'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.

A new handbag......

I wanted a handbag that was light, would go round my neck and was big enough to take my ipad!!!  I tried everywhere, why do they make handbags that weigh a ton before you even put your phone in them? So.. this is my new handbag, made from experiments while working with Jude Hill,  I built it round my ipad, but I wanted safe pockets for my cards and phone.  I went to buy a zip....£3.50 for the smallest size so I went to the charity shop, paid £1.95 for an old handbag and had a ready made secure pocket and phone pouch to put in my new bag with very little effort.

This front and back.

Louis Vuitton it ain't ..but it is just what I wanted.

Busy...

It's getting busy round here, some of it is boring like dental appointments and car serivicing etc. but the rest of it is all good.  Jude has started another serssions of the diaries,this one is called What If Diaries and even includes the 101 classes which show the very basics.  You can join at any time and it is yours forever, it is so much a part of my life now.  
Over at Marit's Paper World the Big Road Trip is "visiting" New Jersey. I have an inspiration underway.
The prompt letter in the Craft Barn Alphabet Challenge is the letter P. First thought was Patricia but suprisingly I'm not in the dictionary so we will see.
I am sending a little gift to Margaret as a thanks for her kindness, I needed a little card so I took ispiration from a card made by my great niece.

 and produced 4 little cards from one A4 sheet of gelli print.  They really mimic the fold of a match book.

One on it's way to you tomorrow Margaret.

September....

is my birthday month so for me, it is like New Year, a new beginning. Apart from the weather Summer has not been good with some health worries in the family. So I am trying to fill my mind. 
While I am waiting for the Spirit Cloth Diaries to begin I have been looking at all my bits and pieces that I have made while following Jude on Spirit Cloth. Some I have put aside for new projects and some I am trying to put to practical use. This "long cloth" had become a table runner.

A couple more pieces I think are going to become cushion covers. I have finished my Space cloth but I have to show it to some special people before I put it on here. Time now to unearth the Earth Cloth so I can work along with the Diaries.   Also need to re-organise my workroom it has become sadly neglected over the last few months.  I am writing all this like New Year resolutions to goad myself into getting on with it. 

PS.  for information to the BBC, Autumn does not begin on the 1st September. It begins with the Autumnal Equinox which this year is the 22nd September.

Feather

Before I start the holiday I have to show you what was waiting for me when I arrived home.

 

My very own Jude feather.  It is my birthday present to me.  I have tried several times to aquire a piece of Jude's work but because of the time thing I've always missed out.  This piece is about 4"x3", a precious fragment and look what else was in the packet, some magic thread, which so often is part of Jude's work. Now to find the perfect way to display it.  So happy.

More seaside.....

The Spirit Cloth workshop has finished, this is my first completed cloth....

or as Jude would say "what if it isn't finished?" Is that a star fish or is it the man who fell to earth?

My thanks to my friend Gudrun who gave me the lace piece which was the basis of my story. I have a book full of notes and a head full of ideas and  fingers itching to stitch and build.

Time....

for a little progress.  Thiis is my experiment with ragged aplique on the Spirit Cloth workshop

I wanted to do a hare, but he became a ragged rabbit. 

This is my next experiment with a ragged mask

I do love making these little pieces and I love the way they want to link to other pieces. 

 I am still working on my seaside piece, other thoughts gathering on it.

 I thought Wimbledon was a bit of a damp sqib this year.Apart from the marathon match there was nothing to keep me on the edge of my seat.  Still it was a good excuse to sit and stitch.

Spirit Cloth......

...the journey continues and I am having so much fun...after making my first two bases I turned to making same elements that could be added to a cloth.  Because of my new way of thinking I call these "little harmonies" because  they were little scraps of material that came together, almost by themselves.  

I could go on making these little pieces forever, it is wonderful to put your hand in a little bag of scraps and then find little pieces that just want to be together. But the object of the course is to start to make a "spirit cloth" so here is a first thought on a new base (I could go on making these forever too)

These was a thought here but the cloth had other ideas.  I will explain later.

Now for something completely different, take a look at the wonderful  work of  mixed media artist Lisa Kokin.

 and thanks to Janne Robberstad for this link

Dreary Sunday.......

that is just the weather, I am thinking of switching on my SAD light I am so sick of grey skies. Enough! Every cloud..... as they say.  Today I have started on mt Spirit Cloth workshop in earnest.  I could almost hear the noise in the boxes as the pieces jostled for attention. These are the ones that I chose/they decided. 

apologies for wonky scan.

What will they become, I wonder.  Already "stories" are lurking around in my head.  I am loving this new way of thinking/not thinking, just waiting to see what will happen and learning to say what if.....

I made this piece after reading Jude's introduction and thinking about the picture of a feather she had posted here.  The shape of the feather resembled a knife and that brought the thought what if the knife was used to change the feather into a quill....perhaps the one Shakespeare used......books to bring colour to the world.