Cowparsley

I was fortunate enough to go on a weekend workshop in July with Stephanie Redfern. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Stephanie proved to be a truly inspirational tutor who gave freely of her time and knowledge. I came away buzzing with ideas and my head hasn't stopped whirling since.

I made a small wall hanging of a Cowparsley stem using some of Stephanie's techniques, painting fabric with acrylic paint and stamping amongst other things. I'm chuffed to bits with the finished piece, so much so that I have decided to do a 'series' using Cowparsley as my inspiration.......

Rock Pools

Way back in September last year you had a little sneaky peek at something I was working on. I had intended for it to be a project for myself to work on as and when I felt like it. It has since evolved into my final assessment piece. These are my Rock Pools. As a child I loved nothing more than clambering barefoot over the rocks, shrimp net in hand, lifting up the stones in the pools to see what weird and wonderful creatures resided there. Sometimes finding a whole plethora of sea life and at others not a single thing. I still haul myself over the rocks, though at a more sedate pace and wearing walking boots to see what can be found! I guess there is still a bit of that 'fascinated little girl' in me from long ago!!

More on the Postcard Front

Just another couple of postcards that I've made recently. The one below was made out of a left over piece of fabric I had made out of lots of different pieces of fabric, cottons, sheers, lace etc. The whole piece was then covered with a sheer fabric and free machine quilted all over using a smocking thread in the bobbin. Once heated the smocking thread shrinks and warps giving the whole thing lots of interesting textures. Works best with very lightweight fabrics. It was originally made for an A4 sized piece. Once cut into postcard size pieces I needed something as a focus on the front........so delving into my stash of bits and bobs I found some burnt paper leaves I had made a little while ago. Perfect I think!!

This postcard was made for a swap....the theme being 'Fire & Ice'. The 'Ice' background fabric was created by layering up lots of different fabrics, silks, cottons, sheers, lace and moon & star sprinkles. This was then covered with white netting and free machine stitched all over.
The 'Fire' is made up of wool tops felted together on the embellishing machine before being cut out and appliqued to the Ice background. A little bit of glitter paint was added along with some red beads to finish it off.

Latest Postcard

The latest theme in our group swap is 'Black & White'..........so naturally I did flowers!

Postcard Swaps

Here are a couple of postcards made for swapping with fellow members of an online group.

The theme for this one was 'Home & Family'.......................March 2010

The theme for this one was 'Windows & Doors'.........................April 2010
I chose to do an eye as it is the window to the soul.

Another Silver Clay workshop

Once again my sister and I enrolled on a Silver Clay workshop. This time both of us wanted to learn how to set stones using bezels. This method means that the piece is fired and the stone fitted afterward.

Here is my latest piece, inspired by the moss agate stone I used and tree bark.

Ferret Workshop

On Sun 18th April I went on a Quilters Guild Regional workshop facilitated by a lady called Ferrett. It was an interesting day in many different ways though I was not impressed by the way it was organised by our regional co-ordinator . An opinion voiced by a few other people too!

Ferrett was very giving of her knowledge and of the techniques that she uses and imparted a lot of useful information to us.

So this is the Swan that I started on the day and have only just finished. I'm really pleased with the finished result.

Travel Journal

With just a few hours to spend together one Sunday afternoon my friend and I decided to have a go at making paper bags. I didn't want to make a shoulder bag so decided to go for a clutch bag with a travelling theme.

We started of with brown paper which we scrumpled up over and over again until it became lovely and soft and felt like a soft fabric. This was then ironed to flatten it slightly.

Next I dripped on Alcohol Inks in various colours to cover the whole piece. This was then followed by a copper coloured acrylic paint rubbed on with my finger so it picked the ridges of the paper.

Once this was done various travel images, hotels, destinations etc were stuck on and once dried were rubbed over with sand paper to age them before being painted with 3 layers of acrylic wax. Hand stitching was then added round the images and also in the free spaces on the bag.

Black felt was bonda-webbed to the inside and cut round the body using a soldering iron, allowing a small edge to protrude from the finished front. The bag was then hand stitched all the way round.

As I wanted it to be a travel bag I decided to make a matching journal to go inside following the same process but with out adding all the pictures it. The stitching was also kept simple.

We intend to take it with us to Sweden so we can record all the wonderful sights we see.

Another Bag

I seem to be garnering an ever growing collection of bags. This is the latest addition to my collection!

It was made as a piece of coursework and I can't wait till I'm able to actually use it.

The front is made from cotton fabric that has been sitting in my stash just waiting for the right project to come along. The back is a wool tartan fabric, adds a little bit of weight to it. The inside is lined in the same green colour that is around the edge of the paisley patterns.

I like the fact that the opening is hidden in the rear of the bag and not under the flap as you would expect.