all done and dusted. it's been a really wonderful week with seeing friends, going to private view parties, eating crisps and doing the kind of sorting and fiddling that's been long overdue.

My other piece 'dwell' and 'souvenir' are now on view at the discovery centre as part of the 're-imagining' exhibition.

'Souvenir' is as obvious as it sounds, a souvenir of my sculptural piece 'Memento' in the cathedral. It can be ordered in advance on my website www.eileenwhite.co.uk or at the Discovery Centre.

It will be made up from 'Memento' when the exhibition finishes. Each framed piece will be unique containing a hand cut paper bird, garland, mirror and hand written text. It can be ordered there and can be ordered on the website www.eileenwhite.co.uk or from

one week on and it hasn't fallen down!

The exhibition 'Re-imagining treasures of Hyde Abbey' is now officially open to the public at Winchester Cathedral until 28 March 2010. The opening hours are daily 9 am - 5 pm (12.30 pm - 3 pm Sunday) www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk.

The exhibition brings together work by local painters, illustrators, photographers, ceramicists, sculptors, glass, textile and installation artists. Taking treasures of Hyde Abbey as its starting point, this exhibition offers a contemporary response to the idea of objects with a spiritual and historical significance. see www.hyde900.co.uk for the programme of events.

and so it went on and on....endless amounts of moving the scaffolding which weighed a tonne, up and down the steps, yes i finally got up there without incident, not that i was happy about it, hanging, knotting, unwrapping, hanging, knotting, unwrapping, moving scaffolding, going for a wee, hanging, knotting etc etc so and so forth......until finally three days later it's done.

what have i learnt? never underestimate, always keep an open mind, take on challenges but remember your family and friends and yes always always take a leap of faith.

this weekend, it has to be said has been one of the most frightening of my life. It was the weekend for putting up the piece in the cathedral for the 're-imagining the treasures of hyde abbey exhibition'. I have spent the last 5 months of my live thinking about little else. my family is sick of me, I am sick of me and my hands hurt.

I thought I'd be most scared at the logistics of putting the work up, putting myself 'out there' or even the prospect of the disappointment of it looking fairly rubbish. this all took a distinct back seat by comparison to the scaffolding, or rather the height of it. I had forgotten to factor one important thing into this project. my fear of heights!!

on arrival on friday morning feeling quite pleased with myself having got everything organised with childcare, materials, equipment, methods of tying knots etc i found that i couldn't quite get to the top of the 8 metre high wobbly scaffolding without almost passing out or vomiting, so had to phone my bessie, who was said childcare, and get her to come on down and get on up.

after woefully underestimating the time it would take. 'we'll be in cafe nero for lunch'! we spent the SEVEN hours in the cathedral tying the washing lines across the tie bars, with children in tow. no, not stressful at all!!?

watch this space!

private view thursday 4 march 7.30 pm winchester cathedral.

it is finally done, those birds are nicely nestled in their packages awaiting transportation to another place.....phew it's been a slog. it's true that there is a ratio of 1% inspiriation 99% perspiration with many ideas; this one certainly adhered to that. as if the hand cutting, painting, writing out, knotting, stringing, measuring, winding, wasn't enough i've now got to start and finish the other piece in time.

birds lying in wait...........

and it was................. a great day. funny how some days are seamless others prickly. the mirrors arrived, right size, shape, amount not broken and the driver even made a detour to deliver to the studio. starting stringing the birds which turned out easier than anticipated. have obviously built in an automatic 'keep expectations low' default button in brain, and bonus sarah came in to help. the scaffolding problem has been sorted, with the cathedral now providing it. thank the lord. trying to erect 8 mtr high scaffolding at my age isn't to be recommended. it's bad enough that i am going to have to clamber up and down there for 2 days in the near future. (note to self, don't wear a skirt). have also managed not to eat my body weight in biscuits. ended the day by having a theraputic bake with the ruby and grace, in aid of fundraising for haiti tomorrow at school.

this week has been a hard week but today the sun came out and a few things have started to come together. the cathedral piece has a name, momentum, and is almost finished. only the small job of threading it all. 156 x 6.5 metre lengths of thread need to be measured and wound onto cardboard bobbins. these then have to be threaded and knotted with the birds, labels and mirrors. can this be done in a day? unlikely. however next week they should be neatly, tenderly and individually wrapped ready for installing on the 12th of february.

i have at present no scaffold (for aforementioned installation) and very little sanity left. I turned up at swimming class earlier today with only a loaf of bread in my bag. my healthy january has turned into a bloater of a month and i think I walked into tesco's with my skirt in my tights.

it's been another day at the studio which is preferable to the day yesterday charging around trying to get things done in a ridiculously underestimated amount of time. lots of running around winchester, literally running in a puffa coat, tog 12, and wellies densely packed with walking socks. god was i hot. anyway some boxes ticked and then back to the relative calm today processing work. kate, kim and sarah came in today and threaded the garlands ready to hang, as well as writing out the soundbites of memories that have been collected from some of the older members of the community. some stories were sad, others funny and some left you wanting.

today was a day of computer gazing trying to sort out the very large list that's developed for this project, since the extremely exciting news on tuesday that i'd been awarded an arts council grant, there are many many things that have to be done. but it's very exciting and has given me a large glow!! managed a brief studio visit to sew and assemble some foliage for the birds that were feeling quite naked.

this week was a expectionally good one as i received funding from the arts council for the exhibition I am working on......means i can stop stealing from the household meat budget. many hours have now been spent on painting, cutting and hanging, it's a bit groundhog day but very rewarding.

many things have taken place since i last wrote, many, too many, one of the major events was grace going to school and me blasting out into a studio, a beautiful 1st floor barn, just a slipper distance from my front door. i've been working like a dog, a freezing one at the moment, making an enormous paper cut the size of a house for an exhibition called 're-imagining the treasures of hyde' which will be hung in winchester cathedral from 15 february this year.