Alis' Midnight Garden

I love Terri of StegArts work, it always makes me smile. So when I found out she was doing an online class on Paper Quilting I just had to sign up.

I have just finished my week one assignment and here it is ;0)
It was so much fun to do. The first part is lovely and painty and gluey and messy - just perfect. The putting it all together was a blast to see the picture take shape.

I only could find tissue paper with Stars on in Ilfracombe and as my background turned out a little dark I thought Alis' Midnight Garden would be a great title for it.
So I added a full moon to shine on the little star flowers.

I'm not sure how I will display this piece yet. I think it would look good in a frame but I will have to look around to get the right one.

Got my homework to do this weekend then look forward to the next weeks project.
Can't wait!

More journals

The journal class is finished now ;0( But these will not be the last journals I make.
This class has been such good fun and the journals from the other students have all been so different.
You should be able to see them here: Journals



This brown journal is made from brown paper. It honestly looks and feels like leather.
Needless to say Roger has claimed it for his very own. He picked the button and beads.
The pockets inside are brown envelopes. It measures 9 x 6inches closed.

The 5th journal is tall and thin - just like me (not) - and is perfect for list makers. We like lists in this house ;0)
It measures 4.5 x 11.5 inches closed. It has 4 signatures inside and each one can be removed when used up and another slipped in. Great design.




Sue's classes are always great and this one has been fantastic. There will be many more journals made in my studio I am sure.

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.

Circus

At Alter-Native UK in March the Skinny Book Page theme was Circus.

I wanted to use some fabric that I had used before for a Circus theme.
It is bright and fun, but I didn't have quite enough for the 5" x 3" pages.

I printed some vintage circus pictures on to iron on cotton and fused them to the fabric and ran round the edge with a zig zag stitch.

As the pages are going to make a book of collages I decided to stitch my fabrics to some watercolour paper that I painted in bright colours.
This makes the pages sturdy and will fit in the books better I hope.

I always love the trapeze and would love to fly like that but how can I get over my fear of heights and climb the ladder!!
I'll probably just stay on the ground and marvel instead ;0)

Holey ATC's

ATC's with holes in was the theme for a swap on AlterNative UK.

What a fun theme to work with.

I had lots of ideas but went with a geometric theme using photograph slides, various backgrounds and seed beads.
I threaded the seedbeads onto wire to suspend them across the holes.

Vintage Arch

My partner for the arch swap on Textile Challenges this time was Patsy.
Patsy loves vintage and tea dye colours.

I used rust dyed fabric for the background and a printed chiffon scarf as an overlay.
I printed the image of the lovely lady onto silk, as I wanted a dreamy look to the piece, and stitched it on the arch.
It still needed something so a good root around in my stash drawer was rewarded with some lovely creamy antique lace.
I used a string of pearly beads to add a little more texture and some cotton rick rack braid for the edges.

This was one of those pieces that just flowed as it went along and practically built itself.
I am pleased to report that Patsy was very happy with it ;0)

Passion!

Everybody needs a bit of passion in their lives don't you think.

The theme for February at Unlimited Textiles was "Passion" and these were my pieces for the swap.

Both the brooch and quiltie were made from the same fabric.
I used lots of layers of velvets, satin, brocade and organza's to create it and covered it in free motion machine embroidery.

On the quiltie (measures 5" square) I stitched a photo of a courting couple to the background and made a little heart to add as embellishment.
I highlighted some of the embroidery with seed beads and framed it all with velvet ribbon.

I cut the brooch heart out of the fabric, backed it with felt and zig zagged the edges.
I added the seed beads and a little bead tassel for embellishment.
There is a brooch back on the reverse so that June (my partner) can pin her heart to her sleeve ;0)

Postcards

These are a couple of birthday postcards for some friends on Fibre Art Friends.

The backgrounds are painted felt and I used strips of fabric to add interest.

The first one has Japanese style fabrics so went to Mags with the Garden Gate (previous post) as they matched.
The other with some of my own painted and stamped fabrics went to Lynda.

Postcards are such a great size to work on.

Through the Garden Gate

The last page for the swap on Fibre Art Friends is for Mags.
She asked for doors, windows and garden gates.
I chose garden gates.

The background fabrics are some lovely Japanese style fabrics that I thought were just perfect for this project.

I printed the photograph (of the rose garden where we spent our hols last year) on to iron on cotton and ironed to the background fabric.
This was layered on to cotton batting so I could get a quilted look.
I did a little machine embroidery around the photograph to soften the edges and pull your eye into the garden.

The gate worked out better than I hoped.
I drew the gate pattern onto water soluble fabric.
I wanted to do some free machine embroidery onto water soluble fabric but I had not done this before so, being a coward I put the water soluble fabric onto some black organza.

When the embroidery was finished and the soluble fabric washed away I burnt out the organza with a soldering iron.

I hand stitched the gate to the edge of the quilt so it would open and you can walk into the garden.

I hope Mags will like it. If not my Mum says she can send it back as she quite fancied it ;0)

Seahorse Fantasy.

My partner on Textile Challenges in January was Lyn.
She expressed a preference for blues and greens and loves the ocean.
A woman after my own heart ;0)

I've been gathering things together on this theme for a while and not done anything with them so this was the ideal opportunity.

The background is hand painted cotton.
I used Dye-na-Flow paints. I love the way they dye the fabric without all the messing.
The seahorses are my own drawings that I printed to white, iron on cotton, I cut round the pictures and ironed them to the background.

I quilted round the seahorses and then added fibres by needle felting them down to represent seaweed.
Some shell pieces and little beads add embellishment.

The arch measures 8" x 4"

I had great fun making this piece and it has given me ideas for a bigger piece. Now I just have to get those ideas out of my head and on to fabric.

Art Nouveau

The theme for January's swap at Unlimited Textiles was Art Nouveau.
Well new year, new art.

I love this style. It flows and grows with spirals and curves and is just beautiful.
With my love of flowers it was certain what I would choose as my focus.

I had some lovely pieces of green silk that were too small to do much with but made great backgrounds for my flowers.
The flowers are organza. I cut out the shapes with a small point on my soldering iron.
I like to do this as the edges don't fray but I have to remember to wear a mask as the fumes are unpleasant.

I did a little detail with gold thread which quilted the items too.

The ATC's are zig zagged onto pelmet vilene and the quiltie (5" x 5") is backed with hand painted cotton.

African Mask

My January fabric page on Fibre Art Friends was for Kim. Her theme is African Masks.

Now if you remember when I made the India page I struggled to get my idea to work and I thought I would have the same problem with this.
But thankfully the mask was in a good mood and played along beautifully.

The picture doesn't really show that the centre of the mask is quite padded and is quilted over the eyebrows and nose.
The Hessian is spray glued to some heavy paper to stop it flopping about.

I used some gorgeous hand dyed fabrics that I received in a trade with Marion.

All in all I had a wonderful time making this page ;0)

Enchanted Forest

This is my work in Maz's Anne of Green Gables altered book.

I have a confession. I never read the book. Everyone in my class did - all at the same time.
See I never did go with the flow ;0)

When the book came I had a dilemma. To read or not to read.
I intended to read. We got the book and Roger read it and loved it but I did not get round to it, always something else got in the way.
So these pages are my work on his ideas - team work.

He loved that Anne had such a vivid imagination and made up stories and day dreams, especially an enchanted forest.

I hope Maz likes it and feels we got it right - even just a little bit.

Skinny Book Pages

The yearly swap this time on AlterNative UK is to make and collect pages for a Skinny Book.
The size is 3"x 5". Not too skinny and a really good size too work on.

The theme for January is "photographs".
Well of course I have lots of photographs of lovely vintage ladies and I do a bit of scrapbooking so this was a great theme for me.

The background papers have been painted with acrylic paints using various commercial and handmade stencils. A little bit of scrapbook paper attached itself and then the photos and a few embellishments to add a bit of texture.

My partners were happy with them and that makes me happy too ;0)

Helen's Page

Well one step forward two steps back with my health has made me very late with this fabric page for Helen.

This is for a swap on Fibre Art Friends
and is a fabric page measuring 7 inches square.
Helen's theme is India.

I had some wonderful ideas using elephants and birds but they ended up on the studio floor!
I may try to get them to work at a later date.

So this quilted page is based on Banjara textiles and incorporates actual sari fabrics. The other fabrics are hand painted felt.
It is a bit bright isn't it?!
I was quite happy with it in the end and Helen says she is very pleased with it too.

Christmas Day

Well before I leave the Christmas theme behind I just wanted to share a little bit of my Christmas day.

My Brother runs a very popular pub, but he will be moving on and into business with one of his sons this year.
So, for once, he closed the pub on Christmas day and all the family arrived for dinner.


We had the most wonderful dinner with lots of laughter and a very big slice of love.


It was great to all be together and the first time all the little cousins were in one place.
It is so funny to think of my baby brother as a grandfather and even funnier to think of my folks as great grandparents! All are far too young.

This is Laura with my brother's sons Philip and Lewis. You can see Ian in the background.

I hope your Christmas was as much fun as mine.