of Flying High over a River of Tears....

I have been working away on a few things....

My Watch Me Fly cloth is complete- I think!  I’ve decided not to add a backing as I like the way the old damask linen falls. Here it is hanging in a window in my studio; I like the way the light is coming through the clouds and how the weave of the fabric is visible. I've enjoyed making this!

Watch Me Fly

This next piece is a piece of brown paper with an iron on vilene backing. The paper was crumpled and reironed giving it a wonderful texture to work with. I loved the way the light caught each crumple! This piece is inspired by my River of Tears journal pages. The photo shows some of the double page spreads from my journal photographed and printed out together.

The sequined piece that I used for the River has been in my stash forever and is originally from my Mum who was a dressmaker. The rocks at the bottom are reverse appliqued using sari fabric from yarnahoy ;the smaller rocks are made with fabric marker stitched over with straight stitch in a variegated thread. I forgot to take a photo of the finished piece... oops but I have continued the smaller round rocks along the top edge of the river and stitched orange trumpet bugle beads and a few Swarovski crystals in the river.... It all has meaning for me. I have taken the piece into work to get framed.... as I think it will work best as a framed piece. I want to experiment a little with framing some of these smaller pieces; and maybe put them in my etsy store or hang them at home!  I envisage doing a series of these....

Full Moon over the River of Tears

Finally, this is a piece of PaperCloth that I experimented with some time back. I wasn't really impressed as I think I use too much  PVA in the process of gluing tissue paper to muslin and the piece was left shiny and stiff. I had done some free motion stitching in white but then left it.

I came across it in the studio the other day and started to hand stitch into it. It really is quite brittle in places but I am loving the effect of the variegated thread stitches. I'm using a single strand of black as shadows between the flowers; sketch-like... I may end up cross hatching to make the shadows even darker. I wonder what will happen if I go over the finished piece with clear gel medium? Mmmmm...

Ranunculuses or Ranunculi

I'm so happy and excited that I'm going to be doing Jude Hill's SpiritCloth online course!

It starts in a few weeks... I've never done a course of any type online

 and look forward to learning lots and being guided by Jude!

Playing..............

Just a quick post....my Dad is visiting from South Australia for a couple of weeks! I haven't seen him for a couple of years and it is his first visit to our little farm!

This was so much fun to make with some bits and pieces which were lying around my sewing table! I was too lazy to change the thread on the sewing machine but I needed a break from stitching Hubble's quilt blocks!

Coloured foil and silk on denim

I've stitched down the heart and wings on my latest piece... and love the way the wings are rippling and looking feathery

Heart with Wings- downward thrust!

Heart with Wings-

Feathery wing detail!

I found the cutest cookie cutter at the kitchen shop the other day and just couldn't resist! Jon had some fun at work today with these in his lunch box and the kids (who go back to school tomorrow after a 2 week term break) are looking forward to taking some of these ginger cookies in their lunchboxes too!

Dog Biccies!

Of Creative Challenges and PaperCloth

I've been busy playing in the studio and have succumbed to having the aircon on in here most days as it has been 35degC + again. We had a storm come through yesterday and about 5 minutes of heavy rain which all soaked into the dry earth immediately. We really would love some good soaking rain to green up the paddocks for our menagerie. We are hand feeding everybody at the moment! I'm about to 'batten down the hatches' as my Mum says (close windows, curtains, blinds) in an effort to keep the heat out of the house as much as possible. We have a ducted evaporative a/c in the rest of the house but I try not to run it until at least early afternoon! 39degC forcast today (100degF+) It really is just too hot to be outside... and the garden looks parched! Hubble and I were up at 5.30 am again this morning to water the trees we planted in Autumn and Winter... we do this every 2nd morning in this sort of weather. Still, the rain will come.... We have had some small bushfires around the region caused by lightening strikes and today is very smoky/dusty which tends to filter the scorching sun a little......

Here's what I've been doing: I finished the art doll for the Cloth Paper Scissors Challenge. (Unfortunately there is a limit of only 1 entry per person so I've sent in photos of the one I've completed and have let the other just sit for a while. I know I'll get around to finishing her but I'm busy doing other things for now!

Gaia

Art Doll Challenge -Detail

My latest play; making PaperCloth!

Ranunculi Paper/Cloth Detail WIP

I think I may have added too many layers of paper as it seems quite stiff (I'm not sure if that's how it's meant to be?) Also, the PVA has dried glossy which I don't like so much! There is a tutorial at Quilting Arts Mag website- somewhere... I can't find it again. Will add link when I do....!

Here it is: PaperCloth Tutorial

Ranunculi Paper/Cloth

WIP with some freehand Machine Embroidery

This is for another challenge I'm going to enter also for Cloth Paper Scissors Mag. It's for the 'Make it Pretty' Calendar Competition. I'll only be able to post sneak peaks as the entries have to be previously unpublished!

'Pretty' WIP

Hand dyed fabric and lace

... about the smoke/dust filtering the sun. I lied! Just walked up the driveway to the letter box (about 350metres) and I got baked!- we get mail delivered 3 times a week. Good news!Guess what arrived today? My Dec/Jan copy of Quilting Arts! Yay! Guess what I'll be doing this afternoon???