More Texture

I enjoyed my class with Alison Board last month so much I carried on playing for ages!  

I have experimented with mountboard, papers, lutrador, Khadi, scrim, calico to name but a few.

Some have been burnt away, others re layered and, like the little book covers I showed, some can be stitched through.

The way all the texture hold the paints is fabulous.

This is moulding paste through stencils.

Skeleton leaves. yarns, fabrics, foil and texture paste.

Today I seem to have woken up not feeling on the bright side of things, yet again!  John has had a very nasty bout of this cold which is going around that will not leave him and it appears we may now have to share.  I'm a little worried about taking the usual cold flu remedies as I took one dose last night and my stomach has been hurting rather badly since. I do not want another ulcer before Christmas so I will be avoiding taking more.

Sometimes being a quilt maker has it's advantages even more than the usual.  I'm going to find one to wrap up in whilst I have a bit more of a play with some textures!

Have a great weekend.

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A Tinker Here...

I laid this up the other day.  Lots of scraps, sari silks and organza pieces.

It was predominantly green and I couldn't find the balance.  Mind you green is not one of my favourite colours it seems so perhaps that was the problem.  Then yesterday Linda blogged THIS post on her page and it twigged that the green needed a play mate.  I know, I've almost changed it to purple but... there will be an overlay on it so that will change it again.  I tried it with a green organza, but it was too heavy, and then with the only chiffon's I have left.  The white killed all the colour totally and the black was too gloomy so I've had to order some more colours.  About time I did anyway.  Now to wait for them to arrive and see which suits the best.  More of that another time then. 

I've had the Spellbound book for a couple of years now and this week I actually made a bauble from it!  I liked the simplicity of this one.  I have some ideas to expand on it and will do a couple more.  (Picassa doesn't like portrait photos so you will have to accept that this is not defying gravity really.) 

And I'm just writing this blog post whilst waiting for these to dry.  A little bit of moulding paste through a stencil onto watercolour paper.

I will be colouring them up later and no doubt staining my nails a lovely few shades of yuck! 

A couple of other bits for Christmas have been done so I will try and remember to show them in the New Year.  I hope all your crafty creations are coming along well too!! 

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Moving Swiftly On

OK so that's November almost done too.  Someone has definitely speeded up this year too fast.  Could we have a slower year next year?

I've felt a little disjointed of late, not sure why.  Trying to settle to something has been weird and so half the time I've just done nothing instead!  Not very proactive.

I decided I had better do something for the Christmas effort this year.  I have some lovely pieces of glass, not too many colours but I did find a nice green and red.  After cutting and foiling I tried remembering the soldering knack.  Hmm, passable I suppose.  I will string these up in a window perhaps with some beads too.

At the begining of the month I went to a bodices workshop to make the bodice below.  Of course it being red is a pig to photograph but you can see the shape.  It was to make a 'mini' bodice which actually turned out to be a full size one but only for a size 8/10 body.  

I decided to leave a part of the lining seam open so I can see the layering at a later date.  The white is the domette, canvas and boning. A lovely workshop to do. 

When I went to the Westpoint show in September with Elsa I saw a really lovely crochet throw kit.  I so wish I had gone back to buy it (Elsa remind your Mother not to be so daft next time will you).  I had hoped I would see it again at Ally Pally but I wasn't really well enough to do to much in depth searching. The other day how ever Su at Living on The Edge blogged about a beautiful throw she had knitted.  The colours and texture were WOW!  Again I thought about it, a dangerous occupation obviously, and eventually kicked myself into buying a kit or two too.  The wools arrived yesterday.

That photo was taken last night, it was so grey outside anyway.  Again the reds have come out wrong and show better in the photo below.  Much more earthy.  I loved the reds, plumbs and greens and John liked the blues so I couldn't make up my mind.  I'm lucky I could whittle it down to those colours, they were all so gorgeous!  I mean look at all these here!! 

Anyway, they have all been on the swift and I have started knitting.  A lovely easy pattern and good for TV work.

And finally these three are convinced there is something under this step.  I'm not quite sure what it could be as the floors are solid concrete under the oak and tiles.  Perhaps something has fallen into the old cavity wall just there and the noise is carrying (yes we do have mice, we live in the country).  It's still keeping them amused several days later.  

I hope this terrible weather is not disrupting you all too much!

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Hebe Has Clothes! Finally.

I actually finished Hebe last night.  I just had an urge.

Well she has been sitting on my desk in just her stockings and big boots for quite some time! 

At least she should be a little more comfortable and she can now join the others.

 I love doing all the fiddly bits like earrings and hair ornaments.

She needed a seat as her legs wont quite hold her up for very long and, as she is a little steampunk, I made a skull for her to sit on. Of course that had to have extras too.

I have also quilted the Christmas table topper quilt.

I has metallic threads just to lift it a little.  I made the quilting quite dense as it's for putting things on.

The holly leaves were a pain.  My fault really as I forgot to heat set them before I washed it.  Yes I had to paint them again and I have had it over a hot radiator for a few nights to set them this time.

And finally this quilt was the reason for my studio being covered in micro fleece fluff a few weeks back!! 

I made it from some lovely brushed cottons and the fleece on the other side in the raggy method, hence the gazillion cuts and resulting mess.

 
It was for Chris' birthday which was last week so I can now show it to you.

Have a great week!

More Play Time

I had a little more of a play with some textured surfaces last week as I will need a few pieces for the next class.  I liked these two parts very much and so made a little note book.  The ribbon I used for the binding was a bit stretchy though, even though the colour was a great match, so I will take that into consideration next time.

Yesterday, just before the heavens opened for the day, we had this rainbow land on the hill opposite.  It was very big and bright, probably one of the best I've seen in ages.

And the tree branches in the above photo belong to this huge old fellow that sits in one of our front lawns.

It's funny how small it looks in a photo!  If John (6' 3") was stood under it the hedge behind it would be over his head. It's one of two fully grown Ash trees we have and we have been very much saddened and alarmed by the news this week of yet another tree problem that could possibly devastate them.  We have a Horse Chestnut on the other front lawn that is showing the first signs of bleeding canker so to loose two fabulous specimens would be soul destroying.  We are watching them closely with advice from our tree surgeon!!!  (This one it TPO'ed).

I hope, wherever you are, the weather is good to you this weekend.