....of Strawberries and Cream...and Amore!

Another wonderful weekend…. Except for the heat! We had a storm come through and some welcome drops of rain early this evening but it is still warm… sleeping will be a little easier tonight though.

My Hanging Hearts have been selling well at the gallery and I’m so pleased I made the time to make another this afternoon. I’m still really enjoying these!

Strawberries and Cream

Hanging Heart

This one is made from a beautiful vintage embroidered linen cloth. I think it is crewel embroidery and the strawberries are absolutely beautifully done. The cream lace was gifted to me from a new artist friend (Hi Lynda and Thank You!) I added a few vintage buttons; some hand dyed silk organza held down with Running Stitch and just a few French Knots and Cross Stitches.

Strawberries and Cream - Detail

I really enjoy upcycling these vintage finds!

I'll leave you tonight with a couple of images of corners of our house! These are from our bedroom. The top photo is a closer representation of the colour of the walls we painted a few months ago. It is such a fabulous colour! It glows golden in the morning sunlight and is deep in the corners and shadows. I love waking up in this room! It is blissful!

Peony Roses would have to be my favourite flower- although I think I love them all. I also love oriental ceramics and I collect Fu Dogs (Temple dogs) There's a couple hiding in the greenery on this little pine table.....

Goodnight all.... and wishing you all a happy and creative week!

...of Dragons and Hearts with Wings!

I found some beautifully dyed variegated threads at Cottage Garden Threads... I came across the name on a blog, did a search and now I'm in looooooove and need to order some! I've been using mainly the DMC variegated series but have also used a few of the Anchor threads (which I've not liked as much because the colour changes tend to be too short and not as subtle!) The Cottage Garden Threads are available online at: Orange Daisy.. Yum!

Yesterday's sunset in the Dungowan Valley

What a wonderful week it has been already! I raced all over town today; finally changing my name on the last few bank accounts and a few other official things that had slipped through the net. (We've only been married 5 years! Can't rush these things!) I've been procrastinating because I thought it was going to be much more difficult than it turned out to be! Thank you to the lovely girls who helped me do this almost effortlessly today!

SOLD!

I did my grocery shop and had the most wonderful surprise when I arrived home! My Green Eyed Dragon that I listed on Etsy has sold! I'm so pleased! The buyer sounds just lovely and assures me that he is going to a loving home!

The week isn't over yet and is only getting better and better! I arranged insurance for my new car which arrives on Friday! (Lucky, Lucky me!)

To top everything off- I've just had a call from work and they don't need me tomorrow so I have a full studio day! YAY! (Not that I don't love work- it's just I love being here too!)

Here's a little look at some pieces I've been working on....

 Two pieces of hand dyed silk

woven and stitched together

Red Silk and White cotton strips

Woven and stitched together

The red and white checkerboard and the blue squares are my experiments with Jude Hill's fabulous slow cloth fabric weaving technique at SpiritCloth. Here's a link to her video tutorial blog entry... which is serene and educational all at once! These little pieces were sooooo much fun to make! The blue squares are about 1" (2.5cm) square and the R+W about 3/4". 

The blue and white piece on the right is a hand dyed piece of linen from my last dye batch 

the heart with wings is from my River of Tears divorce journal...

I want to put all these components together; but may need to dye some more fabric or at least play around a little to make it work. I am going to add a few words but don't want to pre-empt them just yet. They are words I used to pump myself up at particularly trying times when going through a pretty yucky divorce. I had to work hard to get there; but they helped once I got to the point of being able to say them! Stay tuned!