Beauty

I was very remiss yesterday in forgetting to post about the most beautiful postcard I have received in a one to one swap with Lorna who blogs as Artymess. 

This lovely card has so much in it that speaks to me and Lorna is a girl after my own heart.  I don't think the photograph shows up all the details but the card is  beautifully layered with organza over various yarns and angelina and a gold ribbon.  I love the Buddha as I have a  Thai Buddha in my conservatory that has a similarly serene face.  The little green heart reminds me of my stepdaughter as green is her favourite colour so I will always think of her when I look at this card.  The card has been finished off with gold free machining and hand stitching which is Lorna's forte.  Thank you Lorna for a beautiful card.  My card for you will be on its way soon.  Promise! I'll just go and do the satin stitch and it'll be ready to go!

What day is it?

Where did the last week - and a bit -  go?  In a haze of frantic stitching mostly!   I was determined to get my Festival of Quilts entry finished if I possibly could so I set aside the best part of two days to get on with the quilting.  I appreciated Sandra's suggestion that I make printouts of the photo of the quilt top and try out some quilt patterns and thread colours on it but in the end I just made a couple of samples and trialled some threads before deciding which to use.  In the end I settled on a pale lemon and blue variegated thread and a wavy line design. 

The quilting took two days as it was very tiring with all the pushing and pulling through the throat of the machine.  The binding is one of the hand dyes I had used in the quilt. 

You may be able to see the colour change in the thread in  the photo above.  Some of my wavy line stitching got a bit erratic but I've chosen not to let that bother me.

I'm really pleased that the back of the quilt came out neatly, despite a slight drift in the vertical line.  (Note to self, don't use a clearly vertical pattern next time!)

I'm really pleased to have got the quilt made and I feel freed up to play now that it's finished.  I just have to remember to post it on time! 

When I haven't been working on the quilt I have been busy making a fabric postcard for Emma who lives on the Isle of Skye.  Emma is celebrating her 50th birthday this week and asked for 50 people to swap postcards with her.  As Emma has now received her card from me I can now show you it.

You will notice a bit of a similarity to my quilt.  I also decorated the envelope for Emma which you will see if you click through to her blog.  It's worth having a look at all the beautiful cards Emma has received so far, there is so much variety from so many very talented artists.

I had a lovely surprise a couple of weeks ago.  I received an email telling me that I had won a book in a prize draw.  My first reaction was that it was spam as I couldn't remember entering a prize draw but I suddenly spotted a name I recognised and followed the link to the original posting and the light dawned!  I had won! 

This was my prize.  This gorgeous and inspiring book is by Joanne B Kaar who lives in the far north of Scotland.  The book is beautiful in itself as well as being informative and has some beautiful images inspired by the sea and shore.  So it's definitely my kind of book.  Joanne has a blog which promotes a crofter's cottage museum in Caithness and she has recently staged a huge exhibition in conjunction with an artist in New Zealand inspired by the voyage of the 'Westland' from Tail o' the Bank Scotland to Port Chalmers in New Zealand..  The book covers paper making and book making and I fully intend to try some of the projects in it.  Meanwhile I shall enjoy the beautiful illustrations.

Now that I've finished the quilt project I thought I would join many others in becoming part of the Sketchbook Project.  For a fee you are sent a Moleskin Cahier notebook to work in according to a theme which you can choose yourself or have selected for you by the organisers.  The idea is to send the sketchbook back by a date in January next year (so no keeping the work you make) and the sketchbook will then form part of a permanent collection at The Brooklyn Art Library.  I have chosen the theme "This is not a Sketchbook" as I thought that would put the least amount of pressure on me and give me plenty of scope.  Apparently my sketchbook is in the post so the fun can begin!

I don't have a photo but my DH does so if you click here you can see our lovely baby blackbird that fledged about a week ago and is still hopping about the back garden.  His Mum brings him down to our pond to get a drink and it's lovely to watch them.  I don't often look at my DH's blog as I am so busy with all the other blog's I look at (shame on me!) but you might like to have a bit of a look around while you're there as he has some lovely birdie photos lately.

I hope you're enjoying a bit of summery weather wherever you are in the UK and if you are not in the UK I hope the extremes of the weather systems in certain parts of the world are not affecting you too badly.  I won't be blogging again for a few days so have a lovely weekend and I'll see you soon.  (It's pleasure not pain to explain my absence.  DH and I are going to Durham to visit the cathedral and Crook Hall for his birthday this week.  Tell you all about it next week when I get the photos organised.)

Gifts in the post

I have been looking in at Gail's blog for some time and she recently had a giveaway. Gail has been working on a series of 52 projects inspired by Jeanne Williamson and her book 'The Uncommon Quilter' and is very close to completing her own 52 projects. (You'll have to excuse the fact that my photos have loaded the wrong way round with the postcard second).

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I am very intrigued by this photograph above which features an image from Gail's recent holiday in Italy. I think it is taken from an altered book and I really like it. I shall have to keep it somewhere safe to incorporate into my journal of Italy if we ever get there! (We should have gone on a coach trip this year but it was cancelled).

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This very appealing postcard features Gail's images of Portofino which I have recently found out was the inspiration for Clough Williams Ellis beautiful Italianate village, Portmeirion in North Wales. It's a beautiful card Gail, thank you so much. I am in awe of the fact that Gail has managed to complete 52 projects, all very different and she has made a point not to give up on any piece. Whatever problem she has faced has been overcome and I'm sure there has been lots of learning along the way. I am very tempted to follow suit but I don't think I would have Gail's dedication. It would be a great way of developing skills tho, wouldn't it? I am a bit tempted......

PS

I've just found out that one of the things I have been busy with this week has reached its destination so I can show you it now.

This is a postcard with a chiffon scarf as the base embellished onto a cotton/fleece backing. IRL it's actually a bit more on the red side but this is the closest I can get. I embellished various organzas and lovely wool fibres from Holly in Florida together with angelina and added a multi-coloured yarn to outline the heart shape. (The heart was embellished separately and embellished onto the background. I hope it doesn't fall off!) Finally, I added beads and a couple of charms. I'm pleased to say that the recipient liked it! :o)

Take it Further April

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I am pleased to say that I have actually managed to complete the April challenge on time! Yay! I kept to the postcard format I had decided on at the beginning of the month and chose to use the brown paper fabric that I had made for the Fibre & Stitch challenge previously.

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All the materials used in the postcard have been changed from their original appearance or purpose :

*The brown paper has been painted in many layers with acrylic paint, inks and metallic paint

*The leaf has been painted with gesso and then copper acrylic paint

* The key has been changed by rusting

* The lace has been changed by dying with inks

* Beneath the lace is a copper garden label which has been rusted and the spiral metal piece is rusted copper wire from the copper tag.

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In keeping with thoughts about change, which can be for good or not so good, I have free-motion embroidered over the surface of the card to suggest the path that change can lead you on in your life. Some of that change, and its effects, may not be obvious initially and I think that's why I wanted the copper label to be partially hidden and only hinted at under the lace.

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Change is a funny thing. Life is full of change. We change as we grow, and we grow as we change. Our outlook changes as we develop and as we meet other people on our journey. Sometimes we are not aware, at the time, that we are changing or that change is affecting us. Other times, change is obvious and overwhelming. During my life I have experienced all kinds of change, some of which I resisted and which made life very difficult for me. Other change has been a joy and has happened without any conscious decision on my part. I have just gone with the flow. Other change has been a definite decision on my part.

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I would never have dreamt a year ago that my art interests would have changed so much and that I would be so involved with experimental and textile art and meeting people all over the world who share my interests. It seems appropriate to say thank you here to everybody I have met over the last year and to everyone who has left comments here. Thank you for sharing my journey of change.

Dotee again

I thought you might like to meet my new friend. Well actually she is going to be CCs new friend in New York. (CC is a cyber friend of my DH who he met through Toadgames, a free games site) This dotee is made with fabric which I needle felted on the embellisher. I then had the bright idea of attaching the yarn round the edge before I put the face and beads on . Take my advice, don't do it this way! All the while I was sewing on the face and beads I was getting hooked up in wispy fibres. It did not do my temper any good at all! I wonder why it is that every face I do turns out differently? This little dotee looks very serene.

I have been busy with something else too but I can't show it just yet.

After all the excitement of the bikers this morning we had a thrilling couple of hours writing Christmas cards (bah humbug, not my favourite job) and then decided to get a breath of fresh air and go for a walk, despite a bit of drizzle. Unfortunately, I had exhausted my trusty camera photographing said bikers so I have to direct you to my DH's blog for his version of events with pictures.

I can now show you this postcard which I made for a one to one swap with Kate North. As Kate works mostly with fabrics I decided to work in mixed media and paint. I started with texture paste, a little mulberry bark and metallic mesh and tyvek. I painted this all in white with a touch of blue and then attached some dried grasses and babies breath and a leaf which I had painted with copper acrylic paint. This was all dabbed with white paint again and some parts were highlighted with gold. When all was dry I decided the composition lacked something and added the rowan leaf which I had also painted in copper. The card is stuck onto a piece of blue-painted watercolour paper which I think just sets off the whiteness of the whole thing.

Party and Post

Phew! That was some party! I have never been to a cyber party before so I didn't know what to expect. Actually, at times it was hilarious. Dashing around in cyberspace trying to solve clues in a scavenger hunt and be the first one to post the answer. There were an average of 65+ people on the group site at any one time all chatting away and the post rate was phenomenal! I don't know how the organisers kept up with the whole thing! I entered the quizzes and scavenger hunts but I was waaaaay to slow and didn't win any prizes (yes, there were prizes too), but I got a present just for going - just like a party bag when you leave - it was a pattern for a padfolio. (Sssh, don't tell them, I already have one from Fibre & Stitch! but thank you anyway.)

Today brought a lovely surprise in the post. I had admired this postcard on Kate's blog and today it popped through my letterbox!

This card has come through the post as you can see and it is completely unharmed in the experience. It is fabric, skeleton leaf and stitching, machined to a paper backing. The foreground leaf has been foiled. Thank you Kate.

You would have thought, wouldn't you, that I would have gone spark out once I got to bed last night, after all that "partying"? No such luck! Every time I closed my eyes my brain was still surfing, hitting the refresh button and leaping from screen to screen! *LOL* Thank goodness my FAT (that's Fibre Art Traders) friends don't party tooooooo often!