If you are like me then you can get a bit confused with all of the different products out there which are available for mixed media and textile artists.

What do they all do?

Which ones should I be investing in?

Well, in an early morning blog reading session over a cup of coffee I found this.

It's a really good example of the possibilities of Matt Gel and at the beginning does show you the difference between Matt medium and gel. Sorry, you might already have known this, but for me this was a bit of a revelation. Also, and you can hear the pennies clanking as they drop, I now appreciate that I can extend my paints and make some a bit more translucent by using Matt medium. Duh!! 

This artist does not use any stitch in the canvas. However the possibilities of using dried Matt gel in stitched projects does seem rather exciting.

Anyway this is only a quick post because I've got a heap of chores to do including finishing the little wedding favours. I will do a proper post about these later. I've also got to do the samples book for Festival of quilts ( for the Contemporary Qulit Gallery and all the Dislocation samples) and in my mind I have a new piece of work brewing. This is a good thing because I actually haven't done a piece of work since the dislocation quilt and really do need to let the creative juices flow.

Have a good day.

Quietly, I am thrilled!

Even more experienced Quilters it seems were not selected. So as well as being thrilled, I am also very honoured and slightly humbled.

And then the other bit of news was that the bride signed off the wording about Afternoon Tea.  So I have got to crack on and finish those little pieces ready for the wedding at the beginning of August.

Oh, and there is one more bit of news! Horizons : al- Zahara, the quilt I made for last years CQ Gallery, has been invited to go on its travels again. I need to do a little bit of repair work before I send it on its next journey because the tissue paper on which it is quilted is getting a bit ragged at the edges. 

I'm not too concerned because I think I can do a nifty repair job with a bit of matt medium.

I have been commissioned to make some little wedding favours - little works of art to explain the origin of afternoon tea.   

There are 70 guests so this has to be simple. I'm going to use Khadi paper with flower petals, lovely and someone else has done the work, with some words printed on the side and a possible Tea Cup print. 

Here are my words ( the first draft) and some of the images I have been playing with in my sketch book.  You can probably tell a few home made stamps have been used. 

That delightful British institution, Afternoon Tea, has it's roots not a million miles from here.  Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, experienced "that sinking feeling" during the late afternoon. At the time it was usual for people to have only two main meals a day, breakfast, and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The solution for the Duchess was a pot a tea with a little something, and afternoon tea was born.

Later friends were invited to join her in her rooms at  Woburn Abbey for walks and tea.  Other social hostesses quickly picked up on the idea and the practice became respectable enough to move it into the drawing room. Before long all of fashionable society was sipping tea and nibbling sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.

So what better way is there to celebrate the wedding of X& X? 

Our celebration tea includes:- 

* A range of fruit fizzes and presses

* A selection of fine teas 

* finger sandwiches 

* beautiful and delicious cakes and fancies 

And of course The Wedding Cake 

So, Dislocation is finished, hanging on the cupboard door still and the selection process has begun. 

We had to send our samples and upload our photos and the quilts will be juried into the exhibition based on these. There are more entries than space so some will be disappointed. It is interesting to know how the selection criteria will be applied ( actually, it isn't clear what the selection criteria are). 

Mean while, you know me - little bit of meandering around the web and I found this little watercolour "how to" video. 

A useful tutorial so I thought I should share it with you. 

Enjoy.