Latest Cloth....and Tales of a Bad Boy

Just thought I'd show my latest Spirit Cloth.....I can't seem to stop making these.

Maggi took me to Quiltessential in Cromford yesterday, and all I could think of whilst I was looking at all the beautiful fabrics, was ooooh, that would be lovely ripped up...... ;-)

Forgot to tell you in my last post...I went on an all-day jewellery making workshop last month in Nottingham; it was excellent (a Groupon deal). I made necklaces, earrings and bracelets

.... since then I've been researching other skills on YouTube and found out how to do knotted bracelets (if you're interested, see here). I'm particularly pleased with my sliding square knot closure! (see here)

I also made tiaras for all the girls to wear during Christmas dinner.....here's Liz wearing hers.

Now for the Bad Boy.......

Here he is looking all innocent ........ having just washed his tum (and fallen asleep on the job) after his dinner on Christmas Day .......aaaaah, you may say. (Does anyone else's cat sit in a chair like a human?)

Well, he is ......I'm sorry to have to tell you this........a mouse killer. See, you've all gone off him now, haven't you?

I have just cleaned up his 5th dead mouse off my hall floor :-(

Two weeks ago he brought a live one in and proceeded to chase it round the lounge, throw it in the air and cause mayhem, whilst Liz and I screamed and chased after them. It was like Keystone cops.

My Mum says they are presents for me because he loves me. Mmmmmm.... hasn't he heard of flowers?

Good job I love him........

Making Resolutions.....

Happy New Year everyone!   I hope 2012 is a wonderful year for you all.
Well, you might be able to guess what one of my resolutions is, now lets see if I can keep to it ;-)
Here goes.....

Maggi sent me a link for the new Strathmore Online workshop with Traci Bautista (its free!) so I decided to take part. Its all about painting, collaging and doodling. Above are some close-ups of my efforts and below you can see the 'before doodling' and 'after doodling' stages.

Great fun to do!
I've ordered some Uni Posca poster paint markers (can't seem to find the Sharpie ones over here) to help with the doodling. I've also ordered some Adirondack Color Washes in bright colours so I can copy Maggi's idea and do some of these on fabric - great for adding stitching and beads later.
Of course I could stitch on these paper ones I suppose.......maybe I'll try that too.

Maggi also told me about TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) on Sharon B's blog Pintangle. Each week there's a challenge to perfect and use a different embroidery stitch.The first week was fly stitch - which is one of my favourites. I made a piece of felt and just enjoyed stitching onto it for the past couple of evenings...... I can recommend it!

Just one more mention for Maggi ;-)......I wanted to show you the fantastic box she made me for Christmas. Its so beautiful and neat - I am in awe! Sorry the photo doesn't fully show how the threads shimmer.
(There was a beautiful set of hand-made glass coasters I'd admired at The Beetroot Tree inside....so very thoughtful :-)

Can't go without showing you the progress Peachy is making in yoga. Following his amazing spinal twist in my last post, I can now show you his versions of......

....extended Child's Pose

.......and Savasana (Corpse Pose). Bless him.......

Now lets see how that resolution goes.......

Making Progress.....

I've been working on my Stef Francis project this week.....above are a few details showing how far I've got. There's still lots to do......

This is how it started....

.....with a bit of help from Peachy :-)

Then it involved some maths...... :-/

...lots of cutting and bonding......

.......and choosing of threads and beads.

The final stage is hand-stitching and beading.....which I'm loving doing.

And there are enough pieces left over to make another 3 or 4!

I've decided to join in with Jude Hill's Magic Feather Project (see link in side bar).... if you visit her blog you'll see she's kindly giving free tutorials and lots of information regarding the project.
My first attempt was a bit too large and clumsy (I'm not good with satin stitch :-/ )

So I had another go and maybe this one will be sent to Jude...along with a couple of others hopefully.
She's aiming for 1000!! If you visit her blog you'll see the 143 she's already received. I think there's a Flickr group too (and Facebook).

And finally.......a lesson in how to relax from The Grand Master. He has it off to a fine art.......

Just wish I had his gift :-)

Sitting Stitching.......

I've been playing with my embellishing machine over the past few days...mainly to provide something for me to stitch onto :-) This started life as a flower corsage which went completely wrong so I chopped it up and felted it onto a (wet felted) background. Now it looks like a cocoon :-(

But this definitely isn't a landscape.......... ;-)

My favourite flower of the moment (now the bluebells have gone) is my Nectaroscordum.
I believe it belongs to the allium family. I love this one's bendy stem.

I'm taking photos of it at various stages of growth and have started doing some sketches and digital art with the intention of creating designs for a new project I have in mind. More later.....

Whilst I was in the garden today I spotted this brown blob on the hydrangea.......

.......got in a little closer......

...and touched it.......eeek!!!!!


Photo isn't brilliant but you can click on it for a better view.

One of the big garden debates this spring has been what to do with the dead cordylines....they are in gardens everywhere! Ours is over 5' tall.
I took off all the dead leaves.......

....and now Peachy uses it as a climbing frame! :-)
Fortunately its not on full view as its at the side of the house.

Apparently they can still sprout......but I'm not convinced.
I took a photo of the bark today; how many faces can you see???

I think I can see an owl too....... :-)


BTW...this is how it looked last summer (if you click on the photo please excuse blue bin and bag of compost) .

Spirit Cloth 3

I'm so grateful for all the lovely comments I've had regarding my latest sewing project. Quite a few people have emailed and asked for details of the class (Jude Hill's 'Cloth to Cloth')....I hope you're now enjoying it as much as I am.
I decided to use ironed sari ribbons for my third Spirit Cloth...these are the colours from a skein I bought from The Threshing Barn in Staffordshire. It's a work in progress; I'm adding some tiny pieces of hand-made felt and there'll be lots more stitching.

The sari ribbon before ironing......

..and after.

I then discovered I could alter the ribbon by putting it through my embellishing machine...it ruches up like seersucker. I used a few of these mixed with the flat ironed ones.

I then tried it on other fabrics.
This is the effect on organza....

...and silk dupion. Saving these for future projects!

And finally....

I made this little landscape on my embellishing machine yesterday...I'm off now to do some hand-stitching on it.
BTW - if you're interested in embellishing machines, here's a link to see the Janome FM 725 in action. I found this on Lynn's excellent Squidoo page which is all about needle felting.
(She has a lovely give-away on her blog as well....definitely worth a visit.)
And absolutely finally....I can't go without a Peachy pic. He's currently kipping on his new mat (and yes...its a bath mat :-)

Happiness is.......

...........stitching my 'Spirit Cloth' in a sunny conservatory.

( still not quite finished)

............playing with Peachy outside in the garden. (He likes 'hide and seek').

.........looking for signs of Spring. (Chives, camelia and hydrangea)

 .........receiving lots of emails, messages and gifts from thoughtful friends. (Thank you all VERY much.)

.........playing on my new Janome embellishing machine  which I treated myself to last week.

 

                                          front.....................and back (which I've chosen to work on)

  .........doing a bit of Photoshop editing.

.........and chilling out in my art room at the end of the day with him.

Hope you all had a lovely day today....... :-)