A Little Quiltie for Mandy

I participate in a small Aussie art group that has an "Art of the Month" exchange and, for July, I was to make sweet Mandy something. I met Mandy at the Artistic Journey Retreat in Melbourne in 2007 and she really is the sweetest person, so I had a lot of fun creating a little quilt celebrating the theme of "home' for her. From reading her blog (just love her blog name!) I think she is having a bit of a rough time at the moment so hopefully this will be a little bit of a "cheer-up".

Incidentally I can also tell you that it was in the making of this quilt that I managed to damage my finger (in an automated car window no less - the mind boggles, I know...) but needless to say, that has nothing to do with Mandy and everything to do with my focus!! I know, be here in the now ... (just in case my wonderful sister Marrijane reads this!)

The little girl image is a freebie download printed on fabric from the wonderful Gaby. The quilt actually has a frayed edge and a hanger but those bits didn't fit on my scanner! And I don't think it is crooked in real life (although I am starting to wonder, having said that two posts in a row!)

PS I am in love with velvet ric rac (or is it rick rack?) and what's more, I can buy it in Kalgoorlie from the wonderful Renaye at Keepsake Krafts! This is an expansion on my ongoing leaf trim love (which I have to buy on the net)!

PS (+) Prepare yourself for some more inchie madness as Annie and I are hosting another fabric inchie swap with the Aust_NZArtQuilters group - this time the colour is way out of my comfort zone - it is RED!

Inching Artists - Lace

This week's theme over at Inching Artists is "Lace" so I made a little set of inchies with some leftover brown paper "fabric paper" (that has been painted and stamped) from an earlier project. The lace is wonderful adhesive paper lace that comes in sets of four designs - I love it, very practical and easy to use. I've added a sequin and seed bead on each for a little bit of dimension.

Inching Artists - Star Gazing & My Monday So Far

The theme at Inching Artists this week is "Star Gazing". I was planning on doing something more imaginative this week but I came across this beautiful piece of Peggy Skycraft paper that I bought some years ago at a Stamping Down Under Convention, in Sydney I think. Peggy does the most incredible things to paper! This piece really makes me think of a universe full of stars so I had to use it for these inchies. And of course then all I could think to add to it was stars!! I've used a Rubber Stampede dotty star background stamp that was one of my early stamping purchases. The embossing powder is gold pearl. I do so little embossing these days my antique gold powder has gone black!

Today I am having a day's recreation leave - it was a spur of the moment thing, fortunately I didn't have anything urgent or important happening at work and my boss was amenable to the short notice! So I have a whole pile of plans for what I am going to achieve - mostly things that I had hoped to finish over the weekend - I tend to plan way too much for each weekend of course.

So what is happening in my life creatively speaking - firstly I am very excited and honoured to be part of the 2008 Calendar Girls (nothing is posted there yet). This is a group of twelve women in the UK, US and Australia who are committed to a twelve month postcard exchange (any media) based on the inspiration provided by each month's picture on a particular calendar. Fortunately for me, one of the original group had to drop out and I got invited to fill the gap. I really want to stretch myself this year so I am going to be trying to use a wide range of media across the months and I'll be blogging about my progress and experiments. The exchange starts in January but of course I am busting with enthusiasm so yesterday I started playing with some ideas using rice and watercolour papers. You can see part of why I didn't get through all my planned stuff ...

I am also committed to the year long monthly Journal Quilt challenge on the Aus_NZQuilters yahoo group. My friend Annie is also doing it so we will keep each other inspired and on track with our Wednesday night get-togethers. I haven't done much textile work at all this year other than some postcards so an A4 size quilt a month sounds like a good way to get back into it. It might also justify the piles of fabrics I have accumulated. One of the really good things about this project is that each month there is a theme and a whole selection of techniques to choose from but none of them are obligatory. Apparently the 2006 Journal Quilts went on a travelling exhibition during 2007 - wish I had been able to see them. I don't know if they came to this part of the country or not.

I think I might have already mentioned that I am doing a small square quilt for the NSW CancerCouncil fund-raiser that Unique Stitching is organising - I have some ideas percolating away for that one too.

Joanna has now sent me the pattern for the little fairy slippers that we are making as part of an "out of your comfort zone" exchange so I am looking forward to starting them too. I have months before they are due but I like to start things straight away so they don't become a drag at the last minute. I say that but I regularly produce things under pressure at the last minute so maybe I am just kidding myself! These little slippers are going to be surface embellishment heaven with lots of beading and paint I think.

(Myra's Fabric Postcard)

And now to share some lovely mail I have received - firstly, a lovely package of ric rac and other yummy trims from the wonderful and very sweet Doreen Kinkade (who read my post about needing more black mini ric rac and decided to send me her supply!) and secondly, a wonderful fabric postcard trade from the very talented Myra (who also sent me some lovely extras). Many thanks to you both.

Inching Artists - All That Glitters (& Wonderful Mail)

I think I am becoming addicted to inchies - they are such a good way of using up some of those small strips of cardstock and fabric (trimmings!) that I just cannot throw out!!

This week's theme is "All that glitters" on the Inching Artists Challenge Blog (we need more players - come on, join in - inchies are easy and quick - and you even just do ONE!). I mean, how easy is that?

I have used gold webbing spray on black cardstock (pulled already sprayed from one of many "trimmings" boxes) with a large gold sequin topped by a smaller but still big pink sequin with iridescent gold flakes (what on earth did I buy them for anyway?) glued on top. I have outlined the edges with a pale gold Krylon pen. They will look good mounted together in a strip (instead of the crooked line-up above). They are very glittery although of course this doesn't show up very well in the scan.


And today I received a wonderful envelope in the mail from Andrea - she had enjoyed receiving an envelope from Australia and she very rightly guessed that I would love one from France! Andrea has sent me a wonderful 2008 Marc Chagall calendar and the sweetest knitted brooch which will look just perfect on a fabric journal I have been planning to make for myself. And look at those wonderful French stamps - they caused me as much excitement as the contents, especially that amazing large Bibliotheque one! Thanks so much for everything Andrea.

Inching Artists - Monotone

This week Linda of Inching Artists set the theme of "Monotone". I love monochromatic art and had a lot of fun last night making my inchies in cream and white with a touch of gold. They are all based on a photocopy of a collage I made some time ago that was constructed totally of small pieces of decorative paper and ephemera in this cream and white colourway. I had to look for very small embellishments as an inch square can look crowded very quickly!

Today I am trying to focus on the abundance in my life as I have had a very "flat" week and I am tired of my own thoughts. Two beautiful sources of abundance in my life - one big and one small - my son Josh is on his way home today for the summer as the uni year has finished (I love it when we are all together!) and the look of the double hanging basket full of ivy, trailing geraniums and chain of hearts outside my back door. The simplicity of cheerful pink flowers amongst masses of green leaves really appeals to me. The photo below is the side on view.

Inching Artists - Eye Spy

I had trouble with the theme at Inching Artists this week - "Eye Spy". But I was determined to participate before the theme changes tomorrow so decided to stop obsessing about doing something interesting and just get on with doing something! Originally I was going to do the keyhole thing but couldn't find a stamp (or image) small enough to fit on the one inch square. Then I was going to do a set of four different eyes but I smudged most of the others. You know what it is like when you decide to just casually wipe a spot and then you realise you have just transferred the entire image onto your finger! What is even worse is doing it repeatedly...

The image is one of four eyes on the Postmodern Design cube and it is stamped in black on dark blue cardstock that has been coloured with Moon Glow's Starburst Stain in Tibetan Poppy Teal - a beautiful colour, if very smudgeable!

Wednesday Stamper - Children

The theme this week for Wednesday Stamper is Children and of course I had to use one of my new Juxtaposed children stamps by Melanie Sage. Stamping on textured water colour paper is not the greatest idea but I loved the colours on this scrap and just had to use it for this ATC!

Yesterday I made really good progress with my metallic fabric inchies - they are fiddly but a lot of fun. I have all the bases done now and quite a few finished with the rest just needing embellishment. As soon as they are all finished I'll upload some pictures - they are pretty sparkly!

Today in the mail I received a replacement blank jigsaw so that is my next project - I feel so bad messing up the first time round so I will be taking a great deal of care numbering the pieces and linking the right names this time. Thanks to Elaine and Annie for getting me the jigsaw!

PS I'm doing a lunchtime post as I am flying to Perth tonight for a training course tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow evening.

Wednesday Stamper - Inchies

I love inchies (one inch square pieces of art) and this week the Wednesday Stamper "theme " is inchies!! Perfect for me as I love them.

I have made this set tonight from a background that was sitting in one of my many scrap boxes. This one is from at least 5 years ago when I was making Post-It Notebook covers for a swap using multi-coloured inkpads and a brayer on a linen look paper. It had even been through the Xyron so it was pretty easy to cut it up, ink the edges, do some background stamping, punch out some collage images, add some prima flowers and finally doodle and dot with a white gel pen. The white gel pen always makes me think of icing on cupcakes...

Inchies - Mirror, Mirror

The theme over at Inching Artists this week is "Mirror, Mirror". Lynda has prompted us to produce an inchie (or inchies) that answers the question - What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see?

This was HARD!! In the end I decided to stop agonizing and to use a little mirror tile. I added a question mark to represent my questioning nature and my constant self-questioning. I used Jones Tones plexi glue to draw the question mark and then foiled it. The mirror is wrapped with metallic fibre.

I am gradually getting used to working small - little one inch squares are about as small as I can imagine working on!

Inchies - Under the Sea

I love the blogs that have been specifically set up as challenges or prompts to encourage us all to do creative stuff on a regular basis. Of course they are optional on a week by week basis but since I have joined in on the fun with some of them I am finding I am doing more mid-week creating.

The newest one I have joined is Linda Baldock's Inching Artists - I mean how hard is it to make a one inch square of art once a week in your choice of media (paper, fabric, clay, mixed, canvas etc etc)??? If you haven't had a look at this new blog challenge - click on the link and have a look! The more the merrier with these challenges and this is the only the second week.

As I haven't had much spare time I have just made the one solitary inchie for the theme "Under the Sea". It is blue fabric fused to felt with some Angelina fibres added to the top, a tiny piece of fringed fibre to imitate sea plants, some gold stitching and a darling little gold mermaid charm. I think I will have to create a little series of them to accompany her when I have time so that I can use some of huge collection of tiny sea shells. I still have heaps that I collected many moons ago when I was a kid as well as all the ones I have picked up since! I know, it is no wonder I feel cluttered sometimes.

The second little inchie picture is actually an inch square clay tile (what would you call it?). My friend Jude saved for me as she knows I love to recycle "stuff". I think it was originally attached to a store-bought card. I am going to try using it as a mould first with Model Magic and see if I can make little embellishments with it.

I have included another photo of my first Circles Journal page because I took the little flower sequins off and swapped them for old pink-red buttons - I think they go better with the vintage woman image. The sequins were really bothering me as they just didn't look right. I have done the background for the back of this page and hopefully will have the page finished later today. I'm also working on completing the set of six "tissue paper studies" that need to be mailed to my partners in the US & Canada by the end of the month so I am really looking forward to a relaxing creative afternoon! It is a bit cold but the sun is shining, the birds are singing and I have the house to myself for a couple of hours - what more could I ask for?

A Wonderful Tree

I know this will seem a bit out of the blue, but when I was in Perth two weeks ago I took a quick photo of this wonderful tree outside the offices of some people I was meeting with. The texture of the paperbark was just too incredible to ignore. As a result of some of the reading I am doing I am becoming a lot more interested in recognising that surface design inspirations can come from the images in my life and everyday environment. This was not an everyday image for me but it was certainly one I took the time to notice!

Tonight I was going to make the base of some more inchies so that I could bead and embroider them when I am at Annie's tomorrow night, but after dinner (and a wonderful Andre Rieu in Dublin DVD) we decided on the spur of the moment to go through some of Joseph's slides from New Guinea in the period 1966 to 1973. Fascinating pictures and lots of colourful inspiration. To set up the slide projector we of course had to move the metres of no-knit scarf yarns and fibres that are decorating the lounge room at present (and Mum, if you read this tomorrow, I am just teasing!).

Blog posts look so lonely without pretty pictures so tonight's artwork is of some pieces I have previously made. The first is a page I made for a friend's deco - I used a floral print tulle over the page to get the soft effect and then added beading and a hand stitched edge. The second one i s a simple journal cover I made for a young friend. I need to remind myself that I often find a simple "look" very attractive and that I need to do them more!

So Glad to be Home!

Well I am home again and so happy be here. It was fun though to be in Perth for a few days and to catch up on some shopping Friday night after work (especially books but also a nice handbag and lots of printed tissue paper to incorporate in an exchange that I have joined that is based around tissue paper). It also gave me the opportunity to catch with a friend and with my son and his girlfriend Saturday morning. We had a delicious breakfast at the King St Cafe (a big favourite of mine in the heart of the city). The photos were taken late afternoon (above) and early afternoon outside the Matilda Bay Restaurant in Crawley. This is where we had a workshop on Wednesday and for someone like me that has lived inland on the edge of the desert for the last 13 plus years, it was just bliss to be so close to the beautiful Swan River! You can see the Perth skyline in the background.

This is just a really quick post because I am trying to maximise creative time today after 4 days without any. I have come home to my darling new Fancy Pants stamps (flourish, swirl and twirl heaven!!) which arrived from A Creative Place on Friday - great service as always. I've bought the Bella Brush and Pollen Dust plates as they have a great range of images and sizes. Today I am working on finishing my "Arch" shape book covers and page (for a shape based book round robin) and my Paint Metal and Fabric "item" for a one-on-one challenge. Hopefully I will be able to share photos tomorrow.

Tomorrow we have a public holiday in Western Australia so I am planning on getting the housework done first thing and then I have a whole pile of other stuff to start including this week's Wednesday Stamper, some cards for Stamping & Papercraft, several fabric postcards for various commitments, a set of six tissue based collages and 63 fabric "inchies" in blue. These are one inch decorated fabric squares and I have to make 7 sets of 9. These are all the rage at the moment but this is my first go at these. They are not terribly different in concept from some I have made before for various journal exchanges as shown in these photos but these ones will have batting and backing to allow various options for their use or mounting. So lots of lovely stuff to do and I had better get on with it!!