Judith's Material Musings

2009-04-09T20:10:00.000+12:00

Last class sample

This is my favourite, everyone is doing the same collage with the images that Gail provides. She makes it so easy - that is until you go to go and try to do one yourself and then you realise that experts do make it look easy. Quite different when you are not following instructions. However that said it is not putting me off. The possibilities are endless, Oh what you couldn't do with more hours in your day and boundless energy - ah well!!!

2009-04-09T19:51:00.000+12:00

Digital Collage class sample numero uno

Oopsie, just realised why I am having so many problems trying to send pictures of the digital collages I have been making in class. I have been sending them with way too many megabites, my Darling DH has just put me right and needless to say he is gloating somewhat. I don't know, I just want to do things and not have to worry or think about it, press this button or that and it all should work- Duh, not likely.
At least I am learning!!! and what fun in the process, well sometimes.
The classes are so much fun and so addictive, drop by http://www.shabbycottagestudio.com/store/Default.asp and check them out. No affiliations just one very happy customer

2009-04-01T20:57:00.003+13:00

We are having endless problems with our internet connection. I have been trying to post some images of digital collages that I have been doing with the new course I am doing but unfortunately I am not having much luck, so I think I will leave posting till we get this fixed as I have been spending ages trying to post.

2009-04-01T18:05:00.000+13:00

Testing

2009-03-30T20:41:00.000+13:00

Having problems trying to post yet again. Sometimes its so easy and at other times it is a pain in the proverbial......
We live rurally which means no broadband, we have satellite internet which is slower than broadband and seems to have a lot of downtimes which makes it very frustrating to use. Anyways, enough moaning.
I recently started a course with Gail of Mind wide open, it is Digital Collage and I absolutely love it. It is so addictive and I have been spending every available moment on the computer. Gail is a great teacher, making it easy for us, especially so for someone who knows absolutely nothing about photoshop and I mean absolutely nothing and whats more I find it very difficult to get around, but here we are. We all have to start somewhere.
The class is a series of vidoes that you download to your computer and so you watch Gail construct the collages. I can't wait to get home from work to get on the computer and play. Oh dear, yet another reason to not do housework.
I can't seem to post the link to Gail's classes and I can't seem to copy and paste, duh!!!

2009-03-30T20:13:00.000+13:00

I am doing an online course that I first heard about through Pat's blog, (see side bar). The course is Digital Collage with Gail of Mind wide open . The course is a series of very easy to follow vidoes which you download to your computer. It is so addictive even for someone like me who knows nothing and I mean absolutely nothing about photoshop and whats more I do not find it easy to understand photoshop, but Gail is a wonderful tutor. This is my 3rd of 4th attempt at this one and had to decide to leave it as is. There is still room for improvement but I am reasonably happy with it. Since I started to course I have been spending every available minute playing and trying to digitally collage. I can't wait to get home from work to get the computer on and have a play. Fun fun fun!!!!

2009-03-25T18:35:00.000+13:00

Bag version 2 This time I used some pfd fabric which I have dyed, stamped, used gesso as a resit, paintstiks and crayons and some other resists to colour the fabric. Also cut the squares half an inch smaller and thoroughly like the smaller size. I also used two layers of batting which I prefer , just meant it needed a little more tweaking while sewing. With the first bag I was using fat quarters which created a problem as the handles were meant to be long strips plaited together, so for the first bag I had to impovise using thick cord and rouching the strips. I prefer the plaited handles in this bag.

2009-03-25T18:26:00.000+13:00

I have been trying to blog this post for days but Picassa and blogger just would let me do it. Could not figure out what I was doing wrong but Bingo!!! it has worked tonight. This is a bag I made with a pattern I bought a while back. It is made with Lonni Rossi fabrics which I absolutely love. The bag is a bit floppy if yo have too much in it but worked up really nice.

2009-03-19T18:51:00.000+13:00

It worked, I managed to post to my blog. I can hardly believe it and I am using Picassa which I have never used before. This is a whole new ball game for me. I admit it (blogpost) or rather I am going to need a bit of tweeking but it worked and it was so easy, blog posts here we come.
Well as you can see this is the finished block and for once I am really happy with it. So often (read always) - I can only ever see the things I have not gotten right or am not happy with but this one I am happy with.
The roses are all hand rolled Dior roses mostly with my hand dyed ribbon, a few beads here and there and voila??!! Done.
You must go and see some of the other blocks. Also if you visit Vickies blog
http://www.itsonlyribbon.blogspot.com/
you can see two of the other finished quilts.

2009-03-19T18:37:00.000+13:00

It is the time of the year when a few of us get together (not in person unfortunately) to participate in the Artbra wallhanging. This year's theme is PINK and ROSES, two of my favourite things. Making the block has helped drag me out of a big black hole that I managed to crawl into a year or so ago. I won't bore anyone with the details but at the same time I cannot promise not to fall of the edge of the earth of bloglands in the future.
This is the first stage of the block and as you can see it is not actually a CQ block, I decided to make the hearts and rose the features instead of the block.
To see the other blocks that are completed so far, pop along to Barbara's flickr site:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbraproject/

If I can successfully get this posted on my blog I will post a photo of my finished block but as I am very rusty with blogger, blame it on age, menopause does come in handy for some things, especially when you can't get your brain to work.

2008-08-21T17:56:00.001+12:00

Most beautiful rose

If you happen to drop by this blog you must go and check out the most beautiful rose I have ever seen in ribbon.
It is here
http://rosesonthewater.blogspot.com/

2008-08-04T06:05:00.003+12:00

THANKS

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have dropped by and and left me your lovely comments. I have lost the plot a wee bit recently. Dear Pat of Gatherings wrote a few words about me on her blog recently which warmed the cockles of my heart. http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/2008/07/award-from-sweet-diane.html

She is a creative lady who is a good friend and someone who I admire greatly. Her words were balm to my soul and such a thoughtful thing to say. She has spurred me on to get back into life again. Anyways won't bore you all but I really wanted to say how much I appreciate you for continuing to stop by.

2008-08-03T18:26:00.003+12:00

Holiday

A couple of months ago we had a fabulous holiday with my family in Adelaide, Australia. My sister and her family live there as does my Dad. Of course when you are in Adelaide you have to go to the Barossa Valley, which is one of the best known wine areas; here we all are. The patriarch of the family is in the middle with his two girls on either side of him. My DH on my left also my two boys and two of my nieces and their husbands and my nephew's fiancé.
The other picture is all the cousies together, what a gorgeous bunch but I am totally biased.

2008-07-20T16:12:00.002+12:00

Finished ? nearly, maybe, not sure.

I started this a little while ago, wanted to have a go with the Melanie rose which I have mentioned before. It is a beautiful rose created by Marie Alton which she named after her daughter. I still need more practise but it is a delightful rendition of a full blown rose. Not sure whether I like the stems at this stage.

2008-07-06T09:08:00.002+12:00

Long time no Blog

Been missing in action for a while, no stitching to speak off but we have recently gotten back from a lovely family holiday in Adelaide Australia, but this is the view from my window this morning. Twas snowing most of yesterday and through the night. It had stopped but has just started up again as I was loading these photoes.
You can see the snow on the power lines which is always a course for worry. My husband who is a computer guy has just had to get into town to help those who's systems are down, and as it is the start of the school holidays as well as the start of the ski season and we live in the very centre of the North Islands ski area, well ..... all said.

2008-05-25T09:05:00.003+12:00

Autumnal garden

This is what my husband had to do yesterday, the cut up trees were damaged and ready to fall, infact one of two already had a lean on them so they had to go. A friend came around with a huge chainsaw and helped David cut these trees down.
The other picture is the view from the bathroom window, a glorious tree in its autumn splendour, the leaves are dropping rapidly now, the trees are battening down the hatches getting ready to go into dormancy and sleep away the winter. I know how they feel, I also am tired, would love to go to bed for a few months and wake up refreshed. Raring to go and face the future. Instead at the moment, no stitching, no inspiration, no motivation, just weariness. On a positive note though, we are off on holiday real soon. A lovely family holiday with my boys to visit my Dad and sister in Adelaide Australia. It is my Dad's 80th birthday, and we are going there for a couple of weeks, it will be lovely, nothing nicer than being with family.

2008-05-21T06:00:00.003+12:00

Sshh' don't tell Ebony or Doreen, these are the two ATC's that I am swapping with them. The one on the left is for Doreen, a mixed media background, little bits of cut up fabrics, angelina fibres then painted fusible web was ironed over that and finally a sheer organza over that. It looked like a celestial type landscape so I stitched a little over that. Ebonies is a felt background with various fibres needlefelted on that then organza again. Just a little plug for SharonB
http://stitchinfingers.ning.com/
It is a stitchin community that she has started up. Pop on over and check for yourself.

2008-05-04T11:40:00.003+12:00

First ever ATC

I know I am somewhat behind the 8 ball on these delightful pieces of art work but Doreen of Creative Meanderings Granddaughter Ebony is exchanging cards and I really want to play. I have received one from her and several from Doreen, I will post pictures later of them. Doreen gave me a tutorial and sent me samples, and voila here it numbero uno.
It is made from a piece of felt fused with little bits of glitzy fabric and angelina, then painted fusable web was ironed on to that, finally a piece of organza was fused to that. Cut to shape and a little hand stitching added.

2008-05-01T06:29:00.003+12:00

Little finishes

I decided to get these little embroideries finished and framed up. I learnt an other valuable lesson, well two really and they are both lessons that I know already.
1) Don't use little scraps of fabric when doing embroideries, because you can't frame them properly.
I know this but persist in trying to save fabric. Then you are stilted in what you can do with them.
2) Take your embroideries out of the frame when you put it away for the night. Yet again, I know this, but did I do it, No!!!

2008-04-29T20:01:00.003+12:00

A few years back I purchased Richard Box's book "Flowers for embroidery" He had a little lesson in it which is the poppies sample that I have posted here. I had forgotten all about it and found it stuck away in a folder, so I decided to get it out and frame it so that I could use it. It is something that I always liked but as it was a sample I never thought to finish it up, now I am pleased that I did. It was my first foray into machine embroidery. Not that I have done much more since then. It is done on painted hessian with tiny cut up pieces of fabric to make up a collage. I don' think it is something that I would do again, at least not on a large scale like Richard Box does. His work if fabulous as is the book.

and a close up

2008-04-25T18:24:00.006+12:00

6 INCH BLOCKS

As mentioned in the last post, I have been so inspired and have totally fallen in love with Pamela Kellogg' s 6 inch button blocks. So I just had to make some up. Acting on Pam's advise they are actually 8 inch blocks to allow for stitch shrinking and trimming up etc. Such a good idea and I am so pleased to get her advise.
Not sure at this stage how many I will make but this is a good start. Now I have to mark out my 6 inch square.I always find it better to mark them as I have a tendency to stitch too close to the edge thus having an awful time trying to stitch them together.
My DH has just slipped "Pride and Prejudice" in the DVD player, I have my needle and thread and a 6 inch square template and I am off to do the boring part.

2008-04-22T05:19:00.002+12:00

Camera has died and sources of inspiration

I have really been inspired by Pam of
http://kittyandmedesigns.blogspot.com/
She is making 6inch button blocks, she was in turn inspired by Sharon's of http://sharonb.wordpress.com/
Sharon made a huge or what looks like a huge 6inch button block, she has photoes on her website.
I have been asking Pamela questions, she makes the blocks 8 inches giving her lots of room for trimming etc. If your stop by her blog you can see why I am so inspired. Of course her stitching is to die for.
So I have decided to make up some and spent a couple of hours last night making up 8 inch blocks. Have about 10 so far and would love to show a photo but as the camera is not working, so I can't. I have a drawer full of small pieces of fabric, it was once in colourways but alas is just a mess at the moment. So, I am grabbing bits of similar colours and making the blocks that way. Then, once I have a pile I want to mark them up with the six inch size to keep me on track. Once we get an other camera I will post photoes but I am not too sure when that is going to be.

2008-04-20T19:16:00.002+12:00

Our weekend.

This is what we did this weekend, had a flying visit to Wellington to watch our son in the Barista competitions.
He manages one of the 10 or so Mojo's cafes. All the competitors had to make 12 coffees, 4 short blacks, 4 cappuchino's and 4 of their own signature coffees. Cameron presented his in old fashioned cocktails glasses, infact his whole theme was the 1920's. He had vanilla infused cream a chocolate tea and a marmalade syrup that he made himself. It was delicious. He came in the top 10, while the other three Mojo's staff took out the 1st, 3rd and4th places.Way to go Cameron and Mojo's

2008-04-18T05:57:00.005+12:00

Last one.

With this one, decided that I didn't want to sew on the overlay. As I was gluing the leaves for a little added security, I thought I would glue the black stuff on as well. (can't for the life of me find the word that it is called, sometimes menopause is a nuisance, I know what it is called, just cannot access my brain or my my brain won't let the word come forth, keep thinking nylon scarf but that is not right)
Anyway, back to glue, it was a fabric glue and it SAID dries clear. Not true as you can clearly see two white splodges of glue, duh!!!!! Oh well, will have to cover them with something.
These little quilts all had leaves that were collected three autumns ago. Time to collect some more. I pressed all but the ginkgo leaves and of course that is the one that is brittle.The pressed ones also retained some of their autumnal colours. Can you tell I like the word "autumnal" It always reminds me of Mr Tumnus of the Lion the witch and the wardrobe, of the Narnia series. Bit of a stretch of the imagination, just a similiar pronunciation I guess.

2008-04-13T17:34:00.005+12:00

Autumnal quiltlets.

I purchased Jane Davila & Elin Waterston's "Art quilt workbook" late last year. It is a wonderful book if you want to get started on the art quilt journey.
I had no idea where to start so thought I would give the insert strip piecing a go. Knew I wanted to use my dried leaves and the only way I could think to use them was under tuille as they are very brittle.
Also wanted to use some of the moulds I blogged about last weekend..
Used my favourite Loni Rossi fabrics, stamping a couple with leaf stamps, do you think I have a thing for leaves per chance???
Tried a little machine stitching and overall I am pleased with the finished products. These and an other one have taken me all day so once I have had dinner I need to get something done around here as it is back to work tomorrow.

2008-04-12T18:00:00.005+12:00

Ginkgo quiltlet

I had a bit of fun today making this.
I love leaves and collect them and dry them in the autumn, also love the colours of this season. They are so real and, well, beautiful. The fabrics are Loni Rossi and I tutued a little on the strips with paintstiks and rubbings. I tried to capture the dried ginko leaf under fine tulle, that was ok until I had to turn the quilt after attaching the binding duh! Dried brittle leaves don't like to be manipulated. Ah well, lesson learned.

2008-04-12T17:29:00.008+12:00

A wee bit more on the Melanie rose

Still playing and experimenting with this most beautiful rose, I yanked the first one out, just wasn't right. Wanted to use my hand dyed ribbon to see what the effect would be like. The variegated ribbon does make a difference but I still need more practise on the rose its self.
Talking of roses, pop on over to Barbara's blog, the address is on the sidebar as she has posted some photoes of the most beautiful antique crazy quilt, along with some close ups of the centre motif, which, you guessed it, is the most lovely ribbon/fabric rose composition.

2008-04-11T05:24:00.005+12:00

Excellent blogger award

I received the nicest of surprises the other day, Doreen of Creative Manderings gave me the above award, needless to say I was overwhelmed. I cannot get the logo on my blog as it is too technical savvy for me but you can read what she said (if you want to) on her blog.
http://doreeng.blogspot.com/2008/04/excellent-blogger-award.html
I am humbled by her lovely sentiment and it has encouraged me so much.

Kathy of http://kathyscrazymoments.blogspot.com/
asked me about the moulds I had used in the previous post, here is a picture, you can click on the photo to make it bigger.
I do not know how to get the text and pictures to line up, can anyone help me there? The three same sized moulds in the middle are rigid, these I have had for 10 years or so and are a little more difficult to get the sculpy out of. The others are all flexible moulds and so much easier to use.
I have been trying to have a go at the Melanie Rose designed y Marie Alton of SRE Deluxe. I can't quite get it right but it is a favourite of mine. Marie does roses to die for.

2008-04-06T18:50:00.004+12:00

Play day.

had a fun day today making moulds with sculpy, baking and painting. Some of these moulds have been stuck in the drawer for.... well several hundred years. When trying to paint them in the past the paint seperated. When things don't go as planned for me I tend to get discouraged and pack them away. So this time I sealed them first with Golden soft gel, east peasey. Then the fun began, painting and highlighting with golden interference paint and jacquard pearl-ex mixed with water. As you can see, I was somewhat restricted by the colours I had of each, but fun none the less.
What actually got me started was the need for some leaves for a little autumn quiltlet I want to do. Also had some mould maker so had a go with that to make some other slightly larger leaves. Oops ,just noticed the shadow on the photoes duh!!

2008-04-06T18:36:00.003+12:00

Credit card purse.

Had to have a go at making something with the bags hence this little purse from the Fibre and stitch website free projects. Doreen suggested to back the paper with cotton so I had a go at doing that. Thanks Doreen. In hindsight the fastening would have been easier if they were stitched before assembly!!! Life is about learning from your mistakes, I am really good at that, the mistakes I mean or rather the learning experiences lol. It was going to be a little gift but think I will keep it myself and get the closure sorted out next time

2008-04-05T21:29:00.003+13:00

I Have been playing with brown paper bags ala Sue Bleiwiss. They have been painted, crumpled and touched all over with treasure gold. Fun fun fun, next to fuse some double sided web to the back and make some things.

2008-04-01T05:45:00.003+13:00

Thank you.

Thank you all so much for stopping by and commiserating with me. I have wimped out yet again and not phoned the dentist as the pain was not as bad yesterday. Bad girl!!!! It is sore this morning so I need to pluck up the courage and call.... Who are you going to call - not ghost busters but dentist busters! The ideal for me, drugs drugs and more drugs. Time was I could go to the dentist quite happily, something has happened along the way, or rather the wimp factor has taken me over. My dentist is a very nice and caring person who makes it all very easy for me, but I have such a mind set - dentist - open mouth = pain!!!!!! Yucketty yuck. Just wish it was the weekend then it would be all over and my tooth would be fixed. You know my son had three fillings and didn't even have an injection, can you believe that? Give me injections, give me sedatives, hit me on the head anything to get it over with. Enough already...

2008-03-29T18:40:00.002+13:00

Little pink heart finished.

I am not in a good mood today and probably won't be for the rest of the weekend as I have a stinking toothache and I am a wimp. I had a crown put on a 10 days ago at a horrendous price and now, guess what? It is aching and I am a very unhappy camper. Its going to be a long weekend.
Finished this little heart up today.

2008-03-24T18:05:00.005+13:00

Our weekend

This is what my niece looks like normally, she is gorgeous as you can see; this is her
playing with the camera and sneaking pictures of Cameron relaxing with his feet up and reading. Also sneaking a shot of me in a most unflattering pose but I have to admit doing what I do most of the time.!!! You guessed it on the computer, probably reading your blog. You can see my cup, gotta have my cuppa, oh you can also see a tin of what we should have been doing, painting the bathroom. Although we did actually get some work done over the long weekend, belief it or not. We managed to get a lot of the garden tidied up in preparation for winter. DH got the driveways etc sprayed of weeds. Cameron did the lawns. We got wood stacked, DH made up an other plane and I did manage to get a little heart stitched , in amongst cooking reading and relaxing
Hope you are all having a good Easter, it is back to work tomorrow for us.

2008-03-22T14:53:00.002+13:00

Latest gadget.

We had a day in town during the week and I spotted this circle cutter and small rotary cutter. See bottom picture. I had just recently bought Quilting Arts DVD of the television show and this was shown on one of the episodes. This picture is showing some of the yoyo's I made last night. The next two pictures, although not very clear are of some of the pincushions I made with the yoyo's I have already given one to a friend and forget to take a picture of it.
The bottom picture is the gadget itself.

2008-03-22T14:30:00.005+13:00

Purple hearts

This was originally a purple block that I made up but once done it just wasn't right. The centre piece turned out really small and the gold/purple fabric turned out to be huge. rather than stick it away I made the decision to cut it up!! What freedom, these will actually suit me better as I wanted a couple of small projects to work on. I just might get to do some sewing after all this weekend as we have decided not to paint the bathroom after all. At least not this weekend while we have the young ones here. It is just to inconvenient.
Anyways, these hearts will be mostly stitching and not too much embellishing

2008-03-21T10:53:00.003+13:00

No stitching for me at the moment so I thought you might like to see what my DH does. He builds and flies radio controlled models. He used to have his private pilots license way back when we were young. Now he really loves to do this. Well, he has done this since he was a little boy, when his Daddy taught him as he was making his planes. Of course there was a big break while we had our children.
He had a whoopsie with one of his planes two weeks ago, the tail fell off while he was flying. Not a good look, you can imagine the result ?. Got to be expected of course.
I have my niece Dawn and middle son Cameron yeah! coming for the Easter weekend and probably my Uncle from Australia. Oh! and we have just stacked the wood for the winter and that might be the end of me for the weekend, as I am !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still got the garden to do yet and its not enough lunchtime.
Hope you all get to stitch or do the things that you want to get done.

2008-03-16T12:44:00.003+13:00

Hospital block finished.

I think this is finished??? The oya's still need the final placing and attaching as does the mop butterfly. The butterfly will have to be glued as it does not sit right with just a stitch or two in the little attaching place.
I bought the swarovski butterflies and little yellow flowers which are under the lace flower especially for this block. I absolutely love anything swarovski and they look so much nicer in person. I dyed all the ribbon and used the edged dyed ribbon that I blogged about just recently. I really like the edged dyes stuff, it give such a realistic effect. My photographic abilities leave much to be desired I can't seem to get the colours right. They look washed out and really do look nicer in person.
Barbara (on my side bar) has blogged about all the blocks so far. She also has some lovely pictures so that you can see the flow of the blocks and how the colours and theme really work together.

I have been tidying stuff!!!! bah humbug, do you make a mess when you are working? I am terrible and have stuff everywhere. I have also just recently bought a couple of cupboards which mean I have finally the space to put things away in an orderly manner. I reorganised everything a year or so back putting all ribbons and threads together by colours. It seemed like a great idea at the time but it nearly drove me mad. So, now I am putting it all back mostly the way it used to be. Not by colour but by type, like all my pearls cottons together, dmc together and silk threads together. I have also been doing my beads and bought new containers for them. I also organised them by colour and again never knew what was there. So they are now also back to be organised by type, seeds together, bugles together etc etc ad nauseum. Ah!!! I am nearly there and much happier, at least until the next reorganisation.
A group of local ladies are starting an art group this afternoon. As I live in the middle of nowhere there are not any classes as such. The organiser is an art school (UK trained) graduate, hopefully she is going to help us as I am useless at drawing but I figure it has to help the design skills or lack of thereof. I was hoping to get finished my reorganising by the, so I had beter get back to it.

2008-03-04T18:46:00.005+13:00

Finshed, finito, complete, over.

It is finished, what a neat feeling and a few days to spare. I am normally the sort that sees all the things wrong with my own work. For once, I am really happy with this and I am sure my friend will like it.
The first picture is the inside so that it can be slipped over a new journal when necessary. It is a muted green dupion silk, not that you can tell from the photo. The back of course and the front. I have lots of little special things on this block that are meaningful to my friend. Her initial on the top right corner. The hope and anchor charm as we are studying Hebrews at the moment and we both love Hebrews 6. The butterflies to symbolise transformation, little hearts, a pink tear and a few other things.
Can you see the lovely little pink and purple swarovski butterflies. They are delightful in real life and I wish they showed up in photoes.
Mustn't forget the cup to symbolise our endless cups of coffee.

2008-03-02T21:28:00.001+13:00

I am having trouble trying to post. As you can see I have been tutuing with my blog, well that is not strictly true, my Darling DH has been tutuing the blog. Now I am having problems trying to post.
The photos in the previous post are my nearly finished journal cover. The left hand side which will be the back of the cover I have left plain as that will get the most wear.
Now I will try and see if I get can this post on the blog.

2008-03-02T18:29:00.001+13:00

2008-03-01T12:09:00.002+13:00

I am developing a taste for edged dyed ribbon so I had to have another go. This is so much fun and easy to do using fantastixs made by Tsukineko. I got mine from Ribbonsmyth, but no doubt there are other places you can get them. They only take up a small amount of dye at a time which makes it easy for running the stik down the edge of the ribbon.
There is a mixture of plain undyed ribbon used for the base and also some commercially dyed ribbon.
It adds a lovely dimension to your stitching but I think I already mentioned that.

2008-03-01T07:27:00.005+13:00

Little more progress.

The top photo is actually the front of a small handbag that was a present from my friend. I love the flowers and leaves and wanted to try it on the journal cover as it is for the same friend.
You can see my representation on the block. It was so easy to do. At the left of the sequin flowers is where the spine of the journal will be that's why it doesn't look quite right.
As usual though the colours are not true at all, they are in reality a lovely light perewinkle/lavender/ purply colour. Nothing I can do about it though, think that may be beyond me.
I think I will take some photoes later today for a little tutorial if anyone is interested.
Talking of tutorial, pop on over to Barbara's blog, the address is in my sidebar as she has blogged some tutorial on different ribbon roses and my favourite seam treatment of all time which I hasten to add have snaffled and used on all my blocks of recent times. They are made with the little drop beads aka grapes. You can see them on this block but do go and see Barbara's she is the Queen of these and the Empress of Ribbon roses, just check her sidebar. You will drool over the roses there.

2008-02-27T20:53:00.002+13:00

Edged dyed ribbon.

A little motif in the journal cover, using the edged dyed ribbon. Fargo roses are tucked in amongst the lavender daisies.. I love the effect, adds a little something, don't you think? that's if you can see them.

I really appreciate you leaving me your thoughts on CQ too, thanks.

2008-02-27T19:10:00.002+13:00

Hope you can see this edged dyed ribbon

I wanted to have a go at edge dyeing ribbon. I have tried before but the results looked stilted until I actually tried using it, and was pleasantly surprised. The stilted look was gone as you are only looking at a stitch instead of a metre of ribbon.
So I got out some fantastiks that I got from Vic at Ribbonsmyth. They worked really really well and I love it. I will get a photo of what it looks like in a flower.

2008-02-26T18:32:00.003+13:00

A little more progress

I have a huge growing appreciation for my fellow CQ's and embroiderists. Just a few hours work and nothing to much to show for it. I don't mean I am not happy with the stitching and progress, only that it takes so much time. I am not complaining just stating a fact. Time is so precious when you work fulltime. Or rather, I should say, it is always so precious.
I am curious to know how others create a block. Do you stitch seams first or embellish patches first or a combination? Can you see it in your head or somewhere before you stitch? Do you plan what you want to do meaning do you envisage what you want the end product to look like? Or do you do it as you go?
Would love some feedback and while I am here, I must say it has been lovely to hear from so many of you.

2008-02-23T17:37:00.003+13:00

A little progress on the journal cover.
I have been putting chores and things aside so that I can stitch and needless to say I have been loving it. Did get the washing hang out and a few little things done.
I also wanted to thank Barbara,
http://rosesonthewater.blogspot.com/ she has also nominated me for the "Make my day award"
Thank you Barbara, you are the one who has made my day.
I also have to confess to falling in love with Barbara's seam treatment that she shared with us all in CQmagonline. It is the one with the bunches of grapes made with the tiny drop or fringe beads. Still need to add some leaves to the grapes.

2008-02-23T17:13:00.007+13:00

Last of the ufo's
This is a scrap quilt that I started a a table cover several years ago. We no longer have that table and it would not fit our new table, hence it has transmorphed into a knee rug.

This little wallhanging I made up as I had bought these 9 little squares of Japanese fabric. I love all things Japanese. I didn't want to waste any bit of the fabric so decided to make them up in to this little hanging.
My two semi log cabin cushions, I quite like the way they turned out. I have a love affair with leaves especially the ginko which are on these cushions.
Finally the cream cushion is my completed block from a recent WOW RR that I did with some friends. The stitching is absolutely fabulous and it has pride of place on my bed.

2008-02-21T20:05:00.006+13:00

Decided to take a photo of the progress on my hospital block and the first thing I noticed was the green fabric on the left...... oops it stands out like a sore thumb.

I found this lace in my stash, cut it up and have just placed it on my block at the moment as it is the same green colour as the fabric. I thought it brought some balance. What do you think?

2008-02-19T06:58:00.002+13:00

Pierrette at http://lovetostitch99.blogspot.com/
has awarded me "You make my day award" You can read all about it on her blog.
Thank you so much as you really have made my day and I will post my favourite blogs, the ones that make my day. As there are several that I just have to read daily. but it will be a day or two. Work and study are calling my name at the moment.
You must pop over to Pierette's blog to see her stitching, just divine.

2008-02-16T07:40:00.003+13:00

JOURNAL COVER
I want to make a journal cover for my friend, we study the bible and a few other things together. We are trying to help each other walk through life while trying to do it all gracefully as we are getting older.
Hopefully the cover will be able to move on to a new journal when she has finished one. The colours are actually purples not blues.It annoys me that I can't photograph purples, must ask my son what I can do. I am going to embellish the front but I thought I would leave the back plainer with only the seams embellished with stitching. Actually, I think I need lessons on photography as the colours always appear subdued and don't really show their true beauty. Maybe its the camera, I am not too sure on that one, we have had it for ages. Modern technology is wonderful though isn't it, allowing us to be able to do all the things we love. My life has so opened up since I finally started using the computer.

2008-02-14T19:18:00.002+13:00

A little progress on the bag. As I said in a previous post this was actually cut out and sewn from a pattern, quite different for me but nice and easy. I decided to sew all the front pieces and back pieces together before embellishing. I thought it might make it easier for when when it comes to making up. I have been enjoying sitting here at night after work and after I have done a little study doing a little stitching. I have also liked having two pieces to work on at the same time and think that is something I might do in the future.

2008-02-12T18:16:00.000+13:00

If you having been reading Allies's blog see links you will see what this block should have been part of. It is part of 2004 Ribbonsmyth embellishment club which should have been a kimono. There were 6 blocks each done bimonthly then assembled at the end. For some reason two of my blocks turned out weird sizes and there was no way I could make them fit into the kimono shape. I have blogged finished pictures of the other blocks. After seeing pictures of Freda's finished kimino I wish I could have pulled it off. Her finished kimono is fantastic. It is also interesting to see others little personal touches, we were given a suggested stitch and embellishment guide but we all add our own little touches. Freda, your quilt is fantastic, please do start a blog.

2008-02-09T21:17:00.001+13:00

Another one bits the dust, I am almost feeling virtuous. I resolve to finish things in the future!I mean sooner rather than later

2008-02-08T17:40:00.001+13:00

A couple more ufo's.

It is such a good feeling knowing that you have accomplished something. Despite some design problems while assembling they turned out ok. I just have a little hand stitching to finish off.
As usual I have learnt a lot in the process of finishing these blocks, as always though, it is learning from my mistakes.
In future, I am going to think a lot more about a block of whatever before starting. In future I think I will decide and design the project before I start. I can hear you saying, well duh!!! isn't that what you should do? Needless to say I don't always plan ahead. Good lesson to learn and I am glad to learn these things.
As they say, it is never to late to learn. Thank goodness we do keep on learning, such fun!!!

2008-02-07T12:47:00.000+13:00

UFO'S.
My grandfather was a shipwright (ships carpenter) he often used to say "Don't spoil the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar". It is a lovely little saying and one I heard a lot while growing up and I guess it is a part of me. But I also like to get things done quickly as well. Oh! to reach a happy medium. I also find that I am very critical of my own work, never seeming to like it when its done? I am not sure whether it becomes to familiar or what it really is.
I have a few embellished blocks waiting to be finished. They have all been sitting around for a long time, so I decided to take a couple of days of to get them finished. My library studies are due to start and I am hoping to get some things out of the way before it all starts as there won't be much time then.The stocking I blogged about last week just needed s few finishing touches. The gold and purple blocks originally were going to be little tissue holders but I decided against that. I did a little stitch in the ditch hand quilting then blocked them. I have never been quite sure how to finish blocks off as I am not a quilter at all. So finishing them has always been a bit of a struggle for me. I also have decided not to buy any new stuff this year. (Wonder how long that will last????) which meant using what I could find, cutting all those strips and backing takes a lot of material when you only buy little bits at a time. Anyway, I am so frustrated but I think they are ok now. I am also trying to get a few others finished up as well.

2008-01-28T21:28:00.001+13:00

Just wanted to say thanks for the lovely comments. It is heart warming to receive them.
I won't tell you how old this UFO is, suffice it to say that it is a few years. Infact, I had left it so long that I could no longer find tiny bits of materials to make the three points at the top of the stocking. Especially the red.I could find the others. Eventually I found an other pieced block that had a sliver of the red which I was able to cut up to get a little to use. Unfortunately I had to make the points smaller just to get enough. Needless to say, I think I have learnt a lesson - Finish projects or at least keep all your supplies together.
This was a Ribbonsmyth embellishment kit and I am really pleased with the finished result. At the top of the stocking you might be able to see two of Terry's glass icicles. www.myglassgarden.com I love Terry's creations and these two beauties came with the kit. I can now put it away for Christmas.
I love getting things finished, such a sense of achievement. Only thing now is that I have every single scrap of fabric that I own all over the floor, large and small. That will have to wait until tomorrow now, it is bedtime

2008-01-27T14:55:00.000+13:00

UFO sre finished.
This started out as me practising flowers, esp the dahlias and peonies using my hand dyed ribbons. There is such a sense of satisfaction in getting things finished and I must admit to be pleased with this little bouquet. The vase is made from angelina fibe stamped with a Ribbonsmyth vase stamp. I like the dahlias, just a little different and the peonies of course. I cannot confess to them being original as I did see something similar in one of my sre books. The hand dyed ribbon does give it some life. I tried to dye variegated ribbon as in the way it used to be done early last century. With strips of colour running the whole length of the ribbon. The ribbons when dyed don't look very good and I didn't think I would ever use them but I have done a few leaves with that ribbon and love the effect.

2008-01-25T18:46:00.000+13:00

Hospital block.
A few of us cyber friends participate in making a block for a healing quilt. Barbara of .http://rosesonthewater.blogspot.com/ and Vickie of www.ribbonsmyth.com are the organiser of the quilt. Barbara has blogged about it on her blog, (obviously, duh). This year we are using the colours of lemon/yellow, peach, ecru, green and lilac with a butterflies and spring flowers theme. This block is not pieced as yet. I wanted curves, after reading the last issues of cqmagonline with J Marsha Michler articles on hand piecing and curves I knew I really wanted to do one. I have done curves before on a block of the month that was designed by Vickie of ribbonsmyth. I really liked the curves but also the way the stitching looked. I can't explain what it is but it appeals greatly to me. The colours are a bit dull and nondescript in this photo, they are actually quite nice in real life. Allie and Jules are also blogging about their blocks, see my side bar

2008-01-13T19:16:00.000+13:00

CQ Bag, this was done a little differently for me. I bought a pattern which told me to use 6 fancy fabrics and cut the pattern from those fabrics stacked 1 on top of the other. There were 2 patterns, so you had to cut 1 pattern from 4 of the fabrics and two from the other 2. Pattern 1 had four patches and pattern 2 had 3 patches. The front and back of the bag has two full patterns and 2
half patterns. I also decided to sew them together before embellishing. That is also something new for me.

2008-01-06T08:55:00.001+13:00

A Dear Friend Candice was married yesterday. We spent a delightful day celebrating God's gifts of our children and then letting them go onto their future with their spouses. During the ceremony the two Mothers each had a lit candle then they both lit an other candle and blew their candle out. It was very special to see that single candle glowing as a symbol of their hearts and bodies becoming one.
This is a picture of the Mother of the bride on the right who is my Dear Friend Glenda, and me

2008-01-05T08:03:00.000+13:00

Roses, what is it about the rose? it must be the queen of flowers! They are such a thing of beauty, smell divinely, look amazing. Talking of roses, two of my most favourite people have recently started blogging.
Jules of http://creativeblessingsofjoy.blogspot.com/
And Barbara of http://rosesonthewater.blogspot.com/
You need to pop on over and introduce yourself and get acquainted with them.

2007-12-29T09:30:00.000+13:00

Some of my roses, all gifts to us from friends when we lost Callum. These are Dublin Bay, Winchester cathedral and treasure box you can also see Heritage in the distance. Also lots of lavender, one of my favourite alltime flowers and smells and viscara. The rose flower must be one of the most beautiful of all God's creations. truly magnificent and the scent!!!!!! Well, I know man has worked at them and changed them but the fragrance is divine.
The weather over Christmas here has been wet and cold but that suits me fine coming from the northern hemisphere, Christmas is not christmas if its not cold. But the weather is changing again and the sun is peeking out from the clouds and it is going to be a nice day.

2007-12-23T12:49:00.000+13:00

Some of the goodies I usually bake or make at Christmas. The top ones are a Vienesse almond/vanilla shortbread type biscuit, the next is what is called Taiblet in Scotland but Russian fudge in New Zealand. Then there are 3 other fudges. I usually only ever make fudge at Christmas these days and even then, I sometimes don't get around to it.
I loved looking at the picture of Pat's caramel turtles. Also fascinating to see what traditional things that other do at Christmas.

2007-12-21T17:24:00.000+13:00

As we are all pondering this year and looking forward to the next I thought you might like to read a little quote which I think is just lovely. It is from the main character Flavia, in Mary Nickson's latest book, called "Facing the music"
She is playing her flute with a group of schoolboys who are delighted with her playing. One small boy asks her how she gets it to sound like that and she replies.

'JUST LOTS AND LOTS OF BORING PRACTICE, I'M AFRAID", SAID FLAVIA LAUGHING, "BUT ALSO MAKING THE SOUND BEAUTIFUL IN YOUR OWN HEAD BEFORE YOU EVEN PLAY A NOTE. IT ALL STARTS INSIDE YOU"

This is enchanting and I love the concept of making it beautiful inside of you first. It fits in with Sharon's "Slow cloth" and what creating, and making something is all about.

2007-12-10T05:20:00.000+13:00

One of favourite scriptures is Isaiah 45, "I will go before....... break down gates of bronze and bars of iron........ There is a lot more to it than those few words but you get the picture. I am also in love with the work that http://ruthrae.blogspot.com/ does. She had a article in Cloth paper scissors or Quilting arts, I forget which one, on doorways. Her work is fantastic and I love the way she designs and brings her pieces together. I got the template for the door from QA and have wanted to have a go for a while. This piece is all done on the embellisher. The base is black acrylic felt which has had a cheap organza embellished all over then some glitzy fibres have been added and finally some angelina. On reflection it didn't need the angelina, either that or I just don't like the look of the angelina this time. The words are just walnut ink stained paper embellished with the organa to hold in place. The inside door is also embellished felt, this time with other layers added, including some painted fusible web.
The jewels done the bottom are the hot glue one that are applied with an applicator.

2007-12-07T19:31:00.000+13:00

I finished this fan a few months back but just got the seam sewn up and the icicles
attached last night. The gorgeous glass icicles are from Terry of my glass garden.

2007-12-06T06:06:00.000+13:00

My log cabinish cushions. They are not finished yet, so much going on at the moment. I stumbled across these through sew mama sew again when visiting one of the blogs mentioned there, infact the one where I got the bag tutorial.
http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2007/11/log-cabinish.html
she had made a couple and she got the idea from
http://www.daciaray.com/?p=160
I had to go and have a look in what little information I have at home on quilting and read it is best to have a dark side and a light side. I sort of got it. But the fabrics speak for themselves, they are "Lonni Rossi" from 2005, my Darling sons bought them for me, after a little gentle and not so gentle hints as I have been in love with them since reading an article about her in Quilting Arts 2005. Hopefully once I am organised for the Cgristmas holidays I will be able to get them finished.

2007-12-03T20:03:00.000+13:00

This is the bag from the tutorial posted on Sew mama sew,
you can find the tutorial here
http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2006/06/shoulder_bag_tu.html

It is a lovely easy bag, finished very quickly, and it is one of those nice, and useful things at the same time. I am really happy with it. It is fully lined and made the same way as you would make a quick waistcoat. I used some upholstery weight fabric that I have had for yonks, so long infact that there was a distinct musty odour to it. That is gone now, thank goodness.
Go check it out if you haven't done already. Also check out sew mama sew as there is something new and exciting every day.

2007-12-02T07:05:00.000+13:00

It is such a long time since I lasted posted, I don't know where the time has gone. I got bogged down in my studies, finding it harder than expected, but it is behind me now for the year and that is good. I did enjoy it very much. Towards the end of my last assignment I reread an article by Lonni Roosi from QA from 2005 she said "Art is about the process not the destination" The words were just right for me at the time as it made me realise how much I enjoy learning something new process but I had managed to get myself bogged down in worring about the grade and passing rather than enjoying the learning of new things. The process is fun the end results is not the be all and end all. I want to remember that for the future years of studying.
About 8 or 9 weeks ago my eldest son had a bad accident while snowboarding where he broke his back. He had three broken vertebrae and a cracked rib. We got he call just a few weeks before the 2nd anniversary of our youngest son death. The first thing my husband said was "Now don't panic but...... I can't tell you just how much I did panic, when you have lost one child you hold on with all your might to the others. Now we are on the side of that and he is fine, doing well and back into life again. Hopefully he will not snowboard so fast in the future???????
Since the studies have been finished I have signed up to do "Playways" with Dale of "The thread studio. I am looking forward to playing a bit before the academic year starts again.
On an other note, I stumbled across: http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/
a delightful blog showcasing several great tutorials everyday for November. That has gotten me doing a bit of sewing, making a bag, a couple of cushions and a small throw. I must take some pictures to post. Its nice to be back.

2007-10-07T17:46:00.000+13:00

I am gathering lots of samples. Things like cloth/paper, lutradur and lace, embellished backgrounds etc. So I decided I needed somewhere to keep them rather than shoving them in a drawer and never seeing them again.
The outside is cloth/paper using calico, watered down PVA, strips of handmade paper, paint and tissue paper. I ripped the various handmade papers, laying them onto the pva on the calico. Then added some paints inbetween, more pva, large sheet of crumpled tissue, finishing off with more paint. The inside is black felt with various fibres embellished into it the the embellisher machine. I then fused the two surfaces together, stitched around the outside and have a simple folio/cover to keep the samples in one place. It isn't very photogenic and for once actually looks nicer in real life then in the photo. May be the metallic and interference paints playing with the lense somehow.

2007-09-20T18:56:00.000+12:00

An other piece of lutrador and lace. I think I prefer the texture of the cheescloth on the lutrador, not too sure about the lace. Anyhow, I wanted a quick cover for a A5 journal and this worked quite well. Exactly the right size. There are lots of layers of paint, painted the back first with black paint, then layered lots of colours on the front. I also added an old heart crossstitch that was tattered and torn and a needlepunched motif to the front. Now seeing the photos's I prefer the back, which means, I can just change the cover around, easy peacey.

2007-09-15T16:48:00.000+12:00

Spring has sprung in New Zealand.

Busy working on an assignment and trying to take 15 min breaks by doing work either outside or in. It has been up to 15c here today and I managed to get a little while in the garden to weed. I found these delights while there, pansies are one of my favourite flowers. They don't do to well in my garden, as we have a high rainfall and tend to get blackspot. Must try and do something about it this year, as I have almost given up growing them.

2007-09-09T18:46:00.001+12:00

Used Deka silk dyes for this ribbon but I don't like the finish. Somehow this dye has changed the feel of the ribbon, there is a stiffness. Can anyone explain this to me? What do others use for dyeing? I would really love to hear.
And while I am here, thank you so stopping by and leaving comments. It is very encouraging.

2007-09-09T16:53:00.000+12:00

Blue block, I wanted the words to stand out so kept everything else simple.

2007-09-03T19:18:00.001+12:00

I finally got around to making a coffee cuff for myself seeing that I am such a coffee lover and always have a latte at lunchtime at work. I was really looking forward to buying my coffee and slipping it into the cuff, when guess what!!!! My favourite coffee shop have changed the size of their takeaway cups and it didn't fit into my cuff. I was gutted, so took it home again to throw it on the pile in disgust. Never mind, there will be a takeaway shop somewhere with the right size cups. This one is a cloth paper concoction, alah Beryl Taylor. It is my own paper made with red hot pokers.

2007-09-02T08:49:00.001+12:00

The first issue of the new emagazine is out, it is called "Fibre and Stitch" If you haven't subscribed you may want to have a look at their website for yourself. http://fibreandstitch.com/index.htm
Sue B has issued a challenge to everyone via their new yahoo group to make something based on one of their articles. And yes you guessed it. Lutrador and lace. Using cheescloth lace, lutrador and paints. This is my first try and I loved playing.
You lightly freemotion sew your bits just to attach them them start painting. The back first and several layers of different paint on the front. I have used purple lumiere, cream, interference in two colours, gold and a couple of others. It is quite stiff so I am not sure how it will be for sewing.
I want to play more but I have to go and study now. One of the lovely things about lutrador is that the light shines through, yummy.

2007-09-01T18:10:00.000+12:00

Last one for now. Been experimenting with different flowers and the variegated ribbon. I particularly like the chrysanthemums. This is a work in progress.
Rissa, thanks for visiting, great to hear from you.
Sambob, love it that you stop by and I love your comments too.

2007-09-01T17:51:00.001+12:00

A couple more, in this first one I lightly pained the background.
The variegated ribbon really adds some depth which I really like

2007-09-01T17:33:00.001+12:00

Some more. Why is it that when you look at a photo you can see what is right and what is not so right with your composition.? I can look at an embroidery for ages and not see things about it. As soon as I looked at these photoes, I could see things that are not quite right. Like the organdy ribbon, the pink flowers, bottom right?
Also the blue ribbons in these photoes are actually purple. Someone told me there is a way to correct it but it is complicated!!!

2007-09-01T17:19:00.000+12:00

SRE one with dyed ribbons.
I think you have to pick the flowers that you used the variegated ribbons with, the daisies need to have more of a solid colour, or else ribbons with a slight variegation. Not sure if you can see but on the sre on the left the little lavender daisies? I painted some dye on them to try for some depth.
I like the tall spikey flowers being varigated. Just realised that I have forgotten to finish the left one off - no greenery yet, Duh!!!!

2007-08-21T20:24:00.000+12:00

I am getting addicted to dying these ribbons. They stitch up so beautifully. I have twice tried to take some photoes of the sr embroideries that I have been working on but to no avail. Shall ask DH if he can try and take some for me.
The ribbons are not quite what I am wanting. Have been trying to get varigated in a single colour. Never mind, I still like them.

Thanks so much too for stopping by and leaving me comments. I do appreciate it.

2007-08-14T19:32:00.001+12:00

Here are my handsome men. This was taken at Cameron's (on the right)
photographic exhibition for his university Diploma, his photos are behind them. Dh is in the middle and our eldest son Andrew on the left. He is holding Callum bear. Our youngest son Callum is in Heaven so we always have the little bear at family things. Just so he is always with us.
This was taken at the end of June in Wellington at the Fine arts gallery.

2007-08-12T11:57:00.001+12:00

Dyed some more ribbon at the weekend, quite pleased with the results. I tell you what though, it is very addictive and I would love to have lots more colours to try. Especially to get variegations of the one colour. That is what I was trying to do with the pink but it was all so much of a muchness that I dipped it all in the end. Never mind, its still lovely. I also had to do it in a hurry as we were expecting a friend for tea, which meant it all had to be put away and cleaned up before she got here.
Back to the "Nice matters awards" I think everyone I know has already been awarded so best I leave it there.

2007-08-11T23:01:00.000+12:00

This is the award, Pat told me to put it on my blog.
Pop over here http://bella-enchanted.blogspot.com/ to read all about it. Such a lovely idea. There are so many lovely people behind the blogs who deserve more than a mention. It will be hard to pick.
But my bed is a calling me, will do it tomorrow.

2007-08-11T08:42:00.001+12:00

These are dyed using ribbonsmyth silk dyes. The oranges ones are overdyed. A yellow and the apricot that I used in the precious SRE, using a technique in Vickie's book using a fan brush. I really liked the results. Also splattered the dye over the ribbon as well. The green is overdyed also using the same techniques. The gorgeous puple on the top in undyed ribbon that was used to mop up the leftovers. A happy accident indeed, and I bet I will never be able to do it again

These are undyed ribbon that were space dyed and really quite yummy.
The last picture is just more of the same of the overdyed ribbon.

2007-08-11T08:15:00.000+12:00

One of my alltime favourite mediums is silk ribbon. The first time I saw a SRE was in a craft shop, it was a sampler on black velvet, I had never seen anything so beautiful . It was love at first sight. Needless to say, SRE has been a joy to me since then, even when I am not doing any embroidery.
I wanted to do something for a friend who is a keen gardener.
I had also purchased some transfer pens and tried them on this to transfer the design. It didn't work to well and the technique needs a little refining, but at least it got me started doing something again. These are ribbons I have had for years but I always feel like something is missing and realised what it needed was varigated or overdyed ribbon. So that was my next project.

2007-08-10T18:23:00.001+12:00

Well, I am stunned!!!!! My Dear Friend Pat Winter has nominated me for a "Nice Matters Awards" As anyone can see I haven't posted since February as I have been studying for a Diploma in Library Studies. The reading and assignments are taking me longer than I had at first thought, not leaving me much time for stitching. Infact until the break, I had not stitched at all. Hence no posting. Then it went for for so long that I wasn't sure whether to get back into blogging. BUT I have been doing a little stitching and playing with bits and pieces, so maybe it is time to get back into blogging. Having said all that, my next assisgnment is due on 21st and I am really struggling with it.. But the weekend is once again upon me and several hours of typing is beckoning me.
Pat, thanks so much for your kindness yet again. You have always been such an encouraging friend to me, through good times and especially the bad times.
The photograph is a picture a piece of fabric made with my embellisher. I bought a bag kit from www.TryOurDesigns.com It is small squares of dupion silk, embellished on black fabric with various other fibres added. Then, I added some stitching for more durability.
Surrounded it all with an embellished cord, courtesy of http://www.fibreandstitch.com/freebies.htm, I also did some stitching with thread and ribbon over the cord, again for strength.

2007-02-25T19:27:00.000+13:00

Finshed hospital block.
Well it is finished and about to wing its way to America. I realy don't know why the lovely purples come out blue in my photographs. There must be away to fix it but I don't know what it is.
I have really enjoyed working on this block and am sort of pleased with it but!!!!!! There is always a but!. isn't there? So I won't be negative. My friends on the group say it is nice, all that remains is for me to believe them and be happy with it.
The academic year has started and with it my library studies which I am enjoying greatly. It is taking a lot of time being that I am a slow learner or rather have not been doing any serious study for a very long time. It is worth it though and I am pleased that the year has started.
Now that my block is finished it is time to get back to Tast and those Ufo's.

2007-02-11T20:59:00.000+13:00

A bit more progress on my hospital block. Allie is posting pictures of all the blocks on her blog. I haven't bookmarked her new address as yet.
Why is it that I can see my work clearer in a photograph? Looking at this photo, I can see what still needs to be done, spaces to fill out or even up. But it is more difficult, for me anyway, to look at the block and see what needs to be done.

2007-02-03T21:20:00.000+13:00

Chevron square, I like the square sampler that Sharon did as she was experimenting, so I wanted to give it a go.

2007-02-03T20:26:00.000+13:00

Playing about .

2007-02-03T17:35:00.000+13:00

Take 2
Mmmmm, still not sure if I like it?

2007-02-03T17:09:00.000+13:00

Block in progress.
Looking at photographs of my work helps me to see it more clearly, and I am not sure if I like the threaded herringbone. Might have to sleep on this one!!

2007-02-03T16:59:00.000+13:00

Threaded herringbone.
Just wanted to have a play with this and see what it looked like as I want to try it on my "hospital block"
It is OK - not too sure!!!

2007-02-03T16:35:00.000+13:00

Chevron stitch.
I am so enjoying "take a stitch Tuesday" as it is making me stitch and play. This week it is chevron and that tends to be a stitch that I don't usually do; not because I don't like it or anything like that. It is because I can never remember how to do it. The beauty of paticipating in a challange is that you have to practise and that is what I am liking about this. Its fun!!!! and I feel like I am achieving something at the same time.
Thanks Sharon.

2007-01-29T20:05:00.000+13:00

Spent most of the weekend getting my workroom which is the repository for everything that can't fit somewhere else in our tiny 2 bedroom home, tidy, moving old chairs, settees etc etc out to the sleepout so that I could have a ORGANISED space to do my study. I find that if things are a mess I continue to add to that mess and get thoroughly disorganised and disgruntled in the process.
So I now have a space which is relatively clutter free and harmonious to work in.
Once I had finished there I spent an hour or so catching up on what everyone has done for Tast. I must say I had a wonderful time and was especially taken with all the freeform stitching. Wanting to do some but not knowing where to start. A lot of you seem to use a felt that you appear to have made yourself and as I don't have any of that I got a little piece of tvyek fabric out and painted it randomly heated it up to get a nice shape. I thought I would just practice my stitching on it. I really love the landscapes that some of you are working but have no idea where to start, so I thought I would just go for it with what I have on hand. Looking forward to seeing what the stitch is tomorrow.
To my great surprise when tidying up I found that I didn't have as many ufo's as I thought!!!

2007-01-29T19:59:00.000+13:00

Tast/ cretan, I love the way you can play with this stitch so I decided to get out a wisp come sampler and play a little. Did the flower/sunburst on the right with varigated yellow thread and beads, also the heart top left with a yellow rayon thread and circled with beads. The some freeform on the pink card and also with golf thread on the green fabric.

2007-01-28T08:43:00.000+13:00

Cretan Stitch/Tast.
This is a stitch that I really like as it is so versatile and there is so much you can do with it.
Sharon has provided some lovely examples on her blog, it will be interesting to catch up with everyone today to see what they have done. You can just keep adding to this stitch, whipping wraping, adding beads etc.
Sharon has mentioned her classes, I tried to log in to her site to post a comment but I am doing something wrong. The classes are exceptional, so full of information you couldn't get better anywhere. She starts at the beginning with design, colour theory, so much. These Tasts are that, a tast of, and an extension of the classes. Believe me they are well worth taking and so cheap as the content is great and a resource that you will go back to time and time again.

2007-01-24T20:23:00.000+13:00

WISP in slow progress
Believe it or not this is the 2nd CQ block that I made, which would have been 3 years ago. Needless to say it was stuck away mouldering with all the other ufo's. Hopefully I will get it finished soonish. Christmas cottons, I love Christmas fabrics and have a few tucked away. It is a fan shape, not too sure what thefinished article will be. Too big for an ornament, maybe a small cushion.