Emmelinesplace

TAST week 3 Feather Stitch

2012-01-22T22:06:00.000Z

Week three of the TAST challenge is Feather Stitch. I have never tried this before and there was unpicking!!

Ghost of a tree postcard

2012-01-22T18:59:00.000Z

I 'finished' another postcard, not altogether happy with this one, the blue frame needs to be on the bottom edge too, but I have black grasses stitched there. Duh! I am writing this one off as a lesson learned.

Tree postcard

2012-01-22T18:55:00.000Z

I promised myself that I would finish things. So here is this weeks effort, a postcard. I was aiming for a naive effect. Hmm. At least it is done.

a kick up the wotsit

2012-01-21T16:22:00.000Z

Me and Sue were feeling a bit fed up and bored so we went on an adventure to Ikea in Nottingham. We had a wander around and headed off to Starbucks for a sit down and a drink (and cake).
There was a young man sitting at the table next to ours, reading a book and writing a list. When he put the book down I couldn't help but look to see what he was reading, it was "1000 places to see before you die". He caught me looking and smiled. So I said hello (well he was lovely!) and we got to chatting. He told us some of the places he wanted to go and Sue and I had been to some of them so we chatted about those, I asked him how he would fund his trip. (OK I am a Yorkshire girl and we are known for asking those things that no-one else would dare.) What I was really asking was would he work his way around the world, or work here and save for his trip etc
The story the Young Man told us was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. He was 18, a marine serving in Afghanistan when he was involved in an 'incident'. His vehicle was blown off the road, he suffered extreme brain injuries and was airlifted to hospital but not expected to live. His parents had been flown over with a view to visiting him before his life support was switched off. He twitched. He came back but spent the next three months in hospital. His father campaigned to have him moved to a rehabilitation unit where he spent the next year learning how to walk, talk, feed himself and everything else we take for granted. He had little memory and when he was told he was a marine he was disbelieving but so proud. Age 19 he was retired from the marines.
At 23 YM's life is as good at it will be. He slurs his words a little and told us that sometimes people assume he is drunk, I am ashamed to say I might too. He wants to travel the world on his own so that he interacts with real people. YM was handsome, cheerful, positive and happy to be. His parents must be so proud of him.

I am ashamed that I whine that it is cold. That it is raining. That I am bored. YM has given me the kick up the wotsit that I needed.

TAST Week Two Buttonhole stitch

2012-01-15T15:10:00.003Z

Week two of the TAST challenge is buttonhole stitch

I used hand dyed lightweight cotton, which allowed me to push a large needle through so I could use chunky threads. Buttonhole stitched in rows.

The second sample is a fine space dyed thread (Oliver Twist) stitched back to back.

Create and Give

2012-01-15T11:09:00.000Z

who is in a Creative and Giving mood?

Pay it forward 2012... I will make something handmade for the first five (5) people to comment on this post. You must in turn, post this and make something for the first five (5) people who comment on your status. The only rules are it has to be made by you and they must receive before 2012 ends... Who's in?

Ghost tree

2012-01-11T21:43:00.000Z

This will be a postcard when I work out what to do next. It is called 'Ghost Tree' - I was feeling quite deep and meaningful when I made it but now I can't decide whether to put more dead stuff on it, try to cheer it up or leave it alone.
It is one of three that I am 'in the process of making'.

I really must finish something before I start something else

band sampler

2012-01-09T19:06:00.001Z

This is the other project that I started this week. It measures 27cm wide and is randomly (and not so straightly) joined from scraps of denim, linen and cotton. I have pinned some pieces of old lace and a few bits of wool felt with a view to embellishing. I hope the sampler will represent my ancestors in some way. The final piece will be attached to a pianola roll - (I bought those years ago especially for this project and forgot where I put them, they re-surfaced whilst I was looking for something else recently.) We never owned a pianola but did have an upright piano, violin, multiple brass band instruments and a piano accordian. I never learned how to play any of them, I don't seem to 'hear' what everyone else does. I was in the school choir but was told to mime........

TAST Fly Stitch

2012-01-09T17:49:00.001Z

Week one of the TAST challenge

I can do fly stitch :)

I like fly stitch :)

The sampler has a piece with multiple fly stitch's but it needs a million more.

Janet Edmonds - How to make origami boxes 1

2012-01-01T19:17:00.000Z

the start of something else

2011-12-16T21:37:00.000Z

pretty boring ah? This is just the beginning of a round robin, four of us are going to pass work around until we either finish or get bored. We are working on fire, air earth, fire, and water. I bagged fire of course. The grand plan is to chop each piece into four and sew them back together then send them round again for embellising. We can't wait to get to that part :)
This is a piece of hand dyed cotton, with a 'hoop' of the painted silk velvet from a couple of posts back. I don't know whether I will keep any of the blue once it is completed, but for now it cheers me up on a dreary grey day.
Watch this space for updates..

the start of something

2011-12-15T20:40:00.002Z

Post

2011-12-13T13:37:00.000Z

You know when someone tells you something and you think "Yeh, right".

The Post Office has run out of 2nd class stamps!!!

Fire

2011-12-10T16:04:00.000Z

I needed some fabric to represent 'fire' for a round robin I am taking part in. After a lot of thought I decided that silk velvet would be the idea fabric to use. I just happend to have some white velvet so carefully scrumpled it and threw acid dye over it. Into the microwave for 5 minutes. Hmm. It must be viscose/silk. It came out a bit wishy washy.
I just happenned to have some more so this time I carefully crumpled it into a litter tray and poured 'dyn-a-flo' over.
I put the litter tray with the soaking fabric on a box behind me and dampened some habitai, put it into a smaller tray. Reached behind me to grab the dye and knocked the first tray over. Sigh. Not much I could do, so just shoved the velvet back into the tray. I put it in the airing cupboard overnight to dry. Next morning, it was still soaking wet. I got an old towel and wrapped the silk in it, along with some other bits of stray fabric (waste not want not) and got ready to wring. Oops, the dye paint had dripped out of the towel and I had lovely orange dots all over my oatmeal covered bedroom carpet. Sigh. I can't remember what made me think working in the bedroom was an idea.
I scrubbed the carpet and then, with the towel, fabric and dye over the bath tub, I wrung the excess dye out. Scrubbed the bath. Sigh. Then I put a black sack in the bottom of the bathtub, a drying rack over and hung up the fabrics to dry. Got fed up waiting and got the hair dryer out. 10 minutes later I was ironing. And if I say so myself, it is a nice firey piece of velvet.

This is the piece of silk habitai that I coloured at the same time.

The old towel that I borrowed from the dogs went into the washing machine and came out perfect. No staining of the dyn-a-flo at all. The carpet has some echoes of orange but I guess it will disapear in time. I sat in the bath and found the stray paint splots before anyone else could...

Bad hair day

2011-12-10T15:44:00.000Z

Pocket angels for a swap over at cloth paper studio, each one is around 3.5 inches tall.

2012 colour of the year announced

2011-12-08T16:22:00.000Z

Tangerine Tango

I won't be the only one being fashionable next year as I know at least one person who loves orange more than I do

Sad news and a huge loss to us all

2011-12-05T20:38:00.000Z

Sarah Lawrence of Crafty Notions has died. How can that be? Sarah inspired me to stretch and grow, she shared her talents and experience so readily, exhibitions just won't be the same without stopping by and seeing what she is up to.
I am gutted, I can't imagine what her family are feeling. RIP Sarah

Pintangle

2011-12-02T23:24:00.000Z

Everyone is doing it - following Sharon's take a stitch challenge. I plan to follow Sharon's example and make a band sampler using one of my carefully hoarded pianola rolls as the base for my scroll. I don't suppose mine will look as nice as Sharon's band sample but who cares.

I went to the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate

2011-11-28T19:54:00.000Z

Please remind me next year not to go on Thursday. The place was heaving with people, I couldn't get to the booths to see what was for sale!! I did manage to buy Jan and Jeans video and some wool felt scraps from Oliver Twists. But mostly I wandered around in a daze sniffling and avoiding elbows.

I did get my elbow spurs out to squish to Jean Bennetts exhbition.

Harrogate knitting and stitching

2011-11-21T21:23:00.000Z

It is that time of year again and I am really excited to be going this year. See you there :)

I went to Durham for a couple of days

2011-11-13T12:56:00.000Z

I have wanted to go to Durham for many years, my Grand-mother was born in Sunderland and I needed to go to the archives to advance my family history project. I heard fantastic things about the city so had a long list of things to do to cram into my two days.Sigh. The record office is only open three days a week, guess which two I went. Closed!

I walked up to the Cathedral, it is Norman so not as breathtaking as the Gothic one I am used to here in Lincoln. But it is interesting and has the shrine of St Cuthbert, unfortunately photos weren't allowed. I headed deep inside the Cathedral to find the 'Treasures of St Cuthbert' exhibition. "This is a permanent exhibition that includes the Saxon relics of St Cuthbert, illuminated manuscripts, historic church silverware and textiles. This summer the exhibition is joined by biblical rarities from the Cathedral’s collections including a first edition of the 1611 King James Bible, in celebration of its 400th anniversary." Wow! It closed in October, the exhbition space is being turned into a bookshop. I didn't cry.

I walked across the courtyard to the Heritage Centre. They have a brass rubbing centre and I was looking forward to having a go and maybe collecting some inspiration for future work. They were having solar panels installed on the roof, so "everything had been put away". So close and yet...

The opposite side of the courtward was the 'Treasures of Durham University - Library special collections'. 1/2 price entrance fee. Sigh. Around 1/3 of the exhibitions were replaced with a piece of card saying "exhibit removed".

The castle is being used for student accomadation so tourists aren't allowed inside, but you can normally wander around outside. But, there was a barrier with a no entry sign, workmen were working with hard hats.

I was tired and hungry so had some lunch and wandered around the shops until it was time to go back to the hotel. By 3.30 I wanted to come home!

The photos are of the "War Memorial" for the Durham Light Infantrymen. It is a beautifully carved monolith with a celtic cross.

Durham and the Tentmakers exhibition

2011-11-13T12:27:00.000Z

The hangings are made by the tentmakers in Cairo. Most are men who are working to support their families. The work is exquisite, the applique finely stitched and embroidered. The prices were heartbreaking, ranging from around £50 to one or two at £350. I was very happy to hear that the University bought one very large hanging for their Oriental Museum. There are more photos in my flickr album the prices of the pieces is included within the titles.

Black birds singing in the dead of night

2011-11-09T16:45:00.000Z

I woke up in the middle of the night with Paul McCartney's blackbird song in my head. It stayed with me for a couple of days and I thought this might be a good time to make the birds I have been meaning to for years.
Coincidentally, clothpaperstudio is having a challenge to celebrate our 7th anniversary, we are to make something with 7.
This why there are 7 black and white birds in my little tableau.

I found the pattern here

comments

2011-10-26T19:30:00.000+01:00

I just looked in my comments folder and found several that needed moderating. I am so sorry if you commented and it didn't appear, blogger usually sends an email to let me know when there is a comment - I guess the spam filter sent them to the black hole.

I do appreciate every comment, it is nice to know there is someone else out there, please don't stop

exhibition news

2011-10-11T21:17:00.000+01:00

New exhibition at the Carre Gallery should be interesting to all textile artists in the area. Linda Westerman, Patricia McMillan, and Moira West.

If anyone is coming over, want to meet for a cup of tea?

using my stash

2011-09-30T16:47:00.000+01:00

Well not all of it obviously :)

I wanted to make something to give to someone special and this piece of fabric jumped into my hand.

My sewing skills need work but I am proud of the fact that this was the first time I have made bias facings, and they lay flat - yippee.

diy

2011-09-28T20:56:00.000+01:00

Spending time in the diy store waiting for my paint to be mixed is not my ideal. So I wandered off to the wallpaper section and saw one or two big and bold embossed wallpapers. I picked up a couple of nice big samples. This is a mustardy coloured Markal stick on white cotton rubbed over one of the samples. I can see what I did wrong, masking tape and a few pins will make all the difference!
Once again the hardest thing is waiting (for the paint to cure so I can dip this into a dye bucket.)

and..

2011-09-27T11:26:00.000+01:00

Murphy stood in soft poo this morning and trod it into the carpet in the study.

It is one of those days when the duvet looks very inviting.....

why oh why

2011-09-27T11:14:00.000+01:00

Why do I change things that aren't broke?

My broadband provider is putting the monthly fee up by £5, their letter made it clear that this isn't negotiable and if I wanted to change to another company, so what!

Enraged by this cavalier attitude and swayed by a special offer of cheap internet and calls, I decided to switch. Filled in my on-line application and sent it off. I got an acknowledgement everything was in order and I would be connected on Thursday (of last week). The new router came on time and I waited with great expectation to be told I was connected. Waited some more. Sigh.

On Friday I rang the 'service' centre and the 'nice' gentleman told me that I had filled in my on-line application wrong and the only thing they could do was cancel the order and start again. I think he may have been a robot because when I asked what I had done wrong he simply repeated himself. Sadly we were disconnected. I can't believe he would be so rude as to hang up on me! I said a rude word and Brian rang them back. He spoke to a 'lovely' man who more or less repeated what had been said but told B that he would do the re-order himself and make sure we kept exactly the same promised deal. He also promised to ring back after 8pm to confirm everything was good to go. The date for connection would be Tuesday.

Guess what? He didn't ring back, but I did get an email saying the order had been placed.

Yesterday we received a returns envelope for the router. I didn't really understand why they would have to send a new one, so put that to one side.

So It is Tuesday. The day. I followed the link to the order to look at the status. It said completed. Yeh. sigh!

I did managed to speak to a human this time. (I may have 'accidently' pressed the wrong button when the telephonist robot gave me options) I started by telling Jason that I understand that none of the above is his fault but.......

I have been assured that both my phoneline and my broadband will be connected on Friday, that the router I already have is the one I will be using and I will receive a text on my mobile phone to let me know when I am connected.

If you don't hear from me for a while you will know where I am..........

sods blinking law

2011-09-27T10:54:00.000+01:00

I repainted the walls in my kitchen a couple of months ago. This looks lovely but has made the rest of the house look a bit shabby.
Murphy threw up all down the stairs, I did my best but in the end I had to get the carpet cleaned. I thought I may as well get the living room and study carpet done at the same time. In order to be able to move downstairs, I humped all the books/bookcases etc from the study up into one of the bedrooms, (put the furniture from the living room in the kitchen). Apart from the desk the study is empty so I thought I would paint the walls in there before I move on to the bigger jobs.
I chose the paint to co-ordinate with the kitchen so that I get a nice flow through the house. Went to buy it and the diy shop locally doesn't stock that type. Went to the next town, (Grantham) they don't have it either. On Friday I was in Worksop, so I went into the big diy store. They have had a fire recently and the paint sort of blew up. No paint.
I got out my paint charts to find a similar colour but I really wanted my first choice. So on Sunday I drove to Lincoln and hurrah, they have my paint.
Monday, I got up early, masked everything in the room, lay dropclothes to cover every inch of carpet and the desk and got on with it. Hmm. It didn't look quite right, but paint does look different wet so I carried on.
I think the technical term for the colour is HORRIBLE! Not really - it is a lovely sky blue, and I do like it, but it is not anything like the kitchen paint, not anything like the swatch on the chart and oh so not what I want on those walls.

Anyway for a few days, until I rest my hand enough to start again, I will be enjoying blue sky, both inside and out if the weathermen are to be believed

Autumn is coming

2011-09-17T18:36:00.000+01:00

Two rainbows, great light, pity about the telephone pole.

Slightly better composition. Both pics taken on my mobile phone. Autumn is definately on it's way.

playing with print paste again

2011-09-12T18:31:00.000+01:00

I called in Homebase the other day and had them cut some mdf into 18" x 24", I got 4 for £11. Two layers of polyester felt stapled over and I have 4 new print boards. Bargain!
I had some perspex blocks in a drawer. I glued little wooden door knobs on the back (no more nails glue) and they are now really easy to use.

The first piece has a base cover of lemon yellow. I added turquoise to the leftover paste and used it to print using one of my perspex blocks. It is batching now, because I have no idea what to do next.

The next started with lemon yellow. I added turquoise and indigo blue to my paste and printed using a square block. The circles were made using a jar lid, same dye paste but with extra indigo added.

I used a credit card to get the print paste onto the fabric on this one. First I scraped on lemon yellow (I mixed up a big batch this morning, gotta use it up).
I added a little golden yellow and indigo dye and used the edge of the card to print the block shapes. Then scraped a tiny bit of scarlet in places. I kept adding layers until it started to go muddy. I used bottle tops in various sizes to stamp the circles.

Friends know that I hate green and rarely use it, but a lover of everything green has been heavily influencing me lately. I know that I will be adding orange or red to the first two prints at some point though.

Thank you Leslie

2011-09-08T17:14:00.000+01:00

Did I mention that I spent too much of my day at the FofQ watching Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan demonstrating? I am not sorry.
Inspired by Leslie I did a little printing yesterday. I started with scarlet and slapped it onto the fabric using a credit card. Then I went over it with wine red print paste.
Of course then I went a bit mad and added black. I was good and left it to batch overnight, and rinsed it out today.

Here's a peek at the rinsed fabric. I am sad that I lost the glow of the vibrant scarlet, and there is some bleeding, but Leslie was right when she said 'the original marks own the cloth'.
This has been well rinsed, but not washed in detergent yet, it will be back in the soda bucket ready for more work later

I won a prize

2011-09-08T17:02:00.000+01:00

I won a prize at the NEC FofQ and it came today. I didn't know what to expect, but I was very happy to recieve a set of 7 blue cotton fat quarters from simplysolids
Will I use them as they are or will I give in to temptation and print on them ?

Perhaps I could do a hop, skip and two little jumps today..

sweeties

2011-09-06T11:41:00.000+01:00

I had a bit of a tidy up in my studio, re-arranged a few things. Tried to put the inspiring stuff on show and the ordinary everyday stuff in the cupboards. I need to do lots more work but have one or two nice areas. I smile now whenever I see these, instead of ignoring the mess that used to be on that shelf. I am hoping to be more inspired to use my stuff.

sometimes only orange will do

2011-09-04T12:46:00.000+01:00

You may need to wear your sun glasses to read this one :)

Imagine a little grey haired woman, doing a tiny skip and just one jump. That was me when I pulled these out of the washing machine. How could anyone not be happy with orange and yellow all around...

My ironing leaves a bit to be desired, sorry about the creases. The plan with these bits of cloth was to over dye them in a bucket of magenta dye. But I like the yellow!!! I may keep one piece to cheer me up on the grey winter days and fiddle with the rest. The first is a candidate for having blue added to give me a forest-y effect. I have some bits that will be discharged before going in the bucket too.

wishy washy revisited

2011-09-04T12:33:00.000+01:00

I re-soaked most of the wishy washy pieces in soda ash and put them back into the tray, dyed again with the same two colours of procion dye. Robins Egg Blue and Bronze. Left it for 24 hours before rinsing this time :) Now I have light and medium coloured pieced. I will be re-soaking some of these and dyeing again to get some darker pieces of cloth.

stamps from cheap erasers

2011-08-28T19:50:00.000+01:00

I cut some stamps from cheap rubber erasers using the tracings from the heart design from here I cut one in reverse by mistake, duh!

But once I started playing around with the stamps, the 'wrong' one was my favorite and has potential. Pity about the spec of dust on the stamp, that has now been cleaned off...

dyed and discharged

2011-08-28T19:40:00.000+01:00

I bought a thermofax screen at the FofQ and gave it an outing this afternoon. This was a piece of dyed cotton from last summer, more colourful (orange) than it shows here. I had some Jacquard discharge paste at the back of the cupboard, I won't own up to how long it has been there but years rather than months..

I love it!

What potential!, it needs over printing and work and stitch and beads and stuff, but it is a fine start and I doing an teeny tiny happy hop.

I have been reading Leslie Morgan's 'Tray Dyeing' book and if Leslie can tray dye her fabric three times, then I am not dispondent about my limp dyed cloth fiasco. It can go back in the soda bath and then back into the tray.

wishy washy

2011-08-28T13:48:00.000+01:00

I crammed my washed and soda soaked fabric into a cat litter tray, scrunching and pleating. I poured the dye over and watched as amazing splodges and patterns formed. It looked delicious. I walked off intending to leave it for a couple of days, but it looked so good. I couldn't wait and went back and rinsed it. BIG MISTAKE!

I have the most insipid pile of wishy washy nothing cotton I have ever seen. Most of it is soaking in the soda bucket ready to over dye. Or do I strip the colour out and start fresh? My impatience is my downfall.

Playing with paper

2011-08-22T21:11:00.000+01:00

I have been having a little play following the book 'Finding your own visual language' (Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan). Playing with black paper, I cut a heart shape and then cut that into pieces.

I traced around part of the cut out heart to find this shape

And when I played around using the shape, I had this - my very own angel :)

Just playing around with the one cut out heart and a piece of tracing paper, I have a nice selection of abstract shapes, some have already been cut into stamps using cheap erasers.

My day at the NEC

2011-08-14T21:44:00.000+01:00

I took a coach to the NEC this year which gave me a couple of hours less at the Festival than usual. So off the coach and run in and buy white fabric (for dyeing). Then run to the cloakroom and drop the bag there. Experience has shown that the bag drops fill up quickly and I didn't want to carry fabric around all day. I bought some Doughty's pfd cotton poplin and mercerised cotton. Empress Mill had bundles of Egyptian cotton - I kg for £5 so I bought some of that too. That is lovely quality and has been scoured in the washing machine today, ready for dyeing. I wish I had opened the bundle straight away, they are lovely sized pieces and I would have bought more.

It was very crowded around the competition entries so I shopped for a while. Oliver Twist perle threads for a special project, then some sari ribbon and hand dyed wool felt. I also bought procion dye robin egg blue from Ario because I have struggled to mix duck egg blue at home. I have no idea if robins eggs are the same colour as ducks!

I calmed down then and fought my way to the quilts. I looked at the contemporary and the Art quilts, then decided I needed a rest. Lunch and a cup of tea and then I set off to find the 'virtual studio'.

Claire Benn was demonstrating mark making onto silk. As always she was generous with information and answered lots of questions. Someone was demonstrating tray dyeing, and I learned a few more tips - I am so sorry I didn't get her name. Then I watched thermofax printing, layering the same print but different colours. Leslie Morgan came back from her lunch whilst I was still hanging around, I asked how to mix up 'duck egg blue' dye. Next thing, Leslie had mixed up some print paste and printed onto a piece of cotton sateen. I watched, listened and learned. Then Leslie put the cotton into a bag and handed it to me. :):):):) How lucky am I? I have been very good and left the bag alone to give the dye time to batch.

I did eventually reluctantly leave the virtual studio, but succumbed to the 'making your mark' book and dvd. I also bought one thermofax screen.

I wandered through the exhibitions, drooled at the quilts, then bought a huge cinnamon bun to eat on the coach going home. I had a lovely day, met lovely people, some old friends and some I 'know' via the internet. One day is not long enough to see all the quilts, watch the demonstrations and shop. Next year I think I will book a hotel and stay over.

Today I got an email saying I had won some fabric in a prize draw - Happy dancing all round then.

Festival of Quilts - Dyed beauties

2011-08-14T13:40:00.000+01:00

I am not a great photographer and not every photo I took is clear enough to upload but here are some of my favorite quilts made hand dyed fabric. I didn't write down all the information, I simply photographed the number of each piece and tallied the info from the show catalogue, which I remembered to bring home :)

This one is by Dorita Smith, Burgess Hill, and is titled 'Wonky log cabin'. Made from Kola Nut and Indigo dyed fabrics.

Delia Cecil, Leiston. 'Indigo Sunrise'
Indigo dyed, free machine embroidery, free machine quilting, hand stitch, machine applique, indigo dyed. Quilt as you go.

Elly van Steenbeek, Veenendaal 'School Memories'
Cottin, paper, stamps, voile.

Sue Payne, Vale. 'Line over Matter'
Hand dyed Indigo batik on calico.

Susan Jones, Midhurst, 'Reflections'
Piecing, appliques, fabric manipulations and machine quilting using hand dyed fabrics.

Jacqueline Heinz, Germany 'Rosebridge'
Wholecloth painting application of wool. Free motion quilting on a normal sewing machine.

Would you take a look at the quilting on this??? Oh my....

Festival of Quilts - Regina Benson

2011-08-14T12:55:00.001+01:00

If you are going to upset someone, aim high. That is my motto and I do suffer from foot in mouth syndrome!

I saw this huge piece of work from a distance and had to get to it. So, knocking a few people over in my haste, I barrelled over. Oh my - it was as good close up as from a distance and it sang to me. I asked permission to take a photo and it was granted, so I did. Then I asked if I could take a pic of Regina's conference badge and she kindly posed. I said "no, I only want a pic of your badge". Talk about blunt Northerner. Regina was gracious but she did have a strange look on her face. I explained that I wanted the pic so that I would know whose work it was so that I could look her up on-line later. I think I was forgiven but was perhaps written off as one of those stange English eccentrics ;)

Regina's work on display was gorgeous. She works big scale - something I find very scary and never dare to do. The piece on the right was floating and moving gently, two layers of exquisite marks.

These are double sided panels of discharged rayon, layered, appliqued and possibly burned then stitched.

and a close up. It glowed.

This one was titled 'breaking ground' and is layered and appliqued pieces of silk and cotton, variously rusted, discharged, dyed, burned and stitched.

I could have stood and drooled over these all day. Regina is lovely and her companion was very charming. She has some more amazing photos on her web site too

Background papers

2011-08-01T21:53:00.000+01:00

I made a handful of clingfilm backgrounds ready for the 7 day magazine challenge on ClothPaperStudio.

The Challenge is to find one magazine and make one collage a day using only images/text from that magazine and glue. Keep going for as long as you can but our challenge is to make 7.

I find pristine blank white paper a bit scary so this time we have added an extra - make a coloured background to use.

My pieces are A5 size pieces of cartridge paper, I used very watered down acrylic paint, slapped it onto the paper and immediately lay a piece of cling film over the top. Let the creases go where they will, just pat the film down. Leave for 10 minutes and peel the film away and allow the paper to dry.

The intention is not to make great works of art, just to make sketchbooky collages to use as inspiration in the future.

My birthday present

2011-07-14T11:21:00.000+01:00

My fabulous parents-in-law always give me cash for my birthday, I suppose because I have asked for some quite strange gifts in the past - soldering iron, heat gun, bench drill :)
I have had my eye on this book for ages, but it was expensive and I have too many books, but I succumbed and spent this years birthday money on Amazon.

My heart beat faster when I opened the book. It is wonderful, the colours are fantastic, the work is amazing and beautifully photographed. It has been a long time since I was so inspired by anything. THANK YOU Jan Messent.

If I have wetted your interest, you can have a look inside the book at Amazon

Quilts for London Olympics

2011-07-07T09:53:00.000+01:00

I like the idea of this, make a small quilt, have it displayed and then given to an athlete. I wonder how many athletes are coming? I may have to make more than one....

Take That and having a stonking good time

2011-07-06T21:01:00.000+01:00

Wembley 4th July. It started with a whimper. The TT4 came on and sang songs from the in-between years, and they were good, shine especially, but they didn't set the audience on fire, although a few near the stage may have gotten singed :)

Then Robbie smashed through the screen and woke us all up. We all leapt onto our feet, arms in the air, whistled, yelled and sang our heads off. Then the boys were back. The songs from 'Progress' were brilliant - I wanted more. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the early stuff, they seemed awkward and ill at ease through that segment. Why try to go back? Come on boys, what's done is done!

The set was interesting, I loved the dance off between Howard and Jason, with the chess pieces. The Robot Man clearly wasn't working but that didn't matter. Those boys don't need fancy gimmicks to entertain us, they are good enough just on their own.

We were a long way from the stage, but right at the front of our block so had a wonderful view of everything going on.

We had a fanstastic journey back, walked to the tube station along with 85000 others, but it was a moving crowd and it only took about 15 minutes to get on a tube. It was an impressive sight watching the huge number of people swarming towards one staircase, but it was perfectly organised. We switched trains at Liverpool street and walked straight onto the tube to Newbury Park, our chauffeur drove up as we walked out of the station. Home by 3am.

I still adore Marc, he struts his stuff and sings his heart out. Robbie can hold 85000 people in thrall all by himself. Families had gone to be entertained by Take That, but the women had gone to see Robbie.

We had glittery stickers, Sue chose the pink one so you can't see it too well. We were a pair of old dears having a good time. We weren't half tired on Tuesday :)

Book bag and Momoyama holdall

2011-07-03T22:10:00.000+01:00

I bought a mans pure wool overcoat in a charity shop recently. I really enjoyed taking it apart and have a nice pile of black wool and some buttons for next to nothing. I used some to make this book bag. It has long handles so it can be thrown over the shoulder and a magnetic closure. It is a present for someone.

A friend recommended this book. She loves Japanese fabrics whilst I am forever on the search for a good bag pattern. I made the Hoko bag a while ago, this time I had a go at the Momoyama holdall.

Making the pieced panel took ages, (mostly because I couldn't make up my mind which fabrics to use). But the instructions are easy to follow and the bag works. I will make more of these because I can see they will be useful.

Hepworth Wakefield

2011-06-26T22:06:00.000+01:00

This block of concrete is the new Barbara Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Inside is definately better than outside! Finding the museum is easy, finding the entrance to the car park is a major expedition as all the brown road signs lead anywhere but towards it. The bridge across to the museum is long and it moves - if you have a nervous disposition don't go over on a windy day. However there are interesting things to see from up there ..

Like this sunken boat amongst other more upright ones.

No photography allowed inside the Gallery but lots of exhibits, from Barbara Hepworth of course, but also Henry Moore, and more modern artists. Also work by Ben Nicholson, Mondrian and works by other modern artists. Well worth the time to visit, entrance is free.

If you are going to Wakefield then be sure to pop to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (just off Junction 38 M1) where there are more Henry Moore sculptures to see, lots of other exhibits set in a lovely country park with sheep. Free entry too. And all surrounded by the wonderful Yorkshire countryside. I am not biased. Much.

Creatively wise, I have been making bags. Some more successful than others. None totally original - Group photo to follow. On a happy little note, one of lifes little mishaps meant that I missed my Take That concert in Manchester and I mourned. Happily I have now secured two more tickets and will be off to Wembley with an equally wrinkly friend soon. Our birthday present to ourselves.

Taster class

2011-05-22T10:30:00.000+01:00

I went to the Wool Day at unique cottage studios and embarked on a taster session with David at strawberryglass
I chose 5 pieces of glass offcuts and arranged them. Then we smoothed the edges, applied copper foil and soldler. As easy as that! Hahaha. With some repair help from David, I managed the piece opposite. The design faults are mine. I need lots of practice but I do like soldering so will make sure I get plenty.

Sempringham

2011-05-05T19:41:00.000+01:00

St Gilbert of Sempringham founded an Abbey. Princess Gwenllian daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last ruling Price of Wales before the English conquest (also known as Llywelyn the last) was taken to the Abbey when she was 18 months old and kept there until she died aged 54.

Until recently she didn't even have a memorial.

The church is all that is left of the Abbey complex now, even the original village has disappeared. It is a strange looking church, with two definate halves, and evidence of major alterations in the stonework.

This is one of the gargoyles high on the tower

This Mutant Ninja Turtle was on another corner of the tower.

I searched around the ancient grave yard and found lots of poignant images including this treasure, a winking sun bathing angel.

I was playing with my new camera.

Marti Pellow in Jekyll & Hyde

2011-04-17T18:13:00.000+01:00

Me and Claire went to see Jekyll & Hyde on Friday. Wet Wet Wet were Claire's number two favorite band when she was a young teen (sorry boys, but George Michael won her heart first). This was always going to be a special treat but extra nice because I was poorly last week.In a small provincial theatre, I had no expectations, but OMGoodness. Marti Pellow can sing! The whole of the cast were first rate, top class stonkingly good.
There were no bells or whistles with the set, nothing to distract from the excellent performances. Except for the script being displayed on two electronic boards either side of the stage. It was possible to have half an eye on the board and the other one and a half on the stage though. I didn't spot many differences in what should have been said/sung to what was written :)
This is not a jolly musical, it has dark themes and dark mischief. At one quite dramatic point, the words on the board said "music builds to crescendo" and I couldn't help myself - I giggled just as a throat was slit. Of course I suppressed it, but then with shoulders shaking and a slight bouncing up and down, I snorted. The woman behind me had seen the same thing, I could hear her giggling. Claire looked at me and started. The woman sat the other side of me, glanced over just as tears of trying not to laugh started to leak, she started to snigger too. We all managed to get control of ourselves just in time for the dramatic climax.

We clapped as the cast took their bow. One or two got a cheer and a whistle too. Then Marti walked onto the stage. We stood, we clapped, there were whistles, a true standing ovation. And Marti cracked a grin of pleasure. Now we cheered, we stamped, we clapped, we whistled and shouted and he laughed. A true Marti Pellow smile. The women in the audience looked at each other and grinned. We were happy, he had made our day. We didn't get an encore though :(

Honestly, Marti can sing, very well. The duet of Lucy and Emma was as good as anything I have ever heard. I would go again without hesitation. If you get the chance, go.

Trying to draw again

2011-04-02T14:05:00.000+01:00

I bought a copy of this book, from Amazon I am ever hopeful that I will miraculously be able to draw once I get my hands on a new book. Hahaha

I disregarded the instructions in the first chapter and attempted to draw my own dogs instead. Here are two quick sketches (that took me all day to do!). I think I have captured the curly scruffy essence of Murphy and hopefully some of the delightful hairyness of Kizzie Whizz.

He is white, curly, scruffy, with most of his beady black eyes covered by curls and he has an adorable little brown nose.

Kizzie is milk chocolate coloured but has a blonde face. She has a beautiful heart shaped nose. A very scruffy dood, with long hair on her face and ears and curls in places.

I am going back to the book now and will follow the instructions this time. Cats though, I have never looked at cats, except when they are running away from one or the other of my dogs. I have no idea what I think they look like :)

Inchies

2011-03-21T14:19:00.000Z

Inchies are finished and mailed off to swap partners.

colours and bits and bobs and a circle or two

2011-03-13T19:50:00.000Z

I made some backgrounds ready to make my inchies for the swap at cloth paper studio.I seem to be inclined to sew circles at the moment, although these were stitched using one of the built in patterns from my pfaff

postcard

2011-03-04T11:22:00.000Z

4" x 6"
Transfer printed velour with foil, machine embroidered.
Mailed 03.03.11

Vivienne Westwood

2011-02-15T10:38:00.000Z

The Hub in Sleaford has an exhibition 'A Personal Collection of Vivienne Westwood Shoes'
from 28 Jan to 2 May 2011

Circles one step closer

2011-01-11T13:19:00.000Z

not much closer, but I was so inspired by the collage that I pulled out some of my dyed cotton. I put bondaweb on the back and cut out rough circles. The hardest part come next.

inspired by Sonia Delaunay

2011-01-03T20:09:00.000Z

This is one collage that I can show. It is simply bits of glossy magazine. I see bondaweb and hand-dyed fabric in my future..

7 day, 1 Magazine, Collage challenge

2011-01-01T22:04:00.000Z

The challenge on clothpaperstudio group is to find one magazine and use it to make a collage every day for one week. It shouldn't aim to be a completed work of art, just a sketch to use as inspiration later. I used an old copy of marieclaire and I own up to breaking copyright making my collages, which explains why I am not posting the pictures here.

Why not grab a mag and a gluestick and play along?

not quite the new year

2010-12-29T17:53:00.000Z

but I don't do new year resolutions anyway, no point in setting yourself up to fail :)

I have gesso on my hands for the first time in a year. Wahoooooooo

no tears

2010-09-27T17:19:00.000+01:00

I have dry eyes so got some artifical tears from the pharmacy. Instructions say to put one drop in the eye, there may be some blurriness. I take off my specs, stand in front of the mirror, tip head back and can't see to put the blooming drop in. Finally managed it and noticed vision very blurred. Waited for eyesight to get back to normal. Waited. Started to worry and went to look for leaflet, found it with specs sitting on top! Put specs on, eyesight just fine!!!

The thing is, I only put the drop in one eye, I couldn't understand why blurriness was in both eyes - I scare myself sometimes...

something that I should have finished ages ago

2010-09-23T15:36:00.000+01:00

I finally finished this little book. Well two really but one has already gone to it's new owner. It is only pocket sized and has hand made rag paper pages. This one will be in the mail this week.

Medieval Shreswbury

2010-09-13T21:59:00.000+01:00

So many medieval buildings, so little time to take pictures....

Because the properties are painted in black and white, the pattern is so easy to see. The leaded glass was intricate too.

St Mary's Church had so many gems. The ironwork on the door was wonderful and in places it glowed orange with rust.

B spotted this gem, it was on the outside of the church over the main entrance door. If you can't read it, click and it will be bigger.

The floor tiles in St Mary's are Victorian copies of Medieval tiles, my photos aren't fantastic but the patterns are. here

Medieval patterns from tiles and stuff

2010-09-13T21:56:00.000+01:00

There were medieval tiles amongst the ruins of Haughmond Abbey, I love these floor tiles, imagine how many feet have walked over these.

These are from Wenlock Priory

Whilst these are Victorian copies of medieval tiles from St Mary's Church in Shrewsbury.

There are more pics of tiles here

Misericords

2010-09-13T19:59:00.000+01:00

What is a Misericord? In Medieval times monks spent many hours standing praying. These shelf-like seats were for leaning on when they got super tired. Strangely the designs were on the underside of the seat so were rarely seen. The carvings had deep meanings but the craftsmen showed amazing sense of humour. The armrests had equally fantastic carvings, unfortunately the ones here at Ludlow Parish Church were very worn.

There are more pics of misericords from Ludlow here

The joy of finding a quilt exhibition whilst on holiday

2010-09-13T17:38:00.000+01:00

It was by a mysterious coincidence that we strolled past the Minerva Arts Centre when they had a quilt exhibition. Or not. It was a wonderful surprise to find Jackie Smith's work on display.

Dramatically modified sweetcorn was incredibly textured. Close up below.

The work entitled 'soft stone armour' was the one I wanted to bring home with me. It looked very subtle but once you got close it had amazing textures and colour.

This small area of 'summer' shows the delightful quirkiness of Jackie's work.

Sheena J Norquay is another name I recognised. I was hopping from one piece to another in excitement when I saw these. The one on the right is from a hanging called '25'

This and the one below are from 'silver circles' and are great examples of how to turn simple mark making into a lovely hanging

'Uplifted' was another great use of simply painted fabric. This shows just a tiny glimpse of the quilt.

There are more photos on flickr including photos of the quilts to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the European Quilt Assoc

I finished something else

2010-08-30T10:15:00.000+01:00

The latest swap on cps was to make three pins inspired by Paisley. This one was the first one I made.

These were number two and three. All three are now on their way to their new owners and I am on my way to finish something else :)

Woven pendants

2010-08-15T17:16:00.000+01:00

The challenge was to make woven pendants approx 2 inches high for a swap on Cloth Paper Studio I started with 1mm copper wire, wrapped around a domino.

These will be winging their way across the Atlantic tomorrow ready to be swapped out.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

2010-08-14T10:33:00.000+01:00

This is the beautiful Yorkshire Countryside, home to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and close to where I grew up and where Claire lives now.

The path to the entrance is made of steel with the names of those who contributed to the building of the exhbition space, sorry about my feet getting into the picture :)

This is the first sight of the David Nash exhibition, carved and burnt wooden columns.

The exhibtion is spread over two indoor galleries with more outside. These are carved and burnt.

These are bronze castings of carved sculptures, rusty and very interesting, click to zoom in for a closer view.

Carved and burnt wooden sculpture

Click to zoom in for a closer look

This was my favorite.

There are many sculptures to see, spaced over many acres, but we only looked at the David Nash as we had children with us, but I did see a Henry Moore in the distance

Kizzie ate my specs

2010-07-05T18:36:00.000+01:00

Kizzie chewed my glasses, I needed an eye test so wasn't too cross. Well I was but c'est la vie. (move over Del Boy). Astigmatism in both eyes was a bit of a blow as it was only in one eye last year, but the cataracts came as a bit of a shock.
I will be picking up my four new pairs of glasses on Friday, in the meantime the delightful young woman in Specsavers in Sleaford made my old pair wearable for me, even though I didn't buy them from there. Unless you look very closely you won't see the chew marks and they no longer fall off each time I move :) I wouldn't normally bother to name a shop but the opticians that I have been going to for several years told me they were unrepairable and I needed to claim on my insurance. So grrr to them.

I guess my style will be more abstract than ever and I may interject a little quirky colour into my work from now on - hey! my stuff may improve out of all recognition from now on ...

There goes the groom

2010-07-04T17:03:00.000+01:00

Ros and I went to Kisco in Leicester today. We bought dyeing cotton and a fat Quarter bundle each and on the way out we saw a groom setting off to his wedding.

He looked very self-consious but very happy.

I understand he was accompanied by his family to the hall where his bride was waiting.

I hope they have a long and happy marriage.

Indigo happy dancing

2010-07-04T16:53:00.000+01:00

I set up my first solo indigo vat. It is pretty obvious that the dyed pieces are not perfect so why the happy dance?
I wanted an indigo dyed fabric with rust marks. But I didn't want to rust my fabric because I am afraid it will rust my sewing machine. I scrunched dyed some cotton poplin with orange rust procion dye. It came out orange with white marks. Then I stitched and tied the fabric and dipped it into my indigo bucket. You can see the results. (Two of the pieces were undyed)

I used the Hydros recipe in Janice Gunner's book, it was simple 'bung it in the bucket and stir' and it worked. The hydros bleached out the orange colour where it reached = the blue fabric with orange marks = happy dance.

bark inspiration

2010-07-03T18:35:00.000+01:00

Today I went off to Peterboro with Roz and Julie to visit some of the open studios.
We started at (16) 'Art and Stitch' where Sarah was teaching how to make beaded buttons, along with showing her quilts, embroideries and sketch books. Angela Watson and Pam Pardo also had work on show. There is a shop attached and I bought some wool felt to dye.

On to (4) with Sue Shields, Carol Burnett Anita Bruce and Lindsay Wisniewski. Carol's freeform beaded bracelets were especially
wonderful.

Next stop was (5) Julie Reid Ann Bellamy and Kathryn Moore. Julies

paintings were serene, absolutely lovely. Ann's jewellery was quirky and fun and I came home with this pin. Kathryn hand spun, hand dyed and then wove the resulting yarn. She also plays the piano rather well.

Julies garden was wonderful, interesting and restful and we did indeed rest and ate a scrummy cream tea whilst sitting in a shady spot.

On to (8) where Kay Hall was showing her embroideries and mosaics along with Nadine Gereson and her silver jewellery. Kay's mosaics were made using glass, textured, coloured and with metal and paper and goodness knows what. (I wanted one in particular and may go back for that at a later date.) Kay's garden was amazing too with mosaics and rusting metal sculptures and glass mobiles and a simple pine tree with the most interesting bark. The tree had been covered by jasmine until recently and what a beautiful and inspiring trunk reappeared when the jasmine was trimmed.

I didn't take many pics of the work on show, so you will have to visit either the studios or the web sites for a look. Most studios are open tomorrow and next weekend, info here

Copper wire and a blowtorch

2010-06-14T20:43:00.000+01:00

I treated myself to a copy of Metal-Embellishments with Mary Hettmansperger it took ages to come but was worth waiting for. I have Marys book Fabulous Woven jewellry and love her work but watching her demonstrating is so much easier.
I was inspired to get out my copper wire and the blow torch. My little copper piece is sitting on hand dyed wool felt from Oliver Twists and once embellished a bit will become the focal for a book cover.

I am sure the pain in my little finger will go away soon, I got a bit over excited and stuck my finger in the flame of the torch.

From me to you 2

2010-06-13T19:49:00.002+01:00

As so few people commented on my bookmark offer, I will be sending everyone a bookmark. Rebecca and Susan, would you send me you snail mail address.

Thanks to those very few people who still read my blog, I feel like 'Billy no mates'.

***Susan, thank you for sending your address, your bookmark is in the mail

From me to you

2010-06-08T10:18:00.000+01:00

I have been blogging for a while now and made many friends so I thought it was time I gave away one or two things. Does anyone remember this post bookmark-anyone ? I have some of those left and would like to give away three this week. Simply leave a comment and on Sunday I will randomly pick three names. These are light and easy to mail so I don't mind where in the world you live.

Out and about in Ely

2010-05-28T20:49:00.001+01:00

I was invited to join Julie and Jackie for a day in Ely, Cambridgeshire. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a little stroll along the waterside.

The babylon-gallery had an textile

exhibition by Stitch-links.

The three of us had different favorites, mine was the work of Liz Hunter, indigo dyed rusted pieces of fabric, some with added rusty objects.

Marilyn Carter had some lovely layered pieces too. This one is called 'Power of Money' and had layers of sheer fabric with printed Euro, dollar and £notes with added hand stitching. For some reason it was quite hard to keep my hands off this :)

Sheila Cahn's work had multiple layers of hand-dyed fabrics, stitched and slashed.

It was a very varied and interesting exhibition.

Next door to the gallery is the Peacock Tea Rooms and we popped in for a cup of tea and a sandwich. Emma joined us, she had spent ages stuck in her car because there was a problem with railway signals and the barriers wouldn't go up. Just to keep her company we had to have cake! After a long lunch sharing links, tips and gossip, Julie and I had a leisurely walk back to the railway station.

On the platform there is a delightful shop which reminded me of East (Covent Garden) but tons cheaper. I purchased these Indian Print Blocks for a song.

I also received three gorgeous presents, I am embarrassed to say I hadn't taken anything of mine, so until I have returned the compliment I won't show you my goodies.

Unique Cottage Farm Studios

2010-05-22T20:21:00.007+01:00

It was 'Sheep Day' at the Unique cottage farm studios We saw sheep being sheered, and my didn't those ewes bleat for their lambs and vice versa. The ewes were left bald but the little lambs only had their rear ends shaved.

After the indignity of the shearing shed they were all put into a small paddock to find each other. I felt quite sad as they all bleated and called to each other. The two lambs laying in the patch of dirt were the last to find their mums.

There were demonstrations on felting, dyeing wool tops and yarn, spinning and weaving, and hand knitting. You could also make a stained glass hanging of a sheep.

I have wanted to make a felted bowl for ages so when I saw these being shown, I had to go and ask a few questions. Enid and Jane from the 'Unique Textiles Group' very kindly taught me how to make one. Mine needs more felting and the petals are a bit wonky, but it's a great first piece. It doesn't look quite the same at the moment, Kizzie took a liking to it and ran off with it, but a bit of soapy water will put it right.

I asked one or two questions at the dyeing table too, and now I know how to dye wool tops without ending up with a matted mess.

Robin Atkins free download book

2010-05-22T09:04:00.003+01:00

Robin Atkins has decided to retire one of her books and has made it available to everyone as a free download. Go to http://beadlust.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-bead-at-time-free-download.html for your copy.

UNDERCOVER - The evolution of underwear

2010-05-19T17:24:00.009+01:00

The exhibition in the main gallery at 'The Hub' is underwear. It is fascinating to see the sort of undies my gran wore, as well as those I wore once upon a time. There were some spectacular corsets, this green taffeta and lace one was very Moulin Rouge, but in fact was made in 2007 by 'Miss Katy'.

The side view shows the true colour, the amount and quality of the work in this corset is incredible and I can see that wearing one of these would change your character. (photo is borrowed from Julie)

http://mixedmedia-jem.blogspot.com/jem.blogspot.com/

This red two piece is from 'Butress and Snatch', made in 2004 but using lace and pompoms from the 1890's.

I would have loved a pair of these in my younger days. They looked very comfy and wearable and such great fun. These are from 'Carol Malony' Spring 2009. Made from Guipure embroidery, lace, net and mesh. The collection was inspired by traditional sailor tattoos.

The Triumph International Reform Corset from 1912 was my favorite garment in the exhibition. Made from soft cotton with tucks and pleats but no boning. This wouldn't look out of place today worn with jeans or a nice skirt.

The Hub kindly gave permission to take photos for personal use, I only had my mobile phone with me so these aren't the best quality, Julie had her camera so it will be well worth a visit to her blog.

The roof gallery at the Hub has 'Visual Thinking' from the Textile Study Group. This exhibition is about the creative thinking process and has a selection of sketch books alongside artefacts, photographs, installations and drawings. I found it very inspiring and came away wanting to get out my sketch books after a creative lull. I didn't take any photos of this exhbition so you will have to go and see it for yourself :) It is worth a day out to see work from Sarah Burgess, Mary Sleigh, Ann Wheeler, Rosemary Campbell, Jan Miller, Sian Marting, Mary Youles, Jenny Blackburn, Kay Greenlees, Gavin Fry, Janina Evans and Alison King.

Fabric painting day

2010-05-15T15:34:00.010+01:00

I spent a couple of hours painting some fabric samples using Colorhue fabric dyes. These are highly concentrated and easy to use, meant for silk painting but I have used them successfully on cotton. I got mine from Rainbow Silks in the UK http://www.rainbowsilks.co.uk/SubCategory.cfm?SubCatId=110 110

The pink/orange piece was splatter, then painted and splattered again whilst the fabric was still wet.

The pink/gree/blue piece on the right was painted, then placed on a piece of clingfilm. I scrunched the fabric, sprinked salt onto the green area and then left it to dry overnight. The salt didn't pick up the dye in the way I expected but I like the speckles.

The (landscape?) piece on the left was painted and then I sprinkled long grain rice onto the green areas and left it to dry. If you click on the photo you will be able to see the texture from the rice.

The green and yellow fabric was created by wetting the fabric and painting a very watered down dye on. Then I scrunched the fabric and threw split peas on top.

The little bottles of dye are expensive but are so concentrated that they go a long long way. I added at least 50% water to the dye and I wet my fabric before painting it. The are easy to use and don't need fixing but I ironed mine to be sure. I used cotton poplin and the fabric feels exactly the same after dyeing as it did before. Each of my sample pieces is A4 sized, approx 11 1/2" x 8 1/2".

Diane expressed surprise that the dyes could be used on cotton so I cut one piece in half and really scrubbed it using detergent and hot water. It faded quite a bit, losing more yellow than blue. This isn't a problem for me as I will be using my fabric to make atc's, but if I needed the colour to be more permanent I would use procion dye instead.

dye bleach hydrogen peroxide

2010-05-01T22:20:00.003+01:00

I dyed this fat quarter a week or so ago. I have been trying to dye with indigo and orange (procion) but struggle with the mud effect. This one wasn't too bad if a little boring. I cut the piece in two and pole wrapped half, then added full strength bleach (domestos). I only left the bleach on for a couple of minutes, rinsed and dunked the fabric into a bucket of water with hydrogen peroxide 3% (about 125mls to 2 litres of water) to neutralise the bleach.

This one was a mixture of orange rust and brown rose, and was subtle to say the least. I pole wrapped 1/2 of the fatQ, soaked it in a bucket of water and then sponged the neat bleach on and left it for 15 minutes. Rinsed and neutralised. I guess this one will be overdyed too...

I'm a winner

2010-04-10T16:44:00.002+01:00

I won £17.50 on the Grand National. I have never bet on anything before, but the name 'Big Fella Thanks' called to me. My dad always called my husband 'the big fella' and it seemed like an idea. Thanks dad.

Red fingers and my Azalia

2010-03-29T11:44:00.003+01:00

I don't have green fingers and usually plants take one look at me and die. As I took the wrapper off this one two buds dropped off and my heart sank. You see, this was a gift from my grand-son and he chose it so it is very special.

Two weeks later and here it is. Not only still alive but blooming and delightful. Perhaps my red fingers are slowly turning brown?

dyeing disapointments

2010-03-24T17:06:00.006Z

I am a bit disapointed with my dyed cloth. The blue looked so promising in the tray. I don't know whether it came out so insipid because I used soda soaked cotton, or was it my old dyes?

This orange piece was the cotton poked through the holes in the plastic sink mat. It took ages to do the poking and the results don't justify the effort. Again I used soda soaked fabric and old dye so will have another go soon.

I expected the colours to migrate more, next time I will add the soda after the dye rather than soaking the fabric to see if this makes a difference.

dyeing is fun - oh yes it is

2010-03-15T17:33:00.005Z

On my trip to Ikea last week I picked up some shallow plastic drawers for less than £1, and a heavy rubber cd drawer liner for a bit more. Of course the rubber liner didn't fit the tray so I had to cut it down, which involved a couple of trips to the diy store first for a stanley knife, then again for a different stanley knife because the first all singing all dancing easy to use one wasn't. Then Kizzie tried to help which didn't. However I did manage to trim the liner so that it fit the tray.

I had some soda soaked cotton which I pushed into the groves of the rubber liner, then poured procion cobalt blue dye over. The hardest part is waiting until tomorrow before I rinse.

Diversion rant

2010-02-28T14:58:00.003Z

I drove south today to Chelmsford, lovely drive going, drizzle and grey and more drizzle. But I got there safe and sound and early for once. Had a nice afternoon with Em and then drove home. Via the A14, which was closed at Cambridge services. I followed the diversion signs and ended up back at the services. Hmm, this time I followed the car in front, thinking he might know where he was going and we both ended up back at the services! Next I followed a car transporter, figured he might know where to go. We drove all the way back to the M11. I thought that must be wrong so followed the A14 towards Cambridge. Ha, a diversion sign. I would like to tell you where I went, I have no idea. I followed those blooming yellow signs until I came to a roundabout, the diversion signs told me to go all the way round and back the way I came. No blooming way!!

Instead I followed the signs to Godmanchester. I found the Wood Green Animal Shelter (it was closed) and eventually found myself on the A14 going in the direction I wanted to go. Yey. Mine were the only headlights I could see, no-one in front and no-one behind me. So, in splendid isolation I beetled it to the A1, breathed a sigh of relief and went home.

I have questions. Where had I been? Why did it take almost an hour? Why wasn't I diverted off the A14 at the interchange with the M11? What a waste of time, petrol and blood pressure tablets.

Today I heard from someone who had done the journey in the opposite direction, it was just as bad, she had no idea where she had been either. One person going from Lincoln to Chelmsford ended up travelling via Ispwich!

Rant over, normal service will be resumed asap

Exciting felt textures

2010-02-28T10:39:00.002Z

I may not be achieving much in the studio, but I am spending my down time reading and planning.
This book has a collection of recipes for amazing textured felt. Don't be put off by the title, it isn't a book about making clothes, although there are a few patterns. It is stuffed with information, inspiration and instructions and wonderful photos.

Amazon.co.uk have a look inside feature, but this doesn't show the spikes and spirals, and fab embellishment techniques. Blogger won't let me cut and paste the link. But, honestly, it is well worth a look.

Kizzie is leaving Emmelinesplace

2010-02-24T14:35:00.003Z

So that the artisans who are kind enough to read about my efforts don't get bored, I have decided to start a new blog to share the exploits of Kizzie and me. The address is http://kizziewhizz.blogspot.com/

Normal service here will be resumed once I have something worth showing :)

Snow Woe

2010-02-21T10:30:00.002Z

We were ready and willing. We set off even though it was snowing. We travelled for 1/2 an hour even though the roads hadn't been gritted. Then we came to a halt, after the third accident, R's car didn't like stopping. We carried on round the roundabout and came home. (The man on the satnav got his knickers in a twist)
Sometimes you just have to be grown up and sensible. Luckily we are planning to go to 'Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch' at the NEC in March so we have something to look forward to.

woe and broken toe

2010-02-20T21:32:00.003Z

We took Kizzie to see the vet on Friday and her toe is still very sore. So no exercise until Monday at the earliest. I am not sure who is suffering more, Kizzie because she is bored, or me and B because Kizzie is bored. She did come downstairs all by herself - admittedly there was a treat on every step, and I was there to catch her if she fell, but she did it. Then she ran upstairs again. Luckily Kizz still thinks that the id kibble are tasty treats so she can have as many as she wants.

This afternoon I sloped off to my studio and had a grand clean up. I found dirty paintbrushes and jamjars from my last fabric painting day (back in October). I am ashamed. They cleaned up fine. I moved the tut into B's garage and scrubbed and tidied and feel loads better for it. It is amazing how much better I feel after a couple of blue sky days.

Tomorrow I am going to 'Textile in Focus' in Cambridge where I will be taking a 2 hour workshop with Isobel Hall 'Books with open embroidered spines'. I have charged my camera and hope for loads of pics to share. BIAB :)

Kizzie visits Ben

2010-02-17T22:38:00.002Z

Today we went for a ride in the car to visit Ben. Kizzie was sick three times on the way and I now have a wonderful carrier bag with towels and my sweater festering in the car boot.
Ben is the crazy greyhound who lives with C, H and E, regular readers will have read of one or two of his escapades.
I was a little worried about how he would react to Kizzie, but he was a charming gentleman, welcomed her into his home, wagging his tail. Kizzie hid behind us for a couple of minutes and then enjoyed running around and playing. I took two hide shoes for them to share and they thoroughly enjoyed them, occasionally swapping, you can see in the picture how relaxed they are, although Ben does seem to be guarding his :) When we left, Ben cried. Kizzie slept all the way home and wasn't sick once. I think we will be going again soon.

I did manage to visit my sewing room yesterday and achieved something. I took up two pairs of trousers, not exactly artistic but more than I have done for weeks. One or two days of sunshine and I am craving action of the studio type.

Hmmmmm

2010-02-16T18:35:00.003Z

Isn't Miss Kizzie Whizz lovely? She is sleepy today, possibly a result of the meds from the Vet.

Breaking news

2010-02-15T16:39:00.002Z

Kizzie has broken her toe. Does anyone know how to tell a puppy that she has to rest? The anti-inflamatory tablets did make her drowsy for a while, but that has worn off and Kizzie can run on three legs quite well.

Miss Kizzie growing up

2010-02-13T20:12:00.005Z

The pic of Kizzie with her (late) football was taken at the end of the day, see the fat belly? Every night she goes to bed looking plump but in the mornings she is back to skinny but an inch taller.

Kizzie seems to think the most amazing place (and where she most needs to be), is upstairs. If we forget to lock the gate, she can open it and thunders up the steps. Sadly she hasn't worked out how to come down yet and so wails for someone to go and get her. Then we play the game of 'can't catch me'.

Brian saw Kizzie Whizz sitting like this the other day and gulped. She was laying where Katydog had, a thousand times. Just over Kizzie's shoulder on the right is a photo of Katy. I smile each time I see the picture, and I confess I still occasionally talk to her.

More puppy stuff

2010-01-26T22:19:00.002Z

Kizzie asleep in her favorite spot.

Today we introduced Kizzie to her new red harness. We couldn't agree on which way up it went, Kizzie thought it was a horse harness and grabbed it like a 'bit', she managed to squeeze both legs into one slot and then half ran and half hopped off. Even so she managed to out run both of us, partly I imagine because we were laughing so much at our ineptness and the ease which Kizzie out manouvered us. When we finally caught up with her and got it off, she trounced off and threw herself into her bed. If she could have slammed the door, she would have.

morning pics

2010-01-24T19:31:00.007Z

My being outdoors in the mornings is a rare thing. Yesterday I was out picking up doo, and trying to take a photo of Kizzie playing with her plantpot when I noticed the dew on my fir trees. It looked like the fairys had been and hung gorgeous baubles on the tree in the night.

The sun was shining and I thought the different colours in this corner were worth showing, the rusty bird has been there for years, it wasn't that colour when I planted it.

This little fir tree had dew baubles and tiny frosted cobwebs, you might need to click to enlarge the pic to see it in all it's glory.

It was worth being up early and you know, I might just do it again :)

Slave labour

2010-01-20T17:35:00.005Z

Only 10 weeks old and they have me doing the washing up already!

And the dusting.

Sometimes Kizzie gets herself into a bit of a pickle and needs help. She meows like a kitten and I go running. Kizzie managed to get upstairs very well by herself but couldn't get back down. After the third time I had to go and carry her back down I gave in and organised the gate.

p.s. I did run the dishwasher on a very hot wash once we fished Kizzie whizz out. Maybe next time someone will remember not to leave it open....