Framed!

I framed the mini quilt I made for the Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine 'Pretty' Challenge last year. I'm pleased with the effect and will now get it into a gallery!!! It is framed without glass; but I might add glass and make more of a shadow box effect next time.

'Beauty, Wisdom and Grace'

Mini Art Quilt stitched to stretched canvas

More progress on my flaming heart piece. The wings have been ragged edge appliqued on (by invisibly basting them - as per Jude Hill's method) . I then outlined them with chain stitch in a variegated thread (my favourite type!) I adore how the variegated thread gives life and dimension to a piece.

I'll be adding a crown next....

Flaming Heart progress

A Snippet at the End of the Year..........

New Years Eve 2009!

A snippet of a challenge I'm working on!

Challenge Snippet

Rain, rain, rain………………We’ve had glorious rain! The lawn is no longer dry and crunchy underfoot! In fact we'll have to mow before it warms up again as it will be a great haven for snakes!) The paddocks are greening up too and that means we won’t need to buy in as much hay for the animals.

Little Lily (the calf) is growing daily and is such a source of joy! Watching her bucking and yee-hahing around her yard makes me smile….

We had a lovely couple of days away over Christmas….  We rode the motorbike and being fair weather riders don’t even own wet weather gear but we had to ride home in the rain (about 31/2 hours!)- Suffice to say I’ve never been that wet whilst wearing clothes! Once you reach saturation point it really doesn’t matter any more does it? Hubble did a wonderful job of getting us home safely.

It’s been lovely to get back in the studio! I’ve been working on some challenge entries and so can only show a snippet! The photo above is so unlike anything I've done before! I'm working on 3-4 entries at the moment. Once they're done I'm going to clean up the studio! (I promise!) Hopefully find some shelves, rip up the vomituous carpet and paint the walls also! I've been offered some casual work in the New Year too so I shall be a busy girl!

Best wishes to all for a creative,  joyous and prosperous 2010!

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???

JULY PROGRESS

A little while ago I found a fabulous tutorial for drawstring bags at: http://sewbunnybum.blogspot.com/2008/05/drawstring-bag-tutorial.html - I absolutely fell in love with them and made 5 in one afternoon! 2 were birthday pressies for my son’s friends (twins). They were great for wrapping the other parts of their pressies. I made a couple for Mack too and he gave one away to a good school friend! The 5th I made from vintage fabrics.

I cut a couple for my daughter early one Saturday morning and got 1 sewn up before the kids and I headed off into town! That's the one with the purple owl fabric in the photo.

Did I mention how very easy they were? And that I just love them? I’ve since made one for my Mum out of printed cotton with an Egyptian pattern with gold and blues. I used a beautiful turquoise as the lining and a gold cord drawstring! It looked gorgeous but I forgot to take photos before posting it off! Oops! And I made 3 small floral ones for our Garden Club Birthday Luncheon where we place gifts at the table places for all attending! So, thanks Jessica for the tute!

Rose's Owl Bag

Mack's Skull Bag

I love the American Quilting Arts magazine to which I now subscribe. I found it about 6 months ago and am officially hooked! There are always new techniques to try and lovely articles on quilt artists and their work. They also have a website with a forum for mad quilters! http://quiltingarts.com/forums/

This little quiltie is a result of one of the challenges. It was so much fun to make; sometimes it is nice to go off in a different direction! (I usually work square or rectangular although I feel a circular quilt coming on! I wouldn't have ever thought to make the whole quilt a different shape!) The background is vintage tie fabric which I have hand embroidered and beaded. I hand stitched on some gold ribbon. It has fabric backing, craft wadding, and a velvet sulfolk puff with vintage button as embellishement. I machine stitched all around to combine the layers. Approx 5" x 6" (13cm x 15cm)

Medieval Shield Mini Art Quiltie

I entered a 1m square quilt for Down Under Quilts (http://www.downunderquilts.com.au/) magazine calendar competition a few months ago and have just received it back in the post (which obviously means I didn’t win anything! lol) This is the largest quilt I have completed to date (I can’t wait to see some of the other entries and of course the 13 chosen as winners for the calendar! The theme was ‘The Rhythm of Life’ The title of mine is “NO TIME TO DANCE’ and I had such fun designing and making it!

No Time to Dance

Here is the latest progress on The Light Within:

The Light Within WIP