A girl needs a shed

Pink earrings.
The class was to make a scissor keeper - but I thought it would be fun to make earrings. So easy to do and I shall now make a necklace to go with them!

Sonia's Birthday present....
When our beading teacher showed us this pattern, I knew it would be for Sonia's birthday. She loves pansies (and poppies, irises, sunflowers.......) and it seemed perfect for her. I loved making it and she loves wearing it.

Jewellery and stitchery

Earlier this year I made some beaded cuffs which I was quite pleased with.  I gave one to Claudine (forgetting to photograph it), another to a friend for her birthday and kept the last one myself.  I love wearing mine and will make  more soon.  The base is copper which is then covered with fabric which has been hand beaded.  Here is the one I gave my friend - I used some gorgeous hand made silk for the background onto which I stitched seed beads.  I just happened to have some Swarovski crystals in blue and green which matched the colours in the silk..........

Kathryn's beaded bangle

And here is mine................

Beaded cuff

I also had fun making some pretty quilted bags.  They are very easy to make and useful for gifts.  Claudine was very pleased with hers as she needed a new make-up bag.  I used another one as a gift to take to the Temari Stitch-In in April - I put in some threads, needles and other bits and pieces.  Very useful for using up scraps.....

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And today I've made my first biscornu.  This is a pretty little pin cushion - very easy to make and, again, ideal to give as a gift to someone who stitches.    I used Rainbow Gallery Patina thread, which has a lovely sheen to it.  I think I may have put a little too much stuffing in - I'll know not to use so much next time! 

Butterfly Biscornu

More catching up...........

One of the UFOs which finally got ticked off the list is the following:

Dionyssos

It's a bit of a cheat really, as we bought the plaque 9 1/2 years ago when we moved into the house!   Our daughter, Claudine, decided it needed some colour and started doing a little highlighting about 8 years ago.  Since then it has been living firstly in the cellar and latterly in my 'shed' (my name for workshop/studio).  Finally, last summer, she managed to complete the addition of the colour and then earlier this year my husband, Martin, started breaking out the concrete of the wall on the terrace outside aforementioned shed, finishing it a couple of weeks ago.  Then, whilst our sister-in-law Lin was here to help, we 'glued' it to the wall.  So far, so good - it hasn't fallen off yet..........

Another item ticked off the list is my mosaic table.  I'm very happy with the finished look and we decided that it would look pretty with lights underneath to highlight each of the fish.  It was very difficult to photograph - because the sun is so strong at this time of year.  And the night-time picture doesn't do it any justice at all as - the light is more diffused than it appears in the photograph.

Mosaic table

Mosaic table lit

Mid-summer catch-up.......

The year is rapidly disappearing and I have written nothing for months.  That's not to say I've done nothing.  Oh no - I had a wonderful few weeks away in Poughkeepsie, NY and Halifax, NS.  It all seems years ago now but I am already planning my next visit.

My trip was planned for months; firstly to join the annual Temari (hand-embroidered Japanese balls) Stitch-in held in Poughkeepsie, which I was lucky enough to attend for the second time; and then to visit Canada for the first time, to visit my friend Kate Madeloso.  

The Stitch-in was great; this has been held annually for the last nine years by Ginny Thompson of Temarikai fame.  Ginny is an amazing lady who has recently gained Kyoujyu status - the highest level attainable with the JTA (Japanese Temari Association).   She has a vast knowledge of Temari, including its history and development - and a lifelong love of all things Japanese.  She is a gracious host who opens up her home once a year for others, like me, to come together to share ideas & designs and to meet up with old friends and make new ones.  Go to Temarikai.com, then click on 'Resources' at the top of the page, scroll down to 'Regional Get-togethers' and you will be able to browse through the write-ups for all the Stitch-ins which have been held over the last 9 years, including some gorgeous photographs of everyone's work.

Pictured below is the result of the project Ginny set for us to puzzle over.  We were handed a brown paper bag in which we found a small glass - like a shot glass - a plastic bag and a cone of wrapping thread.  We were told to fill our plastic bags with rice hulls and go for it!  It was such fun and we all came up with different designs, mine was simple...........

2010 Stitchin project

I had 6 days with Ginny - and others who gradually arrived from hither and thither - we stitched, shopped and prepared for the weekend gathering.  It is basically a 24hour gathering during which time we have show and tell, games, gifts, projects, a quiz and LOTS of chat, photographs and food and wine...............

It's exhausting - as you can imagine!  But fun.

Next I flew up to Halifax, Nova Scotia to visit with my friend Kate.  We had a ball!  Literally - as she had arranged  a 'couple' of Temari classes for me.  This stretched into 3 trunk shows and 7 classes, during which we had 60 students.  It was amazing - unfortunately, we had to turn some people away as we wouldn't have had any time at all for sightseeing or for exploring new projects which we wanted to work on.  

Below  you can see work produced by some of the students, some of who have become addicted (sorry, but I did warn you!).

Again I had a wonderful time and I'm totally in love with Canada!  Although when I arrived the trees were still bare and the weather wasn't the best, by the time I left, Spring had sprung and everywhere was looking fresh and green, with flowers and blossom appearing all over the place.  Beautiful.

The Nova Scotians are a quirky lot - just take a look at the following pictures, some of which were taken miles from anywhere.  The need to produce folk art is alive and thriving in Nova Scotia.

But there were some very beautiful places too............

And here.............

And this was fascinating.  The young man had just climbed up from the beach, where he had taken his four pets for their daily walk!  Yes, that's right - the 2 dogs AND the 2 cats were all faithfully following him.

Boy and his pets

The time went all too quickly and I really didn't want to come home.

However, we had another trip planned - this time to Italy to visit our daughter and her family who have just moved to Marino, just outside Rome.

Oh, I am such a lucky lady.

Autumn leaves scarf/table runner!!

Another project I saw in the Quilting Arts magazine and wanted to try.  This was very easy and is a great way to use up fabric scraps.  In the magazine, it was described as a 'scarf' with a difference.  However, when I finished it and showed it to my friends, they all remarked that it would look great as a seasonal table runner!  So, I think that is what it will become.....  Basically it is just sandwiches of scrap fabrics with cotton batting in between which are then machine embroidered.  Then you cut out random leaf shapes and zig-zag stitch around the edges before joining them together.  Fun, and it gave me ideas for another project which I'm experimenting with.

Falling leaves scarf

 

Christmas decoration

I saw this pretty decoration in one of my magazines and thought it would be fun to do.  It was, but it took absolutely ages.  I felt that the process could have been a lot simpler. The 3 triangles were cut out of plain cotton fabric (which I stamped with silver inks before doing anything else), onto which had been sprinkled bonding powder ( I DON'T like this product, it is too messy  - I prefer Bondaweb!) and then bits of chopped up threads, voiles, glitzy fabrics, lace etc.  Once these were heat bonded, it was machined stitched, and then hand embellished with beads, coiled wire, feathers, snowflake sequins etc. After this process, a firm stabiliser was added and then another layer of white fabric  applied to form a pocket.  Foam core was cut to size and slipped into the pockets.  Thin wire was stitched around the to edges of each triangle and further embellished with beads etc to allow the ends to be bent over.  The three sides were then hand stitched together.  Very labour intensive!!  If I make another couple - to finish the set - I'll simplify the process.  Still it's pretty, though.

Triangular Christmas Vessel

Faux chenille

I've also been playing with faux chenille work.  I've never done it before but love the effects achieved.  I used 5 layers of hand-dyed flannelette.  I didn't bother with the washing/drying stage of the process because I loved the effect as it was.  Will be doing more of this..................

Faux Chenille bag

Jewellery projects

I'm sorry the quality of my photography is pretty awful - not one of my talents!! The first one is called 'herringbone with a twist' and uses white pearl and pale green seed beads and then gradually bigger beads, including black Swarowski faceted beads, to creat the fatter bits.  I did the twist in each direction for the earrings.

Herringbone with a twist

The next set is again using Swarowski crystals, this time a topaz coloured rivoli and bicones in both topaz and clear colours, with seed beads.  This was a bit fiddly, but once I'd read the instructions properly, I soon got the hang of it!

 

Topaz Swarowski rivoli and bicones

 

 

New handbag for Claudie

While Claudine was here with the family in the summer, she brought with her a much loved handbag which was 'dying' - 'Can you make me another, please?' she asked.  No problem - but it encouraged me to buy another new 'gizmo' . The front flap of the bag - see below - is embellished with hot-fix 'nailheads'.  Since I didn't have any nailheads, nor a hot-fix tool, I had to buy one!

Claudie's bag

 

It was fun to use and I made good use of it as I also made a couple of evening bags for an order onto which I would normally have hand-stitched some beads.  However, I decided to experiment with the tool and used it to good effect.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the bags before I delivered them, so you'll have to take my word for it! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bags were made using torn strips of co-ordinating coloured voiles, which were then stitched in rows - not straight, but 'rough' lines - onto a cotton batting. I then stitched vertical lines of metallic thread and finished by embellishing with 'gems'.  I 

I've just found a picture of a similar bag I made a few years ago, see below.

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