Hearts and Hens

Am up to my eyes in hens and hearts of all varieties.

Flowery ones

Patchwork ones

Weird 'twiggy' ones

but little bits like these are a useful way to test out different colour combinations.  I have also been making just as many larger bowls, etc, but as I am running out of shelf space, they immediately get packed away in boxes ready to be shipped off to their customers.

And all kinds of hearts are finding their way into the mix too.

These above are made with Indian textile printing stamps.

and, of course, it will be the big excitement of my second Blog Birthday in a few weeks' time and I am sure one or two of these bits and pieces will need re-homing, so don't stray too far - I feel a Birthday Giveaway looming up!

Next week I will show you some weird and wonderful commissions I've been asked to do.

But for now, have a gloriously warm, sunny, bright, dry weekend everyone! 
Well, OK, but maybe if we all close our eyes really tight and cross our fingers and toes at the same time and wish really hard, it might happen?

Best wishes

Cathy x

American Barn Quilts

I decided to attempt the 'Laced Star' quilt block on one of my large bowls.  I googled images of the pattern to get a feel for it and see it in different colour combinations, and stumbled across 'BARN QUILTS'.

You all probably know about these already, but they're new to me and I have been fascinated by this recent trend which is taking off in rural parts of the U.S.

As you can see, the barn owner chooses a quilt-block they like, or one which has some meaning in their family history, and has it painted onto a huge board and mounted onto the side of their barn.  

There are 'Barn Quilt Trails' you can go on, where you get a little map and off you go to find them all.  They can now be spotted brightening up the landscape of many US states.  A lady called Suzi Parron even wrote a book about them, telling the wonderful stories behind the individual choices of quilt block.   Have a look at her blog if you want more :  http://americanquilttrail.blogspot.co.uk.

So this is the 'Laced Star', above on a barn and below on a pot!   Once I'd got my head round it, I didn't find it too difficult to map out onto clay.

Years ago when I first started making these, I found the more complex patterns a bit challenging, but now I really enjoy them as I have kind of 'got the hang of it' with practice! Geometry was the only thing I ever understood in Maths at school, and that was probably more to do with an ability to see patterns, than anything numerical!

Because it's called Laced Star I decided to impress a strip of flowery lace into the clay to make the border.  That's the green band you see here.  Though, I expect by 'laced', they really mean 'interlaced', but anyway!

Now I'm off to put a huge painted quilt-block on the side of my barn ....  except we don't have a barn.  We do have a double garage which can be seen from the side of the road - maybe that would do? 

Up until five years ago, I had never even heard of a 'Quilt Block', so it's no surprise that I didn't know about Barn Quilts.  Did you know about them?  I think I have a few American readers, so obviously you all knew!

You live and learn!

                         x Cathy