Friday chatter

Don't know where the time goes!

I have not been doing a huge amount of crafting (I have some of those images promised to resize before posting, I will share what I have worked on so far) I have done a little hand embroidery in some spare time, one such occasion is when I take Amanda to netball training at 4pm to 6pm and Callum at 4:30pm to 5:30pm in the same location. I used to stand and watch everything going on but it is cold and there are cliques that won't talk to others so I decided to sit in the car and do something relaxing and warm. I actually get quite a bit done then. The other time is when Nicky and Callum go to the tutor they are in for 1 hour so I will take either sewing or knitting - I am currently knitting squares - might become a little blanket - I haven't decided yet it is in pure wool so I can felt them too. They are a lovely turquoise and pink.

I still owe someone a swap - it is in process but I keep hitting a blank wall...just when I think I have it all planned out and make the next move it just doesn't gel, I want this to be special. I did dream of the perfect design right from the start but didn't find the time to sketch it...I had it in my brain all day till I picked up the sketch book and for the life of me I can't remember any of it - not the quote - nothing. If I could remember the quote I think the rest would just come.

This is one of the sitting in the car keeping warm tasks I completed, I think it may end up in a journal for my embellisher course, it is far more vibrant in the "flesh" it has foil under the rovings and my threads are far more colourful, playing with the image on photoshop just doesn't do anything for it either. Strange really as my scanner is usually pretty good with colours.

Ideally I would have liked to have done some stitching on this red one but unfortunately in the process of burning the felt back it becomes a bit too stiff I might just have to do another and try that. This one is not just felt but layered red felt, red chiffon (quite stiff though so I was wondering if it really was chiffon like it was labelled - I did get an extra bit for free as the person serving me had a few issues with ripping it LOL, she knew I would do something with it regardless. That was embellished on the felt then the circles on top of that. I am thinking that a bit of forward planning wouldn't go astray next time, and maybe working with larger pieces as I am finding I am working on stuff about size A5. Whatever that machine has been packed away for a bit and my sewing machine is about to come out, I have a pencil case to make for Callum and a few other misc items to work on.

Well I have been on here long enough, I have all the non fridge/freezer items to be put away from my weekly grocery shop...I would put this off for as long as I can as I truly dislike shopping and the associated tasks it entails, the only bright spark is my friendly local checkout "chick" who I always have a natter to.

Plenty of Fibre

Go check out the How Dare You blog, the theme this week is Fibre, lots of lovely inspiration there. This piece is a bit of a collage of images taken of my part of my entry. This originally started out as a cover to be glued to an Art Sketch book but it didn't ever make it there - instead it got itself framed. I loved doing this and especially loved the beading and embellishing with the fibres. All fibres bought from The Thread Studio, the beads have been with me for a long time and are some of my favourite. There is silk crunchies, dyed merino and sari silk fibres in there. All in all a bit of a mishmash of texture and colour.

This is all done using needle felting, I have small hand held tool that I use but I am currently coveting the machines that do this so quickly - I have been shopping around and am still undecided on which machine but seem to be more inclined to get the Husky Star just now. I am pretty sure it would be quieter than my little hand tool. As an added incentive to go to the How Dare You blog you will also see an Art Journal cover and a needle case which I made, along with some other rather nifty stuff by some talented girls. The needle case was given as a gift to one of Amanda's teachers who left recently, just as well that I had it because I was only asked for something on the morning of the day the teacher was leaving...my kids organised - not a chance! I also made an Art Journal cover for my mothers birthday (which I forgot to photograph but she has promised to that for me), that was done on a white background so looks quite a bit different. On those I used some teeny tiny sequins bought from here I just love the selection that they have and will no doubt be back shopping there before long. I will post pics of my other work - currently I am making another needle case for myself - again - and this is on turquoise felt, just got to finish up beading it.