Wk 24, Wk 25 and Wk 26......

Time to catch up, these were quickly done,Prompt for Documented Life  Wk24 was " Use book pages of text pages".  I used a book I had used for cleaning my brayer while gelli printing.  Then collaged  a die cut from another page.

Wk 25 was "Cover your page in hearts".  I again yurned to gelli prints which I had already collaged amd put them through the Sizzix to produce hearts galore, which in turn were collaged to another print.

Wk 26 "Add a bible verse that inspired you - or a line from a favourite book.  This kind of thing stops me in my tracks but then me old favourite came to mind. A A Milne's "Now we are Six".

Looking forward to the Wimbledon Men's Final and of course I will be glued to the Tour de France for the next three weeks.I am so full of admiration for the stamina of these men  3,664 kilometres in 3 weeks with onbly two rest days.    Hoping that everything goes well in Yorkshire, especially in Sheffield(DH's home town). I was tempted to go to London on Monday but decided, being a bit vertically challenged,  I would probably be better off with the TV, miss the atmosphere though. We watched it go through the last time it was in England and after a very long wait it went through in the blink of an eye, won't forget it though. This year, particularly,  I will watch it with my brother in mind.  It was he who introduced me to the sport and he loved it.  I will miss having him to answer my questions.

'Tis done........

for the moment anyhow.   I think I started this early in 2013 (seems longer) but it has many rests.  I have finally finished the kantha and the border.  I may at some later time add a little more embellishment to the creatures and the stones but for now it must rest again.

A couple of details

 

As ever my thanks go to Jude Hill who's work and  gentle teachings have led me down this path. I am now "Considering Weaving" with her, new paths.

There will now be a short intermission........

As time was running out for spring cleaning a fair bit of my time recently has been taken up with things domestic. I have decided that I am not going to do anything else "creative" until I have finished my "Earth" cloth.so all other projects (Documented Life,  etc.) are on hold. This will mean a massive catch up at some time but the cloth has been on the go for nearly two years now and I want it finished!

I have done yards of kantha stitching and have still more to do and then a bit of seed stitching and then the border.
I will be playing catch up on Jude Hill's "Considering Weaving" which has just started,  (You can still join ) but with Jude's gentle way of sharing that shouldn't be a problem.
Looking forward to a day at Wimbledon with my daughter tomorrow so hope the weather holds.

Wk 23....

Sorted out my week numbering for Documented Life, this week we were asked to document a reason to be grateful every day. I decided that it cam down to one thought every day.  I used a gelli print and a postcard I bought at Mandy Pattullo's workshop, so this is my page.

This is my "illuminated letter" for Sara Lechner's challenge. 

and this my garden page which has to have a wire added yet. 

I am about 2 weeks behind but my excuse is that I have done yards of kantha stitching on my Earth quilt.  Hoping to reach the end soon.  

A most enjoyable day........

that was Saturday when we went on the long awaited workshop with Mandy Pattullo.. Their was a warm welcome from Sam  and her magical studio at SewNotStrawberryJam made us Ooh and Aah with envy. Their are some really good photos of the studio, before we all arrived, on Mandy's blog here. See what I mean? This was the huge central table piled high with goodness.

Mandy had supplied everything we needed and shared her supplies and  techniques in generous measure. Just waiting for us to dive in.

 She had templates to use and had also said we could bring a picture. Now I may have mentioned I like owls so here is my work from the day, not finished yet .

He sits on a piece of vintage quilt which Mandy provided.  She showed me the difference between putting on eyes which you thought were OK(orange) and searching and searching for just the right shade.  It was all a lot more difficult than it looks but so enjoyable.

We were lucky with the weather and we sat outside for lunch

 beyond the geese stands the Shepherd Hut.

It made me think of your shed  Sharon . A magical space. The day ended far to quickly and what I haven't mentioned yet is the best ginger cake I have ever tasted.

 I am begging for the recipe.

Mandy is promising to be back next year, so book me in. You can find other courses at SewNotStrawberryJam here

Great day.

Wk 21.....

Struggling here, life getting in the way a bit.   Documented life was "Draw a House" not my strong suit but here it is.

Last week was the Prism exhibition at the Mall Galleries, always interesting and there were some pieces I liked a lot. I think this was my  favourite. "Brown is a Slow Colour" by Liz Harding.

but I loved these by Charlotte Sewell.

Old ladies at a bus stop with the caption "More than meets the eye".  When you lifted the flaps they revealed the interesting occupations the old ladies had in their past. From Show Girl to Aeroplane Pilot.

Appreciated by one who has been rendered invisible by grey hair.  

These were fun too.

Wednesday I met my daughter and we visited the small 150th  Anniversary exhibition at John Lewis. 

A mock up of the original shop front.

Part of the counter inside, I would like those drawers

and I really wanted this sample book.

This week is really busy, some boring (dentist) and some exciting, lunch with a friend I haven't seen for a while and a workshop with Mandy Patullo. something nearly everyday complicated by son's request to look after his cats for a week while he is on a business trip.  See you when I surface.

Wk20

The prompt for Documented life was to add embroidery or embroidery floss to the page.  Totally by chance I came across this creative lady in a post on Needlework News..
Lauren DiCioccio
The books (of course ) jumped out at me





and I love her 35mm sewn slides.

I just had to try, just a little piece, which made me appreciate the whole. I mounted it on a piece of gelli print.

Off to London to see the Prism exhibition today at the Mall Galleries, in the rain.

Wk 19

... just a quickie to keep me on track.  The Documented Life prompt was "Use a rubber stamp in a new way".......well I think I have done everything with a rubber stamp that is legal so I wasn't really inspired but I did have a new Tim Holtz die and distress paint so I used them to produce this page.  The background is made from the holes the die left behind, instant matching stencil!

Warm winter and now the first real warmth of the year has the garden bursting.

Slugs and snails must be bursting too judging by my heliotrope and salvias. Picture would be too distressing.

Sara Wk 3.....

 These are my two pages to add to my book for Sara Lechner's challenge. .  Embellishing through paper was interesting to say the least but quite pleased with the outcome.

So excited to see my little girl will be on the big screen in July. This is a filmed version of the West End show.

Sara wk 2

Just finished (?) page two of Sara Lechner's challenge.

 I needle felted some pink roving into a piece of  rough silk  This is it placed over page one.  There are some great pages on the link above.
I do like good service and good value so I would just like to give a shout about  Cutting Edge Crafts  . I don't have any affiliation I have just been very pleased on the occasions I have used them. Look forward to receiving my new dies.

Wl 19

The phrase I have heard most in the last few days was "Where did April go?"  and now we are nearly half way through May.  So much to do. Documented Life prompt was to "Document a Random Act of Kindness from you" ?????????? I would hope that at some time I have been kind to someone but I certainly can't "document" it so I settled for some very random painting.

 
  Last week I also did a bit of catching up on my runner.

Recording cat sitting, boro exhibition and traffic jams..............Speaking of which we sat in a beauty on the way home from the  Creative Living Fair in  Eridge, Kent.  Despite the  weather(pouring rain and cold wind, lovely) we had a super time. Definitely on my calendar now, it was a fascinating fair.

Loads of vintage fabrics

china

and plants

 In fact everything you could think of.  It was lovely to meet Viv of Hen's Teeth and see her work for real. She has some great photos of the show on her blog.
I am working on the second page of the Sara Lechner challenge but my main sewing time has been to start what I hope will become my own take on a piece of boro.  Loads of stitching to do but the Giro D'Italia on TV for 3 weeks should help that along nicely, though I will miss being able to discuss the race with my brother.

Wk 18

Documented life challenge was "add an inspiring quote to guide you".  Help.......there are so many quotes, my mother was a great one for sayings, "Why?" "Because there's railings round the park" was one that springs to mind.  so this is what my spinning mind came up with.

I had to do it twice as I forgot that the pens I was working with were water soluble and washed the whole lot away trying a fancy background.
The quote I should have used my friend informs me was "a swarm in May is worth a load of hay" as on Monday a swarm of bees tried to make our garden rubbish bin their home.  My husband distrurbed them and they were not pleased. Now we do as much as we can to attract bees to our garden but this was a few too many. Half the swarm found their way into the green house

They eventually settled back in the dustbin

 We are so grateful to the young man from the British Bee Keepers Association who came to give them a new home. (wish I'd asked for a photo of him in his bee keepers gear). 
I spent most of my time last week making a book to hold some of the photographs from the Boro exhibition.
Boro style, of course.

I also adjusted my first page for the Sara Lechner challenge.