life is good

My little ray of sunshine (sometimes) Beth joined all us serious stitchers on Thursday night at the Merville group. So 3 generations there, which was great. And she said she really enjoyed it because all the girls were lovely and there was a warm relaxed atmosphere. Her words.

She needs to learn a skill for part of her Gold Duke of Edinburgh and if I teach her sewing she will take me to the Palace. I think.

serious stitching.

I am in the sewing room today with some company for a change and she is just getting on with it with very little help from me......

....... she's got this far.

Me on the other hand.

I am still getting black dirty inky hands drawing on my quilt.

I have a good feeling about this piece. it is evolving quite nicely. Nicely is not a good word.

But I have a feeling about it which I like.

And I love the mark making, especially black onto very white cotton.

inktense and various widths of black pen.

I will probably be at this piece for the rest of the spring. But what's the hurry?

Life is good in between.

Although Jean my oldest hen died during the week.

But she had a happy retirement after a battery life, running about eating my garden and getting porridge for breakfast. 

So life is still good.

                                                                              xxxxxx

and the skiing was great fun, especially the coffee breaks.

xxx

Depressed Dog.

OK so I am going skiing tomorrow with my hub and leaving my two beautiful teenagers behind. 

NOT home alone as they wanted though.

There is a list sitting on the kitchen table with all the things I have to do today.. and it reads something like...

clean bathrooms,

clean out chickens

dust 

wash sheets

wash dog beds

tesco

iron

and its lunchtime already and I have to take the dog to the vet

because he has a sore paw and has a bucket on his head. 

He's a sad boy.

So I really shouldn't be on here blabbing.

But I wanted to log the progress with the birds.

I am doing a little when I get the chance.

This is the sample piece in which I was experimenting with the branches.

I tried a few with twiggy branches which I really like.

I also like the amount of branches in this sample. The horizontal lines give it a kind of rhythm.

 So far only one branch is in along the width of the piece. 

This was done using freezer paper cut as a stencil and then ink pen criss crossed over the paper.

I think there will be a fair few branches and that they will be in contrasting tones, light to dark.

The lighting is horrific on these, the cotton is bright white and not blue white.

I will have to start using my camera again and not the iphone.

Last night at Merville, Martha gave me a summer dress which someone had given her for the fabric.

She thought I might like it....

Not so good with the boots. But a lovely dress which I am going to take up over the knee.

AND it's LIBERTY Tana Lawn...

I am chuffed with it. Roll on those lazy hazy crazy days of summer.

This is what Martha is making at the moment

This is quite a large quilt with lots of applique and stitching, with crystals applied on top. It is fantastic. And it is a gift for some lucky people. 

Aah heck can't be annoyed with the epic list in the kitchen.

But then no more house work or work for a whole week.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

QUAGMIRE

I have made only a tiny little bit of progress with my birds.

Sorry this image is so dark, but the weather is sooo dark and grey and wet and wet some more.

My garden is a quagmire.

QUAGMIRE, what a word.

The chickens are going to disappear into this quagmire if the rain doesn't go away.

This is about 50 something inches by about 40 inches.

I havent straightened the edges yet. my idea at the moment is to work on it the way I used to paint.... looking, adding lines, adding colour, looking adding etc and going with it rather than planning it all out. It's more intuitive that way.

I do have an image in my head of how it will finish up. and I have an idea of the texture of it and the stitches.

This is a sample I was fiddling with today, trying to see what branches look like.  And what way to draw them, or paint them, or sew them maybe?

I like the repetition of the birds printed on the white cotton.

And I have an idea of trees at dusk with darkish branches and the light behind.

A little bit of stitching added.

Slow Progress.

But progress.

xxx

Quilts everywhere

Last Thursday night at Merville quilt group........

Ella's quilt....

Rosie's...

Ethna's...

Doreen's...

Brenda's (mum's)...

Quilts everywhere you look

......and plenty of chocolates too

now which one to have...

xxx

Still thinking.

I have been playing again.

printing and inking and painting and messing.!

In my sketchbook first....

And then on white cotton....

I generally just had a lot of fun with this one piece of polystyrene cut into a bird shape. The polystyrene is from a pizza packaging. These pizza bases are great for printing and one side sometimes has a texture on it which adds to the print.

It is also good to draw into the polystyrene with say a knitting needle or pencil and then print the image.

Actually I might do that soon. Am thinking bird shapes or bird footprints.

Although I was thinking of working on some smaller pieces I think I might join the long pieces of prints together and work on a larger scale. I really like the black on white prints.

I don't know. Still thinking about it.

xx

Inktense.

Yesterday morning I started the day with a great walk up through the muddy wet lanes and fields beside our house. 

It's a great way to start the day, even if it means getting soaked to the skin. 

I think I actually enjoy it more in the rain.

So when I was out I was thinking about what to do next in the sewing department. Birds, there weren't many about. leaves.. not many of those either.. a few hanging from the branches.

Not many berries about, but plenty of ivy and ferns and rotting leaves underfoot and mud.

When I got up to the sewing room I got out my bird sketchbook which had a few pages filled.....

I really like the shape of this bird and I made a stencil this shape which was tucked inside the book.

So I played about with it for a few hours, along with my new Inktense blocks which I purchased months ago but hadn't got round to using.

Here are some images of play time....

You can get lovely intense colours from the blocks by adding water and blending.

This was all in my sketchbook using the blocks, black paint, white acrylic paint applied with a roller.

The next pictures are now moving onto white cotton.

The white cotton was not pristine to begin with, there were marks on it made by being in close proximity to me and my messy sketchbook work. But this is an advantage.

This is the cut shape of the bird, inktense applied then watered down quite liberally.

Then flipped over and printed onto the drawn shape. A roller isn't really needed here. Hands do just as good a job.

lines added by placing the fabric over a solid squared shape, then rubbing along the edges with the blocks. 

White acrylic paint squeezed onto a glass plate then rolled until it is thinly spread. This is then rolled onto the fabric.

I love the effect this has, and it also creates a resist for other layers applied on top.

I worked into this piece with further layers of inktense blocks applied like a watercolour wash, and random marks made with the edge of the blocks. The spirals are drawn with a permanent pen. The outline of the bird with a black ink pen.

Second piece. Cream cotton, the same stencil. The same methods, but also using a spiral stencil, cut from card. The stencils can be used below the fabric too and treated like a rubbing.

And my number one favourite play essential. Paper doilies.

Look at the gorgeous marks made by the doily and white paint.

And also the doily and red paint.

This is the reverse side.

The image above is the stencil used on a large brown envelope, which was scrunched up, ironed flat, paint rolled onto it and then the image applied. 

I love brown paper. I might try and sew this in some way onto cotton. There is an accidental tare down the middle but it adds to the appeal. Old and worn look.

Onwards and upwards.

xxx

The Inktense blocks also come in pencil form.

youtube has some good tutorials and info about the Inktense range

youtube.com

and type in Inktense, or inktense on fabric.

xx