A Little Book

Onto the next project in Sue Bleiweiss' Mixed Media Class.

This time we were using mulberry bark fibre.
This had already been dyed by Steph Francis, it comes in some fantastic colours.
I got mine from Joggles.

Again another fun project bonding the fibre to wool felt and adding metallic foil to give it a bit of ooomf!

We made an accordion book to go inside the covers.
I folded up the bottom of my pages so now it is just the right size to hold ATC's.
I have left the holder blank so the details of the ATC can be added here.
A storage problem solved!

Unlimited Textiles

**********Thank you all for the wonderful response to the call for new members.
We now have a wonderful, vibrant group, a full sign and a waiting list!!**********

My very good friend Jan and I run a little known Yahoo group called Unlimited Textiles.

We came on-line to keep in contact with our members that had moved away, were now at university or had jobs.
Sadly we have dwindled and would love to have some new members.

The group is textile based and low volume to allow for other commitments.
We like to run 2 swaps per month based on a theme.
For example the theme could be Layers and the swaps could be a mini quilt and a bookmark.

You will not have to do both swaps and indeed you will not be forced to swap - where is the fun in that.
But we hope you would enjoy being in our playground enough to join in share ideas and swap when you can.

We would like all abilities.
Perhaps you have been working with textiles for a long time.
Maybe you used textiles a long while ago and think you would like to get back to this great medium.
You may even have never attempted any thing with textiles but would love a fun and supportive group where you can learn.
If you like to share and create with textiles we would very much love you to join us.

We would like to keep the group small, perhaps limited to around 25 members. This way there is an influx of ideas but we will be able to get to know one another without pressure.

If you think you would like to come and join us in our playground please e-mail me (addy in my profile) for an invitation. Or leave a message here and I will get back to you.

Go on, come and play. Hugs, Alis and Jan.

Box

Our next assignment on Sue B's course was to make this great box.

First we had to make the fabric for said box.
For this we fused all sorts of everything and anything together.

Searching for these goodies was when I found that wretched tissue paper.


I used bits of left over fabrics and experiments
from the organza flowers I have been playing with. Skeleton leaves, threads and fibres were also added.


I used some fabric that mum brought me from
Malaysia for the lining.
I love it it is just me and there was a lot of it so I still have more for other projects.


Next was cutting the box and putting it together.
It should have drawers inside. I have the pieces but just not got round to making them yet.
Promise to show you when I do.



I am thrilled with it and the process. What a wonderful use for the leftovers!
Actually I was so surprised when it was finished that it didn't look like leftovers but designed with care from the very start that I couldn't stop talking about it!


Sue always designs such great and fun projects.

Mixed Media Class

During June I took a class with the most excellent Sue Bleiweiss.
It was through Joggles and the class was Mixed Media Surfaces.

Although I've not been too well recently, I did manage to play and really enjoy this course. Sue is so helpful and never lets you feel out of place for being a bit slow.
It also was a great group of girls on the course and it was wonderful to see their work.

The first thing we did was to make a fabric out of some tissue paper.


I knew I had a stack of tissue somewhere but could I find it? NO!
I could only find this dark purple. When it was painted and stamped though I was pleased with it.
Using my heart stamp here ;0)

It isn't very clear from these photos but I did some free machine embroidery over the piece with red rayon thread. Very regal, purple and red, don't you think?



We made the fabric into book covers.
I edged mine with the same red thread and made a cord with fine ribbon on my Kumihimo disc.
The beads at the ends are made from the same tissue fabric.

I still felt it needed something else so made the heart motif by stamping into air drying clay and painting it purple and red. I attached it with a piece of the red ribbon.

I love the way this fabric feels and am pretty pleased with my journal cover.
Just have to make the pages to go inside now.


The missing tissue?
Yes, it turned up when I was searching round for things for the second project in this course.
Typical!

Mini Cushion/Pillow

This is the last piece I have made for the Personal Symbols course.

It is a mini cushion or pillow depending on which part of the world you come from.

This was great fun and I have actually made a few more since but this is the original.

It measures 8 inches squarish.
I painted the fabric and used my own stamps.
I have been rubber stamping for 20 years so I get a kick out of using my own designs - sorry.

The lines in the center are strips of painted Lutradur used throughout this course and stitched to the cushion. The edges are satin stitched.

This has been a great course I have learned a lot about the things stored in my head and how to get at them. Thanks Susan.

I have a couple of pieces to finish from this course and the fabrics are already painted and ready to go but, I started another course!
That is another story so watch this space!

Personal Symbols Painting

For this part of the Personal Symbols course with Susan Sorrell we painted a background on Lutradur and add some of our symbols to it.

I painted my background with Dye-na-flow paints and the symbols in a selection of Stewart Gill and Lumiere acrylic paints.
I added the details with Adirondack pens.

It is quite large for me this piece at 12" x 15".
It needs a bit more work and is hanging on my wall awaiting inspiration.
I think I will cut it to smaller pieces and use as an overlay and embellish the pieces with stitching and beads.
Probably quilties or maybe postcards!

I like these symbols and see a lot of things I can do with them. Must start writing them down or I will forget!

Postcard Swap

On ANUK, Kari organised a birthday postcard swap.
We sent her 6 postcards and we will get 6 different ones back to send to ANUK friends as birthday cards.

I haven't made postcards for a long, long time and never in fabric, so I thought I would have a go.
These are my attempts ;0)

The bottom two are collage on watercolour backgrounds and the others are fabric.
These came from a piece of fabric that I made for another project.
I really liked this textile but there wasn't enough left for another..... whatever really!
But there was enough to make these postcards - yippee!

My favourite is the one in the middle that you can't see because of the flashback. Typical!
But the lady is holding a piece of lace across her face. I put a sheer piece of fabric across the card to match.
A couple of others have little organza flowers on them.

A lovely project that I enjoyed making and will enjoy seeing the others. The best part though will be sending them on to the birthday girls. What a treat. Thanks Kari.

Book Cover for Roger

At the beginning of June my lovely Roger was 60. He is an unassuming man who doesn't like surprises and gets embarrassed at gifts - weird I know but I love him!

Laura and Toby surprised and embarrassed him by turning up unannounced ( we last saw Laura in January and Toby before Christmas, so it was a surprise) and armed with gifts.
We had a lovely weekend and once over the shock Roger enjoyed it too.

The thing is, what to get the man who says he doesn't want anything?
Well he collects and reads a lot of vintage books. He had said that he particularly liked one of my Africa pieces so , voila! I made a book cover to protect the book or books he is reading.

Yes he was surprised and embarrassed - again - but he is over it now and is thrilled with his pressie.
I just love that man ;0)

Here I am!!!

Well at last I am starting to feel like I am fighting my way back to normality - what ever that is!
But I am on the mend and glad to see the back of June.
Thanks to all who sent me lovely e-mails and good wishes. You really have helped.

Gosh what a June.
It was the wettest in the UK since records began. Sheffield has been the worst hit with major floods. Some people are still not back in their homes and won't be for quite a while.
I'm sorry for those of you who are suffering drought at the moment too. The weather is playing tricks on all of us. Nature will have its way.

So, I have played a little but not much but, am raring to go this week so watch this space!



However, I wanted to tell you about Jennifer Rossetti who runs the Etsy shop nellableu. Check her out!
This is some of her art. Her whimsical style never fails to make me smile and I just adore her cheeky blackbirds. I can almost hear them chirruping to each other.

I got these pieces in a give-away. I consider my self very lucky to have her art in my collection.
Thanks Jennifer.

Thank you!

Just a quick note to say thank you for all the lovely comments you have left here.

I usually answer you personally if I can, but I am sending my apologies for not doing so this time.
I have been out of commission but hope to be back creating and blogging very soon.

Once again thank you for visiting me here, whether you leave a comment or not I really appreciate you stopping by.

Hugs, Alis

Two Birds With One Stone!

The 4th lesson on the Personal Symbols class is about carving your own stamp and printing with it.

Coincidentally the challenge on Fibre Art Friends is also on making and using your own stamps.

I have done a little carving using polystyrene pizza trays but never carved a stamp properly.
I had a Speedball block and cutters as I had intended to have a go - sometime - so out they came and off I went.


Oh, if you haven't given this a go you really ought to.


The carving was much easier than I thought - even with my silly hands - and what a thrill to see my own designs on the fabric.


You can see the stamps I made from my doodles at the top. The middle photos are my stamps on the same piece of fabric - long piece hence two photos.


I decided the large leaf was my favourite so stamped alone on the last piece of fabric. This is my favourite.

Flower Girls

My newsletter readers got a sneek preview of my new Flower Girl quilts but I wanted to share them here too.

Each of the little quilts (measuring 5" x 5") feature a little organza flower with a beaded centre.

I have some lovely summery colours that I am working on too.

They are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Fred!

Well it's a funny old month this one.
I just can't seem to get much done. I have enrolled in two great courses but can't get my head down to any work. I have lots of new fabrics to play with but all I do is look at them.
And to cap it off I have so many ideas running around in my head that I just can't get a hold on any one of them to make something.

Most of this unrest comes from (as some of you know) the fact that the Landlord has put our house up for sale and we don't know if we will have to move again - sigh.
Keep your fingers and anything else crossed for me please, so I can stay here ;0)

Now if there is anywhere I can start to unwind and feel good it has to be the beach or the garden.
The beaches are busy now so I spent the weekend in the garden. It was bliss.
I had a new shed delivered so I had to reorganize everything and I got rid of anything that wasn't going to live and made a show of the things that were doing well.
I feel much better now.

Fred kept trying to plant a toy or two in the plant pots and insisting they would grow!
He managed to break two plant pots with his antics - bad dog. Oh well I needed some crocks for the bottoms of pots, just didn't need them to be posh crocks.

My friends daughter Lucy likes to pop into my blog to see if I have any pictures of the animals.
Well Mitzi wouldn't come out as it was much too hot for her but I did manage to get Fred to keep still for a few moments and capture his picture.
Hope you like them Lucy.

Spirito Di ZNE

I am so proud to be the Spirit of Zne

You can see my article here:

Spirito Di ZNE




Thank you to Chel and all at variaZioNE

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Africa 2

This is my second Africa quilt for Unlimited Textiles.

I started with a piece of hand painted fabric and fused the motif to it using Bondaweb.
I covered the piece with two layers of organza and machine stitched over this.
I used a fine soldering iron to burn away the organza over the motif then did a little more machining over the motif.

I'm quite happy with this one. I like the colours and enjoyed playing with my soldering iron ;0)

Great Swap

I have just taken part in the Etsy UK Sellers Secret Swap.

It was organised by Jo at Askey who did a marvelous job of co-ordinating all the players and making sure we didn't know who we were receiving from.

I sent this little quiltie to Tricia of Reform.
She makes fabulous art from reclaimed metal and slate.
I used my rust dyed fabric for the background as it seemed perfect for her.

I received the most gorgeous pair of earrings from Anna at Sakura Fubuki Designs.
Anna makes the most stunning jewellery - very elegant.


My lovely earrings are made from hemonite (hope I got that right) garnet and sterling silver. Anna tells me that these types of orange garnets are associated with helping you dedicate your self to "any endeavor that captures the need for awaited attention". Just perfect for me!
Anna also sent a beautiful print of buds on a willow tree. Love it.

This was a great swap and some fantastic people played. You can see more of the swap here.

Special thanks to Jo, Tricia and Anna for making this a great project.

UPDATE The garnets are Hessonite Garnet. Thank you Anna ;0)

I've got the doodling bug!

I'm doing a course with Susan Sorell at Joggles.
The course is Personal Symbols.

The first lesson is about doodles. This is the way we will find the symbols we want to use.

Oh dear! Had a little panic then got down to work. Very difficult for me at first to draw little sketches on the words Susan gave us.
Then we had to do a page of doodles.
My first was a disaster. OK not quite that bad but it was very disjointed. I drew wavy lines round the doodles to get them to appear together. Made it worse actually so I'm not showing you that!

I started again. Yippee! You can see my page here. I'm thrilled with it.


I was totally absorbed by it and played all day.
I started with symbols from African art and added Mayan symbols. Other shapes are from my first "word" sketches and then I filled in gaps with curvy shapes.
Looking forward to working with areas of my doodle now.

You can see more of my doodles and the backgrounds I am creating on my website Alis Clair.
Click into Gallery and Personal Symbols.

Thank you Susan for starting me on the doodling bug.

Africa

The quiltie theme on Unlimited Textiles this month is Africa.

This is my first quiltie - we have to do two.

The background is layers of organza with painted and burnt nappy liners trapped amongst them. Loads of free machine embroidery and then a motif and threads applied.

The motif is my take on a pattern from an African textile.
I got a bit carried away with this motif - it will be appearing on my next quiltie. I made a stamp of it too and stamped the back of the quiltie.
Now off to find other places to stamp it!!

Garden Update.

Here is an update on my little garden.

Quite a difficult garden actually. This is the first time I have to come to terms with the fact that some things just will NOT grow here.
We were very sheltered in Combe Martin and didn't have the same problems as the rest of the coast.

This garden is south facing so gets the sun all day which would be fine but for the ever constant cold east wind. To cap it all that wind is salty!
Hmmm.
Unfortunately we have lost a few things and look like we will loose the Acers very soon and the hops have dreadful wind burn.


We have got some new plants that seem to be working though. A Cordaline and some ornamental grasses.
The grasses seemed happy enough until the cat and dog thought that they had become grazing animals and proceeded to munch upon the innocent grasses! (told you this is a mad house)

Said grasses are now off the ground and out of harms way. You can see them at the front of the second photo.

The Lavender and the Rosemary are thriving and the rose looks pretty happy too.
All in all I am pleased with the gardens progress and am actually enjoying learning about new plants and finding out what will work.

My Garden Wall

This is a mini quilt that I made for my friend, Cath's, birthday.

It is based on the lovely stone wall in my garden. On first looking at the wall you think it is grey stone. On closer inspection you can see an array of pinks an lilacs hiding just waiting for the sun to shine.

Hope you like it Cath.