Riveting Stuff!

 In my studio I have piles of old denim jeans at various stages of being deconstructed. One particular pile has remained untouched for years due to the stubborn rivets that no sewing machine needle could go through! I thought if I could remove them I would be able to use every section of jeans without having to discard any part.

So I started by using a flat head screw driver together with pliers, but no amount of tapping, pulling or gripping would make them budge.  The Other Half suggested drilling through the rivets, so I called on the help of Graham who has a workshop not far from my studio. He has a pillar drill which he used to drill through the pesky rivets! You can see some of the remains above. 

So Graham drilled holes through the rivets, then I yanked them out using the nail puller tool (on the left of the picture above). After experimenting I realised that I could remove them without using the drill. I used the screw driver to prise a small space between the upper rivet and the denim, leaving enough of a gap to enable the nail puller to grip around the underside rivet. Then I either twisted or snapped off the rivet thus releasing the front part - hooray! Thank you Graham for your help. I now have a pile of pockets that I'm imagining as a door or wall hanging, watch this space for further denim developments.......

Blooming Ada!

I had a quick look online to find out the meaning of 'Blooming Ada', without much luck ( Those words have been rattling around my head for years!). What I wanted  was a word or phrase that would convey the glorious variety and colourful display of nature at The Chelsea Flower Show 2013. My little photos hardly do justice to the wonders on show, but hey! I'll have a go! Here are few specimens found in the Great Pavillion that caught my eye.....

Here are my favourite 'Artisan gardens'

And lastly, I had to include a photo of the dessert that I had as part of lunch thrown for the Artisans, Artists and top Gardening Folk ..... mmmmmmmmm!

Chelsea Flower Power

My Other Half was invited to participate in The Chelsea Flower Show within the 'Artisan Retreat'. Tucked away in Ranleagh Gardens he has recreated a little corner of his artistic world amongst the trees and wildflowers, if you wander further you of course will encounter the traditional flower show which is celebrating its 100th year.

Here I am helping out a little. I'm sewing on vinyl records onto a couple of my quilts, yes it sounds crazy. It's just to hold them in place and keep them safe. If it rains it won't take a second to scoop everything up out of the inclement weather.

Here we are in our workers jackets. 

(security is very strict there!)

Here is part of the interior......

and exterior...

Finally a glimpse within the studio with some papercuts in progress.

King of Colour

This week I went to the Fashion and Textile museum with my friend Jane, fellow knitter and sometime needlepointer to see an exhibition looking at Kaffe Fasset's Kaleidoscope of work.

He has done so much to raise awareness of textile craft and how not to be afraid to use colour.

On show were the tapestries, quilts and knits that we have seen over the years as well as the paintings, studies and collections of objects that form the staring points for these works. I was happy to see he had made use of patterned fabrics to produce unexpected designs. I particularly liked how he used striped shirts to great effect in the patchwork below.

Self portrait

Hood Winked

Once again I've been working on another machine knitting pattern, this time a hooded jumper for my long legged bears. I'm always surprised at how long it takes to get it right and then once I get the pattern right, how long it takes to knit and sew up! I may as well be making up an adult sized garment for all the time and effort that goes into one piece! But I can't stop once I've started, I have to keep going until the mission is accomplished!