Two From One

Being at a loose end after finishing my family quilt I felt I wanted to undertake a smaller project as my drawing skills are a little limited I am collaborating with my daughter on the next project as her drawing skills are excellent. At Christmas time the family was all together when we came up with this idea along with a few others which I will tell you about another time. Lucy and I had a number of photographs taken of us together in various poses after some deliberation we selected one image to work from. Lucy then took the image and created a drawing to work from the idea is meant to represent mother and daughter and the strength of each of the individuals is indicated by the emphasis on the spine and the closeness by the hair being interwoven. It is still a work in progress but here are a few pictures.

  

The first image is the original photograph, the second is the first draft of the drawing and the third picture is the start of the embroidery, bodies outlined and starting to free motion embroider my hair, the plan is to hand stitch Lucy’s hair to give the feeling of volume and texture.

Family Quilt

Way back in June of last year I felt I wanted to re visit quilting and set myself a project to create an heirloom quilt. As a family we are fortunate to have five generations I asked all who wanted to take part to do a drawing of the outline of their hands the oldest being 81 and the youngest 3 months old. I then selected fabrics for each individual that suited their personality and interests. I then applied the hands in pairs to form the shape of branches of a tree, the trunk is formed by embroidered words each person has three words that directly relate to them. The ivy leaves bind the whole family together, hidden in amongst the quilting is a leaf with the names and date of birth and death for those who are no longer with us. There are also a number of birds, butterfly’s and flowers hidden, an outline of my own hand acts as a signature.

 

 

Up Cycled Jacket

I have recently become interested in up cycling I managed to acquire a gents suit jacket after much thought I unpicked and removed the sleeves then re cut and reshaped the main body of the jacket. I then reassembled it and embellished it with a patterned skirt that I cut on the bias to create the frills and ruffles, I then added D rings into the back panel and threaded the belt from the skirt to draw in the jacket to give the nipped in look, bias was added to the front lapel to give balance and finished with two decorative buttons.

 

 

 

Farm Yard Quilt

Following my de stash efforts I have found some un finished projects I am slowly working my way through them either discarding or finishing them off. I found at the bottom of a large box this quilt that was started about three years ago when we were doing a lot of house sitting it was an ideal project to take away as it involved a lot of hand stitching. I started with a large pile of fabric scraps to create the backgrounds for each of the animals, then worked each piece separately finally arranging them to form the final quilt. I backed with a layer of batting and finally yellow cotton.

  

 

 

New Project

Well I have been naughty and not been keeping up to date with FB blogging and worst of all my shop, the reason being I have been really busy putting my accounts hat on helping the MR with his paperwork also I have been developing my talents as an alteration queen and doing lots of clothing alterations and curtain making. However I have managed to complete my personal project to design and make a quilt. I am interested in putting figures into my work and as my drawing skills are silge  I made the jazz players as silhouettes they are appliqued by hand and embellished with a range of hand stitches. The crazy patchwork is created using up some of my vast stash of fabrics I really like the framing off the blocks with the black border. The completion of this project has spurred me on to do some more work just for me so watch this space to see the next creation.

 

Cornish Treat

We recently visited my mother in Cornwall usually we drive down early do the visit have some lunch and then drive back home all very rushed this time we had an overnight stay in Newquay we stayed in the Carnmarth Hotel. What a great place the room was excellent with a huge photograph of a lighthouse on the wall and magnificent views of the golf course and the sea. This is one step closer to one of my wishes on my bucket list to stay in a lighthouse oh well maybe next time it will be the real thing. The restaurant was also really good with smiley faced staff and lovely food. So if ever your around those parts I can throughly recommend this hotel.

I do like to be beside the seaside

On this bright and sunny bank holiday Monday we decided to do some chores up to 11.30 we then went to Manor Gardens to enjoy a good old-fashioned summer fete all the local charities were there all the usual stalls Tombola, guess how many Smarties in the jar and my very favorite the Human Fruit Machine after spending all our cash we went home for lunch and an hour relaxing in the garden a quick shower then a stroll up to the seafront for a refreshing glass of local Somerset Cider. Over the Bank Holiday one of the Victorian shelters that over look’s the beach has been dressed up in a seaside theme by a secret army of knitters, these people come along unseen and transform an area with pieces of knitting all covert and secret this fad started in America and has happened in one or two places in this country two years ago the pier at Clevedon was transformed. I don’t know who or why they do it but I for one think it’s great fun.

 

 

 

 

Bert

Due to unforeseen circumstances friends of  ours will be unable to join us in Mijas this year we will miss them dearly however we have created a little friend to cheer them up.

Mijas is a lovely village in the mountains off the coast on the Costa del Sol famous for its donkeys. The local Rotary club have commissioned and had built a life-size bronze donkey that is on proud display in the centre of the village. He is a particular favorite of ours, our friends Christened him Bert.

The following pictures are our attempt at recreating Bert.

 

This is how we found the little chap abandoned in a box at a car boot sale he was masked up rubbed down and re sprayed then a hunt through my haberdashery stash to find suitable braid to make him some panniers

Here he is finished complete with new donkey sized ears panniers and bright sparkly eyes what do you think?

Craft Fair

A few weeks ago we did a craft fair in Wells Somerset had the best day we have ever had at a fair really busy lots of nice positive comments. We had a table near the door with a french door open to the front so was able to sell from the front and back.

The fair was held at the Town Hall during the day there were two weddings taking place this was great for someone as nosey as me as we could watch all the guests arrive and of course the bride and groom, both parties arrived in lovely cars and the weather was great, also going on in the square was the farmers market so all in all a real good day.

Community Garden

I have been walking along the sea front and popped into the coastal garden called Marine Cove. Marine Cove was given a make over about two years ago after the friends of the cove won National Lottery Funding of £330,00.00. Since it’s refurbishment it has been used for several community projects Carol singing at Christmas Craft events etc. The latest project is to change the use of the flower beds, instead of growing flowers they have planted out vegetables which will be harvested in September when they will be taking part in the towns Food Fest.

They then had a play afternoon with children making scarecrows to keep the birds off the crop, this is why I love this town I live in.