Tools of the trade

I was torn between doing some photography and sewing yesterday, so decided to combine the two. I slapped the macro lens on the camera and opened up the tripod.  When the light levels are very low (it was raining all day),  the tripod and the remote control shutter release are essential if you want sharp pictures.

I used manual focus as the depth of field is so shallow -  a centimetre or there abouts - so it is vital that you manually focus on the spot you want, especially when it is a needle.  My eyes are not brilliant and I have a miriad of 'floaters' but a bit of concentration got the results I wanted. Because the pictures are a high resolution I was able to crop them closely around the area I wanted. 'Picasa' now lets you edit your pictures using 'Picnik' which enabled me to add the drop shadow, all very simply done.

'Rotary Cutter'

'Bobbins'

'Topstitch Needle'

'Needle and thread'

I do hope your are enjoying some sunshine as I am here. Chilly, but bright, the best January can get.

Jill

December's here

Congratulations all of you who have pledged to keep up the art calendar for twelve months we are nearly there.  So here is my completed November.

 Which looks so much more colourful now it is filled in - and December...

...a blank canvas. Who knows what the next 31 days will bring!

I will say again what great fun I find this to be, and I love looking back and seeing what happened when over the previous months. So helpful when you have a brain like a piece of sequin waste (in-joke there).

Today I should have been having lunch with the 'Nutty Knitters' group which I recently joined. However I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to icy and snowy weather so I sent my apologies. Our hostess lives up a lane about 12 miles away in the Bedfordshire countryside, and although she did e mail to say the road was passable  I am Mrs Cautious these days and full of "what ifs".  So I've been moping about thinking what a wimp I am. However to redeem myself here is my second blog in as many days. 

Firstly here are my attempts at knitting.

No, I am not knitting for a three legged baby with a split personality, they are supposed to be mini Christmas stockings. Even a wash and a hot press hasn't evened up my stitches! Just be grateful I'm not giving you one of these to hang on your tree when I come round! I am much better suited to the other kinds of needles.

Here are the two little journals I have made  covers for, in what I have called distressed patchwork as there are lots of frayed edges.

The embroidery was inspired by the bleached denim marks, I am pleased with the freer designs.

 They come with 4"x6" narrow lined journals.

Below is the last purse I managed to finish before the sewing machine seized up. I am not expecting news before the end of the week at least.

This purse is slightly stiffer than the previous ones and I am offering to add a cord to turn it into a little shoulder bag, for when you don't need to carry anything but you bit of plastic and a few coins.

What do you think? They are now in my Etsy shop.

PS You can view everyones calendar pages here

B*******!!!

I was really determined that I was going to write a post this week and not leave it so long, so I have managed 

six days so I have just about fulfilled my brief. I seem to have been really busy with visits for x-raying Mr T's knee (which is no longer giving him pain), the chiropractor and the hairdresser as well as spending a good few hours with the Nutty Knitters. I actually did some knitting this week, but ... well I might share it with you... I don't think I shall be knitting again for a while.  I have finished an order for a couple of book covers and a purse for a friend and a couple of mini-journal covers, but  I think this cycle of making has almost come to a close.  I had to remind myself that my Etsy shop is somewhere I can offer for sale the things I make rather than feeling I must make things to sell, which was not the point.  A little part of me feels I ought to exploit the Christmas present market, but only a little part. It has made me also realise that my urge to create is much stronger than my urge to make  money.

So I am going to share with you my next project, although the final idea I am keeping to myself for a while. 

This is my sketch book developing the idea of a tree in each of the seasons. I sketched them onto four 8cm x12cm rectangles of pelmet weight vilene.

I then coloured them with some Koh-i-noor watercolour dyes

and then enhanced the colour with my  lovely soft, waxy,  blendable Karisma colour pencils which are no longer available.

I then free machine stitched each panel over layers of coloured voile and organza .... but just as I finished with the orange/yellow thread on the foliage of the autumn tree my sewing machine seized up!!  I cleaned all the fluff out of all the accessible bits but that didn't help... oh no... B*******!!! have I done something wrong, or is it a fault with the machine?   I bought it locally from a very long established supplier so I do hope Mr Theobald is able to help me tomorrow.  Luckily I had finished my orders.

The little panels are ready for hand stitching, I want to build up lots layers of embroidery and I have in mind something to make with them, but I'm keeping that quiet for the moment. My Honesty Seed head book cover is more or less finished, I've added quite a bit more stitching since the last picture,  so it is waiting to be made up into a book.  I don't need my sewing machine for any of these things thank goodness.  

(Up-date: as the machine is still under warranty it is back to the manufacturer, so only hand stitiching and paper projects for a while)

I've just noticed that I have 97 followers, so when I reach 100 I shall have a special give-away so watch this space.

I'm here

Thank all of you for your support and good wishes. Mr T should be home from hospital tomorrow. But we are not counting on anything until he is in his favourite armchair. 

Meanwhile I have been busy and I have had to do a bit of vacuuming up of snips and scraps of cotton and fabric which formed a colourful layer under the dining table.

Amongst other projects, I have been working on a larger version of my crazy patchwork purses - a small shoulder bag. I have stitched down the patchwork and added some free-sewing machine stitching and it is now ready for some hand stitched embellishments.

Meanwhile I snapped this rather colourful Six-spot Burnet moth ...

... and my new penstemon  is a rather more vivid blue than I anticipated....

...but it looks great with the wonderful cerise lychnis coronaria.

Hopefully I shall be 'on-line' again soon, and will be able to catch-up with everyone's posts.

Bin doin' a bit of stitchin'

When I was in town I popped into Waterstones and came across this book by Jenny Rolfe and as it had quite a few machine embroidery techniques I just had to buy it. Using some of her ideas and some of my fabric scraps I made these two purses. I wanted a small purse I could just fit in my pocket with a few coins in when I pop down to the local shop, so necessity drove my creativity.

 

They are 'crazy patchwork' scraps bonded onto felt and then machine stitched. I discovered varigated quilting thread so I had to play with that too.

I lined them and they have a pocket for a credit card - or bus pass!

 

They fasten with a button and cord. I had such fun making them I think I shall make another pair. (I can get two out of one piece of felt. Even Mr T was impressed (Practical, you see) but he felt they were not for him.

Marvin was being photographers assistant, but I did manage to persuade him to pose - reluctantly!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend,

Jill

What I did next

I've been making these little scented shabby fabric hearts. 

Here is how: I cut out a heart shape from a piece of fairly strong fabric and then chose scraps of fabric, ribbon and lace that toned in. I then zig-zagged the trimmings onto the heart with a contrasting thread, adding a few random lines of stitching.

I then cut another heart the same size in a toning/or contrasting piece of felt for the back. I have some cheap viscose (or whatever) felt which I was wondering what I would use for.

I then stitched round the edge leaving a gap near the pointed end for stuffing. I stuffed them as firmly as I could and then added some pot-pourri oil on a piece of cotton wool.

As they are not turned inside-out it is easy to stitch up the gap. I then finished them off with a ribbon and a button or bow. I came home from my sisters with a big bag of fabric scraps and pieces of ribbon although that was before I got my machine and didn't know what I was going to do with them. I am beginning to build up my own bits collection now. She also sent me a tin of buttons and another bag of bits this week (what a great sister to have!)

I got a bit carried away photographing them in the afternoon sun. 

I must say I am rather pleased with them.

On Wednesday and Thursday I am going on a course at The Art Van Go Studio in Knebworth called "Books to Cherish with Frances Pickering. Here is one of her books, so you can guess I am really looking forward to it. I hope I shall something interesting to share at the end of the week. Meanwhile I hope you all have an enjoyable and creative week too.

Book by Frances Pickering

Sew, so...

I thought I would share with you what I have been doing this week - well some of it.  I have been getting to know my new sewing machine. It is a long time - years, since I had my old machine out so I am  not only getting to know my new one, but also getting my eye in. On the whole using a sewing machine is like riding a bike, once you have learned you never forget, although you may be a bit wobbly at first. After having to resort to the instruction book to get it threaded up and stitching a few up and down rows  I thought I would make some scented hearts. I thought I could make them button-up which would give me buttonhole practice too. I also made a little draw-string bag to keep the foot pedal and cable in as like ALL the machines I have owned these are a real pain to store. I raided my sewing box and have found quite a few scraps - here are my attempts.

The red candy stripe one was my first attempt and I soon realized I had made it rather small, and turning inside out through the button opening was a bit of a struggle. I also realized I had managed to sew the loop so it ended up on the inside! But the button-hole was fine. The second attempt was the white muslin one, but I still managed the get the loop on the inside. I know the theory, but somehow I got it wrong. The third one was the orange check - hurrah , the loop is in the right place, but it has got a twist, oh well never mind. The draw string bag was more straight forward, but it still seemed to take all afternoon! Here's a close-up.

They could have a bit more wadding, but that was all I have till I do a bit more shopping. I have scented them with pot pourri oil. Jane, you may recognise a couple of your buttons!

Otherwise I have had a go at free-style embroidery, but that will need a lot more practice before I have anything worth looking at.

 Hope you have a relaxing Easter weekend.

I count my blessings

I consider myself very lucky. My new sewing machine arrived today - and yes I had to go out and give my talk! I'll begin at the beginning.

Mr T, love him, said he would buy me a new sewing machine for my birthday, and after humming and hawing over which model he said I was to go for it, so I did and ordered a wonderful new Brother machine from my local shop last Thursday. Mr Theobald from the oldest shop  in Luton said it should be in on Monday, it could even be in the next day. I was like a kid a Christmas, waiting for the phone to ring - only it didn't. Late Tuesday I was beginning to feel a bit sulky - childish I know, but I had dusted, vacuumed, laundered and ironed so I would have a clear day or two to play, but at this rate everything would need doing again (I know, it was only two days).  A phone call to Mr Theobald reassured me that is was on its way - having to order by computer had caused the delay, and he had arranged it to be delivered straight to my house on Thursday. 

Now Thursday - that is the day I am giving my talk, so I wake early with a few butterflies, and lay listening to the Today programme dozing - when .... silence ... no electricity. I get up and check the fuse box - no problem there, so batteries in the radio and I find out from the local radio station that half of Luton has been effected by a power cut. NO ELECTRICITY!  I am giving a talk with a PowerPoint presentation AND I am getting my new sewing machine - I need power. No tea and toast for breakfast so what, tuna sandwiches for lunch, fine - all this going through my head in the first five minutes of no power. Of course, by 8.30 all was restored, I though, needed a calming bath and a bacon sandwich to before I felt restored. The rest of the morning I thought I'd start my April page for my journal to give me something to do. Then I checked and double checked my notes for my talk at 2pm. At 1.30 I was nearly ready to go, dusting of my old laptop bag and making Mr T promise he wouldn't go out in case there was a delivery - I was sure it wasn't going to come - and then there it was - a large lorry with a cheery driver with a box under his arm! How could that be my new machine, but it was - it is about half the weight of my old one. But I had to leave it unopened in the hall and dash off for my talk.

My talk - thank you for all your good wishes - went fine. The projector 'talked' to my laptop and I had time to settle myself in before I began. I had 50 slides and up to an hour and a half to fill. The first half went very quickly and I rather raced through, but after a cup of tea and a hot cross bun and lots of encouragement I relaxed and slowed down a bit. My subject was a local beauty spot which is familiar to most of my audience, but I hope I was able to give them a different viewpoint and a bit of new information.

So it was home to my new toy.

My picture is of a piece I have been working on with painted on dye and hand stitching. It was waiting for some machine embroidery.