So today I have overdone it, I got on the wrong bus (attention! expensive when not paid) and walked just a bit too far and then I was leaning over to listen to someone speaking softly in a super-echoey place and now I ache and feel stiff as a board…ggrrr… The good news is, the new home help made my kitchen and bedsit all lovely and fresh again and when you are this tired, getting in a freshly made bed with fluffed up pillows and shaken up duvet is bliss, curled up with the cat, both purring 
The art class was given a guided tour of Surface Gallery in Nottingham http://www.surfacegallery.org/ today, the volunteers were lovely to us, lots of info on how they make it work on sixpence and squeak as my granny would say…they make a lot happen and are invaluable for the exhibitions, including students’ final shows, the collective members’ workspaces and affordable studios, the gallery hire fees are fair and they seem very enthusiastic. They took the chance to ask us for feedback and it turned into a very friendly idea share (yeeeesss, that would include me sticking my neck out as usual but I will only offer criticism if I can offer a suggestion too, and it was a very minor point about making the gallery look more welcoming, it belongs to the council and suffers from frosted glass making it look shut) and they were very welcoming of our ideas…and that is so nice, because some places I have volunteered were really set in their ways and closed/ defensive about longstanding issues. I feel fairly unattached as to whether people use my suggestions, as long as I am allowed to offer them, as an outsider there are often conditions applying of which you know nothing, after all. I got the impression of a really healthy organisation trying to keep their focus during tough times for artists and galleries. And congratulations to them for winning some funding, they obviously worked hard for it. They are already doing a lot, and have really positive, exciting ideas for the future, it was so nice to be somewhere with such a good atmosphere. I realise I haven’t talked about this exhibition, but you should go and judge that for yourself, it’s on till the 16th The others enjoyed the tour, I was sensible and stayed downstairs and borrowed a pair of scissors so I could do my 10 minutes art for the day.
I had been across the road to David’s Fabrics at Sneinton Market (pulled by the giant electromagnet that draws me to places with cheap materials and tools for making!) and while the others were oohing and aahing over light filled studios, I was ripping into 4 metres of industrial remnant lining fabric. I made a snip and then tore down the length of the fabric and crochet chained the resulting strip, I got 5 lengths, so 20 metres by 20 cm+ (no rulers were disturbed during the making of this component!!) using my arm as the crochet hook…oh soooo satisfying! Sadly it only takes 5 minutes to rip and 5 minutes to chain £4.80 worth of fabric like that, but it was very pleasing getting it out to show Eleanor at Knit Nottingham, she laughed at the chain and recoiled in horror at the tackiness of the other fabrics I bought ( 5 metres in ‘speciality’ fabrics for £9, giant square sequin effect in scarlet, green jungle and brown desert nylon camouflage wtf? but when they are cut up, shifu style and chained, they too will be pretty…promise!)
So, I foresee a weekend in bed playing with scissors and making silliness which is a good way to rebalance my spoons and forks (tiredness and pain) while I sigh in contentment over the freshly hoovered domain and eat risotto till it’s gone..I have a big pot to last the weekend
Some ugliness, definitely a before and after 
Do you see how the green is picking up the red sequin shine though? I should have more to show you tomorrow or Sunday ….
