Thursday morning relections
22 September 2011
I have been looking back at some earlier posts and found that I had recorded in June that I was determined to try to do something creative every day. Lately I have been failing dismally. I have been playing host to a number of (very nice) house guests. But they are work related so the evenings have tended to involve discussion about the day job, walking the dog and drinking wine. All nice activities but not necessarily creative ones.
I sometimes wonder why I keep this blog, and at moments like this, when I sit down and wonder where the week has gone already, it all falls into focus. This blog reminds me that of my creative side and provides an incentive and discipline.
And, it also makes me focus on the positives and what I have done.
More sketchbooking:
Beginning work on In a Spanish Garden 2:
And working on the business plan for Son No 1. (not very photographic!)
I'll come back to In a Spanish Garden 2. Mixed media (I hate that phrase actually) and a challenge to manage with the sewing machine.
I sometimes wonder why I keep this blog, and at moments like this, when I sit down and wonder where the week has gone already, it all falls into focus. This blog reminds me that of my creative side and provides an incentive and discipline.
And, it also makes me focus on the positives and what I have done.
More sketchbooking:
Beginning work on In a Spanish Garden 2:
And working on the business plan for Son No 1. (not very photographic!)
I'll come back to In a Spanish Garden 2. Mixed media (I hate that phrase actually) and a challenge to manage with the sewing machine.
Festival of Quilts 2011
15 September 2011
There are lots of blogs out there with better reports of the FoQ (check out Steph Redfern and Linda Kemshall for instance) and my report would have been more comprehensive had I not had a camera malfunction. But anyway I thought I would share some inspirational images (and my apologies to the artists - with a few exceptions I did not note down who you were - it was just too crowded to be so organised).
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| This one was an award winner by Hilary Beatie - check out her website (see links at the side of the page) |
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| I loved the novel embellishment on this little quilt - all sourced from the hardware rather than the haberdashery store. |
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| The photo does not do this justice - but it was a modern take on old samplers. |
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| Another one by Hilary Beatie - one to watch! |
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| I love this! A knitted quilt! |
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| It was the colours of this quilt that caught my eye. |
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| Three more from Hilary - another award winner. That woman has so much energy! |
Not just for kids
13 September 2011
A little while ago in one of my favourite shops (The Works)
I found some cheap wooden rolling pins aimed at children and I guess with
Playdoh or plasticine in mind.
They had interesting patterns in the wood and so, because
they were so cheap, I delved into my purse and bought them. A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to
have a play with them.
They are great for back ground texture. I was using ordinary acrylic paint and at
some point I will also try some stitch and a bit of ‘burn’ with the hot air
gun. But for now here is are the
results.
Late summer gardening
9 September 2011
It’s all feeling a bit like autumn here in
Northamptonshire. But it’s a fab time of
year to go to the garden centre and pick up a few bargains while perusing the
spring bulbs. As this is only a rented
house I am not inclined to do much with the garden other than my pots, which I
can take with me when I move on.
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| This gem was less than half price and is flowering it's socks off! |
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| A heuchera and a beautiful lime green sage look stunning together |
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| Not exactly helping, more supervising. |
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| And a random picture of the concrete with the moss. Surely some future stitch inspiration. |
and more from Seville
6 September 2011
Here is a simple but I think effective technique!
I like this tower by the river in Seville. ( I think it is called
the Giralda Tower). It is right on the
river and was part of the old Moorish city ramparts.
I took photos when I was there last year and then using
Paint.Net (which is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows and has a simple
photo manipulation programme) I changed the image to black and white (in effect
turning it into a line drawing), which I then printed it up onto ordinary A4 computer
paper – nothing special. Then, just
using a spray adhesive, I mounted the paper onto a scrap of pelmet vilene and simply
free hand stitched over the line drawing in black, with black thread also in
the bobbin.
This is the reverse side – and I love it. It looks very relaxed but confident but is slightly misleading because I am not confident with my drawing skills though I am quite happy free hand stitching with the machine.
This is a great way to practise ‘drawing’
with the machine (a bit like learning to write by going over printed letters
with a pencil when we were at primary school!) and I know we should all be
practising drawing every day - but you know what, sometimes a little cheating is
fine!
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