International Random ATC swap

My ATC from the Cyberfyber random ATC swap arrived today and is really lovely.

~

~

Regrettably my photograph does not do it justice as it is a beautiful honey gold with a lovely wispy yarn around a gold embossed paper. The photograph carries a quote from Coco Chanel, "Fashion fades, Style remains the same".

~

~

This is the reverse of the card and I think I have tracked down Anna to her blog http://maqitremblay.blogspot.com/ It's a really pretty ATC finished off with a pearl button. Thank you, Anna!

CyberFyber

~

I'm sure Susan won't mind me borrowing this photograph of her in front of the many ATCs included in her wonderful exhibition in South Carolina. If you follow the link and then click on the header you will be able to review the amazing week that Susan has had with her exhibition in Columbia South Carolina. Not only has Susan staged an amazing exhibition but she has also made sure, with videos, copies of news reviews and regular updates, that everyone around the world who couldn't attend in person has been able to follow all the events of the past week from the setting up of the exhibition onwards. Enjoy!

~

Tomorrow is International ATC Swap Day when ATC's sent in by participating artists will be exchanged. I intended to send 3 ATC's for this swap but in the end only managed to send one but I am looking forward to seeing whose art I get in return. Watch this space!

~

The exhibition continues until Tuesday. If only I had a magic carpet.....!

Counting Down

I forgot to show you my latest Charity shop (thrift/Op shop) find yesterday. I found this beautiful jacket several weeks ago and it cost just £3.99 (4 euros, 6$). The label is Mayhem and I've managed to track down their website so I'm going to send them a pic and see if they can give me any information, like, who made it?

~

~

The colours a bit off, it's not quite so orangey. It looks hand knitted and it's very weighty so it will be wonderful to wear on chilly Spring days. I originally bought it with a view to chopping it up to needle felt but found it fitted when I got it home so I shall enjoy it instead!

~

~

Have you remembered Susan Lenz's mammoth undertaking to stage an exhibition of artwork made by bloggers around the world and all received from swaps with her own work? The exhibition is in its final stages of preparation and Susan has nearly finished hanging all the exhibits which have come from swaps of ATCs and Postcards and from invited artists like Purplemissus and many others. You really must have a look here at the amazing exhibition that is opening this week on 8 January in Columbia South Carolina. If only I could be there. Susan is an amazing lady with such vision and drive and I can't tell you how moved I am to see a postcard of mine on the wall, in an exhibition way across the Atlantic surrounded by the work of so many talented artists and fellow bloggers. I wish Susan every, every success with this amazing undertaking. Make sure you go and have a look.

Take it Further November & Cyber Fyber

In the best traditions of killing two birds with one stone I have decided that my fabric for the fabric swap just about fulfills the criterion for the November Take it Further Challenge. The theme for November was to use text as an inspiration. I have been interested for a long time in including text, or the suggestion of text, as a layer in my work and intend to come back to this theme/idea in the new year.
~

~

Last year, around the time I started blogging, I had text in mind when making the fabric page above. The letters and numbers were printed from pre-cut shapes with acrylic paint. I include it here only to remind myself and give me food for thought.

~

~

The fabric for the swap obviously has text in the background and I'm really pleased with the stamp that I bought at the K & S Show. This is the piece I am keeping for myself where I tried a couple of ideas out. I have used similar stitching on the other pieces which will be parcelled up for the other girls involved in the swap. I'm looking forward to receiving the swapped pieces, although this may not happen till after Christmas as the girls are busy.

~

CyberFyber

It's not long now until Susan Lenz's wonderful CyberFyber Exhibition opens in Columbia, South Carolina. As part of the Exhibition there is chance to take part in an International ATC swap. You can find the details here and there is still time to join in. I am hoping to make 3 ATCs for this swap myself as a memento of this event. They will be swapped out on 17 January and you will get back an ATC for each that you send. I just have to get cracking!

Bits and Bobs and ATCs

Monday saw us taking advantage of my DH's day off and heading down the A1 to Rutland Water, a large manmade reservoir about 20 miles from us. My friend had told me about the bluebell wood there at Barnsdale and we were not disappointed in the sight which awaited us when we get there. The wood has been thinned out and conifers removed to open up the woodland floor and allow the bluebells to flower once again. I find it amazing that it only takes the removal of the canopy to bring dormant life from the soil.

~

The bluebells were absolutely spectacular! I don't think that I have seen such an expanse of bluebells in a long time, and this in a wood that is completely open to public access. Years ago, many years ago, when I was a child, we used to go to Danbury Woods in Essex, and I have a very strong memory of walking through droves of bluebells and coming out with armfuls (not allowable now) of these gorgeous, delicate blooms for my Mum.

~

~

I have been conspicuous by my absence from my Yahoo groups lately so this month I thought I would try and pick up the threads (no pun intended!) with the lottery at MixedMediaATCs_UK. The ATC above is on the theme of Sea Life and is much more sparkly than my photo shows.

~

Earlier this year I blogged about the Cyberfyber Exhibition that Susan Lenz is staging in January next year. If you missed out on the chance to join in with the ATC and Postcard swap that Susan ran in January you now have another opportunity to become part of this event. Susan has made more ATCs and Postcards so click here and follow the links to join in.

~

What else can I tell you? I can't show you what I am working on at the moment as it will be part of a swap if I manage to complete it. Something I can show you, though you might wish I hadn't bothered, is this fetching photo of DH taken on Monday. He was lurking in a little shed-thing at Barnsdale Gardens - don't ask - I think it's supposed to be a sort of hide so you can watch the birds in the wooded area, or maybe it's for children.............

Blog break

My poor DH has got the most awful cough (been to the doctor's, small infection in one lung so on antibiotics) but hopefully we are still going to see our friends in Yorkshire this weekend so there will not be any activity here for a while.

~
I have been packing today and first of all a little friend wanted to help

which was fine, but then

a few of his friends thought it would be a good idea to go on holiday too.
~

After a bit of gentle persuasion most of them were pursuaded to leave but it looks like the pink guys will be coming too

I don't think Bertie's 100% impressed as he's been mopping brows and tishoo-isshoing all week and I promised him a special break for working so hard. We shall see who ends up in the car tomorrow! Talking of cars............I cleaned mine yesterday!! Gasp!!!!!! Unheard of!!! Mind you, I nearly collapsed by the time I'd finished. Instead of being dried off it just got clean water scooped over it out of a bucket to rinse the soap off. What's a few streaks between friends? Oooh! That reminds me. I need to check the washer bottle! See, I'm very technical, got all the jargon! ;))

~
At the risk of boring you I will just show you the other landscapes I've been working on this week. Don't get excited, there's not much difference from the one I made for the January TIF.

This one is the third one in the swap I am doing at MachineEmbroidery_MachineFelting_FME It needs some handstitching on it and I shall do that next week.

This one is postcard size and will have some handstitching on it and will then be crossing the Atlantic to Susan Lenz for her Cyberfyber Exhibition which I am really excited about.

~

If you are too late to join in the direct swaps with Susan you can still join in the Free Trade which is happening next January 10 as part of the Cyberfyber event. To join you need to make up to three ATCs keeping the surface fairly flat and mail them to Susan. The details are here. You need to enclose a self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient stamps to cover return postage in your own country's postage stamps. The way I read it if you do send 3 ATCs you need to send 3 return envelopes so that you get 3 back. (I'll check this out actually just to be sure).

~

Shhh! Don't look now but DH has gone for a lie down and finally stopped coughing. I'll just creep out quietly. If you wouldn't mind doing the same and I'll see you soon. Byee! Shhhhh!

Bespoke Stationery

I don't have a lot to blog about at the moment as I've been working on the embellisher to make another 2 of the St Ives scenes that I did for the January Take it Further Challenge. One is to keep and the other is for Glenda, my second swap partner at Machine Embroidery_MachineFelting_FME group . I am also making another postcard size to swap with Susan Lenz in her Cyberfyber Exhibition. The postcard I have chosen from Susan's rapidly diminishing selection is this one

Susan says about it "This postcard was made from experiments in embellishing. A length of chunky yarn was embellished into an oval. This oval and triangle of lavender felt were embellished onto a piece of taupe silk backed with crimson felt. The felt was then embellished from the back around the pieces. The reverse is a piece of fabric paper created using fragments of late 18th and early 19th century text, handmade paper, polymer emulsion and metallic paints on unbleached muslin. It is signed and dated in free motion machine embroidery." I am just as interested in the reverse so I will post it here when it arrives.

~

My friend's young daughter has recently had a baby (called Finley, no, not Sharon's grandson!) and she has decided that she would prefer to work from home designing her own wedding stationery, so if you're in need of some individually designed stationery you might like to have a look at her new website here .

~

My cold is slowly clearing up and I am feeling more like doing things. Unfortunately DH has now caught it and is feeling very sorry for himself today

:( Man Flu! Poor thing, he is manfully struggling on at work because they are short-staffed. He only has to get through tomorrow and Friday and then he has a week off as we are going to see some friends in Yorkshire. I love Yorkshire and am looking forward to visiting some favourite places - Whitby, Goathland, Scarborough (does anyone know where the fabric shops are in Scraborough?), Hutton le Hole, Pickering. I'm taking plenty of handsewing with me as there's no computer link available. DH will go stir-crazy!

Cyberfyber Post + TIF

I cannot believe that my ATC from Susan Lenz arrived today! It was posted from the States on Friday and here it is!

The ATC is even prettier in reality than it appears on the screen in my earlier post and I am delighted to own it. As you can see Susan has embroidered her name on the back.

I haven't had a lot of time for art today but I have made some notes for the Take it Further Challenge

Lots of things have been running through my head with this challenge and I have tried to put some of them down in a (so called) mindmap. I have had some thoughts about the form that my piece for this month will take and it probably will not be wholly fibre or stitch but there may be some stitch involved. I'll say no more for the moment but hopefully I will find some time to make a start shortly as the days are rushing past already.

Dotee again & 200!

Can you believe it! This is my 200th post! If everyone of those posts had shown art works just think how much work I would have by now! Instead of that I've burbled on and used displacement tactics to distract everybody and myself! ;)) It's been a blast so far so a big "Thank you" to everyone who's shared this journey with me thus far.

I have been very rude to Lesley, unintentionally and I hope she will forgive me. Quite a few days ago now Lesley awarded me the "You Make my Day Award" for the second time. Every time I have blogged since that day I have forgotten to acknowledge Lesley's kindness. So, thank you very much Lesley! As I've recently been given this award and passed it on to 10 others I'm going to chicken out this time but I have to say that all the people whose blogs I visit make my day. This blogging community is a wonderful thing and I am truly grateful for all the friendships I have made. Just a thought, if someone had told me when I was a child that I would be talking to people all round the world by typing on a keyboard I would never have believed them!

Yesterday I put the finishing touches to a Dotee doll which I am sending across the world to a lovely lady who is facing a very difficult time health wise. I won't say who she is but I don't think she looks in here too often so hopefully she won't see the Dotee till it arrives.

The front of this Dotee was made on the embellisher. The round charm that is hanging at the side says "peace".

The back fabric is the lovely dragonfly fabric that Kate sent me recently. I have to confess that when I made the body the dragonfly fabric was going to be the front but after I had sewn the face on I realised it was on the wrong side! Doh! Obviously Dotee had her own ideas of which was her front! I still want to make a dotee for myself from the dragonfly fabric cos it's yummy!

The ATCs are going fast at Cyberfyber as the word is getting round. Don't leave it too long if you fancy joining in.

Cyberfyber

I have heard from Susan Lenz and she is happy to swap with me so I will soon be receiving this ATC from her:

There are still plenty of ATCs available to swap if you'd like to join in. By swapping an ATC or a postcard with Susan the card you send her will be included in the Cyberfyber exhibition next January. How exciting is that? When I blogged about this the other day I hadn't realised that my ATC would be included in the exhibition so now I'm all overcome!! The link to Cyberfyber is in the right-hand bar of this blog. Don't forget to have a look!

Cyberfyber

While browsing Cramzy's blog I followed a link to a new initiative which the amazingly talented Susan Lenz has embarked upon. She has had the idea to set up an exhibition to celebrate the wonderful community that has grown out of fiber blogging. You can read all about her forthcoming exhibition at Cyberfyber and if you follow the links in the righthand side bar at that site you will be able to join in with an ATC and postcard swap that Susan has set up in advance of the exhibition. I have already made a bid for one of Susan's ATC and hope she will be happy for the swap. You will recognise quite a few of the people Susan has already got on board for this great project including Beate Knapp, Dale Rollerson, Arlee Barr, Jacqueline de Jong and many others. I am amazed by the amount of work Susan has already put into this project and will be following it with great interest.