in the days before the internet wasted my time...

i went over to my mum's today and we got out some old work of mine that i gave her to hang up on her walls when my parents moved house a few years ago. like the best laid plans though, the pieces have just moved from my drawers to hers! these are a bit arty farty really, and they're way before any internet shenanigans too - i didn't even know there was a 'textile world' on the net when these were made!

they were all made when the boys were babies - the coloured appliqued 'flowers' quilts were pieced and quilted during the day when frank (he's 11 this year so i reckon they were made around 2003) was asleep then beaded in the evenings when he was in bed. they were deliberately created so i had some hand work i could do while still spending time with my husband in the evenings. i remember we used to watch buffy the vampire slayer and cold case, haha! what a multi-tasker i used to be :)

the second set of pictures are of a little row of 4 quilts made from those colour catcher thingies you throw in with your washing machine to catch the rogue dye (or dirt, nice) and it was based on a kid's story book (whose title fails me right now) about a baby fox who wants to know about the stars and his mother explains that they're lights from when people die...or something like that, it used to make me cry a lot. profound, huh? adverts on the telly used to move me back then. must have been hormones.

the last set of pictures is of a mixed media quilt - there's a ton of techniques in this one, lino printing, stamping, quilting, free machine embroidery etc etc...i sort of still like it, but i'm not so fond of the earthy tones. this is the only brown piece i've ever made. and hopefully the last. i can't stand brown in my work.

anyway, i hope you've enjoyed a little rummage through my 'back catalogue' (not a euphemism, i hasten to add...) as much a i did. it's funny, i'm taken aback when i happen upon an old piece of work - i sort of only vaguely remember making it. wonder why that is? maybe it was lost in the new-mother fug. oddness.

i clearly had too much time on my hands -
i guess little babies spend most of the time asleep, right?

all that dirt out of our clothes...sorry, i mean loose dye