Todays offerings

Just spent a couple of hours playing with Gesso and pelmet Vilene in preparation for Maggie Grey's Textile Translations on line course that starts tomorrow. You have to buy the book to be eligible to take the course but it will be well worth it.

The first two show closeups of the painted Vilene with Gesso and a very open muslin that I distressed before pushing into the Gesso.

The relief effect is achieved by using a palette and pretending you are icing a Christmas cake to achieve a snowy ridge effect .

This sample has been painted with three Brusho watercolours, you can just make out the salt that I sprinkled on the piece whilst it was still damp. It reacts with the water in the watercolour paint.

This final sample below is the effect you get when you use Quink black ink. The darl areas are where the tissue paper I applied was not covered with gesso. After sealing with PVA I intend dry painting this with some Stewart Gill paints from the Galactica and Metallica range.

And finally.............

Below are two batik pictures that I completed before I went into hospital. They are currently part of an exhibition at Marple Library with the Cheshire Guild of Silk Painters. It runs until Saturday 15th November. The colours in the pics are not as vibrant as in real life, should have edited I suppose but too lazy at present.

Take it Further September 'Lists'

Finished this a few weeks ago but remiss of me not to post until now.

Sharon Boggin's TIF challenge for September was 'LISTS'. I am glad that I chose to complete these challenges in post card format as they are easy to fit into small time slots and places! This was completed whilst in hospital last month and so is mainly finished by hand.
The 10 point list is all the things I choose to make lists of, in roughly chronological order. The colour scheme once again challenged me as it was outside of my comfort zone.
I embellished the base on my Janome in vertical lines and then hand embroidered in the opposite direction the 10 usual things I have found myself making lists of over the years. It was fun to remember some of them eg the most desireable attributes of boys I would most like to go out with!!!!! and those dreaded homework lists in ones homework diary!!!

Todays Mail

The postman delivered a lovely selection of goodies this morning. I was having a lie in, feeling very fibro today (Fibromyalgia can strike with no warning) when 1 book, 1magazine and some knitting wool arrived. The book is the new one from Maggie Grey 'textile translations'. can't wait to be able to get going on some of the activities in this truely inspiring book. Anyone who buys it can get involved in free web workshops starting in November. The mag was the new 'Quilting Arts' and Maggie appears in this as well with an article on 'Print Magic' there is a very good piece on batik using soy wax, must try that one. The wool is some baby double knit for a jacket I am knitting for my daughters sister-in-law who is expecting later this month.


These are a group of mushrooms that have appeared on our front lawn this week. We have been taking a picture a day to monitor their progress. Some of the pics are going to be ideal for either a textile interpretation by moi or a watercolour by David.

I'm Back.... with new pieces of metal

Well I'm now able to sit in front of the computer and have enough energy and enthusiasm to complete a new post. Thanks to all those of you who have sent me kind messages over the last few weeks. The operation went relatively well, I now have metal pieces that I didn't have before but my surgeon promises me that I won't set off the alarms at the airport!! Unfortunately there is a small fractute at the top of the femur which is preventing me from weight bearing on that leg for 6 weeks, only 3 and a bit to go. Crutches are the worst invention going the damage they do to ones shoulders is awful. Frustration is well and truely set in, all the things I want to do and and all the jobs I can see need doing but I am now resigned to the fact that they will all be waiting for me when I am fit. David has been a star, I am getting great meals and personal service. He is planning on designing some new cartoons in the 'Love Is' series, such as 'Love is emptying her commode' and 'Love is drying between her toes', won't publish the others...........



Lots of visitors and cards and flowers. Isn't it interesting how the flowers that people choose reflect their personalities. These were from a friend who knows that I like fushia colours and the fact that this can be put out into the garden after admiring it indoors, always the practical one is Annette.


This is from Rita my arty friend and she expects some form of representation of these great calas. Hopefully I will be able to look after them and have the same next year, managed it this year with some burgundy coloured ones

Isn't the shape and form of these plants so inspiring, reminds me of my daughters wedding last year, she had them everywhere.

Starting to get back to creating but is a bit complicated when despite the best laid plans the thread or beads you want are upstairs and you are on your own and not really supposed to go up and down stairs without someone behind you.

This bouquet is from my husbands work collegues a typical corporate gesture but what a magnificant display, however the downside is that the red ornamental cabbages have had to be removed as their smell was too over powering in the lounge especially when the door was opened in the morning.

Planning next week and what I intend to do, some designing for the next Textile 21 Exhibition 'Recollections', some knitting of my latest arty scarves for the Christmas shows and some more of my seed head cards.

I have just ordered the latest Sarah Lawrence book due out in October, her Crafty Notions website is worth a look. For those of you who saw her article in STITCH earlier this year on Wild Women you can purchsae the doll faces from her website.

New Hip Here I Come

It's all last minute but I am going in hospital on Monday the 8th September for my long awaited hip replacement. There was a cancellation and I received a phone call Thursday 4pm, so much to do before then. I will have to organise some pieces to take in with me so that my hands are not idle.

Meanwhile the latest additions to the family are these two delightful ginger kittens belonging to my youngest daughter and her partner, they've called them Arthur and Charlie! What is it with the younger generation and the names they choose; no inventive cuddly names, their last cat was called Alan!

Here I am with the two brothers, one just about to go to sleep and the other off to investigate.Will sign off now and speak again when fit, could be a couple of weeks before I can get to the PC, will have to 'borrow' David's laptop maybe.

latest pieces

Can never think of a catchy title for my posts but this one is just what it is my latest pieces!

Bought some Mistyfuse on line earlier this week after spotting it on lots of blogs and websites, mainly from the States. As soon as I received it I had to have a play. After experimenting with it on various fabrics I realised two main things. One it does give such a soft result to the finished piece, especially the softer fabrics such as silk, which I use alot of. Secondly it did not leave an opaque effect so ideal for trapping . The picture blow shows a quiltie (5x5inch) using threads from my bit bag.

Below is a closeup that shows how there is no obvious top surface covering the trapped threads as there would have been with bondaweb so I am definitely a convert when I want to utilise this technique. The off white top stitching was FME with cotton perle in the bottom spool.

Do still like Bondaweb where some firmness is needed though and this piece below utilised it perfectly. I made a sandwich from silk hankies which I had previously dyed. I like the ability to handle and control the colour placement instead of making silk paper. As embroideries do not need the stability that silk paper gives my technique is favourite in this case. I choose four thin sheets of silk hanklie and sandwich them with one piece of Bondaweb. Because they are so thin one piece is adequate. This is how fine they can be.The finished patterns achieved are I think better than silk paper. Using a rotary cutter I cut out a 4 inch square which I then FME and finished off with a red heart button. This will be in a black frame and is one of my collection I am preparing for the Christmas exhibition.

This closeup shows the Free machine embroidery detail.
This inchie also uses a silk sandwich which is cut into 9 one inch squares and then embroidered. I am completing a series of these inchie pictures for the exhibition.A closeup of two of the squares.

ATC swop - Unlimited Textiles

The theme for July's Unlimited Textile swop was 'Slash and Burn'. I opted for an ATC and this is the finished result. The sandwich consists of a base which is black felt with a middle layer of gold fabric and the top layer is a piece of polyester that I treated with a heat gun to create this bubble and hole effect. It was then loosely painted with oil sticks of gold and peacock blue. I then used my soldering iron to make further holes some going through one layer some through two so the black felt showed.
Margaret Roberts (Digital gran) will be receiving this ATC.


This closeup shows the layers in more detail.
Below is a postcard that I completed as I did make a large piece so I could add to my design/ideas book