Today was the last day of my exhibition with many visitors.  As ever, it was great to spend time explaining my work. 

Over the three weeks of the show I had many positive comments about the pieces and here is a selection from the Visitor's Book:

-  I was blown away by your work, so imaginative and unusual
-  Inspirational and meticulous work
-  So impressed by the beauty and the inspiration and the skill
-  An incredible journey
-  Fantastic art work
-  So many unusual pieces of work - they are lovely
-  Very inspiring use of different techniques
-  Dazzling and impressive
-  Brilliant, original, off-beat beauty achieved through fascinating intricately          detailed  work

So, now I take a little rest and think about the direction I will go in next.  The options are so varied that I could be spoilt for choice but I will keep this blog updated.

Today was my second Saturday invigilating the exhibition.   The gallery looked inviting as it was a sunny day and there was a steady stream of visitors, including small children who, I think, are never too young to look at art.  It was great to be able to spend time talking with visitors and explaining the processes behind some of my work.

The boys came back, this time accompanied by two girls, and they spent a long time talking about the pieces and identifying their favourites.  Significant inroads were also made into the bowl of chocolates on the counter!  It was rather nice that they returned in the afternoon with a father, trying to persuade him to buy one of my pieces.  I think he might be tempted so watch for the next instalment!

The private view this afternoon was well attended with over 60 visitors, many of whom had travelled long distances for the occasion, despite awful weather.  We had a plentiful supply of drinks, samosas and other nibbles, as well as a large bowl of welcome fresh fruit.  There were many complimentary comments about my work, although divided into two distinct camps - the monochrome supporters and those preferring the representational, coloured pieces!  The exhibition is listed in The Guardian's Guide under Exhibitions.

We were all having such a good time that no-one remembered to take photographs of the occasion!

I spent a very pleasant day stewarding my exhibition.  There was a steady stream of visitors: friends and strangers, young and old.

At one point this morning I noticed three young boys peering in through the windows - they must have been 10 or 11.  They then put heads round the door and said that they had come to look at the art.  It was wonderful to engage with them and answer their questions.  I was asked what kind of artist I was and, to make them think, I turned the question round and asked them what they thought.  One boy considered this and said, quite emphatically, 'Cubist'.  'Why?' I asked.  'Because you have a lot of lines and squares'.  Just wonderful.

On leaving, they thanked me very politely and said that they didn't realise that art could be made with textile and stitches.  I think they liked my work.

Stitched is up and running!  It looks good, not least because the gallery is a beautiful Victorian building, originally a corner shop, with large windows and lots of natural light.  It is satisfying to see my work of the last two years on display, making a coherent show, in my hesitant opinion. 

Here's a photograph of the Monochrome Series on display at the gallery:

My work in the Sketchbook Series is being shown in a screen - both sides can be seen without pages being handled and this is a picture of one side (not to scale with the picture above!):