Adapting

I can no longer pretend that motor neuron disease is not having an effect on my crafting, this week I have had a serious falling out with my sewing machine. Paper seems the way to go, it has more rigidity than fabric for free motion work.

These fabulous Kimono silks were a pressie from my good friend Jean, I wanted to do something that reflected the Japanese style of mixing pattern. Not all of this piece will be used, I will select areas to put in a frame that has three apertures.

I treated myself to some Inktense blocks on my last visit to Artvango, finally got round to playing with them.

They are as vibrant as the pencils and are good for sketching as they cover the paper quickly.

I'm using cotton rag paper which is easy to machine on. Didn't have the energy to set up a still life so I used the plastic bottles on my work table as a subject.

I also have a 'raggy' on the go, lovely and soft to stitch into for those moments when only stitch will comfort me.

Starry Eyed

I've been stitching through 16ml plywood for the past two days. These stars were cut with a jigsaw painted, stencilled and waxed. I made the holes with my trusty dremil (actually my husband ended up finishing the drilling) and I threaded a large bodkin with red wool and stitched. They may end up hanging or just spread around the house, we made 16 altogether ranging from 18" to 4".

 It's starting to feel like Christmas.

Business as usual

I feel so much better having something to focus on, stitching was what was needed. I'm not stitching in an embroidery kind of way but using my needle to make marks and to try and inject some dynamic into this very static and geometric layout I've made.

It looks completely different with the hand-stitching. I am going to add some beading once I have machined all the black areas

It's quite a big piece (as usual) 20"x 30" so it will keep me busy over the next few days.

Good Friends

Not much blogging lately, I have been absorbing bad news and planning my response to it. The hospital results came through as bad as bad can be. That is the only reference I'm going to make on this blog to being ill. I plan to go on stitching and crafting as long as I am able because that was what I started the blog for in the first place.

So.... this piece I'm working on is a linen background and transfer paint printed Evolon. You will recognise the plant shapes  from previous work and drawings. I have made acetate stencils from my plant drawings because I know I will use them over and over again.

 Today was spent in the company of friends from the Calico group I belong to, it was good to catch up and be with like minded people. We met at the John Clare museum in my village and started the seasons festivities over lunch.

Just have to find my stitching mojo again!

Transfer Paints Sampling

Yesterday my friend Paula came round for a crafty morning, transfer paints were on the agenda and some pleasing results were achieved. I am in love with this pressed Geranium leaf that had been eaten by bugs in my garden this summer, luckily I pressed quite a few of them and if I can only remember which book I stored them in I will be able to repeat the design.

I've used pelmet vilene for some of the samples, the transfer paint is very vivid on all of the vilenes.

I took these photos today after a morning spent at Addenbrooks Hospital, nearly three hours to travel 44 miles during rush hour. It felt like the world was trying to get into Cambridge this morning, I can't imagine what it must be like to commute on a daily basis - nightmare!

I just needed to calm myself with colour after such a stressful morning. 

These gossamer like pieces were done on Zeelon a very soft and delicate synthetic similar to Lutrador.

When I track down some Evalon I will make a few more samples I know that it will be the perfect fabric for transfer paints.

Health issues are ongoing, full scan and more blood tests next week, I will craft my way through! 

Paper Fun

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I was looking through back issues of 'workshopontheweb' on my kindle on Tuesday, trawling for inspiration. In the early days of textiles I learnt a lot of techniques from this site. I still subscribe and look forward to every edition. I noticed they were offering a taster session to attract new members and I wondered which workshops were on offer. A picture immediately caught my eye - a workshop by Sue Dove, torn papers and colour. Of course I've adapted some of the instructions and creating is taking place with minimal effort.

These first two are my own painted papers, some shapes from my cricut stash, and oil pastels. Just the colour hit I need.

I decided to do something a little subdued after all that saturated colour. These papers were torn from my ancient stash of Elle magazines and I've used graphite pencils and Inktense. I sealed the finished page with hair lacquer because graphite gets everywhere.

A pleasing two days work and now I've started I'll just have to fill the whole sketchbook up with variations on this theme.

Dodgy Computers

I managed one out of the two days at Steph Redfern's workshop, I wasn't very functional whilst I was there but I did absorb a great deal of imagery. Lots of wonderful printing on the first day which I photographed to show on here but my good laptop decided to malfunction in a big way. So out with the steam driven PC (which is ancient and slow) to try and post.

Steph has such a distinctive style that I struggled to find my own 'voice' but the way she layers up is quite unique and was useful to see in action. After I had rested at home for a day I managed to come up with this piece which I think demonstrated the outcome of the workshop.

Had I been well I would have loved this workshop however next stop Addenbrooks for some tests that only they can do and a scan at Peterborough after that, not looking good but I remain optomistic and I'm still creating.