When I left you the tissue paper was drying after a hefty does of sprayed, diluted acrylic paint. 

I'm using kunin felt as the wadding - I like felt. It gives support and keeps the construction flat. 

I have cut the felt up into the correct sizes to 'build' the quilt. Then I roughly cut the tissue, adhered it to the front of the felt with spray mount, and folded the surplus over the edges to create a neat edge (I'm thinking that this will suffice and no additional binding will be necessary) and stuck it down on the back with acrylic glue. 

Next up, paints..
And a trusty print block that has had several previous outings.

On the small matter of paint, as you know I am a passionate fan of Fresco Finish paints by Paperartsy, but last week I went to a talk at the MK branch of the embroiders guild given by a lovely, generous artist called Paula Watkins. And she recommended emulsion paint match pots from DIY stores. What a brilliant idea ( why hadn't I though of that before) so Daughter No 1 and I went to investigate. As you can see, Crown paints do a few metallic finishes. I cannot imagine putting them on a wall, but on a piece of art mixed I with other paints - well, I think we are into something here! 

I know that some people who follow me here will also contact me by email from time to time, and if you had a rather strange email from me then let me assure you that I am not in the Ukraine, I haven't gone on holiday, and even if I had certainly wouldn't have picked the Ukraine because of the unsettled political climate at the moment!

I can also assure you that I haven't been mugged and I don't need money (well, no more than usual!) The fact is that my email account was hijacked by some ne'er do well and all my contacts were stolen and emails sent asking them to send money to me at some dodgy Ukrainian email account.

I apologise to everybody who might of got this email and wondered what on earth was going on. I hope that nobody opened the actual email. I don't actually know exactly what was said in the email, because I only found about it when I received a couple of phone calls. Anyway, I do hope that you haven't been affected by this and please rest assured that I am okay and still in the UK.

I spent some time on the helpdesk at BT mail trying to sort this out. To be fair, they were very helpful. I have been able to change my password and it seems that my email is now secure. However, I have lost all of my sent emails and I have also lost all of my contacts. BT are trying to sort this out and I might actually get them back.

But it also seems that through my BT account, or possibly separately, the same ne'er-do-well tried to hijack my Facebook account. Consequently, I am frozen out of Facebook and I'm not quite sure how I rectify this. Still, a small silver lining, my Facebook addiction is now on hold. Instead I can get on and do some creating. 

So enough about my trials and tribulations.

To console ourselves Daughter No 1 and I went to my favourite tea shop.


She had a Three Berry Fruit Tea - it was glorious in colour.



All the tea pots come in knitted cosies.

Then we went shopping.

And we found this little gem - ideal for Daughter No 1's growing thread collection.




And then I got on with the somewhat delicate process of colouring tissue paper (it tears so easily).

After the paint auditioning session from the last post I decided on 'Chartreuse' and 'Sea Weed' from the Fresco Finish range by Paperartsy.


I used spray bottles - diluting the paint appx 50:50 paint to water.

I sprayed about 6 sheets of tissue paper - I had to leave the tissue to dry in situ because when wet it is really too delicate to handle.  That made the process rather time consuming.



But the results definitely looked promising!

In no particular order, I managed to achieve the following things.

Do you remember earlier in the year I was playing about with some pepper images? Finally, and after a bit of a framing hassle, I have delivered those peppers to their new owners. They are going to hang in a delicatessen run by a couple of good friends. Depending on how good they look in their new location I may be asked to do some more. 

I finished the memories Journal (see last blog post). 

I packaged up and delivered to their 'taxi ride' the two pieces I have entered to Uttoxeter exhibition later this month.

I did a little video on the last blog post and managed, with a little bit of difficulty, to upload it to YouTube and then get it published into the blog. That was a first!

So, a pretty good weekend.

On the downside, I didn't get any packing done, but we still don't have anywhere to move to. This is now getting a bit beyond a joke! We have seen many houses that might have worked, but for a variety of reasons did not tick the box.  Then last week we thought we might have found "the one"! 

However, it was not meant to be because on reflection decided it was just too far from the office.

So it's back to the drawing board! 

A prototype art doll perched by my bed. Not a great photo - I'm sorry about that. 

Meantime, she has a growing family of sisters. I'll try to post them tomorrow. 

But again I have been packing in the creativity with a tight deadline so something had to give.  Blogging v creating.  Creating won! 

And again ( too many agains, but bear with) said creativity has involved a Boneo box - but shhh - don't tell anyone since this is another present.  Am I developing a Boneo obsession?  Well as it is the lovely Chris Gray called me Boneo Bird when we met at the NEC.  You decide ( though I suspect the next post won't have a Boneo theme, not least because the dog has moved onto Gravy Bones!) 

You might want to grab another brew as another bit of a tutorial on how I did this one coming up. Settle down everyone. Are you sitting comfortably? 

Right - I'll begin.

And in the beginning there was, yes, you've guessed! A Boneo Box! 

And a page from my sketch book.



Back to the boxes - in fact there were 3 boxes and I covered them all at the same time.

Brown paper and PVA glue (spread the glue all over the paper - I used an old credit card - and then smooth it down with your hand.  You might have a few wrinkles, but that is not the end of the world).

Then, small calico squares (backed with Bondaweb and ironed on to the covers).

Then I applied a coat of white acrylic paint to give me a decent background to work with.  I could have used gesso, but the gesso I have has a certain grainy texture which I didn't want.  I also did not want to get involved with any sanding between coats.  So a white heavy body acrylic works just fine.  (I used Daler Rowney)


Then paint - again those lovely Fresco Finish acrylics from Paper Artsy. Pink for a girl.


The background is Blush with a touch of Very Berry.


I used a sponge. Here I am getting the next colours sorted out (Claret mixed into some Blush).


And here is a fab stencil I bought on my last outing to the NEC (which you can read about here).

I have no idea who the retailer was who had this stamp.  It was all a bit chaotic. They were in the Hobbycraft gallery, rather than the textiles one.

(Sorry about the colour changes here - some photos were taken in daylight and some under artificial light).

Next up a bit of coloured grunge paste.

And the stencil I cut for the last 'Book' I made.


Then I added some detail to the leaves with silver acrylic and a Pistachio green from the Fresco Finish range.


Then I cut out tiny silver foil leaves - it's the silver side I wanted.


And a button/ribbon combo to the front.

I should say that the silver leaves were stuck with matt medium and the whole cover was given a good coating of matt medium.  It makes everything feel finished and gives a good finish.

Then I turned to the pages and tags.

I used rag paper for the pages and the same paints as before.





I added pockets to some of the pages.




Here are the book innards - looking a bit like a book (albeit a random book!)


And a recycled envelope for a pocket.