Snow Dyeing but dubious results!

We had snow, so I thought Id use up my very old fabric dyes to see if what snow dyeing was all about... but mine are not like the stunning ones Id stumbled online in others blogs!

I can tell you that very old marbling paint does not a thing to snow covered fabric ... but it does however, totally clart the patio when youve upended the container at the end of afew hours.....lol

Now, the diluted sparkly gold fabric paint........Tulip I think it was, left a cream glistening hue on a piece of cotton sheeting but it hasnt photographed at all well, so isnt here!

The dragon fly like blueish splodge was diluted Deka silk paints that must be 20 years old and I daftly folded the cotton, didnt scrunch it up, and only this creased area seems to have taken.

Its abit other wordly! It reminds me of the film with Kevin Costner, where his wife dies and she loved dragon flies? It may even have been called Dragon Fly..........will have think what to do with that one......its still speaking to me!

All be they not the stunning space dyed effects that others have achieved, I liked the white velvet pieces, the red one and the one below it, shades of pink and blue then the blue/green one, which I have added some splodgy bits on to with bubble wrap, at the bottom.

The top right piece is a bamboo cotton duster which I bought a pack of, for not alot, somewhere.....and if I could remember where, Id go get some more......to NOT dust with!

They are beautifully soft, maybe 18" square and great to stitch on!

I simply laid several of them flat, on top of the blue/green bottom one to soak up both water and fabric paint. As they soaked up the colour, each sheet of bamboo cloth, had a slightly different paint uptake, and will make a good base to further play with.

So now I can start to look for new fabric dyes, since all I have left are several bottles of Tulip that at 50p each in a sale I couldnt not buy.... and some dimensional tubs I bought off Ebay..........

Ink blots! Thats what the dragon fly looks like doesn it lol would be interesting to know what others see in it too!

:)

A picture of my Grandson at his Mums house taken after Christmas where I was sitting with him, whilst she caught up on some sleep upstairs.
I was glad of the warmth besides the opportunity to be with Jack. 10 days of no central heating over Christmas and New year has even now left its mark on me lol always feeling cold and now catargh and an ulcerated mouth. Id never have managed in Cranford, even with my home made felted jumpers, fingerless gloves lol

So if you have flour, eggs and butter..........make a cake, right?
So since there was snow, in abundance, I did some snow dyeing of fabric but good job we dont get it that often in England, because I have no natural talent for it!
I will put in some pics next time, but apart from a resounding success with white velvet......(which was a sheer fluke)...........my finished fabrics dont look like the many wonderful 'space dyed' effect, fabrics Ive seen online, done by others. So I will accept that my skills lay elsewhere............... and keep looking for them ....
Mind you I do not have wonderful procion dyes, I must be the only one not to have bought any - so used what fabric dyes I had left and many were years and years old, and mostly solidified-ish now. But Im using up what Ive got before I buy more you see, its my recycling and 'using stuff up' thing....

This cold weather and the period without heating has made my joints complain. My right hip and right ankle were always abit more stiff but the shoulders have kicked in, the backs a bother and my fingers hurt a great deal now. Arthritus I suppose creeping in, well, trundling in!
So knowing that Ive piled on the weight since all the building repairs began and during the 3 years and 2 ops on my foot.........exercise Ive reasoned is what I need.

But not for me jogging, since it would seriously injure my chin and knees to jog with my monolithic chest bouncing around and besides the knee and ankle wouldnt stand up to it.... even IF I could manage to breathe whilst doing it.

The gym? Did that 5 years ago and yes lost a great deal, felt much better, but felt embarrassingly intimidated every time I went, by those that were slimmer, thinner, younger. It took so much courage to go each time and I spent the time there, desperately trying not to be noticed in anyway, shape or form. I have lost that courage now. I might go if I could wear a full length kaftan, but it would be considered too dangerous to wear on the equipment and theyd never let me wear it in the pool. (Besides abit overdressed to swim a width which is all I can do anyway..)

I could buy cds to exercise to couldnt I? Well, the videos never worked, so cds wont be much better, you need to be disciplined enough to DO them. Owning everso many, never lost me an inch...

Pole dancing classes are all the range now arent they? But I'd have trouble getting my leg over a bike let alone above my head, hanging upside down off a pole... and where would I find a ceiling that could take my weight attached to any pole! The already svelte around me, going to improve their bedroom appeal, as much as their fitness and suppleness, would be appalled if I trolled up to learn the craft too. lol No, you have to consider other people don't you! I would hate to think anyone was traumatised by the sight of me enveloped, upside down or otherwise, in my own rolls of spare tyre...

Regular walking then? And I have 2 dogs so that serves another purpose if I go with them. BUT ... even though I go to the loo beforehand, 10 minutes into the walk I need a pee or worse, and the right ankle swells before Im half way and I end up limping home with pain from the arthritic ankle and the twisting toes... foiled again.. Besides the smaller of the two barks incessantly at any other dog he sees, so its a stressful activity all round!

I have tried trolling up and down the stairs as my own twist on step aerobics. Now this might have worked, had the ankle not complained bitterly and given out on me so often, that I very nearly broke my neck coming back down ....

So now, Ive decided to try and dance to fitness, in the kitchen, to the music of the radio or to John Denver, this morning as it happens.
I LIKE JOHN DENVER, OKAY!
The only time I ever had a waist was when I was training in both the Police Force and the RAF, so I will be swinging my arms as in marching and manouvering round the stool and ironing board, doing my own choreography of line dancing.
Star jumps and jogging on the spot are OUT, reasons as discussed previously. Windmill arm motions in time to the music, are IN.
Marching on the spot featured this morning and may become a regular spot, with gesticulations trying to simulate gentle movements, to remind the joints they are SUPPOSED to be able to move all ways round, like they once did.
Like 'Use it, or Lose it'.........though I may be too late really....

I blame that new programme on tv last night..........the new dance programme, what is it? 'So you think you can Dance'? I think its called.
I will NEVER be able to sit on a park bench again now...................without feeling the need to body pop or hip hop on my arse and will forEver now feel unfulfilled, since I am too infirm to bum swizzle, on the spot and hike my legs up and over the back of the bench like they did...............
But with my new, concerted home fitness regime, I may yet be able to go to Scarborough and well, lets face it, thats a start isnt it?

Okay off for a coffee and some Ibuprofen.......

ooh, AH, OW! limp....limp....limp.....

Vixen and dog fox are well fed again tonight

Though this is a naff photo, I like this tree the way it has turned out. The fabric was a crinkled and industrially creased ladies top and theres a smidgen of crochet flower at the bottom......mitt cat too. Must make afew cats awake and scratching at the trunks come to think of it.

I today took loads of food out into the school field to feed the vixen and dog fox that live out back there.

They were out at midday before Xmas, so obv hungry and I realised she had lost the lower portion of one of her front legs and whilst she could take flight well enough, she now uses the stump to walk on poor lass. Since foxes pounce on prey it must affect her food kills of fresh meat I thought, so the rescue bit kicked in and Ive become obsessed with leaving them food to get through the cold snap. lol

So Ive been butcher shopping for them. Theyve had cow lungs, liver, kidneys, steak pies, cooked chickens, eggs, apples, today was more steak pies and sausage rolls and tomorrow will be chicken legs and thighs and some eggs. Vixen was out at 1010am yesterday bless her, despite the school being open again, so sure sign shes still hungry.

Foxes mating time is late autumn so she may well already be pregnant

so in need of good food!

Is it too late for Folic Acid do you think ..?

Okay a brief entry..............more later...

Oh and this one too...........

Forgot to put this one in! Cherry Blossom maybe?

2010 and hoping for a better year than the last two!

New trees with different fabric manipulation and sleeping cats beneath lol

Its all snow, snow, snow and this time its real snowmen and snowball snow! Not the weeny polystyrene ball snow, which simply did not look real!

Now must buy some soda, so I can treat some fabric and do a couple of tubs of snow dyeing........may as well make the most of the blessed stuff whilst its here!

Watch this space, if it works I will give it an airing!

OH! And happy days, Sheila Folgate is doing another cybery Challenge and Im in for the larnin' curve!

Waheyyy good fun and great company in the group! Many, many thanks Sheila!

Harrogate show

"Kath" by Andrea Cryer (UK) - STUNNING!

"Grandmother" by Gintaire Pilypaite from Lithuania

How clever is that then transferred pics on balls of wool!

But "Kath" was simply stunning, this must have been her when young and there was another of her as an older woman, both stitched by hand and machine I think........not sure if the machine sticthing was done by playing with the tension but the piece was simply amazing. Click on it and enlarge it to see the fine stitching that looks like shadows on the skin.........am still awe struck by this.......

Another humorous one but with a message never the less.........was by Caroline Marcum from the USA of a fashion show............"Dia de las Models".

Am never going to get the hang of placing pics on this blog..........the Skellywear one is up at the top! Not here>>>>> godamit!

Harrogate Knitting & Stitches was worth going to, if only to see the above pieces of work, but there was alot of other amazing stitchery on display and a whole boat covered in knitting.........which was such a fun piece you had to smile at it.

Its so inspiring to see others work !

This is abit late for Rememberance Sunday, but have been ill over the weekend with some crappy viral thing, so better late than never.
I missed the memorial ceremony at Holmpton village church, to commemorate the fellows who died in the WW2 crash, one of whom was my pal, Marys, Uncle.
However, so small is the world that someone who read my blog, had also been at that ceremony, so Lisa, we must speak again and I hope to put you in touch with Mary herself! At least Heather, Marys sister had made it to the service. I hope that all the crew members, had had a family emissary there, in their honour.

Aha!

Now the sumptious ear hugger on the left was knitted up with the delicious yarn given to me by Joan at http://www.calanacrafts.co.uk/, a fabby gift Joan, thanks so much!

I love the way simply knitting it in garter stitch, it's formed organic, wavy edges that work well as an ear warmer. Your yarns are indeed beautifully dyed and I heartily recommend them, travelling as they do down from the Isle of Harris.

The tree on the right, is yet another in the series lol but of interest is the circle's wrapping itself. I took apart this lampshade frame and took the fabric cover off but thought it might work as a wrap itself...more recycling! Yeaaaa.....

Fabric used as a shade is often spray stuck, onto a very thin plastic sheeting pattern base, I have found.

This plastic cracks over time, presumably the heat from the bulb hardens it, but in cracking so easily, it makes it easier to peel the fabric from the backing plastic itself.

So this wrap is that particular textured fabric and I do like the tendrils of fraying that have occured as it was worked on. This tree trunk is a mix of different strings and the foliage is another charity shop find............thank you Jean!

It was a good choice you made on my behalf lolol

The tree at the top, which was supposed to have been ...........here!..........( is it just ME or does Blogger move pics to suit itself?) ...........well the tree at the top, was a trial and I do quite like the foliage effect.

The yarn Ive used was a 50p car boot buy, a really long, commercially made scarf that I bought to take apart for the yarn to use with my embellisher. It washed up nicely and though it took alot of effort to take it apart and I didnt have such long lengths in the end, I do like the colours very much.......its acrylic, not magnificent wool like Joans yarn, in my ear hugger.

My local charity shop has been keeping me lampshades that are too grubby to sell, and I give them a donation for them which is cheaper than buying them from a craft supplier and is of course, recycling at its best. Im hoping they will have some square ones, I particuarly like those to work on.

Ive gathered in a good stash of them now..........and realise I should have done them in seasons, they'd work well in a group of 4.spring/summer/autumn and winter. Im working on a snowy winter one now, and I think it would be work as a xmas decoration as well as an all year wall hanging. Funny how these things evolve!

Im having grandson Jack on saturday, our very own Jack in a box, boxes being his favourite toy at the moment. He sits in them lol so I have brought an enormous one home from work for him to use as a den.............yes, all 14 months of him lol

He has learnt to frown, but only with one eyebrow so far and he's using this mobile eyebrow at every opportunity, its SO funny to see!

His Mum, Kelly has taught him to 'high five' too........so as he passes you, he casually puts his hand up for you to pat and say 'high five' to him lol To which he simply says 'hmm' and plods on.

If he happens to be at the other side of the room and gets the urge to high five us, he raises his hand and we are supposed to chase over and high five him!

If we dont of course, we get the frowny eyebrow lol...................He's a joy!

Well it is almost Halloween, so heres a pic of my former boss John Cheetham.

Now working out in Gibralter. No honestly, it is my former boss!

He dresses up as Frankenstien and looks pretty realistic I think you will agree!

When he lived in Pickering, he would dress up and attend the Goth weekends in Whitby and collect money for charitable groups. He is about 6'2" anyway so with the built up boots and the additional height of the 'sit on' forehead and wiggy thing...........he cuts an awe inspiring figure doesnt he!

Ivy patterns on walls..........fascinating.......... having pulled off some ivy, I am left with these striking patterns and cant bring myself to oevrpaint them.........they are a natural pattern afterall.

And beach huts dont you just love their colours? These were taken last month in Scarborough and have been there for years, over looking the beach.

The autumn is upon us here in UK now. Trees leaves are changing colour and there are shades of yellows, golds, burgundy's, oranges, browns and faded greens you can only dream about recreating. It is such a wonderful sight to see and so far we still have plenty of leaves still on the trees, but soon enough the winds will pull them off the branches and they will lay on the ground like an Axminster carpet of assorted colours!

Shops here are awash with Halloween gear, its a real 'thing' over here now of course, when once I used to see it in the States and bring bits back from there. Now we too have the vast assortment of accessories, costumes and paraphanalia you can buy to use for the Trick or Treat night.

But so too, are the Christmas cards in stores, ready for the commercial festivities, which is so close now! And here in UK, postal strikes loom so maybe this year, cards will lose out to emails!

Wouldn't it be nice if we all kept in touch throughout the year and then instead of sending Christmas cards and feeding that great ecconomic, commercial rollercoaster, we donated the money we would have spent, to ActionAid or something equally worthwhile?

My daughters popped in, so will close for now and catch up tomorrow maybe. :)

So here's an assortment of pics and the most delish is of course my son and his son!

Jack was a joy to watch that particular morning, larking about with his Dad.

Hard to believe that Mitchell was once that small!

The odd shaped tree above, was to prove that I could use any shape lampshade lol though it took a while to take out all the vertical struts on this shaped one, tho red wine helped :) The spider is a removeable feature, but I had a halloweeny notion that he might suit the foliage, comments welcome!

The Dream one is almost finished, as too is the turq one above it.

Ive made quite afew more pins too, having 4 fairs looming this month and next month, means I have had to speed up my output abit. Thing is I cant make repeats, I get bored by that idea and I have to make what my Creative Gene wants to make, so none of what I make may be seasonal or saleable but hey ho.............I enjoy the creating, so if they sell, they sell, if they don't, they don't.

Jack is now 15 months and chock full of mischief as you can see from the piccy lol

Eagle eyed amongst you will see the kitchen ceiling has a hole in it and there is a strategically placed huge green container for when it rains....

Mitchell has been going to get round to fixing his kitchen ceiling, since this time last year I think it was............... well, he's SO busy you know? lol

Little and Large fabric trees

Little and Large fabric trees...... the larger one is about 15" diameter and the smallest is about 5". Ive attached the letters LOVE on the larger one. I have made afew more featuring words on them, will take some pics of them too. These have become an out and out obsession, my ambition is to flood the world with fantasy trees, they can hang alongsode all those Dream catchers out there! (Well, it keeps me off street corners lets face it...)

The green one was a trial one really. I found this unusually tactile velvet on heavyweight voile, old fashioned long skirt and wondered if it might work as foliage. Not sure it has really, it seems very Gothic but I dont dislike it exactly... think the fabric would work better as foliage on the ground, ruched up and manipulated, theres plenty left so will play with it later!

Short and sweet this evening, Creative Gene is tapping away in my head........now am off in search of the right length of driftwood, amongst my stash of wierdy shaped pieces.......going to try and dye it a daft colour.............well why not!

:)

A bonus visit - but for sad reasons

It was sad that my very good friend Mary had to come over from Oz, for her sisters funeral but the up side was that we
had chance to spend time together after
the emotions of the family event.

Mary came and spent a couple of days with me and we trolled off to Scarborough for a day, so she could chill and paddle on a beach, that she had often chilled and paddled on, as a child. So it was a therapeutic trip down memory lane and the weather was belovedly kind to us.

She stood before the very beach hut that she had used, when her own daughter was still in a pram. So where her Mum had taken her as a child, so did she take her own children when they were young and theyd all still lived in England .............kind of full circle and warming don't you think?

Especially when Mary is tracing her ancestors now and each step taken looking backwards, is all the more special when you retread your own steps from years ago... (not that she's that OLD yet..............and she is younger than me lolol).

We were she told me, making new memories by treading that sand this time, and I was thrilled to have shared them with her.

The piccy above left is not taken at Scarborough though but at Holmpton, a village not far from Withernsea and at sunset on our way home to Hull that same day.

Mary is stood beside a memorial that has been recently situated along side the church there, to commemorate the crew of Flight L7523, who died whilst trying to land with much damage to their aircraft, in war time.

The 207 Sqn Bomber Command crew all died and Mary only unearthed this fact as she traced her family history, her own Uncle had been an Air Gunner on board and died, 'nowt but a lad' as my Granma would have said.

Obviously it was important to her because he was so young at 19 to have lost his life, having made it back to the Yorkshire coastline. all the more sad that the landing, in bad weather, brought an end to their hopes for a safe return.

However as ex RAF Aircrew ourselves, (post war of course,) naturally Mary would feel doubly for the loss of lives involved in this crash.

On a previous trip to the UK, we had braved a windy afternoon and trod on the none too high cliffs at Holmpton, looking for the crash site. We managed to find the place, using old photos we found online, noting where hedges were and still are, and by finding the site of the farm house that once stood some way then, off from the cliff edge. Though now it is nothing but overgrown foundations and perilously close to the cliff edge, the sea has encroached closer inland and steadily chews away at the sandy cliffs at that point. Well, all along that stretch of coast infact. The passage of time and the sea stopping for no one.

Though Mary will be back in Oz, in November the dedication of the memorial to the lads of this fated crew will take place and I hope to join Mary's sister and brother in law, and pay my respects, on her behalf. But it was simply lovely for her to see the memorial whilst she was over here..... more memories...

Its the first day of Autumn today and the evenings are turning chillier it is true, so no doubt the swallows will be leaving soon, though we saw afew on friday on our trip down the coast from Scarborough to Holmpton.

Some bright spark told me how many weeks it was till Christmas last week....could I ever have slapped him with wet fish!

Shortly, Mary will be checking in for her long flight back to Perth, leaving 'home' to go home, to her family and the prospect of a new grandchild, who is due any day now. And such is the story of life and that family tree that Mary is cultivating.

Wishing you winds at your back Mary! :) x

More creative therapy ..

Okay, the piece here on the left is another one of my

loose

interpretations of Shelagh Folgate's fabulous challenges. You get part by part instructions but don't know what your really making till youve finished! I confess to diverting from the brief abit on this one.......and added a stumpwork ladybird..

but they are great fun to do and I can highly recommend her blog and work. One clever lady that.

Now the piece on the right is under construction and came about after a conversation with a lovely lady called Sue, whom I know online, though we havent yet met. She asked if I had any ideas about what her stitching group might do, to use up binka and crewel/tapestry wools, both of which they have an abundance of, but which didnt really fill them with any enthusiasm.

Well binka has that - yawning - effect on me normally, but for some reason, that day, Creative Gene was buzzing lol

So I passed on to Sue what I would opt to do, given binka and wools, then kept thinking about the idea and finally HAD to have a go myself lol

Stop smiling Sue!

So there was I at a workshop on sunday, run by Isobel Hall, who lives in Spain but is over in the UK for 3 months. On the saturday she gave a talk at our East Yorkshire Embroiderers Society (EYES) then she did the workshop the following day. Isobel is known for her stunning handbags made out of paper, which look more like leather in many cases. ( her books include, Bags with Paper and Stitch and also Embroidered Books)

And in amongst making background fabrics out of a variety of things, brown paper, silk cocoon strippings, textured wallpaper etc I also came up with the above piece to use as a background, using binka and the silk cocoons that Isobel was teaching us to make use of.

I dyed the cream binka with coffee the night before, spattering clumps of coffee here and there whilst the fabric was wet so it would be darker in places.

I also dyed some offcuts of lace, taken from an old lacey doiley, the circles.

Then using the binka as a base, I added wisps of silk cocoon strippings and strands of hemp and also one or two pieces of distorted scrim and sprayed the whole thing with cold coffee. This I pressed between baking parchment so that the cocoon strippings all melded everthing together nicely, to form a base for stitching into.

The top picture, which was supposed to be here.................> but isn't, as you can see - sighhhhh

is of this melded piece and others I made up that day too. I made up alot, several more, that's part of the fun of workshops like that, the chance to make a batch of backgrounds that you build up on later, at home.

I will post pics of this piece as it progresses, it speaks to me of lichens in shades of golden, brown and creams so I will do abit of googling and maybe abit of graveyard wandering to spot some likely lichens!
:)

More trees but still not Autumnal

So here's the latest trees and both made using more unusual 'up cycled' bases.

The one on the right is made on a rusty, squished wire band that I found on a village road. Presumably it had once bound something firmly, but there it lay, abandoned at the side of the road, all warmly rusty.

It caught my eye and I could 'see' the tree it should be.........how sad is that!

The one above on the left, was what? Any ideas?

OK before you lose the will to live, it was a lampshade ring again, but someone had turfed it out and presumably bent it together, maybe so it would fit in the rubbish skip.... where I saw it. Its an elliptical shape now and both ends curve forwards slightly, which I quite like the effect of. I fabric wrapped that ring but chose to leave the rusty binding as it was. I particularly liked the flattened out knot, at the bottom left of it.

I like rusty things anyway and when I go beach combing, always come back with interesting rusty odd n ends .........that mostly are sat sitting, out in the garden.

Its my very own 'rusty still life' lol

I may well do a Martin Waters and box frame them in an interesting assemblage yet. Though one circular-ish shaped rusty thing is so heavy...........yet fab the way its disguised itself, it may be too heavy to use in a frame. Infact I do wonder if it could be a heavily encrusted hand grenade.........so best leave it where it lays, just in case!

I have made a few stump work Ladybirds to place beneath some of the trees, after seeing hundreds of them the other morning on the Humber river foreshore, when I was looking for blue sea glass shards. They were everywhichplace! The Ladybirds that is, not blue sea glass shards..........I found very few of those..

But I have now found a haven for sea glass on a stretch of foreshore I don't normally beach comb on, but will in future! The Humber is tidal of course and at this point, I suspect there may have been an old Victorian dump site nearby way back when, because an awful lot of what I picked up was old glass pieces. Like the necks of old poison bottles that kind of glass?

So not much blue to show for the hour or so combing but a big bag of all shades of aquamarine, turquoise and green, so a great haul! And though the wind there was almost gale force, I came home thoroughly wind blown and freckly but feeling healthy!

I'm reading an interesting little book at the moment by Mitch Absalom, For One More Day. The central character gets to spend a day with his mom, who is dead.

Like, hes been gifted an additional day to spend with her, though shes long gone?

Its really made me think.

What would I want to say to my Mum, my Dad or my ex husband Paul, who have passed away, if I had the chance to spend a day with them? What would I hope they might say to me even?

Its an intriguing thought isn't it.....

He wrote The Five People You Meet in Heaven which was also a thought provoking little book. These are not religeous tales by any means, but he somehow manages to enable you confront death in a different way.

I noticed yesterday that the housemartins are still here but think the swallows have gone already, locally at least. Im not at all surprised though. The nights are pulling in, now noticeably darker by 7.30/8pm and nights are chillier. Even the spiders are coming 'in house' at night, a sure sign that Autumns fast approaching.

The leaves on trees are turning amber and yellow and the high winds we've had this past week have thinned many off the branches already.

Oxfam have Christmas cards in now too...............sheesh!

Just noticed that the previous entry shows the completed 'tree' not to the side, as my narrative says.......instead its the bottom pic............no matter where I opt to place pics, this blog seems to put them where the hell of likes..
So here are my latest little somethings, and they are great fun to make, no idea if they will sell but who cares, when they are fun to make! I found about 16 more old teacups last sunday, some well over a 100 years old too.
Short and sweet today but please do look at www.martinwaters.co.uk. Martin makes artwork out of what is washed up on shore at the simply wonderful, and barren, Spurn Point here in East Yorkshire. It is a spit of land that has the north sea on one side and the marshland Humber river estuary on the other side.
What Martin does with stray dummies, rubber gloves, plastic labels, old shoes and other discarded rubbish is mind boggling. It is also a shameful comment on our habits and wastage, to see so much of our junk on one place and know that it has washed up on our shores.
I went along on saturday to see his latest local exhibition at the Beverly Art Gallery and it is well worth going to see his work. Martin was artist in residence on Spurn in 2007 and his website shows many of the works of art he made on the beaches, on the wartime concrete bunkers and using what was around him at the time.
I love the sand crop-circle-come amonite!
So inspired was I, that this evening I went river foreshore beachcombing...
I now have a(nother) big bag of sea glass, odd bits of broken and sea washed crockery and rusty bits of metal......watch this space lol
:)

Trees 'growing'

One tree, here to the left completed, and two others in progress but skew whiff........ I forgot to adjust the blessed pics before I saved them! And several shapes, fabric wrapped ready to become more trees!

Am not too sure about the red and black leafery yet............it does need trimming and shaping but may need another branch in there. Though I was thinking of hanging a 'something' within that obvious space between the branches..... just not sure what it will be yet.

The completed tree has had strips of fabric tied into position, the other two I stitched strips into place, using invisible thread. I have a sea scene in mind for one of these shapes but am still fathoming how to put the sea in place to my liking. But, I now have so many ideas on this theme, I may have to give up work to get the half of them made!

I watched the Kim Cattrell ( Sex in the City) in the 'Who Do You Think You Are' tv prog last night and it was very sad. Her Grandfather had left her Grandmother, her Mum aged about 8 and her 2 sisters in 1939 and simply disappeared. They lived in abject poverty and never ever knew where their Dad had gone.

The programme showed that he took off, stowed away to New York, where they sensibly sent him right back home to the UK! Then he married again, bigamously and had several children by this unsuspecting woman who years later he dragged off to Australia on the £10 emigration scheme. It was very sympathetically done since the family in Oz hadnt known that a bigamous marriage had occurred, which must have been upsetting for them lets face it. But it was a closure at long last for Kims 70+ yr old mum and two sisters, leaving them angry but an explanation at last. Though seeing photos of their Dad on the beach with his other children and knowing they had no such loving childhood memories in their lives must have been a hard thing to come to terms with.

My own Dad's Mum, had put him to bed one night when he was about 8, and his sister about 3 years old. Their father was on night shift at the pit and by the time he came home in the early hours, he found both kids sat on the stairs crying because their mother had left the house and them......... Dad never talked much about it but I know it caused him and my Aunt, much pain. My Grandad had wrapped both kids up in blankets and clothing, raised my Aunt onto his shoulders and walked them the 5/6 miles to his own mothers home, where they then went to live by all accounts.

It seems their Mum had run away with a musician, so you have to wonder don't you, was it bravery to walk away like that leave your children behind?

I am tracing my family tree, with much, much help from my great pal Mary over there in Perth, Australia, so will now have to see if my Granma also went on to marry bigamously!

Okay............. a glass of red wine and back to my trees!

:)

More trees!

So square lampshades work just as well as round ones!

This has worked out okay I think and the darker pic was taken with the work laid on a light box to see how it would turn out.......well silhouetted of course but it struck me as funny the way there appears to be ears and a tail peeking out from behind the tree trunk!

It is of course the broken broach/pin...that I had painted with nail varnish to tint it salmony-pink, but proof of what you see, isn't always what your seeing!

I stitched a piece of heat gunned, patterned cellophane into position on the 'ground' folded fabric, for an extra bit of texture and interest.

Summer and swallows

So okay, its not exactly Hampton Court, but its a reasonable size for a terraced house, town garden. I have to say this is not Fergus's best angle as he plods up the garden... but my horses head looks okay sat, sitting there, like a gigantic chess piece. I bought him for £25 several years ago, from the local tip, in the days you were allowed to buy bits of 'rubbish' that folk had brought in.

The head is normally in my living room and yes, it takes 3 of us to lift him - but when the wreckers came in and gutted my home through.....after the floods...he went outdoors and I have left him there for at least the summer. I watched the swallows swooping above my head yesterday, squeeking away as they dived and aerobatically chasing presumably flies..........or maybe they were just so full of joy at being alive. Then last night I sat out back, with a glass of wine to watch the meteorite dust that earth was passing through....did I see anything magical?

No ..... not a shooting star of any size or shape ... but I have now got a neck ache lol

This is the lastest tree, a little smaller than the others, which are a good 12" diameter.

This is only about 7". Crappy pics sorry, the lighting wasnt that good. Am taking all the trees to a new shop tomorrow with a view to them maybe selling them for me. Want to see what commission they intend to put on them though first.

The one shop I use at the moment, puts 100% on top of my prices which is unfair to anyone buying I think........so I have to cut my prices accordingly. I price as to what I would be likely to pay for an item.......but never having enough money to get by, maybe I price too cheaply to be fair.

Was going to make up a couple of the tea cups to take along too, but am still toying with exactly how to do them as yet.

Short and sweet this evenin, off to watch Who Do You Think You Are?......struggling as I am with my own blessed family tree........I need all the help I can get!

:)

Car Booty

I live round the corner to a large car boot venue. After all the years of cat rescue, where we had a regular sunday car boot stall to raise funds, its very hard to stay away from them lol ...........some of you may suffer from the same syndrome.

Mostly I go to buy my fruit and veg for the following week and cruise past the plant stall to see what he has to offer. This week 2 x 3' high Rosemary bushes, at £2 each! Bargain!

But yesterday I went specifically in search of old fashioned china tea cups, so I could make pin cushions/paper weights in them. This is not my original idea, see http://www.lollishops.com/ for example, and there are some for sale on Etsy for instance, but I just love the notion of using odd china cups for a re-purpose.

So off I went, fully expecting that I would find nothing at all, since isn't that often the way, when your looking for particular things, there's none to be found?

But such bliss!

I paid very little for my haul and came home thrilled to bits with my goodies.

I even found a china tea cup for a man with a moustache, well...... or a lady with one for that matter!

That has to be a treasure in the making, that one!

I found a sweet little night light, probably from about the 1970s/80s for a £1.00 to use when grandson Jack stays here and then I stumbled on the cutest little cloth doll, sat on a stool, with sewing in her hand.............for 20p........I could not leave her in the box amongst the broken crockery and dead spiders... well you know how it is don't you....

She now sits on the kitchen window sill, so she can watch the clematis as it blooms outside.....

So the tea cups are washed and now I'm in planning mode, deciding what fabrics to use, what colours to opt for, will I use lace, velvets, satins...........life is so full of decisions to be made, at least are thoroughly enjoyable ones!

I also paid 20p for a drum that had tears in its stretched velum, but it has yielded 3 large rings, one of 2" wide wood, one of half inch width metal and one very narrow width metal......so they will be very useful.

And not only was it a profitable morning ambling round, but the sun bathed us all in it's glory whilst a slight breeze kept it from being uncomfortable.............delightful!