Star Patchwork

As work on the house seems to be making very little progress at the moment and it is Soooo.... depressing I have been doing some patchwork as a distraction.  Also now started to make some boring old curtains and roman blinds but they cannot be hung up yet so no rush for them.

Using the fabric I have had for some time to make this quilt .... these are the 6 blocks made so far.  Not sure how many I have made altogether now, but progress is slow. This quilt was promised as a belated wedding present and should be a double or king size quilt when completed.  I am going to include some Maple leaves (for Canada) and some Hearts.

I have got some nice dark fabric to make alternative blocks which will add interest and give the quilt a lift I hope. On the design front I have been messing around on Photoshop to see how I could lay out my existing blocks.

So guess it is back to stitching now until I have got sufficient blocks to put together to make a whole quilt.  Not until much later though .... as today I have to take the car to get a new wheel bearing fitted which involves me sitting in the garage reception until it is ready.

Funky Dolls

Been looking at Louise Gardiners website and blog and found this link www.mimikirchner.com/blog.  Keep scrolling down to see even more of the handmade dolls.  I am sure you will love them.

Moors Meadow Garden

Despite the wet weather we decided to venture out on Saturday afternoon and visited Moors Meadow Garden near Bromyard.  The garden is very wild and full of shrubs and trees.

There is a fantastic resident artist blacksmith - Joshua de Lisle - and although I do not think he created this seat he has recently completed gates for Richmond Park - do have a look at his website -  www.joshuadelisle.com

Spot the duck under the sculpture?

Crayfish

Whippets Brook, which runs through our garden, is reputed to have crayfish in it and until recently I had never seen any evidence of them.  I found the remains of one this week minus its tail.  Intrigued I looked it up on the internet and assume it is a white claw crayfish.  It is such a shame it was dead.

Kilpeck Church

Entrance

Detail of doorway

Dog and Hare

Green Man on Church entrance

Kilpeck Church

We went to Monmouth on Monday afternoon and had to fill in an hour or so on the way back so went to have a look at Kilpeck Church.  It has lots of Corbels around its exterior.  I have attached photographs of the Dog and Hare and also the Green Man.  A fascinating place to visit and wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.

Metre Piece C&G

This caused a few raised eyebrows when it was submitted as my metre piece for City & Guilds. It is called 'The Thread of Life' and it is silk paper created using Jo Sonja's textile medium as the binding agent.  The lettering was free machined using Madeira metallic thread.  I printed the lettering onto water soluble paper using the computer and then laid strips of it over the top of the silk paper.

My first efforts failed as I used PVA glue as the binder and the whole thing went into a horrible wet mess when I dissolved the paper!!

The poem is the same as the one that is printed in the book below and the theme of which is all about having lived a good and long life and not being afraid to die and leave others to follow on from where you left off.

C&G Revisited

I do not seem to have had time to take photos just recently so I have raided my City & Guilds photos to find a couple of things to post.  This little book was inspired by a very old one I found when I was researching my personal theme for City & Guilds.  It was canvaswork and I could not work out how it had been stitched so I did my own interpretation of it.  I think I painted some canvas and layered pieces of Fibretex, sheer fabric and some metallic sheers over the top.  These were than hand stitched with a perle threads and metallic embroidery thread.  Once completed it was zapped with a heat gun before beads were added to the surface.

The pages inside have the lines of a poem printed on them and the were stained with walnut ink to age them.

It always reminds me of the weekend we visited Glasgow to go to the Burrell Collection as I sat in the hotel room busily stitching away to try and get it finished in time.

Bright Stars

Managed to machine piece a cot quilt using a design from 'Quick and Easy Projects for the Weekend Quilter' a couple of weekends ago so must get on and quilt it this week.  It was nice to sit and sew for a day amongst all the chaos here - very relaxing.

Had a water leak between the granite worktop and the sink on Monday which caused a bit of a panic but it is now fixed.  Decided to clean out some of the new kitchen cupboards and start to put things back where they should be.

Very interesting talk by Edwina MacKinnon at Worcester EG this month.  Some of her dying and printing techniques seem worth a try.  Doing my best not to get involved in assisting with the EG down here.  I just want some time to enjoy being able to go along to meetings and workshops with no commitment after my involvement in Yorkshire & Humberside.