Finished pieces and grandchildren

A very proud Grandma went to see Olive aged 9( it was her birthday the same day) in her school assembly she was the narrator.Olive is sat at the front legs crossed with a headband on,she was brilliant,as every Grandma would know! The next day I went fossilising with son and grandson aged 5, poor Sam had trudged along the Severn at Aust for miles looking for fossils last W/E without much luck, so this W/E I suggested Hock Cliffs down at Fretherne, well know for its devils toenails , but we really wanted ammonites.He was very good walked a long way again and we did find a few broken ammonites but when I gave them to him he said" I don't want them Grandma they are all dirty", so I don't think we will make a fossil hunter out of him ,lovely as he is.

Well I even got around to doing Maggie Grey`s online course for her book Textile Translations, below is the finished piece, it is a book,

This is the book opened I decided to use chinese symbols as English did not seem quite right.

I decided to put tissue paper on yheinside to cover up the threads, this was then painted with interference violet and lightly touched with treasure silver.

I finnished the corset it is on the board and ready for Angie to inspect tomorrow.

I sewed beads along the top and in circles in the ammonites and hemmed the edges.

I finished the bag off with some embroidery and sewed on the handle, and with the piece cut off the flap I made a small purse/ phone holder.

This is the finished scroll from the Textured surfaces workshop it was great fun to do and turned out quite well,I seem to get on better with a distressed effect rather than a "perfect" finish. This is the inside which is xandaprint through a stencil then coloured.

I also managed to finish the book, its not the right measurements but it turned out fairly well,I must give up the red wine when I am supposed to be concentrating,but yippee my Mother has just sent a case of 15 bottles an early Christmas present and I might just have to sample them to make sure they are satisfactory!The front of the book the design is made of Tyvek and the back has xandaprint through a stencil then rubbed with treasure copper,it is wonderful stuff.

I have put my samples inside with a description of the process used, aren't I a good girl.

These are samples I did for different textures below left seeds, and right
fabric strips and thread.

these are split lentils, string and rock salt.

Below are pieces of pelmet vilene with budgie grit and budgie sand in fabric medium before painting,great textures, could be very useful for my ammonites theme, this is all from Lynda and Carols on line course.

This is budgie sand through a stencil and then coloured.

The best £30 I have ever spent

The book cover having been quilted and painted with white paint waiting for the next layer of paint.This is from Carol and Lynda`s Textured surfaces course which has been brilliant,it is so great to get to do some of the superb effects you see on their blogs all this plus a really humming forum for £30 I think it is the best money I have ever spent and I would recommend it to everyone. My rusted sheets of tyvek.

Book cover painted and covered in fabric medium

Along the lines of June Barnes type of quilting this piece was quilted on plain calico,over wool wadding it also has strimmer cord between the calico and the wadding as this distorts when the piece is shrunk,it is then dyed in the low immersion way.I hope it is going to end up as an ammonite

corset once it has been beaded and the edges sorted.

This is how far I have got with the Sharon`s course it is taking ages and as I have not been on any long car journeys it has been put on the back burner.I did do some at the Quiz night at our golf club,we win more often than not,and I got quite a few comments about being able to sew and get the questions right,I did point out that as a female I could multi task,but in reality I play with 3 very intelligent people and I just make up the numbers.

Part of the ammonites theme a small bag felted in one piece e.g. over a plastic former,well a question for any felters,when you cut the bag out the bottom with care stays in a bag shape but the flap then has 2 thicknesses,which were to thick to go under the embellisher,which is how I did the "ammonites" in the end I cut the 2nd layer off and it has worked well.Does anyone know the right way to do it.My son and I and Sam my grandson went down to the Severn at Aust to look for fossils as he hold been told there were masses at the cliffs there,Well we walked miles poor Sam who is 5 had to climb over all the rocks which must of been huge to him and never complained once and we did not find a single fossil of note.Some lovely large pieces of quartz too big too carry.Sam love him' lumped all the way back a large plastic jerrycan which his reluctant Father put in the car for him,he did the same thing at Weston when I took him about a month ago. The last lot of cuffs my daughter walked off with one, a friend another so I made some more two copper and two gold.

Overkill

Although I am enjoying them all 2 online courses, one masterclass and a weekly screen printing course is rather too much. fitting work in as well is getting difficult, so the theme for all is ammonites which does make life easier, the print below is to test the exposure time of the screen and is 4hrs work!, next week we design the real thing, I took this course to help with screen printing on fabric but it is geared towards producing a work of art on paper,so not sure how much help it will be,I do not think that the Tate Modern are going to be rushing to my door to see the results.

I read Dogdaisychains blog and she does some beautiful embroidery she sells on Etsy and Flikr, I was tempted by these cuffs and brooch,they are velvet on grey silk,I could not get the colours to photograph the velvet is the most beautiful colours of luscious pale mauve & lilac.Sorry Jackie I have not done them justice and they are so beautiful in real life.I have lived and died in them since they arrived and when I pointed them out to my dear husband he said " I thought they were some sort of needle guard to protect you when you are sewing", what do you do with them!

I decided to make these cuffs as my daughter had said how some of the paint effects from Carol & Lynda`s course looked just like metal.These cuffs below are made from calico embossed wallpaper and string, quite effective considering there origins,the colour in real life is more pewter /silver ,but they do look metallic.It has been a great course and a real learning curve,very good clear instructions ,great `photos,and they must have lived on the computer replying to every ones questions,they make great tutors and I would recommend it to everyone.I have the last lesson to go through some of it I will not be doing as it is making books and folders to put our finished pieces in and I really have enough of those.

what a lovely surprise

This arrived in the post,I had taken part in Kate`s quilt swap and lucky me I was the one to receive hers,it is absolutely gorgeous, the colours were just right and the quilting is superb I am so pleased many thanks Kate for being my partner, it is up on my hall wall for all to admire.

I love the shape of the quilt.I am doing the fibre in form textured surfaces class with Lynda and Carol, and it is really good some great ideas and they are so attentive on the forum site,it is well worth £30.00 in fact it is worth a lot more, below are some of my pieces I have not written too much about the process as it would not be fair.The 3 below are my favourites they look just like pewter

The texture is made by adding lace to the molding paste or scrim and embossed wallpaper.

This is layers of fabric machine sewn before painting

This material below is convex all though it doesn't look it , these 2 pieces were machine quilted and then painted.

These have both stitched fabric and tyvek which was then painted.

These were calico coated in molding paste and then a home made stencil pressed in ,left to dry and then painted.

This sample is machine sewn tyvek which was blasted with a heat gun and then painted to look rusty.

These 2 were machine sewn using a zigzag stitch over cords before painting.