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.