Birthday Weekend

Just had a wonderful birthday weekend......spent Saturday with Maggi at a Living Threads workshop creating pictures on our embellishing machines (see above). They aren't finished yet; I intend doing some hand-stitching and beading.
Then on Sunday I got lots of lovely presents and went to a fab restaurant for Sunday dinner with my husband, son, daughter and mum. Happy days!!

Peachy sent me a card - of course ;-)

Yesterday afternoon whilst playing with my new(ish) Panasonic Lumix camera I discovered a macro setting and had fun playing with that for an hour. Results aren't great yet...but I'll keep practising! (DH keeps saying 'read the instruction manual!' but I'd rather find out by playing and fiddling. Anyone else like me? ( I HATE manuals)

Cone flowers, fuchsia, clematis, cosmos........

Before I forget..... a blogging friend of mine has three wonderful places to visit if you have a spare moment. Lots of interesting stuff and inspiration to be found! I can definitely recommend.......

http://morna.tumblr.com
http://mornacrites-moore.blogspot.com
http://www.mornacrites-moore.com

Torn Strips....

My poor scissors are feeling redundant and unwanted.....I realised today that I've been tearing paper and fabric for most of my recent projects. I love my collection of torn strips (the edges from the handmade papers I tear for my altered books). I fancied playing with them today so I did some paper weaving for a change....

Added some machine and hand stitching, sequins, pressed flowers, beads etc. These are my happy colours  :-)

Last week I went on a mini-holiday to stay with my friend Rosie (the Journalling Queen).

We had a lovely time together........visited Lytham St Annes, played in her art room, ate gorgeous food cooked by her talented DH..... and if that wasn't enough we had a visit from Jackie (Dog Daisy Chains) who lives not too far away. We've never met before so it was a real treat...especially as she brought a boxful of her gorgeous artwork to show us (my request :-) We had a wonderful afternoon!

I'm besotted with my coneflowers (echinacea, rudbekia) at the moment and couldn't resist taking these photos .......I love seeing their progress from bud to full flower.

Also loving the eryngiums......the blue is so surprising, especially on the stems!

Maggi brought me some of her honesty seeds last time she visited and I spent a happy hour making patterns with them (at one time I would have done something like this with a class of children.....but sadly I was on my own this time ;-)

And finally......a few people have messaged me regarding my art wall after seeing a partial view (with Peachy)  in my 'Memories' post below. I've been asked to show a full photo........

....so here it is. Not a deliberately 'arty' display; just something that has grown over the past couple of years. The ATCs are attached (with blu-tac) to two wooden rails, screwed to the wall and painted turquoise. If you click on it you might even see your work there!!

Back From Skiathos

Just got back a couple of days ago from our annual trip to Skiathos - one of our favourite Greek islands. Why do we love it so much? Well it's quite small, we can fly from East Midlands airport (a 10 min drive), the beaches are wonderful, the town is very pretty and full of great bars and restaurants, its not too crowded and there are no night clubs or discos (that we are aware of!)
Here are a few of our holiday memories.....

We spotted a wedding party in the town one day and Brian took this lovely shot of the bride.
Iced coffee in the beach bar was a favourite before starting sunbathing!

Some of the huge variety of plant life including flowers from the sea, a heart shrub and cactus trees.

A swallows nest in the beach bar was a big attraction. They looked like puppets ...so cute!!  (Click for a closer view)

Peachy was so glad to see us when we got back; nine days of being kept in a cage at the cattery must have been hard for him to bear! After giving us loads of fuss he spent half an hour tearing up and down the stairs through the lounge and conservatory, round the garden then back in and up the stairs again (he was just a blur) - then he finally collapsed and had a nap.

Nine days without him - how did I bear it..... :-)

Memories

I made a little memory box yesterday......for two reasons. Alysn at The Beetroot Tree asked me to make one for a forthcoming exhibition at her gallery on the theme of Memory.

"Memory | Sat 30 July 2011 - Sun 11 September 2011
In support of the Alzheimer's Society we will be inviting you to purchase a memory box pack online to create you own work for display alongside the exhibition."
I decided to make it for my Dad, who died last year after suffering from dementia for approx 3 years. Inside the box are a selection of small photos plus a copy of my 'letter to Dad' which I read out at his funeral. 

As its Fathers Day on Sunday it felt especially appropriate that I should make this in memory of him :-) 
If you'd like to join in, you can read more about the challenge here and also on Alysn's blog here. There's a £3 charge to help raise funds for the Alzheimers Society.


I made quite a few things yesterday.....

 ...bread (in my brilliant Panasonic bread-maker)

 ......fairy cakes

 ....and my special Lavender and Peppermint cream. I need to work on some more attractive labels I think :-)

Peachy kept his eye on me for most of the morning.....

....until he fell asleep :-)

My Colours....

I've been happily working with my favourite colours over the past two weeks. Maggi and I spent a great day together at her house just over a week ago. She showed me how to do nuno felting in her fab garage/workshop.......

Maggi at work

First attempt below; front and back. I worked on a piece of dyed silk and laid wool and silk fibres on top before wetting, soaping  and rolling. The final step involved whacking and bashing - great fun :-) Hopefully if you click on it you can see that the silk puckers and creates a lovely effect.

Second piece; front and back.......my fav one. Looking forward especially to sewing on this. Not sure which side to use though!

Maggi kindly gave me a piece of blue cotton velvet to use for my Spirit Cloth cushion.

I extended the stitching out onto the velvet.....

......et voila!

I now want to find something to stitch around the edge........maybe :-/



Peachy has been helping me choose fibres and fabrics for my latest sewing project.....

...he doesn't damage them. Honestly. He just goes a little crazy sometimes.....
I can empathise with that.... ;-)

The elegant Nectaroscordum has almost finished. It's now making me think of fairy castles.........

........so sweet.

And finally.....DH and I decided to make the most of the glorious weather and went to Monsal Head in Derbyshire last weekend. We haven't been there for years and had forgotten how stunning it is.
(Click on the photos)

 The viaduct used to be for trains...but now its cyclists and walkers only.

If ever you get a chance....go there :-)



Back to the drawing board.....

I decided to go back to drawing and painting last week....here's my first attempt before I started using the paints and crayons. I also want to quirkify her in some way (still pondering :-)

I've had major problems with my computer which my clever son has done his best to rectify but we aren't out of the woods yet. This was one of the problems......

 

 .........its a 'mother board' :-) It makes my brain hurt just to look at it....to think someone actually understands all that. 

I still need a new operating system though - there goes another £88 :-( 

A couple of posts ago I said I was playing around with this image from my garden, with the idea of altering it for mixed media projects.

Up to now I've cut out the flower in Photoshop and altered it with different backgrounds and textures.

 

 Still a work in progress.......

Next step -  drawing/painting/printing.

Back soon :-)

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) .