The Ladies

I love to use vintage ladies in my art, mostly unclothed!

These two lovelies were for special presents for two special ladies.

The first was for Maz's birthday. It is a Skinny Book Page measuring 3 x 5 inches.
Maz is our leader at AlterNative UK. The ongoing swap this year is these Skinny Pages so I thought she could add this to her book.
I know she likes rudey nudey's too ;0)



The second is a Chunky Book Page measuring 4 inches square.
It is for a special project my friend is getting together for a mutual friend who is getting married this year.


I can't say any more in case I ruin the surprise as many artists have come together to complete this project. Very exciting.

A few Journals

Just recently I have been on an on-line course with the most excellent Sue Bleiweiss.
This class was Journal Making for the Fibre Artist.
As usual I found Sue's class informative, clear to follow, fun and absorbing.

These are the first 3 journals I made on the class.
The first measures 9ins high and 8ins wide when closed.

There are three signatures each with a pocket on the front of each to hold tags or found goodies. Inside are decorated pages. Some stamped and some with stickers or printed images.

I have started to use this one for my patchwork class and the pocket at the front holds the templates for my current project.





The second journal is actually a sketchbook.
It measures 9ins high and 12ins wide when closed.
There are pockets inside the front and back covers to hold pens, pencils and paintbrushes.
I used watercolour paper for the pages.
It is bound with binding rings so pages can be replaced easily.






The third is made like a scrapbook album and would make a wonderful gift with photos mounted inside.

I used asian type fabric and used a chop stick and beads as embellishments to the binding.
Inside used handmade papers, vellum and hand painted papers.


There are 5 journals on the course. I am starting my last one today.
I will show you number 4 and 5 later this week ;0)

Triumph and Tragedy

Pamela of Magdalene Jewels started a project on her blog in January called Triumph and Tragedy.
Her idea is to make 2 quilts with blocks from various artists on the triumphs and tragedies of the 20th century.
You can read about it here Triumph and Tragedy

I am proud to say that I am part of this project.

The subjects are varied, from global tragedies such as 9/11 and hurricane Katrina to personal tragedies such as the death of a child.
The triumphs are just a varied from the first moon landing to reminders of the beauty of our earth and how fragile it can be.

I wanted to pick something that is very close to my heart.
Living on the coast, the Lifeboats of the RNLI and their crews are the unsung heroes of our everyday lives who go unnoticed, even by many in this country, until summer when they can be seen rescuing people caught out by the tide or stuck half way up a cliff face.
But these crews also work in the deep dark winter to save many lives in our waters.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that provides a 24-hour lifesaving service around the UK and Republic of Ireland. To note is that our lifeboat service in the UK receives no government funding. The crews are volunteers who are ordinary working people from everyday life but deserve to be called heroes for the fantastic work they do.

You can read all about the RNLI here at their website
I urge you to go the press centre and visit the Photo Library. There are some spectacular photographs of the boats in action.

So my project picked I wanted to show that these fantastic people have tragedies as well as triumphs.

The first quilt is a lifeboat returning proudly to its safe harbour and the second is a boat that got stuck on some rocks recently while trying to save a small boat. The boat was saved although the lifeboat was beyond repair.
A little triumph and tragedy all of it's own.

I wanted to give a feeling of the waves so the background pieces are quilted with wavy lines. The pictures of the lifeboats were printed onto cotton and ironed to the backgrounds and satin stitched around the edges.

Don't forget to keep up with the progress of this extraordinary quilt on Pamela's blog.

Fly dragonfly!

I am a member of a great Etsy team called Boomers and Beyond.
During the month of March we had our first swap. It was great fun.

This is the piece I made for Sharon of Night Sky Jewelry.
I wanted to do a dragonfly but couldn't think of the best way to do it. I could see it in my minds eye but could I get it out of there in into reality - not for ages.
So right on the last moment out of my mind flew the dragonfly.

Its body is a piece of decorated felt that I attached to the background (machine quilted fabric) with a few stitches.
The wings are made from an iridescent film on one side and crystal organza on the other with machine stitching to make the veins.

The wings were placed over the body and free machine embroidered to give a little texture to the body. Little flower stamens were glued in place to make antennae.

I attached the main piece to teal cotton velvet and made a machine wrapped cord to hang it by.

I must make a note to myself to get into the habit of making notes! I know there were things I would change if I did this again but, unfortunately now I have forgotten what they are.

Oh yes, I received some fabulous hand spun wool. I have nearly finished knitting it up so watch this space ;0)

The Egyptian Connection

Well March went the way of February and April is going the same way! What happened to them?
Time just seems to be slipping away from me at the moment. The fact that my Muse has gone on an extended holiday doesn't help matters but, I keep hoping she will come back soon.

March was definitely an Egyptian month for me. I love Ancient Egypt so was happy to play with this theme.

The first piece is and arch that I made for Mags on Textile Challenges. It is approx. 8ins high.
I used the last of my rust dyed fabrics (funny but when I did that fabric I thought it would sit in the drawer unused for ever! Now I need more.) for the background and used satins and silks for the Blue Lotus flower.
This is the flower that the ancient Egyptians revered and used in many decorations especially the tops of the columns they made.
I did some free motion embroidery on the background and then rubbed it with various brown ink pads to give it a shabby look. Last I added little beads to the flower.

The theme on Unlimited Textiles was Egypt too.
The first piece is an art doll for Patsy.

I printed an image of Hathor onto voile and quilted it with 2 layers of batting and used some cotton on the back.
I rubbed the piece with brown inks and sprayed it with walnut ink.
Beads were added for embellishment.

I don't know if ancient Egyptian children had cloth dolls they have not survived the passage of time.
But if one were to be found I hope it would look something like this.



This last piece is a 5ins. mini quilt for SuZ

I was lucky enough to find the blue fabric with the stars on. It is an image found on the ceilings of many Egyptian tombs and made a great background.
The image was printed on cotton.
All were covered with a chiffon scarf and quilted and again rubbed with brown inks.
The backing is rust batik fabric.

The embellishment is made from friendly plastic and stamped with The Eye of Horus.
I love to add beads - have you noticed that?!

All in all it was great to walk like an Egyptian.