Remembering and Honouring

This is a hard post to write. If you look at my "word cloud" you will see Christine Chester's name shining large because I have mentioned her so very many times as my source of inspiration and textile education. I first met her when I did the Tie Dye Mini Quilt Course at Studio 11 when she first opened it back in 2012. I was the only participant, and it was the start of 11 years of inspiration, experimentation, laughter and friendship as the Studio 11 community grew. 

Last month this dear soul; friend, teacher and incredibly talented and thoughtful textile artist died after a courageous battle with cancer. We, her friends and students, joined her family last week to say goodbye to her and to celebrate all she had given to us over the years. 

Christine created a vibrant community of like minded folk centered on Studio 11. She gave of her time and skill so generously as our teacher, and also scheduled regular textile "Re-treats" where other textile artists came to share their skills and inspirations with us. In 2019, when she faced the challenge of losing the Studio because the rent had risen beyond her ability to pay, she simply packed everything up and relocated to her basement flat, rearranging her own life to prioritise her creative endeavour and, of course, source of income. I deeply admired her fortitude and refusal to give in to this difficult circumstance. Then Covid19 hit, another challenge, which she rose to by devising a series of Zoom classes which we could all do at home. This carried us through the pandemic in an incredibly supportive way, keeping our creative ideas flowing with courses on transparent fabrics, a "potato chip quilt" and Poetry of Stitch, exploring stitch as a mark making and expressive tool. Zoom also allowed her to host folk from further afield, extending the reach of her teaching beyond the south coast. In mid 2021 she found another real life studio for us to come to, and we were once more able to meet face to face, enjoy each other's company and share our creative endeavours. The new studio was a lovely airy space in an old building once used by the Plymouth Brethren as a meeting house. It was a beautiful place in which to learn; full of light, vibrant with colour and music, peppered with laughter as we, her students, were joined with her again in one place. Sadly, with her death it will close and become once more an anonymous old building on a small street in Eastbourne.

You may remember that in May 2021 she reconnected me with a cushion that had belonged to Ganna, through a piece of total serendipity. It has taken a back seat over the past few years due to other projects taking my time. I have now returned to it, and with each stitch I am connected in my heart with both my beloved grandmother, and with Christine. She used to say to me that I shouldn't feel guilty about not finishing things, if the inspiration to start them had fled. I store those words carefully in my heart as a quiet wisdom. But this project will be finished, with daily stitch, in honour of her and all she gave to me and to my fellow Studio 11 members. We gained so much from here, and do not know what we will do without her.

Beginning

 My pink transfer pencil was less clear when ironed on than I would like, and despite best efforts there is a bit of blurring, but I have plentiful pictures to go on and can make judicious use of a lightbox and sharp pencil if more detail is needed

I began with some simple things, leaves and hillocks

Another few sessions with the needle and the first half open cornflower takes shape. I'm tempted to do the snail next, it is so delightful

I am improvising some of the stitching, adding in techniques I've learned over the years. The stitched vintage example has less opportunity for definition because six strands are used throughout. Here, with finer threads, I can go just a little bit more Jacobean.

Can you make out the mouse? Here's how he looks in the vintage version

more serendipity

Because it was in my mind, and because I have been working with the design, I was putting strings of likely keywords into the Ubiquitous Search Engine. I found this on Etsy, with closeups of the stitching. It could be her cushion cover, the fabric looks the same. I wonder if it came as a kit. Not sure I'll use their method of six strands of embroidery floss though, which looks rather bulky. I'll have to have a think about what will work better. Even three strands of floss would give more delicacy to the image.

How strange it is that this object from my long ago past has been strewn in my path by the universe! 

I have the design sized up on baking parchment

and quite a nice piece of oatmeal coloured Irish linen, which would acknowledge her Irish heritage. 

I also remembered the "this will come in useful one day" purchase from long ago which still seems to work - a pink transfer pencil. Now to see if the current measurements come anywhere near standard cushion pads! 

And, of course, to delve into my stashes of thread!

Such treasure

This is Ganna's chair.  

It was always called "The Bergere Chair", and she sat and pondered in it every day. It lived in her ground floor bedroom, just beside the window which looked out over Alexandra Park. It proved a difficult object to negotiate in the middle of the night when, creeping back in, having forgotten my key, I was glad to find her window unlocked, but dismayed to find that the back of the chair was hooked over the brass handle, with which one pulled up old fashioned Victorian sash windows. It added somewhat to the weight I had to lift, and made waking my grandmother, at 1am, far more likely. 

When she sat in her chair, she always had a cushion at her back, stitched by her. It was one of the things which drew me to embroidery. To my dismay, it disappeared from our trove of "household objects" at some stage, and I have, over the years, trawled the web to try and find the pattern, to no avail.

I sit in her chair most days, tucked into another bay window, in another Victorian house. I ponder in it sometimes, but stitch more often. I too use a cushion at my back. I have a great deal more muddle around it than my orderly grandmother would ever have tolerated!

As you know I am part of Christine's Studio 11 community. Yesterday, on Facebook, she posted about a piece of fabric, part of a trove of vintage linens that have come to her. She has plans to "stitch it to show deterioration due to age and dementia", part of her long running series of textile works which reference her experience of losing her father to the disease. But first, she has kindly photographed it for me. It is, of course, Ganna's cushion, unmistakable. I can trace it out for myself, and use to recreate this early treasure, and lean against it in the chair that held its original. 

Given my track record this may, of course, take a while! I hope I can do it justice