I'm a bad bad blogger

It's almost a week into the new year and I haven't posted a thing.  Just don't know where the time goes these days.   I've actually found it very difficult to get down to doing any work at all after all the festivites.  Hope you all had a good New Year and this year will be one of creativity, productivity and enjoyment.

I've got to admit that I'm behind on my journal page challenge for the Contemporary Quilters.  However I've now finished Novembers and am making a start on December's tomorrow.  That just leaves January's to complete.   Next years challenge reverts to A4 but has a colour theme.  The first four months are red, the next four yellow and the final four blue.   I'll find this a real challenge but am looking forward to it.

Here's November's

I love Angie Lewin's work and bought her "Plants and Places" book last year.  I have not done justice to her drawings.  I didn't want to copy her work but to be inspired by it.  My plants look nothing like hers but Angie's work is the source.   The background fabric is a piece I made in Summer School last year then brought home and dumped it.  I came across it by accident and decided to try discharging colour using a nappy liner stencil, again made at Summer School.  I used Finish dishwasher gel as the discharge medium and it worked very well indeed.  I shall certainly use it again.

I've used a photo of a thistle I took last Autumn, the background is a close up of the thistle 'petals' can you call them petals? I'm not sure what they are called but they give a lovely texture.  I want to print this onto fabric and fmq it.  However I've forgotten how I split the photo into four parts, poster printing I think but when I tried to do it tonight this is what I ended up with.

Not a lot of good, one is chopped off and the others are too small.  I changed the print size but they remained the same size.  So its back to the drawing board, I won't let it beat me.

Keith also has been having a play, he made me a 'boat' to hold bobbins or thread to take to workshops with me.

Cute isn't it.

Tomorrow I'm not sure whether we'll have a cooked meal.  My cooker is beginning to heat the kitchen rather than the oven so tomorrow I'm having a smart new bright red one installed.  However, they won't give me an exact time for the fitting just sometime between 8am and 4pm.   Guess we'll have to eat sandwiches.