Sketchbook making

Had some playtime again! So enjoyable to be able to create and makes me feel good. Had a really great time pulling out papers and tissues and bonding  and stitching. My favourite thing to create at the moment is book covers, I just feel they are wonderful little pieces of art.  I had my mate Gilli over to mine for a day, and this is what I made, we just seem to bring out the best in each other and have fun bouncing ideas around.

 This is another project that has been sitting in the cupboard waiting to be made up. It was a case of finding some fabric that did the box justice and I think at last I found it.  It was quite a nice project to make and dont know why I kept putting it back in the cupboard !!

Spontaneity

I went over to Maria yesterday for a fun day together - our first meet up for almost three weeks. I have a few bits and pieces on the go and couldn't decide what to take with me, so I took some knitting as I knew we would have loads to chat about and catch up on - not least, discussing my son's recent wedding! Anyway, once there, Maria showed me some pieces of work she had developed after watching a recent workshop underway at our Guild (which I missed because I was at a Wedding!!)

It involved playing with paper - so, after some expert tuition from my friend and her generosity of allowing me to use anything from her stash I started this piece at her place and have finished it here at home today!! Hopefully, she will soon post about her pieces.

Scrap Fabric Challenge

My scrap fabric challenge piece!

It's not a bag and it's not a book cover!

The mystery unfolds!

It has a hidden usefulness!

 It could do with another press of the iron but ironing spooks the dog too much so that will have to be done again later!

Scrap of Fabric Challenge

Having a bit of fun, found these small pieces of interesting fabric in the charity shop and just loved  the colour and texture. So I thought OK lets have a bit of fun and set up a challenge for Gilli and myself  to make something from this piece, it is quite small approx 14" x 13". adding extras if required.
I dont know why I do these things but enjoy them really as it makes a break from other pieces on the go.

So this is what I came up with, adding a piece of fabric for the lining.

So its over to you Gilli to see what you come up with.

Baby Owls for Easter

Baby Owls

I have been quiet busy with one thing and another but I found time to make these lovely little fabric owls for my little people, thought I would give them along with their Easter eggs. I made one for myself and they both fell in love with him so being the good Nanny I am LOL I thought lets make them one each.

Fantasy Follies

 Embellisher Course with Sandra Coleridge at The Kingcombe Centre

Still trying to finish up projects that I have started and these,at last are

 finished as well, Started these at Kingcombe where I did a course a few weeks ago. I had a very nice time even though I had a stinking cold and sore throat which fogs up the brain some what but I am pleased with the results.

This time I have added some chiffon to cover the stark white canvas and it makes a huge difference. I have to admit it was my friend, Gilli's idea to try it, does not show that well in the photo.

Canvas Art

This is our latest production! We spent two days together working on these 'Shabby Chic Style' canvas art pictures which have handy hooks on the bottom and that makes them ideal for hanging all those troublesome household items that end up just lying about the place or getting lost.

Grow Your Blog Party 2015

Hello to everyone who visits us because of the wonderful Grow Your Blog Party organised by Vicki of Two Bags Full; thanks to her for the hard work. We are two friends, Maria, living in Dorset and Gilli, from Somerset - both counties in South West England.  We both have a passion for textiles and everything around them.

This is still a very young blog and Maria and I set it up last year but have only just got back to it recently.  Maria is still new to 'blogging' but is getting to grips with it pretty quickly (I'm not surprised - she had a good tutor!)

We are both members of various groups and have been friends for about five years I guess, but really, really good friends for about three to four years; who knows, time just flies!

We meet whenever we can, outside of planned gatherings at the Embroiderers' Guild and West Country Embroiderers, to have P L A Y days.

We have a Facebook Group, which we have called Revise, Refresh, Review and we use it to take another look at various techniques in our vast collection of textile/embroidery/painting/printing/dyeing books. It's good to have a 'second' or maybe 'third' look at various techniques and to try them out again.  An excellent way of stopping yourself from getting stale in your approach to embroidery. There are various plans for this year, but nothing finalised yet except for two holidays booked at Kingcombe, Dorset, using the embellishing machine with Sandra Coleridge - Fantasy Follies and machine embroidery with Alison Holt, Rivers and Waterfalls at Barnstaple, Devon!

We would love to get some followers, so far we have none - we are interesting really you know. Let's hope we make some new friends.