Heart swap

Heart front


Heart back with tatted motiff





Hanging with charms


Full veiw of the front

As part of the Textile Challenge group I decided to take part in the heart swap. I was partnered with Jan so this is her heart. I had recently bought some fabrics from Jennifer Trollope which she buys from couture houses. The project needed to be quick so I went for using luxurious fabrics rather than fancy sewing techniques. The back of the heart is silk with a piece of tatting stitched on which has a small piece of shear fabric behind and a stone in the centre. The front was a golden fabric which is covered with a net which has hanging sequins attached. This net was about 6 inches wide with a bound edge on each side which I did not want to loose, so I eased the edging into the heart shape and cut or pleated the surplus away. I then added a matching ribbon and hung various charms and beads from it. I have also put some lavender inside it.

Samples

I have not blogged for a while. I have been busy tidying and picking up endless piles of leaves.
I got Maggie Grey's book" Textile Translations" for Christmas so have been trying out the making the basic fabric exercise out. I did not have all the correct ingredients so had to improvise a bit. I have not done any stitching on them as yet, I need to work my way up to that. I am frightened of spoiling them.

Happy New Year

Well another year gone!

I have been taking part in an arch challenge for the last twelve months so thought you would like to see a picture of eleven of them. (I still have one to come).
Christmas went well. I think I am the only person not to have had a cold but there is still time.
We went to one of the local pubs on New Years Eve. It was really nice and friendly. I think we are going to like living here.
Yesterday friends came over for dinner I did a mini Christmas dinner which was less hectic than the first one as there were no children. It was very relaxed. Now tho I am still trying to clear up and have been washing up a bit at a time but it was worth it. I am just of to do the dinner. More washing up!

Sunset

Well the decorations and lights are up and the cakes are iced, the cards are posted and most of the shopping is done. I can now collect my thoughts together before and relax a bit before the family arrive on Christmas Eve.
When I was coming home earlier in the week I stopped in a lay by to take some pictures of the sun setting.

Christmas Tree

Christmas for us last year didn't really happen. All our things were packed as we were between houses including all the Christmas decorations. We put up the cards, watched TV and hoped things would get back to normal as quickly as possible. We had hoped to move before Christmas but we didn't move till March.
This year has been different and I could not wait to get the decorations up. In the past I have always gone for traditional Christmas colours but the lounge really does not lend itself to traditionl so it is purple, silver and white. Our dining room is very traditional and tomorrow I am going to buy a small Christmas tree to go in there.
The tree is of the ground as Sophie is now crawling and into everything!

Christmas Robin

This is my first encaustic picture for nearly a year so I thought I would share it with and wish you all A Very Merry Christmas

Arch for Carol T

This is one of my Encaustic pictures which I used a print of for Carol's arch


Close up showing the free machined arch with its bells




This is my final arch. I know it is still November but I wanted to get it done and sent of before the chaos of Christmas. I started of by thinking I would do something seasonal so I used one of my own paintings as a starting point. Having read the brief I started of on the Gothic route but think I must have been distracted by Tiggy's blog of her trip to India because the arch started to go very Indian. I did a bit of free machine embroidery which had tassles, just right for little bells. Carol likes metal so I made a metal frame for the picture which left a space, just right for a bit of shisha work I thought, so I dug out my instuctions which I had from doing a workshop with Tig years ago. I embellished the background. Red and blue chiffon onto blue felt. I added a little copper Angelina behind the free machined arch. I then hand stitched beads around the edge and finally added a few Swarkovsci crystals to give it a sparkle.