Looking Forward

 I gave up writing new year targets and goals a few years ago and as it made no difference to the amount of creativity that happened during the year, so I see no reason to change!

My plans for the year so far are to take part in Contemporary Quilts Journal Quilt challenge, restart working daily in my sketchbook and complete a 'year of stitches', all of which are underway.

Journal Quilt

This year's challenge is a little different to the previous few years in that there are guidelines for each set of four months.   The first set (January - April) must include a sewing technique, preferably one that you do not usually use so that you are more challenged.   Suggestions given were applique, reverse applique, traditional quilting, EPP, foundation, trapunto, curved piecing, chenille and collage.

Straight away 'curved piecing' jumped out at me as it is one technique I have never used.  I have tried it with disastrous results which I vowed never to repeat again.  If a curve was required, bondaweb and zig zag stitching was the order of the day!

I have also been drawn back to rust recently and together with indigo dyeing I decided that as far as possible I would use the two for each of the quilts.  I discovered rusting powder so no more wrapping fabric around bits of metal!

So, for my January quilt I made two drunkards path blocks using some rust dyed fabric and some very old indigo dyed fabric.  It must be nearly 30 years old as I remember doing it while doing C&G in the 1980s.   I consulted the web for instructions for curved piecing which was worthwhile as the two blocks were made with no unpicking and the seams layed flat!

The addition of free machine quilting in a circle design plus some hand stitching using perle cotton - another technique I intend to use on this year's quilts - completed the quilt top.  For the binding this year I am using a patterned fabric from Jim Holtz Eclectic Elements range called Travel Labels.  Once cut up the colour is perfect for the binding.

     

 Year of Stitches

I have also decided to challenge myself to regular stitching by making a commitment to stitch during every month.  I have seen various challenges on Instagram so went for a circular format divided into each month.

This was the starting point.  It's only an 8" frame so hopefully I will be able to keep it going.  So far it has been very slow stitching but I do have lots of ideas for the next few weeks so I will catch up again at the end of the month.

Finally for this beginning of 2019, I have restarted my daily sketchbook with the intention of creating some sort of art each day.  Once again it will be a mixture of sketching, collage, mixed media, stitching, in fact anything that takes my fancy or inspires me on that day.

So far this is what I have completed....

Pen and watercolour sketch

Collage of sweet papers

Pen and watercolour sketch

Acrylic paint layers

Pen Sketch

Collage of Christmas stamps and lettering

Acrylic paint stamp with watercolour wash

Layer of silk organza of printed photo with machine and hand stitches

Collage of gelli printed tissue paper

Keeping busy over Christmas and New Year

The few weeks before Christmas found me with nothing to do so I found some wool I had bought a few months ago and made myself another virus shawl.  It was once again a quick and easy make and filled in an empty slot!

As I have mentioned many times, I am not one to sit and do nothing!   This is even at times like Christmas and the New Year when there are other things going on - if I am sitting, I have to be doing something!

Thankfully Little Box of Crochet and Craftpod both came to my rescue with projects to fill my time.

The December Little Box of Crochet was a Toft pattern for a delightful little dog.   Not that I am particularly a dog lover or a fan of amigurami, but it kept me occupied!

Even I have to admit he's cute!

The Craftpod box had two 'makes',  The first was an embroidered mistletoe sprig in a hoop which was joined by a felt fox. 

I really enjoyed both of these makes and although I have resisted a subscription to Craftpod, I am usually tempted once I see what's on offer!

Project Completed and Started

This week has seen projects completed and new ones begun and I seem to have fallen into a routine where I've worked on stitching in the afternoons and crochet in the evening.

I've been working for some weeks on a shawl for someone special but I won't say anymore about that as they still have to receive it.

Once again I have used Scheepjes Swirl which seems to be my 'go to' yarn when it comes to shawls as I just love the way the colours change. 
 

This shawl was designed by Lisa Cook and is called Custard Cream and the yarn name is Melting Macaron.

I loved the look of the pattern as it has more texture than those I've made previously and I wasn't disappointed with the result.  It's got popcorn stitches,  clusters and front post treble stripes all finished off with tassels.

I got worried as I got towards the end as I was convinced that I would not have enough yarn but everything worked out in the end and as you can seen from the photos, there was more than enough for three tassels.

My evenings were quickly filled with a new Little Box of Crochet that was for a zipped pouch in Entralac Crochet.  At first I was very wary as this is a form of Tunisian Crochet which I have never done and quite frankly never wanted to.  I always thought it was more like knitting as there seems to be loads of stiches on the very long hook and this put me off.

However, thanks to some great videos made by Little Box of Crochet, I loved it as it was a pattern of coloured squares and diamonds so there were never more than 7 stitches on the hook.  I was hooked after the first row.

After a few more evening of hooking I have finished the main piece of the pouch.

Colourful isn't it?  Another evening or two and it should be finished.

My other new creation this week is a piece of cross stitch that will one day be a Mandala Owl to go in the grandchildren's bedroom.

They inherited my collection of owls when we moved and have them displayed on the windowsill.  Each time they visit the owls are rearranged and we add to them when we see any new owls.

It is also a perfect place for me to taken photos as the light is really good so I often move the owls out of the way to make way for my work.

I'm not sure how long this is going to take as I find the light is not good this time of the year and even with a daylight lamp, I find I can only work for about two hours each afternoon.  After a week's worth of stitching it now looks like this.

Still a long way to go!

Fabric Book

This is my latest creation, one I've been working on for some weeks but decided to wait until it was finished before I revealed it.

I've been drawn to hand made fabric books for some time so felt it was time I made one myself and as the sea and beaches play such a large part in in life, it was a no-brainer when it came to the subject.

So, what's inside .......

Starting with the sea, I layered various fabrics, lace and trimmings which were hand stitched to a background of indigo dyed fabric (fabric I have had for  over 25 years!).  I added some hand stitching including French knots, buttonhole stitch and straight stitch before oversewing around the edges.

For this seashells page, I starting by cutting my own rubber stamp with two different sized shells.  I've used shells in other pieces of work and have looked before for a rubber stamp but as I could never find one, I thought cutting my own would mean I'll have it to use in the future.

The shells were printed on to a piece of my own dyed  yellow fabric and the outlines were hand stitched with backstitch.   The text was printed on to tape and attached with running stitch.  Pieces of shell were added to finish before the edges were again oversewn.

I just love beach huts so they had to be included.   I always take photos of beach huts when I see them so this one, taken at Avon Beach, was printed on to fabric and applied to a background of blue and yellow fabric which I had dyed.   Simple straight stitches were added to the 'sand' to represent the grass that grows on the beach and a couple of seagulls were added to the sky.  Again, as with every page, the edges were oversewn.

No trip to the beach is complete without building a sandcastle!   We've made many when having a day on the beach with the grandchildren so they had to feature in this book.

This was quite simple - backstitched outlines on a piece of hand dyed fabric.

Some years ago, I took a photo of a wooden groyne at Littlehampton in which seaweed had become trapped and then been bleached by the sun.   At the time I was very taken with the image and felt sure there was something creative I could do with it and finally it's happened. 

I started with a piece of cream fabric which I coloured in various ways including paint and water soluble crayons and pencils and adding the timber grain lines with a drawing pen,   I wanted the colour to be quite subtle which is why it looks as though the fabric has not been coloured!

I created a piece of seaweed by machine embroidery on soluble fabric but as it was a bit stiff I cut in to it to roughen it up a bit.  This was stitched into a slit in the fabric along with various lengths of different threads.  A line of backstitch was added along the bottom for balance.

The final fishy page has the outline of a fish in stem stitch with lines of sequins had stitched in rows. Lines of backstitch and fly stitch added detail to the fins and tail and feather stitched was used for the seaweed.   The text was backstitch around the edge.

When I came to the cover I used up scraps and off cuts of blue and yellow fabric that I had used for the pages.  I used bondaweb to secure the pieces and then added running stitch and lines of straight stitch to secure some of the edges.   I put a piece of light fusible Vilene to give the cover a bit more weight and then buttonholed around the edge of the cover and lining.

The pages and cover were secured with stitching down the spine.

Hopefully this will be the first of many fabric books!

Other creations this month

I was a bit late with my Journal Quilt this month.  It was done within September but for the past few years I have been ahead of myself so I felt quite guilty that it wasn't done until the middle of the month.

This month I reached the "blue" month so decided to have something linked to the sea for the gelli printing.   I've made my own print blocks with polystyrene in the past so used this method to create some texture on the plate inspired by waves and using fabric paints, printed some of my dyed blue fabric.  I used two or three different shades of blue fabric paint but once again I found that you don't get the same definition as you do when using acrylic paint.  The results were good though for the task in hand.

For the Log Cabin part of the quilt, I've again used the Courthouse Steps as the basis of the design with a bit of a twist.   For three of the sides I used different shades of my own dyed blue fabric and then the gelli printed fabric for the fourth side and the binding.

For the quilting I used a stitch on my machine which gives the appearance of waves going up and down.

It's time for a change of season so my thoughts turned to ideas for an Autumn hoop for my mantelpiece display.   I love the colours of Autumn - I always think it is because I was an Autumn baby!- so I knew it had to be something to reflect the colours.

My choice was a simple maple leaf (another favourite, particularly at Autumn) and luckily I found just the pattern I needed on the internet.  I've gone back to cross stitch after many years absence and as I enjoyed it so much, I think there will be more.  So therapeutic!

The display in coming together but I want to add some sort of foliage in a vase so am still thinking about that.   The other hoop and owls are from a Craftpod box I did last year when I began my seasonal project.

The garland of Autumn leaves is another pattern from Attic24 which I made using the ends of yarn left over from her Woodland Blanket which I made earlier this year.

Denim Jacket completed!

The final panel on the back of my denim jacket is finished!

As I mentioned earlier this month, I let my four grandchildren design their own heart using images and words of the things they love and are important to them.  They also got to choose their own colour scheme and I have to say they all made a great job of it.  I only had to get creative fitting in all their designs in to the space.

And this what all the designs look like when put together - modelled by Hope.

I'm going to feel a bit bereft now it's finished so busy planning my next project!

Denim Jacket - The home run

I've added a small panel of stitching to my denim jacket which now leaves just one more to do.

I recently bought Joyful Stitching by Laura Wasilowski, a textile artist I have long admired, mainly through seeing her work in Quilting Arts Magazine.   This book has really inspired me and is definitely freeing up my embroidery.   I know I am a bit obsessed with everything being balanced and neat looking - it's a problem I have in all aspects of my creative work but I am (I think!) getting better.

Inspired by the stitching Laura has done in this book, I used some of her ideas to complete this little panel in my jacket.

The final panel is underway and is again inspired by one of the other loves of my life - my grandchildren.

I have decided to give the four of them design rights and will get each of them to decorate a heart with the things they like which I will embroider on to the jacket.

Mad or what?

And finally for this time ......

Another hoop of embroidery has joined my growing collection.

For some time, I have been wanting to do a piece of embroidery with a void, or negative space as some call it.  We were away and my work on the denim jacket had come to an end so I had a go using a hand print as the negative space.

I was very limited in the threads that I had with me and loath to buy any more as I have found in the past that I always buy what I already have, I made use of what I had and went for a variegated blue look.

It was really an experiment and has evolved as I did it. 

I used lazy daisy, straight stitch, crosses and French knots and started m
by working just under and inch all the way round the hand print.   I started at the bottom with a variegated thread, changing for the middle third to a mid blue and then finally a light blue for the top third.   When I had done this it looked a little odd so I evened out the shape but it looked more like a mitten with a hand inside it!

Once I was home I tried it in a hoop and decided that it really needed to have a circle of stitches around it and went for one smaller than the final hoop I mounted it in.

The jury is still out about this - maybe I've got it out of my system and will not repeat it but time will tell.