Progress on Beach Inchies

The beach themed inchies are taking shape!   Having needlefelted the fabrics and fibres in my previous post, I have been busy hand stitching and embellishing the beach and sky inchies.   I've used a variety of threads, although my favourite is Perle no. 8 so I used this the most.  As well as beads I also embellished the beach inchies with fragments of shells.

The Sea still needs some work but the inchies are all cut ready for stitching.

I needed to dye some threads for these as I wanted some deeper turquoise blue so they are different from the sky so I had a dyeing session with the following results.

Ready to go now to get the sea finished and mount the results.

I'm on  roll with inchies!   I find they are handy little things to have to stitch in front of the tv or when my mind needs a rest.   I also find them handy to take away so this lovely pile of felt, fibres, silk, organza and threads will be needlefelted ready for me to cut up and take away.

Watch out for seaside theme inchies.

Hello Again!

I'm rather embarrassed about the length of time since my last post.  Started off with the excuse that we moved to Dorset but that was now over three months ago so I'll just move on.......

We have settled well in our new house and as it was brand new, we were able to move in without any further work.   We have had the garden to do so that has taken some time recently but as it is quite small, I can't use that as an excuse.   I got my workroom sorted quickly too and the best thing is I have my own room so no more having to clear away when the grandchildren come to stay.

It's not massive but I managed to get all my things in and with less space, I have to keep it tidy. So far, so good!

My only regret is that my large Perspex table that I used with my Bernina is too big for the desk so at the moment I have had to resort to the small extension table that came with the machine.  I have seen that Cotton Patch do a similar one (a lot cheaper than the Bernina one!) but I am having trouble deciding which size to get.

I have been busy with a few projects......

... the first one was a quilt for a friend's new baby boy.   We are caravan neighbours so I went for a seaside theme.   Baby Paul has now arrived and Mum and Dad loved the quilt.

 

 

I have also decided to have another go at selling online, this time giving Etsy a go.  I will start with some of the items I already have ready and will also include some of my framed textile art.  I've also planned to make some mounted arrangements of inchies, something I have done in the past as part of my themes on rust and maps.   For these new ones I am going to have colour themes but choose colours that can relate to occasions and anniversaries.  So far I've done purple (just because I like it!), red (Ruby Anniversary) and white/silver (Weddings and Silver Anniversary); will go on to gold next.

 

For each set I started by creating a felt base on my Embellisher, incorporating various fabrics and fibres including organza, scrim, netting and silk.  I then added beads, buttons, sequins, ribbon, lace or hand stitches before finishing the edge with buttonhole stitch.

 

 

 

I have also done some work in my sketchbook, but not as much as I wanted to.    The first two pages are based on some of the many photos I have taken of beach huts we've seen since we moved.  I've included photos, some gelli plate printed deli paper, some stitched applique and some hand stitching.   I found the colours particularly inspired these pages.

 

 

 

The second page uses car park tickets as the background which I printed with the gelli plate, adding some cut lettering to finish.

 



 



 

Hopefully there won't be a long wait until my next post.

 

 



Seen From Above - One Inch to a Mile

I just love "Inchies" and sooner or later I make some to fit with my current theme.  And Seen From Above is no exception.

I started needlefelting various fibres, fabrics and yarns to create a fabric which I then cut up into inch squares.   These were first edged with blanket stitch and then embellished with hand stitches and beads and for some I added scraps of old maps.   The Inchies were then assembled and mounted on old OS maps which in turn were mounted on board and framed.

As some of the maps I used were old enough to have a scale of one inch to a mile, I didn't have to think too hard about the title.

 

 

The left overs were then mounted on maps and used to map greetings cards.

What am I up to at the moment?

I've been busy recently creating lovely little things to sell at a craft fair I have booked in August.  Sadly that hasn't left me much time for creating my textile art.

However, I am very pleased with the things I have made which include several items using cover buttons using vintage and vintage-style fabrics.   There are buttons, hair clips and bookmarks.

 



There are also some brooches, some made from felt - both needle made and wet made - and some from fabric.

I've also made some heart hangings which incorporate a lightly stuffed heart mounted on a decopatch covered board and include a 'heart' saying such as "Home is where the heart is" and  "A heart that loves is always young".

I also have some textile art that I have previously made so I will also be including them.

 

 

Many of these items can be found on my Folksy shop, Created  by Lynn.   I also have a page on Facebook under the same name.

Final Rust Inspired Work

My obsession with rust is now coming to an end after nearly four years!

Corrosion - Inchies

 

 

 

This is 12 Inchies mounted in a frame.   The Inches were made by needlefelting various threads, fibres and fabrics to a background of felt.  After cutting, the edge of  each Inchie was finished with buttonhole stitch and beads, sequins and embroidery stitches were added to some, the others we left plain.

 



Corrosion - Something Hidden Underneath

 

 

This was started during the Play Day Jo and I had in February.  I painted both sides of two layers of Tyvek and machined them together with a layer of organza sandwiched in between.   I then applied a heat gun to melt some areas to expose the different layers.

 

I then machined the "fabric" to a background of dyed fabric.

 



Corrosion - Fragile State

This was another piece begun during the February Play Day.  This time a background of organza was decorated with painted bondaweb, foil, sequins and scrim.  I also included some thin, fragile foil threads.  It was then finished with hand embroidered stitches.

While I was at the Festival of Quilts I bought some of Fingerprint Fabric's panels.  One was of rusted ironwork so I bought two.

Corrosion - Fragmented Ironwork

For the first piece I cut the square into five pieces and reassembled them together with my own dyed fabric.    I then machine quilted in straight lines about half an inch apart.  My take on modern quilting!

For the second one I used the circular lines of the design to add lines of embroidery stitches, beads and buttons.  Again I used my own dyed fabric for the background.

Major update

Thought it was time to get some photos on this blog so I'm catching up with the Christmas Cards and Quilt that I mentioned in my last blog.


A challenge was sent out at Greenstede Quilters, the group I belong to in East Grinstead, to take part in a Christmas fabric postcard swap. Only four of us put themselves up for this challenge so well done to Jayne (who organised the swap), Jacquie and Val. As it was such a small group we all made one for each other.


I decided to have a go at making "inchies" for my postcards. I used a Christmas fabric which I bonded to both sides of some pelmet vilene for the background. I then free machine quilted over the fabric in a swirly pattern. I then cut up in to 1" x 1" squares and zig-zagged around the edges before adding beads and sequins to finish. For the postcard background I first printed some gold stars over some red Christmassy fabric and again free machine quilted, adding some star shapes to a random swirl. I finished the top by adding three of the Inchies in a row.

I also used the same Inchies for my christmas Cards this year but they were all sent before I thought about photographing them!