BLOG 515

 

Blog 515

 

Another week has passed and you can bear witness to the fact that I am between projects because I have tidied my playroom! It is just waiting to be used and cluttered with impunity. I really need to get my head (and the body will follow!) into a creative project, one which will see me through the autumn and winter months. My husband thinks I am at my most dangerous when I am NOT busy in my room. I start to notice things that need repairing or perhaps a room that needs decorating. Maybe there’s a tree that needs to be dug up or perhaps the house needs to be moved 6“ to the left to get the best of the evening sunshine!!! When I am happily creating I don’t have time to notice stuff in the same way and Rog, bless him, really appreciates the peace and quiet!

 

Clean studio

 

I still have a third ready-quilted panel to play with so I thought I’d try something different. I always prepare my background squares on the diagonal because that is the way I colour in. So as the sheers were to hand, I thought I would just try a few diagonal strips on the background to see what they looked like and to see what they added to the over-all look.

 

Sheers

 

Panel and sheers

 

I wasn’t too impressed with that (perhaps it needs more refinement) so I thought I would use one of my old (very old) panels that I used to provide when I taught applique many moons ago. It has simple shapes and it was ideal for an idea I had.

 

Panel and pattern

 

I traced the design onto template plastic and started to prepare the shapes using ready fused fabric. I used a sheet of backing parchment over the pattern so I could construct the image and fuse the shapes together where possible.

 

Template plastic

 

Applique shapes

 

Progress

 

More progress

 

At this point I thought I would try cutting the image into diagonal strips and place them onto the background. I used 505 Temporary Adhesive to hold the pieces in place.

 

Diagonal cutting

 

Staggered image

 

The image looks very regimented at this stage and I feel there is much more experimenting to do along these lines. This is the story so far and now, with a new jigsaw to hand, I will be easily diverted!!

 

Jigsaw

 

 

BLOG 514

 

Blog 514           

 

Oh Joy! We have had a trip to Yorkshire this week and it is must be the first time we have been away from home for over a year. I cannot tell you how good it felt to be on the open road again and to be staying in someone else’s home! We were in Easingwold, N of York, staying with our daughter and her husband. We visited Castle Howard of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ fame, and walked in the grounds of Duncombe Park. We also walked along Sutton Bank and enjoyed the spectacular views along the ridge. If you are watching the Yorkshire Vet on TV, you will see an image of a horse carved into the hillside; Sutton Bank is along the top of that ridge. Although I was born and bred in Lancashire, I can confirm that Yorkshire is a lovely county (albeit on the wrong side of the Pennines!)

 

Sutton Bank

 

I have managed to continue to work on the ‘still life with daffodils’ wall hanging this week. It is another play piece, one which helps me to hone my skills and allows me the freedom to play. The time spent doing such pieces is never wasted. The play process helps me to decide what I enjoy creatively, which techniques are helpful and which are not worth the effort for the results they yield. Here is the sequence in pictures.

 

Starting point

 

Temporary adhesive

 

Sheers

 

Daffodils

 

Final arrangement

 

Stitch

 

Jug detail

 

Stitch in progress

 

Detail on reverse

 

Finished piece

BLOG 513

 

Blog 513

 

I got distracted this week with another sample picture that has been on my design wall for many months. This is what it used to look like and I decided to have a play with it to see how I could develop it.

 

Bear

 

At some stage in the past I had added extra lines of definition with black ink (round the eyes and along the muzzle!) but the process hadn’t given the effect that I had hoped for. I was aiming for a pen and wash effect but the ink just seeped into the fabric and gave a line which was too solid and clumsy. So this sample was going nowhere and it gave me the excuse to play! The first thing I did was to add a layer of painted fusible, followed by a layer of sheers and then I added more stitch.

 

Bear with fusible

 

Bear with sheers

 

Progress

 

Stitch detail

 

Completed sample

 

And the outcome …? This sample is still going nowhere but it has provided me with the means for exploration. By adding the extra layers, I think there is more colour and depth to the piece (although it is still spoiled by those ink lines!!) The overall effect is one of warmth and I think there are many possibilities here for me to extend this process into my present creative endeavours!

 

 

 

BLOG 512

 

Blog 512

 

I didn’t quite make the promised progress on the ’still life with daffodils’ this week. We have had MEN in, doing the guttering, facia boards and drainpipes for the last 3 weeks and it is amazing how disruptive I have found this. Tools and supplies and scaffolding were delivered and they all had to be stacked and stored. There was sawing and grinding and rasping and banging and hammering going on all day, not to mention the endless cups of tea and home-baked snacks that had to be provided!! The job has been well worth it though. It means no more maintenance for us in the future and it has added a pleasing line of definition all around the roof of our property.

Here’s the progress I managed to make. I sewed the base strip to the background and placed it onto wadding to quilt it first before adding any detail.

Quilted background

 

Although the background gives enough of a painterly effect, this is why I chose it after all, I felt I wanted to add more depth and this I did by trying out some sheer fabrics. At this stage it is just a whim and I may change my mind somewhere along the line!

 

Daffodils

 

Sheers

 

Sheers and daffodils

 

I decided I didn’t have sufficient daffodils so I cut out some more on my lap tray in front of the TV (it’s the log fire that makes me want to sit down in front of it and enjoy it!)  I used the reverse of the tray so that shapes didn’t slip about.  

 

More daffodils

 

And here is the log burner; isn’t it cosy.  Chivers (24) and Willow (16) know exactly where to sit, although in this instance Chivers has pinched Willow’s bed and he cares not a jot!!

 

That’s my bed!