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.

Back at last

I've already broken one of my resolutions, to blog more. If anything I've blogged less so far this year. This in part has been due to Mum's declining mobility and the need for extra help and partly due to the dratted virus that has laid the whole family low, one after another. But we're all back to normal now 'touch wood'. The light tent we made wasn't big enough to photograph the wallhanging I made from 100 stitch blocks I'd been embroidering last year. A bit of a broom handle, a large piece of (unironed) calico and the new tv as a stand and I managed to get a reasonable (not good) photo of it. I promised I'd show the finished hanging once I'd got the blocks sewn together. There were 11 blocks in all and I chose nine to make the hanging. It was a lot harder to sew together than I had expected. This was due to the fact that some of the blocks were no longer truly square. Putting them in a ring hadn't helped, nor had the fact that I hadn't stablised the blocks before I embroidered them. Still its done now and is reasonably square. I started hand quilting it but soon got fed up of that and took it out and machined a sort of circle/swirl pattern along the sashing. I'm not the world's best quilter.

This is a close up of the blocks I perhaps could have done a better job of taking the photo, roll on the lighter days.

Now that the 100 Stitches challenge is finished I wanted something else to do after the 9.0pm curfew and have joined Bea Galler's "Once upon a Time" block of the month challenge on her Capricorn Quilts blog. Another BOM I'm considering doing is the Verandah View one from Willowberry Designs.

After I'd finished the Contemporary Quilter's 2008 Journal Page challenge I was in two minds about starting the 2009 one. Mainly because Mum is taking up a lot more of my time now and we have to face the fact that at nearly 93 she's no spring chicken. After a quick talk to Hilary Gooding though we agreed that I should do what I can and she promises not to hassle if I can't get them all in on time.

Having said all that I have been invited to join Shelagh Folgate's creativechallenge and Wil Opio Oguta's Quilt Challenge. I've joined both and these are probably got enough to keep me out of trouble for the rest of the year. If not my 'craft class' for the U3A which starts tomorrow should help, I'll let you all know how it goes.

Line Dancing has started again following the sad death of Audrey. She's been sadly missed and in respect of her memory we deliberately didn't restart the group until the new year. Yvonne the tutor has a very different teaching method but the groups still fun and is a worthy successor. I'm looking forward to going again tomorrow.

Klimt's Poppy Field is from Christine who isn't too well at the moment and will be undergoing surgery shortly. This month's theme for the private swap is "What if - I were an artist". The theme is Brigitte's choice and she made me a lovely card of Van Gogh's sunflowers. Klimt is Christine's creation she said she's been keeping this piece of fabric for ages for just such and occasion. Mine was Matisse's "Pink Nude" but I forgot to scan it before I sent them out.

Better go and prepare for tomorrow, I think one gentleman is bringing his chair to cane. Keith is going to James Cook to see the surgeon for a follow up on his spinal op and he hopes to be discharged. I've got him making bag clips and fridge magnets from plastic canvas. He's got strict instructions to get to the craft class asap and bring them with him, we'll see what happens.

Red faces and blue quilts

Was my face was red yesterday, I was asked to stand up and say something about the new U3A craft class I'll be taking this year. The chairwoman asked me to include the men as well as the women. I rambled on for a few minutes then realised most of the crafts would be of interest to women rather than men. Suddenly I recalled a gentleman telling me he recaned chairs as a hobby and would be happy to demonstrate. Without thought I opened mouth and said I hoped both men and women would come along and I understand we have at least one gentleman who was interested in caning!! The hall errupted and later the man in question asked if he should bring his handcuffs along. Trust me to lower the tone!!

At last I've managed to get down to some sewing and the first of this year's challenges has now been completed. BQL are running a 'Perpetual Calendar Quilt' challenge whereby each month a small quilt is made and you hang the appropriate months calendar on the bottom.

This months was wonky circles, the piece is approximately 12" square. I don't really want a calendar that big so I'm going to print out a photo and put that on the calendar instead.

BQL - January perpetual calendar mini quilt.

Like many others I swapped a fabric postcard with Susan Lenz for her CyberFyber online exhibition. This exhibition is now open and can be found here. I couldn't find my card at first and must have run through the list at least twiceand was really disappointed. However it was there - its No. 2 - have a look see what you think. I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who have commented on it, they make up for the disappointment of thinking it hadn't made the list.

I've also received my first postcard swap on the year from Brigitte. It was Brigitte's turn to pick themes for the next 4 months. For January she chose "What if you were an artist" and her theme is Van Gogh's sunflowers and feature hand dyed silks. It's a beautiful card but then I expect nothing less from Brigitte these days she's a very skilled lady.

There's been quite a bit about light tents recently and as the lighting at the moment is horrendous Keith and I thought we'd have a go a making one. We found a light tent tutorial on this site using an old cardboard box. We used a fax box but it was a bit big and we used lining paper to line the box which was not a pure white. It worked okay as you can see by the photos of some of my Christmas presents below but if we made it again I think we'd use a smaller box and use either foam board or paint the inside with white emulsion.
A gripper handle for my quilting rulers, I've put it on the ruler I use the most which is my Creative Grids 24"x6.52 ruler.

I've been considering a Zutter "Bind it All" for a while and when I mentioned it to my family they decided they'd buy me it for Christmas. They also bought me the corner punch and a full set tools and binding rings - who was a lucky girl then.

Tool set

The Zutter itself - you can see the lining paper inside the box I spoke about before.

I've been reading quite a bit about on-line classes recently, what people like and don't like and there seems to be some controversy over video classes. Personally I like them and the pens, book etc in the above photo are for a video class I'm taking later this month with cre8it called "Love this Journal". I really want to do more journaling but I tend to make a start then stop as I run out of ideas. I'm hoping this course will get me into good habits and clear the creative block.

Keith's suffering from 'man-flu' and poor love is rather stuffed up lets hope he's okay tomorrow.

Sand, Sea and Diggers

Happy New Year to everyone its a while since I last blogged but I hope to blog more often in 2009.

We set off from Newcastle Airport to a beautiful sunrise on the 29th December and

arrived in Spain to rain. They had had the worst weather for over 50 years. On Boxing Day they had a horrendous storm that caused a massive landslide at Monserrat. Over 1000 people had to be removed from the mountain top monastery by cable car as the slide had taken away part of the main road up to it. Several tour buses were still on Monserrat when we left over a week later. The storm also lashed the Costa Bravo so much so that the sand had been pushed into the towns along the coastal strip. In some towns boats were pushed up and floated in the High Street.

A massive clean up was underway removing wreckage from the beach and pushing the sand from the towns back to the beach and spreading it to the tideline. The place was full of 'big boy toys' Keith loved watching them but you couldn't walk on the beach the 'digger' tracks were too deep.

Some of the damage caused, this was at Tossa del Mar, there were actually two large boats smashed up on this beach but you can only really see one in the photo.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though, you'll be pleased to hear they are still working on the Familia Sagrada. High rise cranes were very much in evidence and the work is beautiful. This is just a small section of the many sculptures around the outside of the church.

I love Barcelona it seems that every corner has some hidden piece of art or decorative art covering a building. This 'Guidi' type piece was lurking underneath a window in one of the many squares.

A door panel on a gateway in the old quarter of Barcelona.

I was fascinated with the way they use stones and the tops and bottoms of wine bottles to create patterns in the pavement.

And naturally you can't go to Barcelona without going down La Rambla to see the pavement artists.

We spent a couple of hourse in Girona where the roof tops reminded me of Italy but its not surprising considering the history of Spain.

Finally (and I apologise for the photo I look bald the paper hat had flattened it!!) Keith and I enjoying our New Years Eve dinner.

I don't really believe in making resolutions because I never keep them but I have signed on for a couple (or three) of year long challenges. It's going to be my resolutions - to finish them.

I've signed up for the BQL monthly 'Calendar Quilt' challenge, the 'House Swap' on Textilechallenge group and Sharron Boggon's 'Stitch Explorer' challenge on Stitchinfingers.

I may join this years Contemporary Quilting 2009 challenge when I find out what it is.

I also want to do experiment a bit more, explore journalart, screen printing and continue swapping fabric postcards. In addition I've made a commitment to teach a craft class for the U3A. I think these should keep me out of trouble for a bit.

Davey if you read this Keith want's to know if you've managed to work out how he made your Christmas Card.

Rats and Sheep

This is going tobe a short blog as I'm stealing time from cleaning the house before the Christmas onslaughter of family and friends, which I am actually looking forward to. No photos I'm afraid I'll post them next time.

Rats - this is Mum's problem, her flat backs onto a beck and there are rats living along the bankside. Unfortunately for Mum they have found their way into her flat and attached her christmas presents. She got up yesterday to find wrapping paper torn up and scattered around her living room. It appears that rats like chocolate!! they ate the whole box. I managed to get the pest controller out and he dealt with the pests. It appeared they were coming in through the holes in her wall where a gas boiler had been installed. The holes are now no more and hopefully Mum won't be troubled with them any more.

As for sheep - have you every been trapped in a car with two men discussing why sheep appear to stand straight even on a hillside. The theories ranged from strategic holes in the ground to hydraulic legs to spring loaded wellies. Are all men like this when they get together or is it just my luck to have creative conversationalists?

Keith and I are off to Spain on Sunday for the New Year so this might be my last blog of 2008. In case it is I wish everyone a really great festive season and a very creative 2009/.

Last of the Challenges

This is the final block of the 100 Stitches challenge on Stitchinfingers group. Actually its a couple of days short of the 100 but some of the seam treatments had more than one border on the ten blocks there are well over 100 stitches and I don't particularly like the last couple of days treatment. Next step, but not until after the new year, is to make them into a wallhanging. I'll post a photo when its completed.

Its been a busy but quiet week, not a lot of sewing, lots of nursing as number two son and dh have both come down with the dreaded lurgy. My neck is stiff and my throat sore so I guess I'm going to be next.

So far I've made ten fsl ornaments I've had the designs quite some time and believe they are from Embroidery Library - 3D ornaments. Most have gone to their new home but four are left, these will leave me tomorrow when we do a 'card delivery run'. In case you can't tell they are two baubles, one bell and a small snowman. The ones that got away before I took a piccy are stars and angels. One of the angles was for Keith who wanted a blue one to match his car, its dangling from his driving mirror. Not entirely sure that's not a health and safety issue but he won't have it moved.

I've not entered into many swaps for this month as I wanted some time to do some sewing for myself and I've started making a new cushion cover using Laurel Burch holiday designs. I made one some time ago for an exhibition held by our local quilters guild at Belsay Hall. That one also had Laurel Burch designs "fantastic felines". I need to replace it as its looking a bit worse for wear now.

Not yet finished my Christmas shopping but hope to get it done this weekend. One thing I have done is enrol on a 5 day workshop with Pat Archibald called "Creative Journey". Its a course looking at colour, mood, atmosphere and symbolism relating to landscape. Its not until May but I'm looking forward to it already. The course is run from the Studio of Quiltworks where incidentally you can also buy Elmer's glue.

I'm off to bed now with a hot drink and some paracetamol can't possibly be ill for Christmas.

More whitework

I will be rejoicing when the postman finally delivers my glasses which I left behind in the hotel when we went to Lincoln last weekend. Boy do I miss them. At the moment I'm 'making do' with my driving glasses and my close work glasses but my eyes are aching so not a lot of sewing has been going on. At last I managed to get some photos of my December journal page for the Contemporary Quilt group challenge. December's theme is based on the Andy Williams song "White Christmas" in particularly the line "tree tops glisten and children listen". I made the base the same way as I made the cards shown in the last post this time the thread I used to quilt was a multicoloured metallic one. Top picture is a detail of the JP.

This is the whole journal page, velvet pontsettia ribbon, fsl lace trees, beads, snowflake brads and glitter on the tree tops. This is the last one I've now completed the 2008 challenge and each one is based on a colour in a song.

We decided to update our old tv and bought a flat screen HD one that fits on the wall. You would not believe the amount of upheaval it caused or the number of spiders I had to evict. All the furniture had to be moved (hence the finding of the cobwebs, spiders, bits of last years xmas decorations - you get the picture) so that we could all see the tv from its new position on the wall. I'm worn out!!! and the whole thing is a bit overwhelming at the moment it looks so big but I'm sure I'll get used to it. We did have to throw some stuff out and the room does look larger so perhaps I'll go and watch it for a bit.

Catching my breatheat last

At last I'm beginning to catch my breath again. We seem to have been in a whirlwind of official documentation following Keith's redundancy and his decision to take early retirement. The trip to Lincoln gave us some breathing time and we came back ready to start again. Lincoln was beautiful the sun seemed to highlight the cathedral and we got marvellous views from whichever way we to walk. The downside was it was bitterly cold, cold enough to nip the tops off my ears. To crown everything I left my glasses in the hotel and didn't realise until we were almost in Lincoln. Luckily the hotel found them and said they'd send them on, so far though there's no sign of them. I must ring the hotel tomorrow to find out whether they have actually sent them. In the meantime my middle and long vision is being dealt with by my driving glasses and reading by my close work glasses. I've gone mad with white, I made a very large background piece and was determined to use it all. So far I've made several fabric postcards from the fabric - the pontsettia bordern ones are for the private swap group.

I also made an arch, my December arch for Gabriela. This is the last one in the year long challenge on the TextileChallenge site I've really enjoyed this challenge and shall miss making arches but I'm sure I'll enjoy next years just as much.

The background is a layered one consisting of wadding, layers of threads, silver gilt flakes topped with crystal organza. The whole thing was then randomly fme'd. I made some free standing lace bells from an Embroidery Library design and stitched these individually onto a ribbon. Finally I added brads, buttons and glitter.

These three designs were made in the same manner as those above but I've added sequins and beads to the background. The cards are for family and friends - I've still got quite a lot to finish but hope to get them in the post before the weekend.

I've finished my December Journal Page for the Contemporary Quilt subgroup of the Quilters Guild - guess what colour it is? Correct 'White' but I haven't photographed it yet as the light has been so bad. Unlike the arch and the cards I cannot put the JP on the scanner as its too big. I hope to get one soon and when I do I'll post a photo.

My Secret Santa present is almost ready, this again is for the TextileChallenge group but I can't say too much about this at the moment.

I've almost finished the 100 Stitches challenge, we're up to Day 97 on the challenge and I'm only two days behind. I'm not doing quite so well with the TAST challenge but I will get there.

I haven't seen my Mum for a week and I feel I've neglected her a bit. This is mainly due to Keith's news knocking the stuffing out of us and our weekend away. She's okay about it but still at her age and at this time of the year she feels a bit down without company. Jan my mil is fine since her op last month she's been painfree and is quite happy walking up and down the halls of her home smiling and singing. She even seems to remember we're family now and then.

It's getting late now and my eyes are getting tired using these glasses so I'll shut up for a while.

Mixed blessings

No photos again I'm afraid the light isn't good enough to take any tonight. I've managed to get my December Journal Page finished and a set of four postcards for private swap. These have taken my mind off the news that Keith has been made redundant.

He it was a bit of a shock even though he half expected it. His firm is not doing too well at present with a large downturn in orders due to the credit crunch. They have been making people redundant for a while now, mainly last in first out. Keith has mixed feelings about it, he isn't too unhappy as he's been considering taking early retirement but he'll miss his colleagues. It is a bit of a mixed blessing - now he'll have more time to finish the cupboard he's been making me for eons.

Anyway we're off to Lincoln tomorrow for the weekend, we're going to the Christmas Market there so I'll post photos when I get back.

100 Stitches again

I got really bored trying to scan in each day's seam treatment and gave up I think somewhere around the half way mark. The following two blocks contain the seam treatments from Day 72 up to Day 89 plus a few extra. I've started block 10 and have gone far as Day 92 and will put in another couple of stitches once I've finished this blog as its almost curfew time. Block 8 completed, last time I showed this block it still has a few rounds to go.

Block 9 I think I'll have around 12 blocks done when the challenge is completed, which should be before Christmas. When I've finished the challenge I'm going to back each piece with iron-on vilene stabiliser and make a wallhanging with some of the blocks.

I made this Christmas coasters because I wanted something fun and quick to make. As these are commercial designs I could just pop the appropriate fabric under the needle and enjoy seeing them come to life. Keith's already bagged the Santa so mine is the snowman.

Keith can now drive and that's official yehhhhh!!! He still can't bend and twist much and he still has sciatic type pain, which he's been told may take some time to ease. However he feels as though he's on the mend because he can start doing normal jobs again. I admit to feeling a little ambiguous about his return to driving, although I've always preferred to be driven I have to admit to actually beginning to enjoy it again.

November Journal Page

I might have got the hang of putting in the photos so they show in the correct order. Yahoo puts them in backwards so you have to pick them backwards, well that's the theory.

I was late with my October contemporary quilt journal page challenge because I redid my September one. But a bit of cold weather brought on my asthma and kept me indoors so I actually got Novembers JP done in the nick of time. For this month I've chosen song is "Tie a Yellow Ribbon round the old Oak Tree". I don't actualy know who originally sang this song but its been around long enough for people to recognise it. I thought a lot about how I was going to represent the oak tree, I could have fme'd it but I've been wanting to try out transferring an image using inkjet transparencies. Maybe I should have done the quilting after I'd transferred the image because it missed in the dips (which I should have thought of) making the whole thing look a bit hazy. It also made the fabric feel hard and difficult to hand sew through. But hey that's what the challenge is for, to try out new ideas so I've left it as it is.

Actually on second thoughts I like the hazy tree image it gives the feeling of that early morning mistiness you get at this time of the year. I digitised oak leaves and using several layers of sheer fabrics in different colours sewed them out and burned round them to be sewn on by hand. I decided to trap some in the binding and layer them on the bottom to accentuate the autumnal theme. Finally added a ribbon round the old oak tree.

It didn't take too long to make this JP as I'd had the idea in my mind for some time but originally it was going to be a village green background. We've been out and about quite a lot recently and it struck me that the plainer the background the more you see the trees. So the background was drawn from the pattern of fields seen this time of the year. All in all it took me a couple of days to make and I enjoyed doing it. Now on to December's JP the last one in this challenge.

The postman has been good to me again, two 'Medieval" postcards arrived yesterday one from Brigitte who also has used the inkjet transparency method to transfer an image onto fabric. Brigitte's image has turned out much clearer than mine. Jennifer has created a card using machine embroidery then covered it in a medium resembling glitter glue. This has given it the look and feel of the stone carvings we find on posts on the moors around here.

I don't think I showed my November arch for Gabriela, its part of a year long arch exchange on TextileChallenge group. The background is a techniqued used by Maggie Grey in her latest book Textile Translations Mixed Media. I painted pelmet vilene with gesso, made marks in it, sprinkled salt in some areas then sprayed it with Adirondack colour wash paints. Once it was dry I machined stitched it with metallic thread and gilded some areas with gold and silver leaf. Finally I stamped flowers on it and painted them with gold glaze from CraftyNotions and added a glass bead to the centre of each flower.

This is my November arch from Anni in Denmark she's made a wet felted background and then felted pieces of lace into it. Anni's added buttons and embroidered flowers to the background. The whole piece is soft - soft touch, soft colours I keep wanting to stroke it. Its a beautiful piece Anni, thank you so much.

One other challenge that I've been keeping up with but haven't posted about for a while is the Stitchinfingers 100 stitches in 200 days challenge. I think I'd finished day71 the last time I posted and I'm now up to day 90. I'll post photos tomorrow of the completed blocks containing these seam treatments. I find it boring scanning in each day's seam treatment. I personally would prefer to see the finished article rather than the individual stitch. So tomorrow more on that challenge.

Quilts, Journals and Workshop fun

This has been a really busy week trying to catch up with outstanding challenges, shopping for christmas, various appointments and going to the Knitting & Stitching show in Harrogate and on top of that my asthma decided to kick in and has left me feeling tired. I've done absolutely nothing today except take the car for its MOT, luckily it passed with flying colours. The postman delivered Cindy's 'medieval' card today. She has tried printing on fabric for the first time, I think its come out really well.

Talking of printing on fabric Serendipity met yesterday (we've called ourselves 'the dippies') to have a playday printing on fabric. Number 2 son Simon (known as Sy) came along to set up the equipment we'd taken along (3 laptops, 2 printers, a large monitor and a router). We scanned and edited photos then printed them onto various fabrics all day long. It was another really enjoyable, successful day, working together with lots of laughs and we managed to get enough samples to take home to turn into pieces of artwork later.

My friend Judy and I took Sarah Lawrence's 'art doll' workshop at Harrogate, which was another fun day. This is my doll which I've named 'Ariel'. I had intended to put a bit more decoration on her but somehow she resisted all attempts. Sarah had mounted her art dolls onto small boxlike frames (artist stretcher type rather than hollow boxes) and they looked really go so I think Ariel might find herself on one. It was a really enjoyable workshop, Sarah is a great teacher and I ended up buying her latest books one on art dolls and the other on silk paper.

I didn't buy as many books as I expected to, apart from the two mentioned above I bought Angie Hughes new mixed media book. Most of my cash went on silk screen dyes and Jane Dunnewold's "Complex Cloth" workshop dvds. I seem to be buying more dvd's than books these days. I was really pleased with my purchases and intend to have fun with them once I find some free time.

I received my art quilt (Kate North's ALQS swap) from Wil Opio Oguta who lives in the Netherlands. I'm over the moon with this quilt its so well quilted and the daisies are devine.

I can now reveal that my swap partner was Lynda Monk of PurpleMissus fame. I was a bit in awe of her and worried about my quilt not being good enough as she's such a talented lady. But she very kindly said she loved it, that it was just up her street phew!!!

My quilt was based on the 'chaos theory' where something small is dropped (such as a stone or leaf) and its ripples run round the world. The background is black cotton and yellow cotton cut in circles. Rectangular shapes of painted bondaweb were bonded to this background and finally overlaid with organza and quilted in a random square pattern. When that was done I burned back the organza with a heat gun with the black areas being given most attention. This gave the piece a distressed appearance. Finally a blue agate and blue rhinestones were applied to represent a dropped stone and ripples of water radiating from the centre outwards.

The top picture is a close-up and the bottom one is the whole quilt. I haven't got the angle right as I laid it over the back of the settee and its curved at the top. Unfortunately I was running a little late with it and wanted to get it in the post so didn't have time to photograph it again.

TIF November Challenge

This month's TIF is based on text, Sharon's challenge was to do something with text. I wanted to digitise some text to go on my Black Magic Woman journal page (see previous blog). I can't for the life of me remember the font I used now but I tried several, some worked others didn't. This was my final effort.

I typed in the letters for WOMAN separatedly then twisted, duplicated, flipped, flopped, transformed sizes and generally moved the letters around until my 'Woman' came to life. After all that I decided not to use her on the journal page but she was perfect for Sharon's TIF challenge. I backed and bound her and now I think she'll keep my cup warm as a coaster.

October Journal Page

Hmm looks like the photos have come in backwards so I'll have to start at the end and work forward.

November's theme for the private swap was 'medieval' and my postcards are based on illuminated letters . However they are taking much longer that I anticipated and so far I've only finished the letters 'B' and 'C'. I have another C and a J to do, not to mention an A for me.

Yes it is a 'C'even though it looks a bit like a lowercase 'a'.

I've been really busy this week catching up with sewing that over the past couple of weeks has taken a back seat. This is a taster of my art quilt for Kate North's 'ALQS - another little quilt swap', It's called "Chaos Theory" I really hope its recipient will understand what I've tried to protray, fingers crossed. I'll show the full quilt once its new owner has adopted it.

Black Magic Woman is October's Journal Page for the CQ 2008 challenge. I had to remake September's Lily the Pink so its pushed the deadline back a bit. I now have two months to do in December, no pressure there then. I've had the JP hanging around a bit trying to get inspiration for the blank bit in the left-hand corner. I tend to have my "moments of inspiration" about 3am or on the bus on the way home from town but so far my moments have all been blank.

My work in progress for this month is getting smaller I now only have the TIF and TextileChallenge Group November Arch left to do. The TIF challenge this month is to do something with text and after giving it some thought I decided to digitise some text. I've got it sewn out but need to finish it off so will put in a piccy next time.

In addition to the above pieces I've done more work on the 100 stitches challenge but again haven't scanned in the last batch. Hopefully I'll get them done this week and will add photos to the blog.