Last of the 2012 Journal Pages

 

I really wanted to get this years Contemporary Quilters Journal Page challenge finished as I've found the blue ones difficult to create.  I really enjoyed doing the red and yellow ones  and though I do likethe colour blue, the monochromatic blue journal pages were just a bit too much. 

 

I have continued with the origin of nursery rhyme theme for this last one and chosen:

 

Humpty Dumpty

 

 From around the 15th century the name Humpty Dumpty was used to describe a large person (perhaps egg shaped..)   However in the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty was an oversized cannon used by the Royalists in the seige of Colchester.   The Royalists mounted the cannon on the church tower of St Mary at the Wall.  They used it to excellent effect on the Parlimentarian troups (aka Roundheads) and appeared at one point to be winning.  However, someone, probably Lord Fairfax got fed up of being hammered by Humpty and gave the order for the Roundheads to concentrate all their fire power at thechurch tower.  Which they did and eventually managed to breakdown part of the tower wall.   With the result that Humpty Dumpty then fell off the tower (wall) and rolled down the hill.   The Royalists tried unsuccessfully, despite all the Kings horses and all the Kings men, to put Humpty back on the wall.  

 

This took place in the Summer of 1648 and eventually on the 27 August (my birthday!!) after 11 and half weeks of seige, Lord Goring surrended the city to the Parlimentary forces.

 

Fun day at the office...

Well maybe not quite at the office anymore but the +4 monthly Stitch & Bitch group got together yesterday and we did have fun.

Last month we decided it had been quite a while since we had used our embellishers that's what we'd do this month  There were five of us yesterday all armed with embellishers and fabrics to play with.  However Jenny had said she had a bag full of tweeds and yarns she wanted us to use up for her.

What she didn't way was that it was Wheelie Bin bag......

The rest of us were fairly modest in comparison.

Elspeth is somewhere behind the silks Pat brought.  She dyes all her own fabric and has some really beautiful pieces, far to grand to use on the embellisher.

Here are some of the pieces we made with Jenny's 'bag full'.

Blogger has gone mad and has placed the photos where it likes and won't allow me to resize but I think you can get the jist of what we did. 

Where has all the time gone

Well a lot has been taken up with visits to hospital.  I've ha dmy MRI scan to check out the status of my PIP implant.  It was not as uncomfortable as a mammogram but not pleasant because you are enclosed in a very noise machine.  For this particular MRI had had to lay face down, not the most comfortable position and it took 35 minutes in all.  I was told it would take 15 but then is anything ever straight forward.  I get my results this week but I'm not expecting any unpleasant surprises.  Will let you know what they are later.

In the meantime I've been catching up with my Christmas cards and knitting a sweater and cardigan with reindeer on for Flynn, will put up photos once I've taken them, I need to sew buttons on first.

But here are my cards, I've made 40 so far just got another 10 to do.

I've made lace snowflakes for some cards, used my Big Shot to cut out tree on others.  I was given a layered tree for my birthday and I love it.   I bought some 'Sparkle Medium' from Imagination Crafts at the Creative Craft show I went to with my son and dil and used it with a tree stencil (front and right).  I got better at putting the medium on, the first couple were a bit thick and smudged but the others turned out oka.   I also doodled (zentangled) some card and cut other trees out.  I think I might make the res tof the cards using the layered tree as so far that is my favourite, or I might use more lace snowflakes I have about 20 left over!!!  Think I went a bit mad there.

Sheila Smith's workshop

 

I've got tired of the nursery rhymes, I'm finding the blue challenge giving me the blues so I've taken a risk and left it till December, just hope I do get back to finishing it.  I have definitely decided not to take part in next years JP challenge, I think I'm a bit saturated and need to do something else.

 

Talking of something else, I took Sheila Smith's Stitch & Felt workshop held by our local EG a couple of Saturdays ago.  I really enjoyed the day, Sheila was very helpful and full of enthusiasm.  I took a few photos

 

Sheila is in the middle in the blue checked shirt and these are my friends from the EG who shared the day.  We were quite prolific between us and surprised at how different each piece came out.

 

 

 Mine is the purple piece in the middlie, I was a bit enthusiastic with my felting and shrunk the tops a bit more than I had intended, it should be the same size as the other pieces, but I liked it.

The purple flowers were arrived at by binding marbles into the prefelt, tying them tightly then finishing off the felting. After which the marbles were cut out leaving a flower shape. I made felt balls to go in the middle of the flowers to create centres for them.

This one is a bit bigger, the orangey green one in the middle.  I've started to do some hand stitching into the piece.  I'll take a photo when I've completed it.   The raised areas here are pieces of felt laid onto a prefelt with chiffon laid over the top, stitched round the shapes and then felted.

Here is the same piece before it dried and before I started to put stitch onto it.

Journal Page for November

I am really struggling with the blue challenge and still not sure whether I will do the challene in 2013.  I know I am supposed to do one a month but if I don't get these blue ones finished I will give up and then I'd hate myself later.  So Novembers blue JP is based, once again, on the origins of a nursery rhyme.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.

The rhyme is about Queen Mary's persecution of Protestants, she executed over 300 in her short reign.  The silver bells and cockleshells refer to instruments of torture, silver bells were thumbscrews and cockleshells - well they crushed an intimate male body part.   The Maiden was a crude guillotine later refined to cut cleanly.  Her garden grew expotentially as the graveyards expanded to take the bodies of Protestants cut down in their prime.

And now for my interpretation:

Journal Pages Sept and Oct

I've found the restricted colour challenge for blue a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.  I like to work to a theme, that way I'm likely to actually finish the series, this blue section is based on Nursery Rhymes.  I've been reading about the origins of some of our English nursery rhymes and how they are linked to important historical events.  My JP's therefore reflect the origins rather than the more popular childhood versions.  The majority of nursery rhymes, mainly passed on by word of mouth, fall into two sections 'subversive' and 'teaching'.  They may be more sections but the majority of songs fall into these two.

Nursery Rhymes such as Monday's Child is Fair of Face,  One, Two Buckle my shoe, As I was going to St Ives teach numbers, days of the week, logic puzzles etc.  Boys and Girls come out to Play refers to the time of child labour and the only time they had to play was at night.  However if they played they ran the risk of being too tired to work and therefore earn money. This is summed up in the last line of the rhyme

 "Those who would eat must work - tis true."

My September journal page is not truly a nursery rhyme but the earliest 'subversive rhyme' recorded.  It is associated with the itinerant preacher John Ball who used it to incite the 'Peasants Revolt" in 1381 against their feudal lords. 

September JP - When Adam delved and Eve Span.

My October Journal page is "Ring a Ring a Roses" and most people would know that the 'ring a roses' refers to the rosy red rash in the shape of a ring of the Bubonic plague.  Although there was a great plague in the 1300's this rhyme goes back to 1665 when the Great Plague hit London.

Ring a Ring of Roses

A Pocket full of Posies

Atishoo Atishoo

We all fall down

I've used hand dyed fabric and lace for both journal pages together with printed fabric, ribbon and hand stitching.  The background for the Ring a Roses page was spray dyed over a piece of lace curtain.



Chunky Book Page

The final page of the Chunky Book swap has arrived.   This one is from Carol Jamieson and is based on the first couple of lines of  Tennyson's "Lady of Shallot".  Carol has used hand painted fabric with hand and machine stitching.  I like it a lot.

And this is the card she sent with it, is'nt it gorgeous.

After all the rain we've had the sun came out and as Buster was in rather a grumpy mood we decided to cheer him up and take him to the seaside as a treat.   He was in a much better mood when we got home as well as being tired out.

As soon as he sees a camera he either turns his back or puts his head down, guess which one he decided to do today.

There was hardly a soul on the beach just the odd pensioner like us and their dog.



We decided to walk along the beach from Redcar to Maske then back along the sand dunes.  This is Maske.





Turned left and headed for the border

Well that was yesterday.   I'd had an invitation to see Helen Cowan's exhibition held in Galashiels and as the day looked pleasant Keith decided we should go and make it a day out.   Naturally I had not taken my camera with me but luckily his lordship had is Ipad and so we got a couple of photos at the border between England and Scotland.

This is looking back into England



And this is looking forward into Scotland

Unfortunately those are the only photos I've managed to get off Keith's Ipad because he's playing with it. Maybe later.

Helen's exhibition pieces were hung around the walls of a small tea room and, as usual, Helen produced pieces that were visually interesting and well executed.  A lot of  her pieces were of the, what I call, 'journal' type.  She had created them from vintage laces, linens, fabrics and reprinted ephemera.   Had we lived nearer I may have made more than one visit to see Helen's work but with the cost of fuel today I would need to have more than one objective to justify the cost.

And I did...... I found Borderland Fabrics.  I've seen their advert in the Northern Star, our local QG newsletter but had forgotten where it was until we passed it on the way to Galashiels, yeh.....   It is a lovely little shop and I browsed to my hearts content while Keith sat in the Husbands Waiting Room (cafe) and chatted to another husband in waiting.  I did managed to restrain myself and only bought a couple of patterns and a book.

Well the 'C' word isn't far off.



I've been wanting to make one of these bags for ages but couldn't find the pattern.  There is a zipped central panel which makes it easy and safe to travel with.




I know Flynn is only 3 monthys old but by the time I've finished this for him he'll be at school.



Doesn't time fly

When you are enjoying yourself, well I think I have been.  I've done very little since the wedding and as the official photos won't be  picked up until next week when they come back from honeymoon its going to be a little while before I can show you any more.

I've done two workshops in the last 8 days, not finished anything I started on either of them.  The first was one of our Plus4 day workshops on transfer paint and seeing what happens when you apply it to various surfaces.  Got a lot of blue lace, I seem to have used more blue paint than anything else.  Think I must have the next four 'blue' CQ journal page challenge on my mind.  I must admit my mind is blank at the moment but hopefully one or some of the transfer painted pieces will inspire me.

The second workshop was with Jenny Burns doing something much more traditional - Hardanger.  I enjoy doing the more traditional stuff now and again.  However, counting threads all day has really made my eyes tired.   It will take me a night or two to finish it and then I'll post a photo.

I have however finished my last chunky book page for the Surface Design group.  This one was "The Beauty of Nature".  I thought about this a lot while doing the daily chores.  I like the idea of a rainbow and started pulling bits and pieces out to create one.  Then I picked up a packet of seeds and thought seed pods are beautiful so here it is.

It started out with a photo of  a poppy seed head, this is all that is left of my garden poppies.   I created several layers in PSP, blended several layers using different blend modes.  I flattened the image and applied a couple of special effects.   Before I flattened the image I added a rainbow gradient to the background layer.  

I printed out the original piece but thought it too dark so I took off some saturation and printed it out for the background of the page.   I've used lager cans for the seed pods and added other types of seed pods with stitches and flower stitched rings.  The lace is metallic paper.

Wedding Day

Didn't have time or opportunity to take many photos but here are a couple.  Once we get the 'official' photos I might post more.   The wedding day was beautiful with smiles from everyone all day long.  Julie and Sy looked so happy, I think once it was over they looked even happier!!

 From the left, Marc, bestman and brother, Sy, Julie and Matthew grandson

 I really don't like my outfit, I thought it looked okay in the shop but that hat looks like something red had landed and died.   The other three look okay though, Keith at the end.

Sy and Flynn, Flynn had a morning suit on as well but you can't see it for the huge bib.  You can see the family resemblance, Sy proud of his 3 month old grandson.

Two more days

It's getting closer and the nerves are just beginning to show but the excitement is also there.   Julie's Dad made her a box for guests to put their wedding cards in.  I've just finished making the bunting to go on the front of it.

I digitised them and cut them out using a Sizzix die.  I wish I had discovered that Sizzix Big Shot machines can be used to cut fabric, they are now bringing out a line of quilting dies.   It's a lot cheaper than my Accuquilt Go and the dies are cheaper too.  Having said that I do love my Accuquilt.  Not sure I'd buy one just to cut pieces made by straight cuts, ie strips, diamonds, triangles etc, I can do that well enough with a ruler and a rotary cutter.  They are however invaluable for cutting fiddly shapes.

I at last bought shoes for the wedding, I know its last minute but that just me I hate shopping for shoes.  One thing that will not get finished unless a miracle happens is the necklace I was making to go with my dress.

I got the medallion thingy finished and started on the chain but it glitters so much I can only do a small amount at a time before it makes my eyes ache.   Guess it will get finished by Christmas.

Went to get my scan results yesterday, I'm one of those people who has a PIP implant.  I had breast reconstruction following a mastectomy for cancer and have had no bother until 3 years ago when it ruptured.  Just after they replaced the implant I found out it was one of the French PIP ones and couldn't make up my mind whether or not to have it replaced.   After discussion with my GP, consultant and a radiologist it appears that my biopsy results show that the strange lumps appearing in my breast are silicon.  I now have to go for an MRI scan to see whether its from the PIP or something left over from the original one that ruptured.  Life is never straight forwad sometimes is it.

Mystery over

Our mystery trip was not really exciting as we went to many of the places that we go on day trips.  We did however stop in a very nice hotel where the room service and food were excellent. The other people on the mystery trip were also very friendly so we actually rather enjoyed ourselves.  We went to Skipton, Matlock Bath, Bakewell where we enjoyed one of the famous bakewell puddings and ended up in the Lake District in the rain. 

Canal view of Skipton, in the rain of course.

The sun came out when we arrived in Bakewell for our bakewell pud.

Chatwell from the road.  The sun was still out and the place was teaming with people.  I've been round Chatwell before (in the rain) and its well worth a visit the grounds and gardens are lovely.

Nobody wanted a ride in the boats, except perhaps the gulls, wonder why?

We went to the National Quilt Show in Harrogate today.  There were some wonderful quilts, far too many to photgraph even if I could get close to them.   These two are by Heather Beattie, similar in style but the photos don't do justice to the quilting.

Gail Lawler was teaching and talking at the show this is one of her pieces from her Glimpses of England series which is in her new book.

Close up of part of the hanging.

I Bought Gail's books Glimpses of England and Glimpses of New Zealand, which were on special offer if you bought both.   I also bought these two books.

Alison Holt's Machine Embrodered Seascapes and June Barnes Exploring dimension in quilt art.  I've only had time to skim through each book but I know I'm really going to enjoy reading them and will get lots of hints on how to do things.

Big wedding next week, we've got a full rehersal tomorrow and the men are picking up their top hat and tails tomorrow and checking if there is any last minute alterations to be done.  I'm going to entertain my dil and my dil to be while the suits are being sorted.

Where as the time gone...

My excuse is that we've been decorating and I had to put my sewing away for a while.  It's Sy and Julies wedding in two weeks time and we needed to spruce up the house a bit.  It's tidy for once, and clean just hope it lasts until after the wedding.   We're off for a short break tomorrow.  We're going on a mystery tour for our birthday.  Keith and I share a birthday and we had absolutely no idea what to buy each other so thought we'd go away for a couple of days instead.  We couldn't agree where to go hence the 'mystery tour'.

In the meantime I've received two lovely chunky book pages, both from Sonya Anderson.

The first is 'trees' - when I first picked this up off the mat I thought of Jack and the Beanstalk, which is how I've photographed it.  But Sonya tells me its a branch.  Either way I think it works, what do you think.

Her next page is 'water' and she's depicted a scene from her coastline.

Sonya tells me its of coastal Maine, of salty marsh grasses that grow in and near the sand dunes.

I love it as its not unlike parts of our NE coastline.

Off to pack for the bank holiday weekend mystery tour, will tell you where we ended up when we get back.

July and August Journal Pages

I've finally finished my August JP for the 2012 Contemporary Quilt Challenge and because its one of a pair haven't shown you the July one before now.  But here they are.  I used recycled jelly roll pieces for the background, part of a quilt I'd started and didn't like.  The flowers are from recycled lager cans.  The colours in the photo are slightly lighter than in the flesh.

July has added background stitching and some tiny butterflies made from shrink plastic.  I've used more of the transfer dyed sateen pieces to make the prairie points.   I had to join two pieces of metal to make the long stork as they just don't make lager cans long enough!!

I've used a Sizzix die on this one to add the weed at the bottom.  The center of the flower was rolled through a crimpler in both directions as I wanted it to have a seedhead feel to it.   My leaves aren't quite sunflower shaped but then neither is the one in our garden which is what I used for a model.  Our sunflower is also only 18" high, not sure what we did but the poor thing just isn't growing.  I blame the weather.

Both JP's are hand quilted in running stitch.

And now for my August Chunky Book Page a Surface Design group challenge.  This month it was "water" I thought I'd use one of the photos I'd taken of wash from our ferry crossing the Bospherus as I loved the colours. 

However it proved illusive and in the end my piece didn't look anything like I'd planned.   In fact it looked more like Monet's 'Water Lily' painting so this is what it ended up being.



I printed the photo onto fabric and layered it with sheer fabrics and iris film.  By this time of course I couldn't actually see the photo so I stitched 'water flow' marks and finally burned back the sheers.   As I said it looked more like Monet that ferry wake so I added a few lily pads, flower and beads.  All in all though I think I prefer this version.

We're just about to start redecorating the living room and staircase so guess it could be a few days before I post again.  I hate decorating and can only do a bit before I feel the need to put my feet up.  Keith has started clearing out books and magazines so I guess I had better do my bit too.