It's been done before.....

but not by me.  Tuesday was the last day of our sunny weather so I prompted by a picture in the paper I took myself off to the nearest place to find bluebells to photograph.   I was a bit early the Ranger said but pointed me in the right direction and this is what I saw.

This magnificent tree is about 300 years old

It is home to many I'm sure

and it holds onto the earth with giant fingers

Come back in two weeks they said

Ah! Spring.

A small thing.....

but my own. Another unseasonably warm sunny day today, the last for a while we are told so i made the most of it. A couple of weeks ago at EG  we have an interesting and amusing talk from Helen Deighan, she spoke about dyeing, making coiled pots and making braids.  So armed with her book and some of her special "washing line" I sat in the sun and made a small pot.

I was fascinated how you can alter the shape just in the way you place the coils, using the same stitch all the while.It is only about 5 inchs across.

I found myself wondering about those first women made such things.  Perhaps they idly twiddled grasses in there fingers or twisted plaited grass. Who know but I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.  Here is is, serving the purpose for which it was made, to hold my thread bundle.

Beautiful day....

Glorious day here today ,  I spent the  morning sitting in the sun stitching hearts.  

and it was the perfect day for dying my papers for the journal course.

Hearts......

My mind is full of hearts....the Whispering Hearts experience had started and I am thrilled.  I call it an experience rather than a class because Jude's presentation is so intimate it is like having a friend gently talking to you. For some reason my very first thought on the subject was "two hearts as one" and this is the result, both these hearts have one inside the other.

You may recognise the cloth from my dyeing experiments. I don't want to give too much away because that is not fair to Jude but I am so excited with the way my mind is working.  After the last few months, which have been quite stressful, it is lovely to be able to focus and let my mind relax and wander. I have also started my Journal making class but due to the fact that I couldn't find something this morning my plans to make my pages went by the board.

I have lost my cord maker. It looks like this.

I have searched my room, it was always kept in the same place and it has vanished.   I thought, blow it I will buy a new one but when I found out they were £15+ I decided to look some more.It is so frustrating.because I know that two months down the line, when I am looking for something totally different, I will find it. Grrr.

P.S. Sitting stiching hearts last night when I suddenly jumped up, went to my room looked in the box where I keep my wires and stuff and there it was. Hurrah.

Silk

not our usual kind but a law based drama on BBC. Best series I have watched for ages.  As there were so many loose ends I hope that means a new series....soon please. If you missed it there is still a chance to watch it here.

and this had me chuckling,

Dream on.......

Last night I dreamed Jude Hill came to my house. She came with a group of my friends, they were all stitching but she had nothing to do so I offered her my bit box which she started to sort through

 When Jude left she promised to come again, which would be lovely. Nice dream. It probably all came about because I am looking forward to joining in the Cloth Whispering Hearts which starts tomorrow.  Before I went to bed I had started to make a cloth which I thought might make a background ,

I have finished the project which I have been working on for eighteen months, I can't show it yet because it will be in our 10th Anniversary exhibition in a couple of weeks time. 

Put the flags out......

I had a nice suprise this morning, this little book dropped through my letter box.

It is full of lovely ideas from  decorating shelves to pretty wedding decorations. Published by Search as part of a series called "Twenty to Make" you can find the details here. It has a lot in it for a small book.
 The rest of the titiles are here
With big birthdays and anniversaries coming up this year it couldn't be more timely. Kate's website is here

Citra solv

Thank you to the people who have commented on my last post.  I really can do no better than point you to the instructional videos on the Citra-solv site just click here. There are others on You Tube.  It is incedibly smelly so it is best used out of doors unless you want your house to smell like a marmalade factory.

 This is the one you want, as they make a lot of other products, but you need the concentrate.

I have read that the older National Geographics give a much stronger effect, it is something to do with the method used for printing  but I was happy with the results I achieved on the current issue. Thank you all for your interest, enjoy.

PS There is a lavender perfumed one as well I believe but that is also out of stock on the Ecohip site.Please note I have no affiliation of any of these companies.

Just my luck...

Ever since I read about it some years ago I have been wanting to try Citra solv.  A couple of weeks ago I found it was available through Amazon so I ordered a small bottle and bought myself a copy of the National Geographic magazine. i was delighted with the results and immediately ordered a large bottle only to find that the suppliers Ecohip were out stock so I will have to wait before I can experiment further but this is a sample so far.

 I loved this one

and played with it in PSP. and liked it even more.

I then took a selection from it and it became this

A sort of Tolkien landscape, I think.

I hope the new stock comes in soon.

Japan

As I look at the pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan I wonder, as I have done before, why we have divisions of religion and politics when Nature can reduce us to nothing whenever it wants.

Inspiration...

I have just posted my contribution to this months theme of "crescents" over on the Ideas of Inspiration blog. It was a photohraph I took some years ago at the Millenium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place.

 and of course I had to have a little play.

The boys....

My son has adopted two young cats from the RSPCA.

They are called Heimdall and Tyr, both named after Norse gods. This is Tyr

As all good grandmothers do I made toys

which I am happy to report were a great success.

The toys were made from and article in Cloth Paper and Scissors by Diana Trout way back in 2009.

February grey.....

...again. Wet too. Yesterday I received a comment from a name I didn't recognise so I followed the link   Elfi Cella has two blogs, one elf2main is where she shows her  minatures for famous painting and the other elf2mani which has her other painting and photographs. Both are well worth a visit and made me open of Paint Shop Pro to play.

I turned this

 

into this

and then into this

Hopefully Mother Nature will soon change it back again.

A fun day.......

of which I was feeling much in need after a nasty week. "Us girls" all had a play with the Wen Redmond technique from the last post.  I love it when you all  follow the same technique and end up with something totally and uniquely yours.  Look at these Val, went for wonderfu, vibrant brights, Marien made lovely, subtle, earthly colours and I went for chintz.

Unfinished with lots of playtime left. 

I came across two, new to me, blogs. Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made has this tutorial for a shrink plastic bracelet, she also provides downloadable PDFs of the ephemera.  She has lots of other interesting projects.

On a quite different note is  Spitalfields Life. If you are interested in London this is full of past and present doings in this old part of town.

Juggling.....

things are a bit hectic here at the moment, our Youth Theatre production of "Nine" is racing towards us, so lots of long rehearsals.  Equally our Tenth Anniversary of Sevenoaks EG is also coming soon, (April) and prjects have to be finished.  Eeeek! However the last issue of Cloth,Paper, Scissors(34) made me put all that aside while I tried out the article by Wen Redmond, "Fabric collage Mail Art". Here are four of the eight I made all in one go.  Mass production, marvellous.

 

  I also managed to put my Ideas of Inspiration post up this morning, the theme this month is Square. This is a church window in Ravenna, Italy, I played with it a little(PSP)  and love the effect on the glass.

Looking for something else entirely this morning I found this copy of  The Morning Post dated January 21 1936.
I bought this paper in an junk shop sometime ago and had forgotten about it.  Having just seen the wonderful film "The Kings Speech" and it being the 21st January yesterday it was too serendipity-ish to ignore.

I thought you might like to peruse (or use) a section of the Personal Column. Rivetting stuff.

(Click to enlarge)

Death of a Snowman...

A study in disintigration. This was the snowman built by our neighbour, I wish I'd noticed what was happening a little sooner.

I love the stage where it looks like a demented diva giving her all.

Here we go....

 a new year. No lists of resolutions but a firm resolve to clear my workroom in the hope that I might be able to get in there and actually produce something. It is going to takes some time as this time...... things are going to be ejected!

In the meantime I have been having  little digital play. The first two are from my holiday.

and a London statue placed in a sky

The sky was actually an underwater photograph taken by my daughter and regarded, by her, as a dud!!!! 

                                                          I now pass it on for you to play.

I would like to thank everyone who left a comment and stuck with me through 2010.  I am going to send my wishes for 2011 in the words of Neil Gaiman

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. Neil Gaiman