Arch for Gillian

I have just completed my October arch for Gillian. She likes seahorses, leaves and anything Egyptian. I decided to do the sea horse. Although I can draw sea horses I had a stencil which had come free in a magazine years ago and have not done a lot of stencilling. I stencilled onto felt and add some puff paint to give it a bit of texture. The background is layered chiffon. The edge is painted Vilene to look like rocks(although I have added so much stuff you can hardly see them now)I stitched over the sea horse and background, then attacked it a bit with the soldering iron. I loosely added some chiffon as sea weed. I then got out the glue gun and did some foiling. Finished!

The next day as I was getting it ready to post, I decided on second thoughts it was not finished. It needed something else. It was lifeless. It was a bit flat so I tackled the for ground by adding the shells. While looking for the shells I found the leaves and then the bits of painted Tyvek. I now feel it is finished and will again get it ready to post

Arch for Hannah

I have just finished the arch for Hannah. I worked it on the embellisher using felt, wool and chiffon. It is worked from the front and the back. The candle is a print of one of my encaustic pictures. I have done some stamping and added some foil. The problem I find with the embellisher is that the work grows. I embellished it onto silk this time thinking it would hold its shape but it didn't make any difference. Originally the stone arch was bigger but it had to be trimmed down to fit the template. I enjoy using the embellisher and don't break so many needles now (since I found out how much they cost.
My work space is getting more organised and I feel much more comfortable with it. Ever since we moved in I have been moving things around to make the space more workable. I make cards and jewellery for a living and need to be able to get at all the components easily. I think I am nearly there now.

Attic finds continued

Attic Finds

Yesterday my son went into the attic to remove some suitcases and boxes that were up there behind the water tank. We are hoping to have some insulation put up there sometime, so new it would have to come out. We did not know who it belonged to or what it was. There were two suitcases one was full of rubbish - empty chocolate boxes bits of tinsel. It had made a nice nest for the mice which had lived up there. When I opened the next one it looked more interesting. A collection of items which were probably used in pantomimes but the items had a lot of work in them and looked very old and interesting. There were several jig saws and an Alfa Romeo car which my grandson Alfie decided he was keeping. It was still in its original box. Then there was an old carrier bag which looked like the contents of a drawer. It had pens and pennies,smelling salts all sorts of rubbish then I opened a little box and out came the beautiful watch. I also found a ring and some chains. I was really enjoying this now. Another box was full of dress patterns from possibly the 40's and 50's and yet another box full of fabric but it was all nylon and crimpline.
I did not recognise the name of the person who owned all this but we are the third family to live here since them. They are sadly no longer around. Next time my son comes over I might send him up there again to see what else he finds.

Cornwall

Tin mine


View through an arch at the derelict tin mine


The remains of lunch


View through the resturant window


A posing seagull

Well we are back from our creative travels. The weather was on the whole kind most of the time. Sarah's converted dairy is fantastic and I can thoroughly recommend it. There are some pictures here
On the first day we visited a couple of local churches, a tin mine and a tropical garden centre then the other three walked up a Tor/hill to admire the view. I stayed in the car as I have a dodgy knee. They tell me that you can see both coast lines from there. We then spent the afternoon working on various projects. In the evening we prepared some screens and fabric with flour.
The next day we spent in St Ives visiting the shops, the Barbara Hepworth Gallery and The Tate Gallery. We even managed to have lunch outside overlooking the beach. In the evening after our meal we did a bit of felt making, some sketch book work and some printing using the previously prepared screen.
On the final day we stayed in and did projects including photoshop, sketckbooks, fabric transfer crayons and paint and embellishing on the Pfaff embellisher. We rounded the trip of by going out for a lovely meal in St Ives. It was absolutely pouring down but thanks to Sarah's daughter Helen we were dropped of and collected from the door.
I was not as productive as the others because I was in constant pain. I will post some pictures of the work I did when I have taken pictures of it. Until then here are some pictures that I had taken

Family History

For some time now I have been interested in my family history. I started wanting to know what made me, me. Why was I good at doing things with my hands and not my brain! My parents were both craft teachers so that was a good reason for me being like I am but what about them. The computer has made searching records a fantastic hobby but it is rather addictive. The more you find the more you want to find. The tree can become huge. I have over 1000 on mine now. I am finding things like - on my paternal side I come from a dynasty of Quaker clog makers. That's a very hands on occupation. I am from the North of England my mothers side from Lancashire and Scotland, my fathers side Yorkshire. Some of the information I thought I knew, which had been handed down I could not follow up. It looked like the history of two great men had been combined. The one I am related to owned a mill and a coal mine and was a Mayor. The other founded a children's home and is related to Queen Victoria's physician. All this information I have found on the Internet but it is two people born in the same year with the same name. Most of my ancestors worked in the mills. On my maternal side cotton on my paternal side wool. The jobs I have seen are calico printers, weavers, cotton doffer,cotton drawer,cotton spinner, cotton winder and a salesman of turkey red cotton. there are also a few farmers, stone masons and joiners.I have now traced some branches right back to the early 1500's
I have posted a picture of a needle point made by my Great Great grandmother Lucy Cockshutt in 1855 when she was 16. It is quite large about 3ft by 4ft, so there was also a love of sewing.
The other picture is of Mary Collins born 13 June 1830 and died 5 Feb 1904. She was my other maternal Great Great Grandmother.

Arch from Pam

This was the arch that I received from Pam.It is part of the Textile challenge Groups on going challenge The photo doesn't really do it justice. It looks like all the lights are on in the windows of the castle. It is all very neatly done too.