Christmas Cards

Suddenly realised I'd not posted about my Christmas Card makes for this year and didn't want to do it after Christmas!

It's a bit of a cheat this year as I discovered I had a large stock of cards made in previous years that had been left over plus some I'd made to sell and never did.  I decided that I would used these up and just make some new ones this year for the special people in my life who I know really appreciate a handmade card.

I returned to my love of inchies and created some red and green needlefelt that would become my inchies.  So long since my needlefelting machine had been out so I must reacquaint myself with it properly in the new year.

I'm always amazed when I look at the base felt when I make inches and wonder at how they change into little gems of loveliness!

To each little square - just over an inch square - I added combinations of sequins, beads and stitches and then buttonhole stitched around the edges.

 

Each set of four were mounted onto backing paper together with a hand printed "Happy Christmas" and then mounted on to a card.

Really pleased and already had compliments from some lucky recipients.

One more completed project - my November Little Box of Crochet which was a lovely mandala in Christmasy colours that was a delight to make.  Lots of overlay crochet which I love.

It was designed by Amanda Williams (@yarn_house on Insta) and worked in Yarn and Colors Must Have Cotton.

A bonus was a little wooded reindeer who desperately needed a coat so some of the left over yarn was put to use.  As you can see from the photo he is already hanging on the tree!

That really is all for this year so have a great Christmas,

Rust Panel

My first piece of "new work" is finished and mounted and I have to admit I am very pleased with it.

You may recall from a post last month that I have decided to work on a series of square panels inspired by a variety of sources.   This is the first one which started from the piece created as an experiment using rusting powder. 

I used a variety of different fabrics including some I dyed myself as well as commercial batiks.  Once pieced, I free machine quilted in lines inspired by the original rusted metal that was the starting point for my rust series completed a few years ago.   I deliberately left some areas so that I could fill them with stitches and beads in a similar way to the RUST panel.  I also straight stitched some of the lines created by the quilting.

The finished panel was then stretched and mounted on an artist board.

  

  

  

Distracted by rust again!

Things seem to be conspiring to send me down the rust route again!

The first was a workshop on WOW (Workshop on the Web) which used rusting powder, something I have never used before having gone down the rusting pieces of metal route instead.   Having tried the powder I will never use rusting pieces of metal again!

I tried out an idea I have of using words with rust, playing with the juxtaposition of words like "FOREVER" AND "ALWAYS" together with rust.  Bit mad but it is still in the development stage.

To try out the method, I cut the words RUST from freezer paper and ironed them to the fabric.  After a douse of water/white vinegar mix, a quick sprinkle with the powder and, hey presto, a couple of hours later the rusting was complete.   The fabric then needed to be washed and soaked in sodium bicarbonate to neutralise the rusting process. 

I was delighted with the result!

I did that a few weeks ago and since then I've been back to the rusty wall which inspired a series of work a few years ago and once again I found myself thinking about a new piece of rusty work. 

I've now added some seed stitching in rusty coloured thread, some cream French knots and some beads.

I'm going to use the panel in a quilted hanging using squares of different rusty coloured fabrics, including some coloured with the rusting powder.   I have worked in this way before and feel drawn to it once again.

Hand Stitching

This little piece of hand stitching was based on Ruth Norbury's seahorse that was published in a recent copy of Stitch magazine.

The embroidery is done on what I think is a woollen blanket. I bought some pieces at the recent Brockenhurst Needlwork Fiesta and as it doesn't appear to be felted, I assume it was a piece of an old woollen blanket. I'd love to know where people find them as I've looked and never had any luck!

I used the shape from the original, included the face and chest pieces from my own dyed fabric but then filled the shape with different stitches.  I included a variety of stitches including chain, crouching, stem, herringbone, split and feather.  The fin was made using an odd piece of fabric I had - I'm not convinced I like it but decided to leave it and will decide when I come to mount it if it stays. 

Using Dorset Buttons

I've made some of the Dorset Buttons from the kit I bought last month and have used them as the starting point for a new piece of work.

I've signed up for Maggie Grey's Workshop on the Web and one of the workshops in the latest issue was by Isobel Moore.  Do check her work on her website - here   As the workshops are all available only for subscription I won't give any details, but it is a mixture of painted paper, fibres, fabrics, machine and hand stitching, plus any embellishments you wish to use.

  

  

January Journal Quilt

My first Journal Quilt of the year is finished and posted to the Contemporary Quilt Yahoo Group!

Following my theme of the flora of Gran Canaria, I used the bougainvillea hedge seen outside our hotel.   It was a riot of colour - pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white and yellow - colours that I would probably not had the courage to put together in a quilt, so this became part of the challenge.

As I said in my last post, the 11" square format we have to use this year was a challenge for my so first cop out was to border a square that I could cope with.  Using my own dyed fabrics in most of the colours I'd seen, I made an arrangement of half and quarter squares plus a border which includes some smaller half squares.   I free machine quilted the flowers with a vein-type design on the petals.

While reading up on bougainvillea, I discovered that the very small white parts of the plant are in fact the flowers and the coloured parts are bracts, which are more leaf than petal!  So I added some small flat white beads to represent the flowers.

As in previous years, I am using the same fabric to bind all the quilts to give them some uniformity. I had some fabric in my stash which is a mixture of browns/tans/greys and reminded me of the top dressing seen on many of the flower beds in Gran Canaria which I imagine is some sort of volcanic matter, so this seems very appropriate of use.

       

Inspiration

On to the next one....

Canvaswork Seascape

First project of the new year is completed!

The first piece of canvas work I have done for many, many years.  When I was doing City and Guilds Creative Embroidery in the 1980s I often worked on canvas and while I was sorting out before our move, I discovered just how much I had done which inspired me to do some more.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I coloured the canvas with painted bondaweb before I started and I found this gave me some direction while still maintaining the "free" look I wanted.

I started by couching down the curved lines which were cotton tubing with thick threads through the centre.  I then pretty much made it up as I went, using stitches at first that I liked the look of and then those that fitted in with the rest.   I mainly used the threads that came with the pack but several of them were not suitable for this size of canvas (10 ct.) so I supplemented with cotton perle and stranded cotton.  I also added beads to come areas.

Really pleased with the result which now sits on the window ledge in my bedroom.

  

  

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.

 

 



Final JQ for 2015

My final Journal Quilt for this year is Christmassy in design and came about through a need to make the best use of my limited time and combine the quilt with making Christmas cards!

My cards this year include a monoprinted gift tag which has been foiled and embellished  peel off stickers so I have also included a smaller version of these tags on the quilt.

The background of Christmassy fabric was first machine quilted in a simple star shape using a twin needle and metallic threads.  The tags were then stitched on with a bow to finish.   As in previous months, I stitched matching beads around the seam of the bound edge.

Simple, quick but I think effective!