Embroidery

I have been doing a little embroidery.  Hand embroidery.  At the moment, I seem to be obsessed with samplers!

One day when I couldn't get moving, I threaded all the embroidery threads in my box and added them to a piece of felt.  It really helps keep you going!
I am doing one with Sue Spargo on Craftsy, which I have showed before.  I am also doing two with rebecca ringquist on creativebug.  I am only just

starting on these.  The stitch combination up the top, I enjoyed, however the red and blue stitches are supposed to be tete de boef or the head of the bull.  Rebecca taught it differently to how I know it.  She used three sepearate stitches, on the right.   I was taught to do it as a fly stitch with a chain tail, at top left.  I also tried reversing the fly stitch and adding the chain below that.  The variations are interesting, and who's to say which is right.  Stitch names are not really that important to me so long as I don't get confused.
The third sampler, is a set of samplers from Christen Brown's book Embroidered and Embellished.  At present I am working on the first one with simple stitches.

I am also doing some crochet for charity for our local CWA (country Women's Association)  branch of which I am secretary.  We have decided that we will start the year with a drive to make hats scarves and blankets for the homeless as winter will be along soon.  This is something I have been wanting to do for so long.

I have been doing a little journaling.  This is this week's page for daily journaling.
Also The Tangled Textiles Group I belonged to has come to an end at challenge 15.  On the page, there is a grid for each of the challengers showing their work.
I thought I might show my grid here for you.

So, a quiet week for me.

Happy Creating!

How to be creative without producing anything

I have been very creative today, but it did not yield results.....yet.
I was inspired to do some digital collage by a post here.
But long long ago, when I was using photoshop elements, it seemed easy.  My new laptop only has Gimp.  I know I can do what I want, but the how is another thing.  It did not happen today, but I will keep trying (or I will go and get photoshop elements again)
so What have I got to show? Not much - two started journal pages.

This page is a rubbing over wire (which I learnt from design matters tv), using water soluble crayons. needs more work, of course.

This page is using a couple of things i created today.  On the left is a stencil I created from one of my drawings and on the right is a stamp I created using fun foam after watching the new Art journaling Live recording from Interweave.  It is not a new technique, i have seen it before, but the video was very inspiring.  It was the tracey Bautista part of the video.

I really like both the stamp and the stencil, but of course i need to play with them a bit more.

Happy creating!

From a journal junkie

Still not keeping up to date with blogging.  I have been so busy with classes at the community house.  It's hard to keep to my routine...  so perhaps it's time to change it.
I have been trying to finish some large pieces and doing a lot of reading and journalling.  I recently had a fall and injured my hand, so that set a lot of work aside, so reading became something to keep myself focussed. Whilst I was reading I came across a lot of journaling inspiration, so when my hand got mobile, that's what I started with.  I did quite a few pages, none of which are finished, but are passable.

This is a sketch page for a large collage which is in my list of things to do.

This was inspired by a magazine picture.

A few experimental backgrounds.

These backgrounds were all inspired by "journal Junkies", which is one of the books I read.

These two were inspire by "art journal freedom", which I also read

And this one was inspired by a quote.
So that's all the journalling I've been doing.
Hopefully I'll post about a few other things I've been doing in a day or two

The dreaded lurgy

Ah, well, all things come to those who wait, don't they?  I have been offline for a few weeks with a very bad dose of the 'flu.  We Aussies call it the dreaded lurgy.  I am on the mend now and getting back into my rhythm.  It is Spring here and the gartden is blooming, but with it comes hay fever - Yuck!  But you have to take the good with the bad.

In my last post I told you of my new toy - a silhouette cameo!  Before I got sick, I did a little work in my journal with some stencils I made.

I layered two stencils, the flower one and the butterfly one on top of each other, so the flower pattern filled the butterflies.

Then I went around the outlines with a very sketchy fineliner to define it.  The page needs more work, but has been sitting for a bit.

We had our monthly quilting day a week or two ago and here are some of the regular ladies in our new community house.  On that day I was working on one of the UFOs in my cupboards.

Obviously still not finished, but getting close.
Since then, I have really only been doing bits and pieces, between lots of resting.

I crochetted this  beanie for my hubby, who has also been very sick (and sooky, as they are)

I started this table mat, I used my Silhouette to cut the applique pieces.  It will be for our fund raising stall at christmas.  It is an adaptation of a free pattern from martingale.

I worked on a bobbin lace bookmark, that had been sitting around for a while.

I did a little piecing practice with my huge stash of charms.

And I did a little quilting practice on the longarm.  (no closeups neccesary).  If you have been following me for a while, you will know that my hubby created my machine for me.  He is very good at that sort of thing.  He is a fitter and turner by trade.  I used to have it set up on rails, but find this sit down arrangement much easier.
And since it's spring, I thought I'd finish with some gorgeous gum blossoms I picked the other day.

Thanks for the comments on the last post. I will get back to you, just haven't been well enough.

a cameo appearance

OK, I have been absent for a week or two, but I have been busy playing with a new toy!, oops, I mean tool in my studio.

I am the proud owner of a brand new silhouette cameo digital cutter and have been experimenting with all types of media, to see what it can do!

Above is a page from my notebook.  As you can see at the left, it cuts light lutradur/rainbow spun beautifully, and below it is some acetate sheet (For stencils) which it also cut well.  It did not cut painted baby wipes, which is a disappointment, but I am not finished experimenting with that.  I have tried papers of different weights, plastics and vinyls, and of course fabrics.  It cuts cotton really well and I am looking forward to thinking up a few applique projects to do with it.

I cut these beautiful boxes from card.  I purchased the cutting file from silhouette.com.

and all these wonderful masks and textures and text and....

Here were a few of my first efforts.
And some starts at journal pages, none of which is completed yet.

By the way, the black butterfly is a design I created myself with the software, while the blue butterfly, I only attached on one side so it becomes an extra page.

My collage from the last post is finished and just needs mounting

Here are a few close ups

Also, the fabric pages I finished a few weeks ago have reached their owners, so now I can show you

I have been doing a little crochet

This is from a pattern in piecework magazine last year.

And this is from an old annie's attic pattern.

And I think I'll just finish with this winter leaf I found the other day

It had such beautiful lines, I couldn't resist.

Happy creating.