A Rusted Lanscape

This might well be the final piece on my "rust" theme. I feel the time has come to move on to the other ideas I have spinning around in my head. This one was created by needlefelting layers of scrim to a background of dyed wadding. There are three broad 'layers' which give the appearance of a landscape. I added some contrasting colours at the bottom to act as the interest in the foreground - with some buttons and french knots for more effect. Initially I was just going to hand stitch along the lines where the scrim changed but once this was done, I decided to add some lines of machine quilting. Then came the dilemma of how to mount it! My original plan was to just hang it as it was, just putting a backing on to it. A friend suggested that I mount it on another piece of fabric so that it had a frame. I tried this with several different colours but just didn't like the affect. So I went with my original plan and just hand stitched a backing fabric, leaving the ends of the scrim free to give an uneven edge.

Easter Postcard Swap

I took part in an Easter Postcard Swap with a group of friends and felt inspired to create something akin to a Faberge egg. I started out layering several layers of glitzy fabric with the intention of quilting a grid over it and cutting away the various layers to show the different fabrics underneath. It didn't quite come out as I intended and not wanting to waste the fabric (and the time it had taken to quilt the grid) I was determined to make use of the prepared fabric. I put different coloured foils over the top of the fabric and liking the result I added the beads and sequins to give it a real sparkly, glamour look. I then appliqued the egg shapes on to a neutral background and added the "Happy Easter" greeting. Et Voila!

Just two of the eight that I made. All similar of the same theme.

What happened to March?

Where did March go to? So much of March was spent at our caravan that I fell very behind with my creative endeavours. I did get the March Journal Quilt done and yet again I've taken inspiration from the world around me - this time it was the daffodils which have been abundant this year. Sadly because of all the sunshine they haven't lasted as long as usual. I monoprinted some fabric which didn't quite come out as I wanted so I printed over it with an old Thermofax screen I had (which was a cactus print). When it still didn't look quite right I dyed it in some yellowy-green dye which did improve the overall look. Still not totally happy with it I cut it into strips and reassembled it and thank goodness I liked it. Not too sure where I would have gone from there. The daffodil in the corner has the necessary circle for this month, added to this I machine quilted in a leaf-like pattern. All in all I'm pleased with the result.

Inspiration from rust - again!

How about this for inspiration!

Last month a collegue brought this in for me, knowing that I have an obsessin for rusty objects. He'd found it on a beach (he beachcombs for wood which he creates into wonderful objects) and thought of me! We think it was some sort of support for a post. When he found it, it was the other way up but when he gave it to me I turned it upside down and immediately saw a bird. I then "acquired" a tripod from a science lab and the garden sculpture was born. Even the tripod has rusted nicely in the few weeks it's been outside. My collegue admitted if he had seen the bird I might not have got it!

I think now that I will have to create something inspired by my new garden sculture. Watch this space!

More postcards

I've been having a clean out and found some half made fabric postcards so I finished them and will probably put them on my Folksy store. I've neglected it recently and feel the need to go back and try again.

They were made with some scraps of blue batik fabric that I had left over from a quilt I made last year.

Journal Quilt Project

I've signed up for this year's Journal Quilt Project with the Contemporary Quilt Group. I've recently become a member so thought it was a way to get involved. It has to be 10" x 10" and for the first four months must inlcude a circle.

As this month has been so grey I felt the need to reflect this in my quilt. I also used the phrase "behind every cloud, the sun is shining". All the fabrics are commercially bought but I have added various media on top. The left hand panel is over printed with circles using bubble wrap to represent the rain drops. The centre panel is printed with a block made from string which I made when doing Creative Sketchbooks - this represents the bare trees that contrast against the grey skies. The final panel was over printed with grey and silver fabric paint which had been painted on to bondaweb. Each panel was then free machine quilted. The silver circle is layers of silver and white organza.

Latest creations

At the end of December I posted some photos of the hand stitching I had done over Christmas. Well they've now been made into cards and hopefully will be on sale later this year at my exhibition. I might even put a couple of them on Folksy in the meantime just to see how they go.

I've also made an open box using needle felting and hand stitching but it was very labour intensive so I'm not sure whether it will be cost effective to make more for sale. If I did one again I would do it slightly different to make it quicker to make.

I've always loved working with scrim when needle felting so I did a piece which was just layers of scrim finished with some simple hand stitching. The end result has a 'landscape' look about it and I'm planning to do a larger one which will be more quilt-like.

The final piece for now was based on a pile of rusty chain I photographed at Selsey last year. I printed the photo on to a base felt although it isn't obvious from the finished results.

My original plan was to knit or crochet to give a chain-like texture but the initial trials did not give the look I had in mind. In the end I made a finger chain with two different yarns and them felted them loosely on to the felt base. I added some chain stitch and lazy daisy stitch to finish. I left some strands free so they could extend over the edge of the mount.