A Jolly Little Jaunt Out

Yesterday we had a visit to the New Forest Show.  It was rather wet and the sun decided to show it's face just as we were leaving.  It was so wet I didn't even open my bag let alone use the camera!  As always there was lots to see, do and eat.  I'm sure most of you know the routine of a County show!  

We did see plenty of ducks and geese but very early this morning on the lane out of the village we turned the corner to this beautiful gaggle of swans waddling up towards us! (iPhone and low light).

I think mum and dad were a little shocked to find this big metal thing with lights coming towards them but the cygnets, all 10 of them, were unfazed.  A couple even plonked themselves down in the middle of the road.  I wasn't so daft as to jump out of the car, any animal with babies has to be given respect, but I did find a piece of paper to flap as John inched the car closer.  Luckily they took the hint and moved over.  And mostly plonked themselves down again.  The youngsters were obviously a little tired, that hill is slightly steep and the stream is about 50 metres down the bottom there.  They've probably never used their legs for such an ungainly thing as walking that far before!  

We were on our way to to West Sussex to pick up this sewing machine base that John has bought me for my birthday.  I have a spot in the house that needs a table for a plant that's been living on the floor and this is quite a neat, narrow table stand.  A little bit of work to do on it and a top and it will be perfect.  Just need a slab of wood to buy (Darren I may need a rummage xx) and a bit of a carpenter (Chris your talents again xx) and hey presto!! 

Do you remember the silks I layered up a while back? Well I have done some stitching here and there.

And then I chopped it up. (After sewing around the decided sizes a couple of times to secure the hand stitches).

 And neatened it.

 Then a few beads.

And buttons.

And bits.

And I'm now ready for the next stage.  I will make a couple of visitor comments books from them.  Something I have been told is a must have for showing work.

Sad news this week is that the Art Trail in October has been cancelled but at least I have a few bits for the bigger one in May next year and I really do feel a little calmer about the whole thing.  Remind me of that next year will you??  It did spur me on to finally put something in my Etsy shop though.  Only a few cards for now but it starts the ball rolling.  Nothing worse than a totally empty shop!

And the good news this week is that Elsa and Mike have reached the magical 12 weeks stage of their new family.  I got to see my new Grandbaby!!!  Well one of those grainy photo things but very clearly a baby with hand held aloft.  We will just have to wait to see if it was waving a spanner or a needle but the knitting and proper quilt planning can now commence in earnest, I've been waiting weeks to brag about this you know!!

.

I Have Been Busy, See.

Apologies for the last post.  The Old Reader is having trouble migrating servers so I went back to Bloglovin for a while.  I was trying to put a widget thingy in and kept getting lost.  Anyway, all done now though I can't wait for TOR to be back it's just so much nicer that Bloglovin!

Just a little playing with books this week and I've loved every minute of it.

I want to have something that's for on the table at the Art Trail and these are fun to do and someone may want to buy one.

The beading on the spines are quite effective and very tactile.

These first two are mixed media with skeleton leaves hand stitched onto felt with one beaded and one plain spine.  The red has watercolour paper and the brown pastel, cartridge and watercolour papers.  Both about 15 x 18 cms.

These two are similar fronts with both watercolour and cartridge paper mixes. 14 cm.

 This one was an experiment with Khadi paper painted, stamped and stitched.  Loved finding these beads too.  About 14 x 11 cms.

And this little one was using some of the silk paper I made last week.  It's under organza lightly needle felted and stitched with heavy cartridge paper.  11 cm.

At least the weather has been cooler this week, if a little wetter.  More comfortable for creating though don't you think?

Have a great weekend.


.

Apologies for messing!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm trying to tweak the blog a little and it's posting uninteresting stuff.  BRB!!

Peering In Ovum II

Another set of the cocoons in a canvas.  This time I did a little more to the canvas to start with as I wanted it a little rougher.

So not quite a pair with Ovum I but I doubt you'd want two virtually identical pieces hanging together anyway!!

I think Anne McCaffery must have influenced me all those years ago with her coloured dragon eggs on Pern.  Funny what bubbles to the surface when you're stitching.

Village Fete and Tractor Gathering today so it's life in the slow lane, which is faster than the usual one in this village. Have a fabulous weekend.


.

Eeek! Someone Moved the Goalposts!

Yes you did, didn't you Darren?!?!?

The Dorset Visual Arts group only has it's open studios on alternate years (evens) and this year they have held an Art Trail for the south and west part of Dorset in the Spring and will be holding another for the north and east part in the Autumn.  I wasn't planning on entering but Darren has sort of encouraged me to show with him and a few others.  So, in his words, I've had to get on and make stock.  Well I've been thinking and making a start anyway.

This morning I've been pulling silk fibres to make paper.  The fibres snag on absolutely everything, something that makes Chris' teeth itch and I can see him sucking them now as he reads this.

First one a couple of layers of silk with some snippets from the thread pot.  These were the trimmings from the  Granny Squares throw I crocheted recently.  This was done flat under net on teflon.

The shimmer and shine on this is fabulous with the little flashes of colour from the yarns.

Second lot is a bit more random with leftovers I've collected doing other silk things, metal flakes, bits from the thread pot and the like with the net both sides.  Good job I saved the net bag the kindling came in when we were in Ireland, John didn't even question it, he just handed it over before I even asked.  His training is coming on well.  

A little more random and holey but still usable. Great thing about this hot weather is the drying time!

So, I will be a little busy, more than a little anxious and probably minus my long nails very soon as I now have only three months to make show-able stuff rather than 10.  I'm looking forward to the next Silk Club delivery to see what else I will have to annoy Chris' teeth with too!

And in case you were wondering Darren is a fabulous woodturner and sculptor and has a page HERE.

.

'Moonrise' the Compliment to 'Sunset'

In the heat of yesterday I put the last few stitches in this. 

Moonrise

Just before we went to Ireland John had two days out fishing so as my time was my own I pulled out lots of fabrics to make something.  I wasn't quite sure what, and it certainly didn't start as this.  I knew 'Sunrise' (read about that one here) would have a sister quilt at some point, just not when!

Very different trees and a little metallic paint this time.

Still a balance of machine and hand stitch, a discharged moon, plenty of silvery threads and beads.

I'm quite pleased with it and it sits very well next to Sunrise too. 

This is my Mother's Day orchid from Chris still going strong!  I have a few, and one or two I've managed to have them flower again, but this one has now been in full bloom for four months only dropping about 4 flowers.  So lovely.

And after a thoroughly exhausting few days of sport and sunshine, Ellie demonstrates, in her best catalogue pose, how to look elegant in the heat. 

I hope you're enjoying Summer now it's finally here!! (Unless you're downunder and the reverse applies :-) )

.

Peering In

I have finished and mounted the little cocoon collection.

It took a while to distress the canvass until I liked it.

The canvas is 12 inches.

I can see quite a few of these in my future!!  I love it when an original thought becomes reality!!!

.

The Urge to Play and Time to Catch Up

I had my first silk club selection all the way from Australia a couple of weeks back but have been busy doing other things to really have a play with it all.  Yesterday the urge came upon me!

Here are a couple of the cocoons lurking in strange positions.  They actually have size on them and are drying.

Whilst waiting I sprinkled some of the metal flakes, also included in the club selection, onto a piece of flimsy and covered it with  separated layers of the silk hankie.

A whizz through the embellisher and some hand stitching.

This is more the colour than the other photo.  With the addition of some gold work leftovers.

And the cocoons had a bit of a jazz up too with metal flakes on the size, stitch, more gold work bits, beads and some super sparkly organza in the top.

A few Shisha mirrors just because they were hanging around.

And the cocoons have a little home.

Just a little more to be done.  

Last Wednesday John whisked me away to Limoges for a few days.  Yes we have been fabulously lucky to go away a couple of times already this year but this is the first time just as Me and He for a while.  The hotel was lovely and central to the old quarter where the Cathedral Saint Etienne is.  It's one of the few remaining fully Gothic cathedrals left and it is a beauty.  

It has super thin flying buttresses like above and it's covered all over in gargoyles like below.  

Well worth the visit and to the Museum of Beautiful Arts in the Bishop's house next door.  In this museum we found quite a few paintings by the artist Elie Lascaux, very beautiful and lightly surreal, worth putting into Google Images for a quick look.  The shop even had a book all about him in English as well as a French version so that had to come home with us. 

In other news (!) we all seemed to have survived the Google Reader switch off.  In fact it wasn't even noticeable so that was a relief.  I did worry slightly that I may lose you all but you are all still there. GFC and other gadgets weren't affected.

We had a special couple of visitors to the garden last month.  One night after a BBQ I went out to check all was in and saw this little glowworm  between the paving slabs.

It was the first we've seen here so very exciting.  John went in for the torch and I managed this photo too.

We are also pleased to see we still have slowworms.  Sorry if you're a bit squeamish about wriggly things. 

And speaking of squeamish here are Ruger and Ellie practising their levitating head party trick.  Cool eh??

Off to watch a bit of tennis now.  Have a great week.

.