It's done and dusted

I have finally finished my City and Guilds course.  I have been doing it for about 15 months, and although I started fast and furious the last couple of Modules have taken me much longer than I anticipated. I have learned a lot, not least, that I can turn what is in my head into a piece of textile art work, but also that I must not expect to be able to do so over night.  As this goes against my nature of a quick turn around on the making front, it is time to take stock. When I retired from my full time teaching I knew that I could at last find time for creating in my life and it has lead me to explore lots of new areas. I certainly did not expect to have an on-line shop when I started out.  I have also learned a lot about myself. I started this blog as a means of recording my continuing education into my third age.

This quilt holds rather a lot of very special meaning for me and I was sure that I really wanted to get it right.  Firstly it started with photographs I took at Luton Hoo walled gardens.  Photography was the first step I took in my new adventure in creativity. The garden was like stepping into a secret world, discovering a neglected, magic place that was being lovingly restored. It spoke to me, I had been looking for it ever since I had read Frances Hodgson Burnett's book The Secret Garden as a child.
When I had chosen the images for the design, I searched for quotes about figs. There weren't many, but the one that stood out was the reference to Sylvia Plath's novel, The Bell Jar, which I talked about in a previous post. Although I did not remember reading the passage, the book holds a special place with me as described before.  I decided against putting any words onto my quilt, but it took me a long time to make up my mind, in fact, it was trying to choose which fabric, which stitches, where to place things that took so long.

Before I decide which branch I am going down next, I could do with a little consolidation, but who knows what will grab me next.

But now I will lay this project to rest and share with you some of my inspirational photographs and the finished article.

Thank you all so much for your lovely support.

Now I'm going to do a big tidy-up and decide what I'm going to do next!!

Hope you have a great  holiday weekend and are able to make the most of the grim forecast.

Jill