Quilting practise

I thought I'd practise a bit of quilting on some scrap fabric I had. My quilting leaves a lot to be desired but I'm not going to knock myself up over it. I enjoyed the exercise and turned the small piece into a couple of largish coasters. I couldn't resist though using some new glazes I had bought from Crafty Notions at the M&S show. They aren't really for fabrics but I left the first couple of layers dry then used it again and the glaze is beginning to work. Not sure what I'll use them for but they are fun to use. TextileChallenge are running a 'House' swap this year and my theme for Jan/Feb was "House of Ill Repute"(not to saucy please). It caused me a lot of sleepless nights as the only thing I could think of was "House of the Rising Sun" but that's one of the themes for later in the year. Drat, I kept putting it off then thought if I don't tackle this now I'll not do it. So today I made myself sit down and consider what I was going to do. My Muse took over and this is what it conspired with me to make. My lighthearted rendition of 'the red light district'. The lace curtains at the windows I made into the background. I drew the figures then using conte pencils coloured them in.

The group is also running a monthly 'House' challenge based on the themes set by the participants of the year long challenge. January's theme was "Hen House" so here is my version.
Now for some of the goodies the postman has brought me this week. Jennifer's response to Brigittes "What if - I was an artist" is this design based on a painting by Aubrey Breasley. I love Aubrey Breasley's work and this card could end up on the front of a notebook.

Jan Lewis's December arch also arrived this week. Jan's arch is very textural having used plastic paper and paint. Jan also very generously sent me an atc and several pieces of fabric together with a beautiful hand dyed thread.

Wednesday saw the first Craft class for the U3A and I'm pleased to say it went down extremely well. There were 11 turned up plus 5 assorted men who went off to play with a plastic assembly kit in the form of shelving. They also tested the loud speaker system and turned off our heating in the process - we soon gave them short shrift as it was a very cold day!! They won't do that again in a hurry. Everyone got on famously and there was a lot of hilarity and interest in the different things people were doing. There were knitters, quilters, quillers, embroiderers and even one glueing wallpaper to a shoe box to make a file holder. I enjoyed taking the class and even managed to put two stitches into the piece I took along but I was pleased when it was finished and I could go home and relax.

Mum's having problems again, this time one of her ears where the nurse this morning found a large 'lump'. Hopefully its nothing serious but with her track record you do wonder. She seems cheerful enough though so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

One other thing occurred on Wednesday, the start of my on-line art journalling class. At the moment I find it very simple and not too sure about the course but its early days yet. The on-line video class, whilst good because its useful to actually see being done the work you have to do (does that make sense?). However its quite a small screen and apparently it can't be enlarged without degrading the picture. You also do not have your own record of the class to go back to as you would with a non-video class. I'll make my mind up at the end of the class whether I'd do another video only class.