some stitch as promised

OK, here we are, firstly a postcard now on its way to the states ( postal strikes permitting)



wip- a winter shawl for myself, project designed to use up oddments of wool that have been sitting around for years ( not handspun)



wip- a gathering of bobbins on my pillow, pairs slowly being added as I work down the pattern.



spot the common colour theme?

have a good weekend everyone :-)

Doodle Postcard and ATC

I promised Laura an ATC swap last month and must confess that I have only just got round to it after being in such a mess with the workmen etc .

So Laura, please pick your card :-)



If anyone else would like to trade, I'm open to offers.








You never know what I may doodle next!!

Postcard for charity

This is my entry for Lakes, lochs and Land competition to raise money for Forget Me Not Children's Hospice.

Embroidered felt

Bank Holiday Playday

Today, Good Friday, sees the start of the Round Britain Rally and Ian together with Biker Ted were up and out early. The plan was to bag a few landmarks and attend a meeting of fellow rallyists to mark the first day of the challenge.
This left me to my own devices so I decided to have a sort through one of my cupboards to see what was hiding at the back.
First find was some pastel dyesticks and skeleton leaves, so I made some rubbings onto a piece of dyed cotton, added some batting, machine stitching ,metallic paint and voila a quiltie or postcard or ATCS, not sure which.
I really need to practise more with my machine stitching, suspect I try to stitch too fast sometimes.

I then found some old dyes that a fellow student had given me maybe 5 years ago. Rather than throw them out, I used them for some plastic bag dying for use as backgrounds and discovered that the brown dye did not work at all.
Most of the results were quite pale but I am sure that they will get used sooner or later
The silk fabric picked up the colours as lovely pastels

The only problem is that my room is even more of a mess now.!!

I'm just such a lucky bunny............

............look what came through the letter box this morning. This is from Helen Cowans Textile Goddess as part of a swap we did early last year. Isn't it gorgeous?

Cyber Fyber Postcard

This is my postcard for Cyber Fyber, felted merino wool and silk, machine and handstitch, beaded. A metallic thread was used for the hand stitch.

Cyber Fyber Postcard

This is my swap from Susan Lenz for the Cyber Fyber exhibition, unfortunately its not the best photo.

Cyber Fyber Postcards and ATCs

CYBER FYBER is an exhibition of international fiber art scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009 at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The brainchild of Susan Lenz, this exhibit will focus on the supportive, global community of fiber artists with whom Susan regularly shares new techniques, contemporary approaches to textiles, and finished work by Internet websites and blogs. The exhibition will include three primary areas: Fiber ATCs (Artist Trading Cards); fiber postcards; and the work of several invited artists. The exhibition will also include FIBER DAY and ATC trading day. From the beginning, Susan Lenz is documenting CYBER FYBER on a blog/journal.'

If you haven't already heard of Cyber Fyber Exhibition, Follow the link for further details as it looks really interesting.

scrap challenge #3

Fragment #1

size 3x5 inch

Scrap of dyed muslin, handmade felt and recycled wood? beads. Handstitched and finished as a postcard with machine stitching.

cough, sneeze, cough, cough, sneeze

By the time I got home from work last night I was only fit for bed and woke up today with a full on cold so I spent most of today in bed aahhhhhhhhhh So here is yesterdays post

Christmas gift tags completed

Postcard received from Sue Bleiweiss this morning

Time to put the kettle on and doze in front of a DVD ( no television so have to use the computer)

rust postcard

Played with the rust fabric this morning, firstly trying it with black lace but the lace I have is too heavy to let much of the colour through. The patterns on the fabric reminded me of rock strata so I ironed the fabric on to fused?wadding ( the type with glue on each side) then layered black chiffon and machined lines to roughly follow the pattern on the fabric.
I then heated it with the hot air gun.
I then chose patterns to fill with hand stitching, fused it to heavy weight vilene and sprayed the lower corner with Moon shadow mist burnished brass.

Then finished as a fabric postcard as usual. I still have enough left to make into an ATC later this week. Unfortunately the photo does not pick up the gold thread or the shiny paint.

Work in progress

This is a drawing based on the terracotta army that has been on my pinboard for some time now, scanned into computer at the weekend to try and convert into simple black and white design

still needs tweaking but looks more promising now

Starry night postcard- not sure if I like this now its finished-somehow it doesn't seem to be me.

Blue velvet, painted chiffon and star sequins- mainly machine stitched.

Playday Sunday

Its been raining all morning so I've been playing with the painted cotton- result 3 postcards although the photos don't show the shine on the metallic paint added today.NB they are all the same size although my scanner doesn't seem to think so.

Finished Postcard Book

Spent all morning trying to tidy my work room and untangle machine embroidery threads, still looks a little more organised and I can't believe how much stuff I have squirrelled away!!

Anyway, finished the postcard book so the decks are clear for the next project.

More postcards from Czech

This one is based on the many photos I took of windows and window boxes in Kutna Hora
This is an extract for our holiday journal written on our first night in the Czech Republic.

Originally I kept very brief notes on our holiday in a small A6 note book, these days I pack coloured pencils along with gluestick, scissors and fibre pens together with an A5 sketchbook. I record details from routes, prices, interesting places, conversations, and design ideas.

Two more postcards

Unfortunately the postcard of the bike didn't work out quite as I hoped but I never like doing the same thing twice so it will have to stay as it is.

The trip to the Czech Republic last year was prompted by the programme The Long Way Down in which Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman travelled round the world by motorcycle. Whilst watching the episode that mentioned the Bone Church, we both said immediately that we wanted to go there ourselves and since we can't ride round the world in two weeks, we can certainly visit France, Germany, Czech and Austria.

Postcards From Czech Republic

These are the first two in a series of six 6 x 4 inch fabric postcards based on our trip to Czech Republic in 2006

The first one represents the Bone Church at Sedlec

The second represents the stained glass at the cathedral in Kutna Hora