Christmas Kiss!

Ever since I did Terri Stegmiller's "Paper Quilting Exploration" course I have been looking for an excuse to do more of this technique and especially more birdies ;0)

Well my chance was on this quiltie to Pam via Unlimited Textiles.
The theme was Winter Wonderland and I chose to do these two little robins.


The background is fabric paper using tissue and fine fabric, the robins are made from scrapbook paper.
I used a couple of strands of fancy wool for the branches and free machined spines to look like fir tree branches.
A twinkling, solitary star looks down and sari ribbon makes the frame.
The quiltie measures 5 inches square.

Merry Christmas Pam!

Moon Goddess

My very last arch of the year long swap at Textile Challenges is for Carol Rowland.
Carol likes fantasy figures so a Moon Goddess came to my mind.

The background is calico painted and stamped with acrylic paints. The detail on the side is drawn with pen and ink.
The goddess herself is one of my drawings that I scanned into the computer and printed out on to cotton.

I get the printable cotton from Crafty Computer Paper. You print the image, cut it out, peel off the backing and iron in place.

I wanted it to look like she is gathering energy from the moon so I used metallic thread to sew the energy lines and added seed beads for sparkles.
The edge is satin stitched with metallic thread.

Mayan Sun

The theme for November on Unlimited Textiles was "The Latin American Way"
I really fancied doing something bright, colourful and based round carnival.

So what happened?
Well the thing is I have a fascination for Mesoamerican cultures and elements of this just slip into my work from time to time.
In fact I am working on a body of work on this subject with my good friend Jan.
So you see the Mayan vibes just took over ;0)

The background is made up from layers of cottons and organzas. I wanted the simple quilting to represent the stone blocks used in Mayan buildings.
The sun was an important symbol to these people and mine is made from some of my handmade silk paper attached to the background with seed beads.

This quilt is now on the way to Marga in Florida. Marga lives the "Latin American Way" so I hopes she enjoys my interpretation.

Ceiling Boss

This is the penultimate arch in the year long arch swap on Textile Challenges.
This one is for Carol Taylor.
Carol likes Gothic architecture and, a girl after my own heart, purple ;0)

This piece is based on a ceiling boss from Exeter Cathedral.

I started with black cotton velvet and bonded metallic foils to it using Bondaweb. I covered this with a black chiffon scarf and quilted it all with metallic thread.

The detail is made from 2 layers of silk paper I made a few weeks ago, on top of each other and the edges zig zagged on the sewing machine.
The very centre is beaded. Zig zag detail is used to represent the stone struts.
I'm hoping Carol will like this piece.



I will be at Exeter Cathedral tomorrow for a Carol Service. We visit at least once a year and the architecture never fails to impress me. I really enjoyed interpreting it this way.

Flower Cardian

I have a new cousin. Well I think she is a cousin!
She is my Mum's, cousin's granddaughter.

What ever she turns out to be on our complicated family tree, Eleanor Faye will be much loved and receive lots of attention.

I will be going to see her for the first time on Friday and I am taking along this little cardigan that I have made for her.

I love to knit and this was a joy to do.
I haven't done a picot edge before so enjoyed that but, my favourite part was knitting the little flowers. I added antique mother of pearl buttons.


Of course such a pretty confection needs to have a partner so I bought a pair of denim dungarees for Eleanor to wear too ;0)