Seed head textiles

Mum and I went over to Horsley today for one of Mandy Pattullo's textile classes. We were to make an embroidery/collage/textile invention of seedheads.

We were each given a piece of old quilt - hand stitched ones - and had the choice of lots of pieces of material to use to make the shapes of the seedheads. Mandy demonstrated how to do this in the morning session. After lunch, she demonstrated a lot of different stitches. I was relieved to realise that I knew nearly all, although it is many years since I did this sort of embroidery. I did not know wheatear stitch or feather stitch.

Mum and I worked hard all day. Unfortunately, she has an accident in the afternoon. She had stopped stitching and walked around the room to see other people's work. A hard back book slipped off a bench and hit her on one calf. It's a nasty injury and I was hard pressed to put it back together with steristrips when we came home. Lots of rest, elevation and ice required.

I drove to Newcastle to collect Julie. We had a meal in Broad Chare on the quayside before going to The Live Theatre for Clear White LIght. This play is set in the male locked ward at St Nicholas Hospital, the main psychiatric hospital for Newcastle. I worked on that very ward for 6 months before it was relocated quite a long time ago.

Alan Hull, of the famous band, Lindisfarne, also worked at St Nic's and wrote some of his hit songs at that time. Several songs were in the play. The story was based on The House of Usher.   It was highly melodramatic and I wish I'd reread Edgar Allan Poe's story before seeing the play. It was an interesting evening that questioned the nature of madness in staff as well as patients.

My blip is the hands of one of the other embroiderers today, making great progress with her work.