Diary Cover

This week classes start again and they begin with,

'All Things Stripped'.

I needed a new academic calendar and of course it needed a better cover!

Keeping to theme the 'Purple' and the 'Strips'.

See more of my purple items made by clicking

HERE

The cover is ready to be fitted to the diary.

See a video on how to cover a diary with your own textile slip cover

by visiting my video tech site

www.art2inspiretech.blogspot.com

Tree Pruning

This week, Stewart and I have put in over 5-6 hours of gardening

everyday to prepare the garden for the Winter!

There's been some nice harvesting, making wine and bottling

but most of it has been hard landscaping!

The picture above, shows only some of the Pom Pom Buddleia

tree we pruned. As you can see it covers the side lawn!

Some of the branches had grown over 8 feet tall this year!

All the garden waste has to be taken the 150m to the bottom

of the garden where we have a burning and compost area.

All the garden waste gets composted and the put back on the garden.

Even the ash from the fire goes on the empty beds, we have just

harvested from along with compost bins, covered with

black recycled plastic and left for the worms to enjoy and

no weeds when we come to plant next Spring.

Gardens are lovely but boy! do they take work!

Purple Textile

Monday after some gardening with Stewart,

I got into the Studio for some creativity.

I used some tyvek fabric, added stitching

and lace.

This I painted and allowed to semi dry and

then with the studio door open, melted it with

an hot air gun! I added embossing powders and more paint and

melted some more.

I made several layers using the same technique.

I then machine stitched and I am now hand stitching more

details and beads.

Above are areas of the piece of work before I added

more stitching to it.

I will show you the finished piece shortly.

I must be working in a colour theme, Purple!

LIfeline for Chernobyl

After a quiet family holiday weekend Stewart and I

went over to the Lifeline 4 Chernobyl charity

on Sunday. We were on the refreshment team for

The Charity Auction.

The lorry arrived to pick up the trailer

and soon it was on it's way with it's new driver, Ann.

Ann has just past her test to drive artics for the charity!

and she' s driving to Russia! in a convoy.

Well done Ann.

The trailers leave from Hull this week.

They will be going out again in January 2012

so fund raising starts today all over again.

John was up and around a little after his op to see the lorry

go and keep and eye on things. Paulene was in charge of

the Auction.

It was a good 4 hours of bidding and refreshments

and when the Auction had finished

it had been a good one.

See the charity's work on

www.lifeline4chernobyl.org.uk

Paper Strips

Thursday I continued paper sorting and playing.

I love making background papers for mixed media

pieces and I have some new students who want to

start with papers and how to turn it into

works of art.

Here, I cut the newspaper into strips and then wove

them together to form a background.

This was then put onto to vilene and

I have stitched all over in straight stitch

and some patterned stitches to add interest.

This will be painted and then appliqued and

stitched.

See more of my medias on my website.

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Paper Sorting

With no classes this week I thought I would spend my

Wednesday morning sorting out my papers

for card making and projects.

I saw this tip in Kim's studio when I was helping

her set up her new blog.

It works fantastic.

Just an expandable file that sits on a work surface,

colours in each section and it's so easy to use.

Visit Kim's card blog at

www.kimcrop.blogspot.com

Alpaca Farm

After dressing the window at Knit Wits with the

Purple Sampler Quilt I went on to see Nikki

at The Alpaca Barn.

We said 'Hello' to the girls opposite and

then went into the Wet Studio next to the Shop,

to see how to use it for Felt Workshops.

There is so much more space with all the wool

sorted out and boxed.

It will be a great place to work in and

in 'good weather', be able to work outside.

to see more of The Alpaca Farm

visit

www.alpacabarn.co.uk

Sampler Quilt

I have been working on The Sampler Quilt for the last few

weeks. Tuesday I went into Dereham

to change my quilt in the window display.

So, here is the Sampler Quilt in Knit Wits Window

advertising the new Fabric Department

and also classes that start in September.

It will be in the window for a couple of weeks.

Fiona is basing the rest of the window on Purples and Blues.

See my workshop and class details

HERE

Coven Quilters

Well, I have got Blog catching up to do!

I have had a week of no teaching but catching up

with friends and doing things at a slower pace.

So, last Monday I tided up the studio because

the Coven Quilting Girls came to me for the Summer meeting.

We were missing Barbara as she was getting

ready for her long haul road trip to her daughters in

Cornwall.

As you can see the girls got comfy and my book library

was well and truely gone through!

Lots of laughter and sharing as usual and I made

a lemon cake for refreshments!

I don't make alot of cakes but for the GIRLS!

See more of our Coven meetings by

clicking on the written labels below this post.

Studio Day with Judith and Janice

On Thursday I opened my studio for Janice and Judith

so they could have a Patchwork and Quilting Day.

Janice cut out all her silks into squares last time and sew

and cut them into triangles.

This time she arranged them into the rows and

began sewing the squares together to form the

rows, after we checked there

weren't two triangles directly next to one another.

On the 8ft table,

Judith was putting the borders on her quilt top

and then started piecing the fabric and scraps

together to form a backing.

I worked them both very hard that day!

but they loved it!!!

See more of my studio on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Card Making Wednesday August

On Wednesday it was Card Making with Kim

@The Gallery.

You can see we were all busy creating our collaged cards.

It always amazes me that we start with the same

art materials available but we all create different cards.

Kim wanted us to try more collaging in this week.

I learnt alot more tips and storage solutions too!

We had a wonderful morning and in the afternoon

Kim and I put the mornings photos on her new Blog.

See Kim's new blog

www.kimcrop.blogspot.com

See my card and papercraft blog

www.cards2inspire.blogspot.com

Pat's Finished Mixed Media Textile

Pat has finished her Mixed Media Textile and it

is fabulous. She used many different techniques from

layering, stamping, machine and hand stitches and lots

of work with the soldering iron.

Many different fabrics and threads were used to build

up the layers.

Well done Pat!

This is now going to be mounted on a deep canvas.

See more mixed media pieces by clicking the written

label below.

Jeanette's New Project

As you may know Jeanette has made and finished some amazing

textile pieces such as 'Leaves' and 'Bolliwood',

she is now started making a decorative box made

with the a new selection of fabrics and trimmings.

Everyone was eager to see what colour she had chosen

and when she revealed her new colour was a beautiful lime

green it got everyone talking.

See more of what happens @The Gallery

www.thegallerydereham.co.uk

Brenda's Strip Embroidered Cushion

Brenda has finished her cushion for her daughter.

She has made one for herself, a pink one for her Grand Daughter

and this one for her Daughter.

They all use different fabrics, stitches and embroidery.

Well done Brenda they look great.

I will be teaching these cushion at

Knit Wits on the Thursday 13th of October.

See more of my Crazy Patchwork Strip Cushions

on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Gallery Day 16th August 2010

Beryl, a new lady to Mixed Media Tuesdays wanted to start

Patchwork and quilting with a small project.

This is a pram quilt for her Grand Daughters,

Dolls Pram.

Last week Beryl tried Felt Embellishing and has since

gone out and brought herself an Embellisher Machine!