into a reality. She would talk about they knew what they were doing and how she trusted them. It made me wonder if at what point was it was a craft or a piece of Art. What is Art because of the concept behind it? Who knows. It just gave me food for thought.

In the meantime, my other half has finished piecing together my satchel and I know have to sew on the buttons. I bought my buttons from a local shop that has nearly opened up. I recently bought some fabric there and made myself a smock top. By mere coincidence, I was wearing it the day I went in to buy the buttons and she recognised the fabric instantly and gave me a compliment. I left the shop feeling very happy!

Here are some pictures of my (nearly) finished satchel. Isn't it gorgeous?

Blocked and waiting for buttons
 

 

I also finished painting the dining set. Here it is:

Cushion Covers to be added, other half making those currently

 

I'm still knitting and decided NOT to do a lace pattern for my cardigan I am making and I am making a cable design instead. I'm pleased with the results thus far. Yes, yes, yes...I need photos of that as well. I have been doing it for the past three nights while watching the LOTR trilogy on Film4. Daydreaming a fair bit in between...that happens.

Landscapes and Quilts

Landscape paintings never spoke to me as a child. The colours always seemed to be a sea of murky, dull, green rolling hills and troubled skies. They never seemed bright and vivid as the real world around me. The paintings seemed to be of far off places, places that in my mind, never really existed in the world I lived in.

I live in Yorkshire now and the sky is often white with clouds, lacking in any colour. I often find it too bright, sometimes it even hurts my eyes. I'm grateful for sunny days when colour returns to the sky. It is then I appreciate what is around me.

I have to admit, I spend a lot of time on the Internet, watching documentaries. I'm fascinated by the idea of crafts being passed down from one generation to the next. On one of my searches, that is where I found the documentary, “Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend”. To me, these quilts are landscapes, rich with an assortment of colours and patterns.

The quilts are not perfect, far from it. They were made by woman who utilised what they had around them. That is what makes them beautiful and unique. But what is more interesting is what the stories behind the quilts. You can watch the video here and tell me what you think.