Following The Thread

Two local events on the social calendar have me eagerly counting down the days.......

The first is the Folk Festival at the end of March when music lovers converge on our quiet, little village for a weekend of wonderful entertainment and fun. 

Along with international music acts we have a variety of home grown performers and it's NOT all folk music.

The second event is the annual art show....

 Fresh and Unframed which took place on Saturday.

You can enter up to 4 pieces, all are unframed and the price limit is $150.00.

 It makes art affordable and accessible.

The popularity  has been growing and people now know that if you want to snap something up then you need to be there when the doors open on Saturday morning..

I love it, because it gives people an opportunity to get their work out there and it's often surprising to find out what locals 'do'........

It's also a great time of year weather wise, the trees are all in leaf, the days are warming and daylight savings 'lengthens' the evenings which are delightful.

After a week of labouring over my work, which was meant to include a painting or two!!.......I finally delivered it last Wednesday after finishing them off that morning!!

They all turned out pretty much the way I had imagined them, but it was with some trepidation that I took them in and up till Wednesday morning I was still contemplating unpicking some stitching, but in the end I just had to leave it ....

 I recently discovered the poem  'Cloths of Heaven' by Yeats and it literally took my breath away.....

I can't explain the power of these words.........

Click on the pics to enlarge

 I knew there would be frayed edges and shimmery, silvery threads....

There had to be scraps of fabric, torn and tattered, stitched together......

I envy people who have the ability to put together words that can move people.......

 I may be a late bloomer when it comes to poetry Mr. Yeats, but I am none the less in awe .......

'He is richest who is content with the least,
 for content is the wealth of nature'......

Socrates

More frayed edges and wonky lines......

 'Age is Just a Number'

Inspired by the work of Julie Degruchy East and her wonderful loose, free style, I wanted to step outside the boundaries and try something a little different......

"Youth is the gift of nature,

 but age is a work of art'

Stanislaw Lec

I held my breath as I stitched the face, you can lose it very easily.

Far from perfect, I was happy to just finish it and not have to throw it into the scrap bag!! 

On display, sorry about the light......

can you see those little red dots.

All sold....result.

The local court house (no longer in use as such) where the exhibition is held.

It was a beautiful setting for the official opening Saturday evening.

A peek at some of the works on display....

Watercolour, acrylics, mixed media, ceramics, textiles,

pastels, collage, 

There are also 2 ante rooms full of art works.

Sunday morning a few stallholders set up under the trees.

This was the first time a market had been held in conjunction with the exhibition.

 A nice little add on.....

There were plenty of visitors  and no doubt more red dots were placed on artworks.......

Check out that gorgeous crocheted rug......

it belongs to Megan from Indigo Midge.

All in all a wonderful weekend, lots happening and the weather has been perfect.

As I sit here typing on Tuesday evening, rain is falling gently.

The garden needs a good drink and after spending a few hours weeding and pruning today in higher temps, it is very much welcome.

More time will be spent in the garden this week and then it's back into the sewing in readiness for my next market.....

Thankfully, the pressure won't be quite so intense.

I always leave things to the last minute, I did the same thing when I was at school. 

Preferring to work on things I wanted to rather than the things I had to......

Are you one of those sort of people, or are you organised and manage to finish things with plenty of time to spare?

Thanks for coming over to visit it's always nice to hear from you  I hope you have a productive week whatever you are working on......

☂☂Claire☂☂