Winter Leaves

I spent some more time working on my 5" square of Winter Leaves yesterday and these are my first three samples ....

The first one is made from snippets of sheer and silk fabric trapped between two layers of dissolvable fabric.  I think it was Romeo.  I then stitched the veins with a cream machine embroidery thread, followed by a Madeira metallic thread.

The second leaf had a piece of lovely scrim in the centre together with snippets, but it really has not worked as it is too solid.

Leaf three is just simple machine stitching using two different Madeira threads, one after the other.  I need to practice more on this one, but I think I will be going back to making some more of Leaf one when I get another window of free time.  I am afraid it is back to filling and painting skirting boards again today.

Out and About

It is amazing what you come across here when you are least expecting it.  I popped out this morning to pick up some cinema tickets and had a couple of other jobs to do at the same time and this is what I found ....

Looks like someone has been out 'Yarn Bombing' again!!  It is the Malvern Flower Show starting tomorrow after all.  Poor old Elgar is looking at something decidedly fishy.  It did prompt me to pop into the Bluebird Tearooms (located just across the road from the Elgar statue) though to see the textile exhibition that features the work of several people I know.  Well worth dropping in to see and the bonus is that they serve fantastic coffee, tea and cakes.

 Some of the fishy goings on ....

Even Malvina got decorated.  I think there is a Well Dressing event going on too.

Winter Leaves

I have been trying to produce a 5" square of embroidery based on Winter Leaves without much success to date, mainly due to lack of time.  This was a print I managed to make from a holly leaf impressed into a Formy Block and then inked up.  It was given a wash of acrylic paint mixed with some glazing medium to see if I could get a decent background.  I could not get it to print on fabric very well so shall have to try something else.

Rock Art

I have been looking at the carvings made on stones in wild places recently and actually got round to getting out my Gelli plate as well as creating various methods of printing images ready to start to do some work.

I made two print blocks from funky foam stuck onto a piece of card with double sided tape for the print above.  I printed both from the Gelli plate direct and the inked funky foam blocks.

This was a more ghostly print using the same method.

I patiently cut out a stencil from a piece of stencil card (I think it must be sealed with linseed oil as it has a lovely smell). These images have been rollered with a soft foam roller onto paper in my sketchbook, but I should have remembered to be careful not to go over the edges of the piece of card which has created lines where I did not want them.

Next I rollered an image onto a piece of fabric upon which I had already couched a spiral using some textured wool and I quite like this combination.  Lots more ideas to try yet ... as usual just need some play time.

A Grand Day Out

On Saturday DH and I went to Prescott Hillclimb.  It was the first time for me and the views were splendiferous!!!  You can see the Malvern Hills in the background on this photo.  You will notice I have managed not to include any of the competitor's cars in my pictures!!

This was the view further to the right from the top of the hillclimb track.  We were blessed with fantastic sunny weather, although it was a bit chilly up the hill in places.

Today I had to go into Worcester to have three recalls checked on my little Yaris.  At least it gave me time to go along to the Cathedral to see the Magna Carta exhibition. Can't say I was overly impressed, however, this lovely alter frontal was impressive. It was made in 1969 by local artists.  It is meant to represent the reflections of the cathedral's pinnacles in the River Severn with the colours representing the liturgical year.

Quince

Last year I gave this quince a really good pruning and even dug some bits of it out.  It has rewarded me this year with an abundance of blossom.  Although it is not obvious from this photograph every bit of the branches is covered in blossom.  It is a real picture.  I think from the colour that it must be 'Geisha Girl'.  It was here when we moved in and was very straggly.

Still Spring

As I keep telling everyone how primroses grow in our garden like weeds, thought this photo would bring joy ... they interbreed with the garden primroses and appear all over the garden.