13th July 2024
Steps…
- Choose a square
- Add a border
- Add a “Z” (called a string) and you have four sections in which to create your mindful patterns
- The first pattern we tried was called a crescent moon, which when outer semi circles were added morphed into ladybugs before our very eyes.
And so Mavis gently introduced us into the world of mindfulness, with paper and a pen.
“Don’t worry you can’t make a mistake, just keep going” ……and we were off!
Creating “auras” (seemed like shadow quilting to me), “lines can touch but must not cross” map contours appeared, you can add dots to spaces and little circles too….
Static
A zig zag down the centre, with auras either side, filled with dots or even more zig zags and we were getting into the flow
Knightsbridge
A grid-based pattern where we could add squares at junctions, noughts and crosses, boxes within boxes…..but we couldn’t make a mistake!
Printemps
Almost Spring like!
Coils within coils
Snakeing S’sss
We could add bubbles and beads
Then adding bands to our bubbles was just mind bending
A tortilion was brought in to add “schmudging and shading” which added depth and “warmth” to our monochrome meanderings.
“Place your hand over your picture to see where the shadows fall, then smudge gently and mindfully, steady as you flow….”
Hollibough
A crescendo of characters brought in with Jetty, Flux and Munchin completed our relaxing morning.
THANK YOU, MAVIS ! Our morning was complete
After Lunch…
Sue Norgrove-Moore took us on a whirlwind tour that spanned thousands of years in a single hour. Discussing everything from slavery to cotton growing, from silk routes to long swords.
Sue embarked on a fabric journey explaining how not only did the move out of caves and from furs to fabric generate manufacturing industries it also created conflict and wars. How having created conflict with our fellow humans we are now causing conflict with our very own planet: “clothes have more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us” V. Woolf, Orlando 11/5/1916
Monoculture and Trade Routes: Whilst trade routes opened up and brought spices, food and drink it also brought fabrics and designs and patterns. Such items became sought after and greater production was required. Whole industries sprung up and towns and communities around them. However, such concentrated efforts meant that monoculture was inevitable and with it the unintentional damage to the environment.
Sue’s talk was both informative ( fun facts every few minutes!) but also a cautionary tale that whilst fabric is beautiful to have and to hold – there is also a price, and is it worth paying?
Fun fact #1: Needles pre-date swords by 50,000 years – yay!
Fun fact #2: 107,000 years ago body lice were discovered as we started to wear clothes
A Little Quiz
Just to round off a thoroughly enjoyable talk, Sue delved into her fabric stash to bring us a quiz. Samples of numbered fabric swatches passed around the group for identification… Members formed little groups to test their knowledge of identifying the swatches.
This isn’t the place to name, names or reveal scores …. But I strongly suspect there will be a lot of swotting going on before the next one!
Thank You, Sue – it was a fun fact filled education !
written by Donna Munday