A little bit of everything

This week I've had a lovely time playing with paints.  I've had a go at using water colours.  I enjoyed myself, but feel a lot more practice might improve the end result.

I have made 5 colourful cushions for a friend who wants to make the reading area in her classroom into a sensory haven.  Some of the fabric was textured.  I rally like the cushions as they are all cheerful and different.

Yesterday I had a play with the transfer paints again with the intention of making a few cards. I used inspiration from Louise Ranouf's book to help me.  I love this book as it makes me think outside of the box and makes me have a go at trying new things.

 

Woodland

Yesterday I had the most lovely walk through Witch Wood in StAnnes/Lytham
My parents and nieces came for lunch and then we took the dog out for a wander.  my lovely daughter and 2 of her friends came too.  It was a lovely afternoon.

 

                                         I think this looks like the ears from Roald Dahl's BFG!

Both of my parents love flora and fauna and the great outdoors, so no walk would be complete without noticing the plants and some of the shapes made by the blown down trees.  I know my Dad will go home and sketch some of these with coloured  pencils.  He's very talented (but he keeps it a secret!)

Transfer Paint and birthday treats.

Today I have my daughters friends round to celebrate her 14th Birthday.  We have bought plenty of T-Shirts and intend to use the transfer paints to create some bespoke night wear.

Others prefer to use stamps.

 First the paint is applied to paper and left to dry.
Some of us like to work free hand.

 We all like to natter whilst the paint dries

All of the transfers needed to be ironed onto the tie dyed T shirts.

These are 2 that are finished. 

Happy 14th Birthday Faye x

Colourful cover

Now that I'm working again and can't sew every day I have decided to take a little bit of stitched comfort with me.  So I have been crafting away to create this cover for my folder.

It began with the large Pink flower and some free machine stitching.  I then played with the green ribbon.  I love the bright shades.  I cut the blue petals out and intended to make a flower, but my machine took a dislike to them and chewed a could up.  This left me with too few to make the petal design I'd intended to use and thus became a type of double tulip.  The 3rd and final flower was made using fabrics that I dyed in my first ever batch.  

I decided that the grey felt I intended to attach the panel to was just too drab and boring, so I have been to one of my favourite shops in Blackpool  It's called Johnsons and it's on Bond Street.

I selected 2 meters of the pink velvet ribbon and 2 meters of the blue silk.  I love the vibrant colours of these, especially together.  They are also beautifully tactile.

  The end result has made me happy, even the wonky bits.  They will provide me with the excuse to keep practicing!

Soluble fabric

I have had a go at using the soluble fabric that I bought yesterday.

I saw Kin Thittichai's work and used her suggestions.  She put 1 layer of fleece down as a base and laid down.threads, paper, fabrics and any other bits and bobs she had to hand.

                                                           I added captions from a magazine.

                                                                            Then fabric.

The final phase was to rinse the solufleece out using warm water.

i'm glad I've had a play with this technique.  I think it needs perfecting and then i might be able to add a pretty edging to a scarf.

What a show!

  This is where I have spent a fantastic Friday!

I love a wander around the Creative stitches shows and this one was excellent.  I intended to buy double sided stick tape (The makes me remember Blue Peter!), blank cards with apertures, and some delights for nieces birthday.  I am pleased to report that I found all of the above.  Wouldn't it be great if I followed this with .... and then I came home!

Of course I didn't.

I found some delightful stencils and pearlised paint (which I have given to my parents to wrap up for my birthday.)  It will be a while before I can share what I create with these.

I found some cute buttons which I intend to use to make panels to decorate jute bags.

Here's a panel I have already completed. it just needs attaching to the bag and it will be ready to go.

I also met a fantastic textile artist called Gillian Travis.  She creates large wall hangings based on images she has seen whilst travelling through India.  My friends and I had quite a chat with her and she has even suggested that she would be happy to come to St Annes to do a workshop if there were as many as 6 people interested.  I think I might have a chat with some of my local buddies to see if that is a possibility.

She has 3 kits on her stand that had come from a cooperative in Pushkar.  I just love it when I met fascinating people.  I'm longing to read her book.  I might promise myself an hour wit it tomorrow when I have finished my work.  As I am typing I rattling on to my poor unsuspecting husband about going to India.  I'm sure he nodded when I said we could go for our 25th wedding anniversary ....just 5 years away, but there's nothing like planning ahead.

I have also chatted with Kim Thittichai from Nid noi.

I bought some soluble fleece from her and have already started my stitching on it. It was this piece that made me have a go.

I then moved on to see the work of Wendy Dolan.

I have had a go at this type of work myself and I love the way she has created such a variety of textures.

These people are totally inspirational.

Finally, I had a look at some of the work of some participants of the embroiders guild competition.  

WOW .. .transfer paints ... so simple!

My friend has introduced me to the wonderful world of transfer paints.  They are so easy to use!

You quite simple coat a piece of paper with the paint.  Allow it to dry and then iron it onto a piece of fabric.
Here are some of my attempts.

The trees were created using a stencil that I have had for a while. I love the trees so couldn't wait to see what would happen.

 The next step will be to stitch into the fabri and see what I can create.

After covering this paper in blue paint I wondered what I might do.  

I am quite a fan of cynotope pictures, especially the wonderful blue colour . 

 So I wandered into my sparse garden and picked a few sprigs of Lonica and Ivy.  I laid them on to the man made fabric, over laid the blue paper and ironed the reverse of the painted paper.  And this is what happened.

I have added a few stitches to the leaves, but that's all.  I am completely mesmerised by this process and have all sorts of thoughts about what I might be able to do next. I think I might have to go online and have a look at the colour possibilities for this type of paint.

I made this on Thursday and turned it into a birthday card for my friends who also received the bunting the following day!

Birthday Bunting made by the boys

Happy New Year!   It has been so long since I have posted anything as I have just started a new job.   I'm beginning to find my feet now so have just a little bit of time to do some crafting.

I have the opportunity to make some birthday bunting with 2 super boys.  First of all they chose the fabric they wanted to use from my stash.  Then we cut out the triangles s carefully as we could.After stitching and ironing we arranged the flags in to a sequential pattern. Then we stitched in onto bias binding.   Voila, we have some wiggly stitches, but each one has been added with love as this was their birthday gift to their mum xxx