The second of today’s “catch-ups” is my new Roman Blinds. I loved the Jakarta fabric from Dunelm with its botanical theme which I used for Bobs hallway earlier this year and knew I wanted to use it again…….my two workroom windows seemed the obvious place.
The fabric has given the room a very cheerful feel and the off cuts came in useful to make a bright tote bag for carrying my stash and equipment to workshops.
I’ve had a lot of distractions lately, hence not keeping up with my on-line journal, so I thought a rainy Sunday is a good time to do a bit of catching up.
One of my recent projects has been this hip bag. Has any other bag got so many different names? According to Wikipedia, and depending on where you are from, you might know it as a fanny pack, belt pack, belly bag, buffalo pouch, hip sack, phanny pack, waist bag, waistpack, butt pack (US), waist wallet (Canada), hip pack (UK), belt bag (Philippines), bum bag (UK, Ireland, South America, Australia, New Zealand) or moon bag (South Africa).
After a bit of research I got the impression that these are an item you either love or hate! Personally I have always been a fan of them as they are the most practical way of carrying my phone, keys, purse, etc when riding my motorbike, pushbike or walking the dog. I’ve got several leather “bought” bags but having seen some patterned fabric bags on Pinterest I decided to have a go at making one myself.
I began by cutting three basic shapes, one for a large pocket, one for a small pocket and a piece for the centre back. I just loved this striped Japanese tsumugi cotton fabric that I found at a show earlier this year. It’s quite light weight so I lined it with a heavy weight cotton curtain fabric to give the pockets strength.
Once these pieces were made up they were all together joined using two short strips of green floral fabric. I considered making eyelets and using a buckle but in the end decided that “D” rings would be quicker, easier and just as efficient for fastening.
As I am always putting things down and loosing sight of them my next hip bag might be more of a utility belt with pockets for scissors, tape measure, cottons, etc to keep everything accessible while I’m crafting.
At the beginning of the Summer members of the Cranwell Group were all asked to submit ideas for future quilt challenges. Although not exactly in sync with the current season, the theme to be drawn out the hat for our latest challenge was “Summer Garden” and for this quilt we were asked to create a quilt with fabric scraps no larger than 3″.
I recently discovered Wendy Dolan’s book Layer, Paint and Stitch and particularly liked the heavily textured project that features on the front cover. I decided to use a similar method to create my Summer Garden quilt.
Layer Paint and Stitch by Wendy Dolan
I sketched out a rough design for the foreground on tracing paper before making a start on the base layer.
The base layer consists of forty eight 3″ squares of cotton fabric which I pinned to a thin vilene ground and roughly machined in place.
Next I added small pieces of different natural fabrics and some flower heads cut from lace and free machined these in place.
The scraps of fabric that make up the background of the quilt.
More texture was built up by adding flower stems, using a thick thread such as crochet cotton in the bobbin and sewing from the reverse side of the fabric. I found this a particularly useful tip as in the past if I have needed thick stitching I’ve either hand sewn or couched……this method is so much quicker and easier!
I began colouring the fabric with blue acrylic paint but wasn’t happy with the result so changed to procion dye for the grass and gave the sky a once over with the green to dull it down. When it had dried I began building up the foreground using sheers for the flower heads and wool for the stems.
I’ve done a lot more work to it since this last photo so will post an update within a couple of days once it’s completely finished.
Three Tall Trees 30″ x 40″
My Three Tall Trees quilt is finally finished……I think. I haven’t put as much detail into this 30″ x 40″ quilt as I did the smaller 30cm x 40cm version, however there is the possibility that at some point before this is handed in for the David Hockney Challenge I just might add to it.
30cm x 40cm version
Today I joined 8 other felting enthusiasts at the Village Hall in Hutton Buscle near Scarborough for Jenny Peppers “Avanced Pods” workshop. I love Jenny’s classes, she’s a great tutor and explains/demonstrates every step very clearly as we work through our creations.
Two examples of Jenny’s work displayed with the shells which were her inspiration.
We all started out with the same size/shape resist and selected our colours from the huge stash of Merino wool on offer. We began by making a sheet of prefect using three different colours and this would be used to make “craters” in our pods. Working with our prefelts and resists we started with our inner layer and worked outwards, layering our wool tops before adding the spikes and tails.
My resist is wrapped in white Merino and the spikes attached at either end.
The top craters and embellishments are added to my piece.
The next stage was to place our outer craters where we wanted them and add silks, wools, snippets of prefelt, etc as embellishment before felting our spikes.
After lots of rubbing the dreaded rolling begins……and Jenny sees to it that her students don’t skint on the rolling!
Rolling, rolling and more rolling…..
Once again the company was great and day past very quickly with Jenny on hand to encourage, inform and see to it that we all manage to complete our work on time.
Two of the ladies had to leave early and unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of their finished work but here are the other seven.
Detail of my finished pod.
This afternoon I enjoyed a walk in Peasholm Park, looking at the trees, picking up leaves and dodging the squirrels which were everywhere. They are so tame they take peanuts straight out of your hand.
The leaf I chose for today’s offering was a huge Horse Chestnut, again created using Inktense pencils and the Pilot fine point pen. Painting is still feeling alien to me and its taking far too long to paint/draw these leaves. I am adding the pen to try to give them some definition but I’m not liking the result. When I get back home I’m thinking of switching to collage or fabric as my medium…..or do I persevere with the painting? After all, this is a challenge isn’t it?
I had to cheat a bit with tonight’s painting as I’m sitting in my B&B in Scarborough and I forgot to bring a leaf with me! I’ve travelled up a couple of days early for a bit of a break before attending a wet felting workshop in Hutton Buscle with Jenny Pepper.
I went for a walk along the sea front this evening and meant to gather a couple of leaves on my way back but it completely slipped my mind so instead I’ve worked from a photograph I found on the Internet.
I worked with Intense crayons and an extra fine Pilot HI-Tecpoint V5 pen.
A few days ago prolific artist Laura, from Create Art Everyday, blogged about a challenge she is taking up which involves painting a leaf everyday for a month. You can read about the challenge and where it originated here. I liked the sound of this so I thought I would have a go…..I don’t do painting so this is a real challenge for me! Last night saw my first attempt, fortunately I painted two leaves which I hope makes up for not having made the time to do one today!
My idea is to use this challenge to create a “leaf” sketchbook which in turn can be used as a resource for making more Tyvek and Lutradur leaves. I’m not convinced I can keep up with painting every day but I will do what I can and hopefully I might see an improvement in my painting by the end of the month!
This evening I held a needle felting workshop for a group of members from the Skendelby Ladies Guild. Not one of the group had tried needle felting before but, by the end of the hour and a half session, everyone had achieved a piece of work to take home with them.
Skendelby Ladies Guild members
Most of the ladies chose to make a brooch and used cookie cutters to form the basic shapes.
Thanks to Sandy for inviting me along this evening, it was a pleasure to spend time with the group and I hope to see you all again sometime.
Elegant Steampunk lady photographed in the Bailgate, Lincoln
This weekend, for the 7th year, Lincoln is hosting the annual Asylum Steampunk Festival. According to the Guardian this is “the largest and longest running event of its kind in the world”. Having read this quote, being a Steampunk fan and living only 20 miles from the Cathedral City, I find it hard to admit that I only heard of the Asylum Festival two months ago!
I visited the festival yesterday and had such a good time that I went back again this afternoon. The atmosphere is great with a timetable of events happening in the Cathedral quarter over the four days and the streets packed with friendly faces and fabulous costumes.
A lot of the costumes were as interesting from the back as they were from the front!
So what is Steampunk? Major Thadeus Tinker (aka John Naylor), Chair of the Victorian Steampunk Society says “Steampunks are generally polite, friendly, care about the environment, the past & the future and creativity & individuality.” In a recent exercise to “explain Steampunk in a sentence” a group from across the world came up with: “Steampunk is a creative social movement that draws inspiration from Victorian and pre-war history in an anachronistic mix of science fiction, modern values and a sense of fun.” – See more at: http://www.visitlincoln.com/blog/what-is-steampunk#sthash.V78sS4Eh.dpuf
The following photos are just a small selection of those I took in the Bailgate and Castle Square over the two days.
Stylish Steampunk couple photographed in Castle Square
Loving the parasol!
I also bumped into my nephew Jack and his friends in Castle Square
Explorers mixed with fairies outside the White Heart Hotel
“Pimp my ride” Steampunk style!
Mysterious woman lingering in the doorway.
Colonial gent poses in Castle Square
Castle Square visitors and trade stalls selling all sorts of Steampunk gear.
This lady had so much detail in her costume!
The Steampunk ethos really appeals to me, as does the Steampunk style, so next year I will be returning wearing my own Steampunk costume, which is already taking shape in my head!
Lincs In Stitches 