Misty Winter Garden and WOYWW

 Over the last few weeks we have had some very misty mornings - I live right by the coast so a lot of sea mist rolls in and one of the things I love is being cosy in bed and listening to the fog horns through the night.

The other thing I love is waking up and seeing the garden through the thick, swirling mists - which is what these little embroidered collages are all about!  I've been playing about with them for the last couple of weeks trying to capture the bare winter plants appearing and disappearing into the fog.  It's been fun, but I'm ready for Spring now!   

I'm linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Landscape and Sunset Collages

 After a much longer than anticipated break from crafting I have finally been back in my studio and done a little bit of creating.  These collages are a great way of getting back into it and I really enjoy working in this very small format - they are approximatley 2" sqauare. I randomly picked the subject and colour out of a jar I have on my desk, and landed up with 'landscapes' and 'orange', which led me straight to sunsets!

I am linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Projects On The Go!

I finished making Christmas cards last night but I still have several things on the go at the moment - I'm working on three little  garden landscape collages (nothing to do with Christmas!) based on some of the mini collages I've done over the last few months (see here) - I rather liked the colours and knew I wanted to continue working in those sorts of shades. 

In the background some Christmas coasters are drying after having their last coat of varnish - I decoupaged them as small extra gifts for some family and friends.  What the picture doesn't show is almost every pot of glue and paint that I own 

were used as stands for this mass varnishing event - 24 coasters in total!  I really should have put the sewing machine away to give myself more room but it has been taken out as I need to make a pair of curtains - if I put it away again they'll never get made! 

I'm joining in with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Little Foggy Garden Embroideries and WOYWW

 I've finally got round to finishing the little 'foggy garden' embroideries that I was making in my last post and I've attached them loosely to my sketchbook - I'm not yet sure if they will stay there or if I will do something with them. 

Not a desk shot but this is a corner of my studio that just had the late evening sun hit it while I was up there - it made the glass jars sparkle so I grabbed a photo before the sun went down completely.

 I'm joining in with Sarah over at WOYWW this week. 

Embroidery Mat and WOYWW

A few years ago I picked up a wool ironing mat from a crafting/quilting fair -it's been brilliant and I use it all the time when I'm sewing - among other things it's a pin cushion and a place to pin little scraps that I'm working with.  The downside is that I often pick up fibres from it while sewing and end up picking them out of the embroideries with tweezers!  So this week I decided to cover one side of the mat with some smooth cotton fabric.  I blanket stitched it all around the sides - this means the covered side can be used for sewing and I can flip it over for ironing - the embroidery doesn't get flattened when ironed face down on the wool side.

 I'm sewing my way through some more little garden themed collages - we get a lot of sea mists in the mornings living so close to the water and I love the way the garden peeps through in such lovely soft muted colours.  

 

The corners of the mat were a bit hit and miss and are all different, giving it a very individual look!! 

I'm linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

 

 

Garden Shadows

 I've been working on a few mini collages based on shadows and shapes around my garden at dusk - always one of my favourite times of the day in the summer.  My garden is on two levels and has steps to the top garden but also lots of smaller steps from one area to another, little walls, and lots of paths - a great variety of shapes and textures to work with! These little collages are approximately 2 inches square, and after staining the backgrounds I added hand embroidery and collage papers, finishing off with gold leaf which I discovered is very tricky to attach to fabric!  

 

I'm linking up with Sarah for WOYWW this week.

Embroidery and WOYWW

I've recently been making a few cards and enjoying the process of dyeing the backgrounds and embroidering the flowers - it's very relaxing.

A while back I came across a holder for embroidery thread bobbins and decided it would be ideal to separate and hold the colours I was currently working with. I just couldn't justify the rather high price of it so the Hubs made one for me - it does the job and keeps the spools tidily in one place while I'm working.   This holds 7 bobbins - a perfect size as I rarely need that many at a time, and I also didn't want it to take up too much room on my desk. 

After 15 years of running WOYWW, Julia has decided to pass the baton on to Sarah.  A big thank you to Julia for all the wonderful work she has done keeping the blog hop up and running for so long - she's done a tremendous job but is now off enjoying a well deserved Wednesday rest and new directions.  So hello to Sarah, and an appreciative thank you for deciding to keep this group going!  

I'm linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW

Collages and Stitch

This week I've been keeping the creativity going and out of the prompt jar came the theme of Samplers and the colour Orange.  I chose to do a different embroidery stitch on each little collage square, and I'm using bits of dress pattern and some vintage embroidery transfers that I've had for absolutely ages! Still a few squares to go, and in case anyone is wondering what the sellotape is for, I use it to hold down the threads on the back when starting and finishing, instead of using bulky knots.

 

 My prompts are written on different colours of paper to depict themes, colours and techniques.  I haven't used the technique prompts yet, they are an extra help if I feel uninspired!  I know a couple of people have wanted to know what my prompts are so for anyone interested here are the lists.

Themes: birds, tree houses, seasons, landscapes, maps, text, gardens, samplers, beach, shadows.

Colours: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, neutrals, pink, grey, turquoise.

Techniques: tissue paper, wax, metallic, stencils, teabags, stitch, watercolour, pastel/chalk, photographs, die-cuts

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week

Enjoying Embroidery

 I've been enjoying the Olympics while stitching - especially now, as anything going on in the Velodrome is by far my favourite and I shall be barely moving from the living room for the next few days!

I have turned a couple of the embroideries into cards and my mini mobile desk is getting more untidy by the day!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

My Mobile Desk!

 My studio has been too hot to work in over the last couple of weeks so I transferred some embroidery bits into a tin lid and that has been my mobile desk!  It's accompanied me around the house and garden letting me settle wherever I want to and although the weather has cooled down a bit, it is currently on the table next to my armchair so I can watch the Olympics!  

In the lid is a jumble of everything I need - embroidery threads in the colours I'm currently obsessed with, some rust printed cotton and cyanotype printed silk that I have torn into squares, plus needlebook and scissors - all set for making card toppers!

I assembled a few cards yesterday with some of the squares but still have quite a few to do. These are in my favourite summer theme of the garden at night. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Embroidered Needlecase and WOYWW

 It's been too hot to work up in my craft room this week, but it's been the perfect weather to sit and sew in a shady spot of the garden - so to be productive I've made myself a needlecase for my beading and tapestry needles!  

This happy mail arrived yesterday from Julia - what a gorgeous ATC and card and such a delight to receive - thank you so much Julia.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

WOYWW 12th Anniversary

  It's the 12th Anniversay of WOYWW this week - what an amazing achievement, and huge thanks and appreciation to Julia, our host over at the Stamping Ground.   It's still the amazing, friendly and fun group it was when I first joined in 10 years ago.

 Last week I started hand embroidering a couple of ATC's for this week's celebratory swap but it took me so long to make two that I had to forego that idea and re-think the plan.  All ATC's have been re-thought and made - amazingly for me most have been posted - and the embroidered panels are very slowly becoming card toppers!

 

Winter Weaving

Whilst having a sort out in my studio I came across a piece of weaving I did last winter - the original idea was a frosty garden with hibernating seeds buried deep and starting to come alive.  It's been lying in the 'winter' box untouched, and although it's rather wonky because I used different thicknesses of yarns and ribbons in the weaving I felt it needed to be finished and filed away!   This week I've added pleated silk, bits of old lace, pearl beads and lots of embroidery as surface decoration.   

 I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW today.

Stay safe, and if anyone gets stir crazy or overwhelmed by the whole process of self isolation and social distancing please do contact me and I'd be very happy to 'chat'!

Rust Printing, Book Making and WOYWW

I have spent the last few weeks slowly making a gift for my dear blog friend Terri over at Art-Life-Rust, which she has now received so I can show it!  She recently sent me the most beautiful water colour painting and I wanted to send her a little something back to show my appreciation.  I knew I wanted to make a little notebook but the blizzard binding needs very accurate folding so I had to wait until my hand was recovered enough from my recent operation to fold and put pressure on the paper.

Little by little it's come together - using rust printed fabric I stamped some text on to it, then embroidered, beaded and collaged.   

I remembered to add ribbons for closure just before gluing the inner lining to the covers - something I forgot to do on the last one I made (here)!

I have used Khadi paper for the pages but the nature of a Blizzard binding means the pages can be changed around or replaced with different papers.   

I am linking up with WOYWW and the Mini Album Makers Challenge.

Old Postcards and Childhood Memories and WOYWW

I have been struggling to do much in the studio recently as the Carpel Tunnel problem in my left hand has become decidedly worse.  This has been going on for several years and after quite a long waiting list and some hospital cancellations I'm thankfully, or should I say hopefully having it done on Friday!

However, I have managed to make these little collages, doing little bits to them here and there over the last couple of weeks. I still need to do some more hand sewing but to be honest that's quite uncomfortable for me at the moment, so they will have to go into the 'work in progress' box for a while.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW  to see what other people have on their desks this week.

Textile Birthday Card and WOYWW

October is a busy month for birthday celebrations and this week it's my sister's birthday, so here is the card and gift bag I made for her.

I picked up some lovely tweed fabric squares from a charity shop a few weeks ago and decided they would go very well with the beautiful rusty orange coloured silk velvet.

I embossed the velvet with a leaf stamp, covered a couple of buttons with the same velvet, die cut some copper sheet and added some hand embroidery and beading.

I made the origami envelope but needed paper nearly A1 in width to get it to the correct size (6"x6") - it's open so the card just slips in, which is fine when it's not going through the post!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Tree Houses

 I've been gently getting back into a creative frame of mind, and messing about with tree houses!
I've always loved them, ever since Peter and Jane had one in a Ladybird book when I was a child - anyone remember?!  I yearned for one, to no avail - we didn't have a tree for a start - but they still hold a real fascination for me. 

I've just been down memory lane and found the original image on Google - I remember in my tree house I wanted an easel in the corner so the wood grain wouldn't show through the paper, as I'm sure it must have done on Peter's drawing - I was pernickety even back then!   

I'm linking up with Julia this week over at WOYWW