Royal - New Textile Piece

I have always been fascinated with Pomegranates. They have such a beautiful shape, topped with a sweet little crown. We had a small tree in our country garden where I grew up and as an adult have been guilty of buying them from the supermarket because they look fabulous in the fruit bowl.... with the intention of painting or drawing them. Occasionally I remember to at least photograph them! Consequently they rarely end up eaten either.....

Black and white commercially printed cotton as the background; the pomegrantate shape is cut from a thrift shop top that I sadly couldn't fit into! ...I have satin stitched the seeds and will probably kantha stitch the entire background and finally add some borders.... 

I am imagining a series of these.....

 ROYAL POMEGRANATE #1 (DETAIL)

There are a couple of exhibitions coming up that I would love to exhibit in so I had better get busy and get this one framed. The Kissing Tree- finally completed!

THE KISSING TREE (DETAIL)

I'll post pictures of the finished framed pieces. 

Of the colour Red… plus bitumen!

I promised photos of my new red living room…. Wow! It is a different room and I adore it. I love being immersed in colour as opposed to just splashes of colour or feature walls….. Even the horrid brown panelling painted beautifully (with Antique White USA (Dulux)) It was perfect for all the trim and a built in bookcase near the front door too… I’m so happy with the colour… Red Stop (also Dulux) Love it, Love it!

New living room colour + Mojo!

After!

Before!

I just need a few new cushions and a rug and a throw rug. There isn't much wall space left for artwork...but maybe just a few small pieces...?!

While I'm on the colour Red, this is where I'm up to with my Tree Of Life #2! I still have some little details to stitch on... some tree roots, an edging, some details on the sun and moon I think, and some more hair on bird self (I've gone red again!)

my Tree of Life #2

I tried out the bitumen technique that Gary Reef shared on his site Loving Mixed Media again. I think I’m officially hooked! Here is the first one finished…

Bitumen experiment #1

This one is I used a simple paper doiley and a wall décor sticker thingy as a stencil…

Bitumen experiment #2

This circular one is another old unfinished collage (there’s more of them hanging around the studio that might get a face lift yet!) Not finished rubbing back yet....

Bitumen experiment #3

Eager to try some more!

Meeting a friend to discuss our entries into an upcoming upcycled fashion parade...

Her Heart - and another!

I made a couple more heart hangers over the weekend! I'm definitely addicted -for the moment anyway!

'' Hers'

This one is made of a rusted piece of embroidered linen. I added a little more embroidery, a chiffon rose and some beads I found in my stash that look a little like seed pods or shells of some sort.

Jacobean Heart

The Jacobean Heart is made from an old printed serviette that my SIL gifted me earlier in the year (they had been left in a cupboard in a house she bought!) I added running stitch embroidery, a piece of whitework with some french knots, a Tim Holtz bird stamp and some lovely mother of pearl buttons. The back is plain white; cut from the same serviette.

If I get time today, I hope to add them to my etsy store which has been sitting unused for a while!

Carving and Dyeing....

Results of today’s dye pot:

A small batch of Brown Onion Skin and Dark Red Rose Petals with iron added after taking out the silk. These will blend nicely with some others I have dyed......... The small square cloth at bottom left is a hand stitched serviette. I love recycling old household textiles!

I carved a couple of stamps- a wee bird and a goldfish that has been drawn for some time! Oh, and a little gothic window…….

I also printed the gothic window onto fabric but forgot to take a photo...

I've had a fun studio day and managed to have an enjoyable lunch and chat at friend's.

Back to work tomorrow......

Hope to be back soon....

Beasties..

I'm currently doing Jude Hill's online Patchwork Beasts workshop... and loving it. There is some really wonderful work being created and as always Jude is sharing of her knowledge and gentle in her teaching approach. I've not been able to create as much as I would have liked but have followed the workshop blog and lessons.

This is the start of my second piece; Hey Diddle Diddle. The cow body is pieced; so far the other bits and pieces (head, legs, udder) are just pinned on. It is a lot of fun and I hope to add the rest of the menagerie! You know, the little dog, the cat and the fiddle, the dish and......

This was my first attempt at free piecing... I don't love it but it has become a little sampler for the techniques....

Back to work tomorrow... I had some oral surgery on Friday (teeth extracted!) and still feel a little off... Looking forward to playing with fabric over the weekend....!

SpiritCloth Workshop

I'm back- I've been reading through lots of troubleshooting questions on the blogger site and have moved back to the old editor for now.. at least I can add a post this way! It's been a frustrating few days trying to get this to work...

I'm really enjoying Jude Hill's SpiritCloth Online workshop... we're learning lots of techniques and asking ourselves lots of 'what ifs' in our process of creating a Story Cloth.... I'm loving the techniques; and will eventually try each type and make a sampler so I don't forget in the future!

I've put together quite a few different bases; this one I blogged about last week; old, old linen and cotton. I've been thinking that the linen reminds me of something and I know what it is now; papyrus. The fibres are visible and the stiffness of this little piece reminds me of the coarse texture of papyrus.

This is where I am up to with this one now; a story is starting to be told. The bird is seeking inner strength and is safe to be with her thoughts whilst in the tree. The tree itself is nuturing and protecting. Sometimes in my life I am happy to be the tree and other times I just want to be that bird sitting safely in the branches. The roots are couched threads and frayings. The sky, earth and tree are all hand-dyed.

Detail

Detail

Bird Detail

I think the cycles of life are going to be incluede in this cloth too...

Here is where I am up to with my Sun piece; I envisage it being part of a larger cloth. I adore working on this hand dyed lined background....

The Sun

Here is another little 'what if'. What if I put that gorgeous coloured hand dyed silk piece on a piece of that tweed? And what if I dig in my jar of scraps and pull out.... that piece of vintage necktie fabric and put it on top. What if that looks like a tree? What if I stitch it down just there?

Tree on Tweed

of Pastel Paintings

Mum’s glasses case is finished and on it’s way! I lined it with soft fleecy and added blanket stitch around the top edge. I'm pleased with how it's turned out! I hope she like's it!

Glasses Case; silks, cottons, sari silks, ribbon, organza and hand embroidery

I promised a while ago that I would add a photo of the plates my Brother and SIL gave me when they visited. They are oval shaped with a delightful border..... I just love the colourful retro birds…!

I had a productive day in the studio yesterday; finishing this pastel painting which was quite literally gathering dust! It's approx 48cm x 68cm [19" x 27"]  and is the largest pastel I have done to date... I used Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer which is my favourite ground for pastel. It has such a nice 'bite'...!

Virginia Creeper

I also started and completed this smaller piece which I’m hoping to get framed at work in time for a few local exhibitions. Also on Colourfix Primer. 29cm x 22cm [11" x 8 1/2"] It is based on a photo I took at one of my Garden Club visits.

Untitled....  I'd love your help to title this painting...!

Umm... no stitching yet this week... but my fingers are itching to do some! I'm not sure about starting something new before I begin Jude Hill's online Spirit Cloth workshop.... No doubt I won't be able to help myself though!  I think I read on Jude's blog that there are still spaces available in her 3rd workshop: Patchwork Beasts. There is a link in the sidebar of her blog.

...of Pennants, Parcels and the colour Blue!

I’ve received a fantastic parcel of fabric from Quilts for London… to be used for the Olympic Pennants. So… If you’re in Australia and are interested in making a pennant for the 2012 Olympic Games athletes email me and I’ll send you out a fat quarter to use in your pennant! You can register online at Quilts for London or contact me. While you're on the website check out the ever growing gallery of completed pennants! There are some instructions and guidelines on how to make them although as long as they are A3 size, subject matter and technique is really up to you! All that is asked is that ‘gold’, ‘silver’ & ‘bronze’ are not used or the Olympic symbol…. The aim is to present each athlete with a pennant at the end of the games.

Quilts 4 London

Fabric for Olympic Pennants

I’m still beavering away at the Hubble’s 50th Birthday Quilt! I have 75 blocks done and only 35 remaining! Go Sandi…! I was going to work a full day on it today but the garden and washing beckoned!

75 finished blocks for The Hubble's Quilt!

 

Look what I found on ebay- a little vintage weaving loom- well a set of three, really! The tied or woven squares can be crocheted or tied together… the mind boggles! And to use a Spirit Cloth term if I may (they are words that are now firmly stuck in my head… What if….? Not much time to play now, but I intend to try a few ideas after the quilt is done!

A little experiment with my new vintage weaving loom set...

Not much progress on the Hearts with Wings piece simply because I can’t decide on the orientation of the wings! Straight is a little like soaring or gliding (no effort required), down seems like some effort has been expelled in getting up there and that I'm reaching higher still. Wings up seems to me like the effort is yet to be made; that strong thrust that will push me up… I know some effort is required to fly… so I’m thinking wings down (Hubble thinks otherwise and he laughs when I ask his opinion -and then continue on doing what I'm doing anyway!)

Speaking of flying; here’s a little sketch in my sketchbook…. that I’m turning into stitch… a motley hand dyed linen background and some DMC floss. Truly I’m not a blue girl but it seems everything I’m working on at the moment involves blue!

Cross-Stitch on Hand Dyed Linen

Lastly, an image of the pattern on a set of plates I bought for my brother and SIL. Aren't the colours and design just gorgeous? We managed to find a few antique shops open on our Easter weekend travels...... They bought me a lovely set too; which I'll photograph later..........

Vintage Plate Design

Cycles of Life.............

Sadly, one of my alpacas died today. Her name was Prima Donna (Donna for short), she had been brain damaged at birth. -She was 5 1/2 years old. (We were gifted her when we picked up the other girls from the breeder- it wasn’t a hard decision to make to accept her!) She walked with a bit of a stiff legged gait and wasn't as agile as the other girls but she was so sweet. She was a bit doddery and wobbled her head around a bit at times; I don't think her eyesight was particularly good either. I called her Ditzy Donna and she was always a bit of a special girl...

The vet and I moved her into the shade but the heat today- at least 38degC (100degF)- took her quickly even after the vet did what vets do.
I don’t have a photo of her to post here. We lost some photos earlier in the year with a computer crash but look what I found in a native frangipani tree close to their paddock…. 3 bubby Willy Wag-Tails in the cutest nest - with Mum and Dad dive bombing me as I got too close! (Hence the photo quality!)

Cycles of life……….