1950s

Mum's friend Di came from Sunderland to see us today.

Di is a textile artist and a member of a group called Fusion.  She brought along three current projects.

The first is called Lost Words. She searched for as many different types of printed material she could find in her house, where online/digital versions have more or less taken over, e.g. the phone book, maps, TV Times, bank statements, etc. I'm sure you can think of more.

She then backed the paper version and made a complicated quilted pattern of each sort. They will ultimately be mounted behind Perspex and exhibited. For today they are just lying on a piece of cardboard! (See extra).

I did not photograph the second project where the words were almost absent from a log cabin quilted design, but using magazines as the basis of the work.

The third consists of three panels. Di is kneeling and holding two of them. She used the Daily Mirror newspaper from the week of the coronation in 1953. She was fascinated by the nature of the adverts which she has put together to show the attitudes to women. 

She then used three patterns from the times. One is for a corset, the second a petticoat and the third for a dress. You can see the petticoat and dress in my Blip.

Di is very lively and never stopped talking. 

The rest of the day had me going round in circles. The men came to fix the ridge tiles. Of course they found more things wrong on the roof, especially around the chimney and so on.

The district nurse came with fresh supplies of dressings. Dick the gardener came and cut wet grass, but also brought delicious home grown tomatoes.