Baby steps & giant strides

I didn't get chance to post on the train home last week due to a carriage full of old, drunken sweary louts wearing Christmas jumpers. I didn't manage to do ANYTHING except not look at them. Prior to that however I had quite an interesting day all about...'The Embroidery Experience'...I had training on the 12 head Brother embroidery machine software all morning which involved trying to master using the wheel in the centre of the mouse, clicking it but keeping it still ( I couldn't manage that at all). Then I 'experienced' the Cornely machines, all 7 of them, set up for different thicknesses of thread or cord. I was horrendously bad! It was so difficult it was untrue, I'm going to need either A LOT of practice or to not use them. It was harder than drumming lessons where you are using every limb to beat out a different rhythm. Disappointing results. What worries me is the time it will take to be able to use even one of these machines well, and I'm only there one day a week with other lectures to attend.

This week I'm going early, to attend a symposium- 'Material Matters', my main concern being that I may not have time to drop off my luggage first, sigh. 
There are some high profile speakers so watch this space.
And tomorrow... I get to stitch out my embroidery design. Whoop.

The 7 Cornelys

A very weird machine

P.S. 10.05pm
So... the symposium:

Was very nice thank you. Even though the idea and practice of 'academia', with 'academics' sat around discussing somewhat ordinary subjects 'academically', is rather alien to me, I did enjoy the speakers especially James, sculptor of sawdust extraordinaire. He talked incessantly for twice his allocated time but in such a dulcet tone that I went into a trance. The downside being that thing where you fall asleep for a nano second, jerking yourself awake and hoping no one noticed (x 3).

Interesting quotes of the day: "there is a presence around an (textile) archive, emotions are written on clothes - sweat produced through different emotions smells differently" and "Objects (in archives) make 'unknowable' history imaginable. Without objects, that history is unimaginable." (Jane Webb, in better words than those I remember)

Aside: linking to something said in Contested Territories, that the importance of archives is that they are what history is written from. Both relevant due to the recent closure of a number of important archives. I get that.