Chenille Pillowcases With Applique

 after reading "Alabama Style Studio" by Natalie Chanin, which i found at the library i was inspired to do a little bit of hand stitching. also trying to decrease my fabric collection.

 this old piece of chenille had some small rust stains, the rest of it was in good condition.  instead of trying to remove them  i made french knots with embroidery thread on top of the stains in a rusty colour to blend in. (you can see a stain in the centre of the photo  if you look closely).

 cut some petal shapes from scrap floral cotton, machine stitched them around the french knot centres, then hand stitched the petals with a running stitch.

 two new pillowcases from old fabrics found at the op shop.

included in the book there are tutorials & patterns for projects & clothing, & recipes.
 Natalie Chanin is a very generous author. lots of hand stitching, reverse applique, embroidery, ideas for using leftover fabric, easy to read & lots of descriptive photos.
you can see her here.
(raylee).

What Are You Doing This Week?.......

......i have been painting.
(raylee).

Scrappy Ladies

 

and after a bit of consultation...

the ladies have been finished...

and now cover the front of a cushion....

 

 

 while I was sewing the cushion...

I also had time to finish the backing on this latest quilt...

 

 

this material was gifted to me...

when I was looking for grey and black colours a while ago...

I found the bag and had enough to get this made..

just a top and cotton backing...



Stitches in progress

when I should be working on finishing this...

it only needs the backing to be sewn on...

 

I have been still working on the little bits of scraps...

remembering that I can work quietly...

with bits on my lap...

and just cutting or hand sewing...

 

and all that stuff I don't want to throw away...

can be used for something else...

hexagon shapes that I found in a tin...

have been joined by some more scraps...

and colours...

hope it will be a cover of flowers when finished...

then yesterday I found this photocopy...

given to me by my Mum many years ago...

she said that she always wanted to do something like it...

and wondered where it had got to...

 

so I had a bit of a play with my scraps...

and this is what I'm now working on...

Monochromatic Colour Scheme......

......landscape in acrylic.
 today's art lesson was "how to paint a water scene in watercolour".......what a disaster!
i don't know what possessed me to attempt it.......watercolour landscapes were never a priority for me.
having not painted with this medium for many years, it was a shock to the system.
 my first attempt was discarded & the next nowhere  near finished.
 i came home from class & looked through my old watercolours to see if i had ever been able to paint water.......i found a couple, so back to the drawing board i guess.......or leave it alone, maybe?

so i have posted my  "acrylic landscape" from a couple of weeks ago.
 the lesson was painting "aerial perspective in a monochrome colour scheme".
the palette knife is growing on me.......i started with a brush but kept looking for the knife, it suits my "give it a go, see what happens attitude". i like that i can "feel" where the paint is going on the canvas.
(raylee).

Three Gold Stars - Mixed Media Painting

 today is the day i stop playing with this artwork!.......it has been on my table for weeks now......in between other projects i have been adding bits & pieces to this one.....

how it looked in the beginning.......

 a bit further along........so to answer a question from the comments for the  previous post.......yes it could have been finished at this stage, but it becomes quite addictive adding layers & layers of paint over all that texture......just to see what happens next!
the idea for this painting came from "cloth paper scissors magazine, september/october 2010, issue 32 from a tutorial by lisa kesler."

i usually brush excess paint onto what ever is close by, while painting this one it was the pages of  an old book.  towards the end of the painting  i  brushed the excess paint onto  the inside cover.
 i like the simplicity of this "painting".
(raylee).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

our backyard is surrounded by greenery so i thought i would show you some......as it is St. Patricks Day .
there are lots of trees so there are lots of birds. rainbow lorikeets are the most colourful.
a couple of recycled projects, the tablecloth i made from a  hand painted cloth that had seen better days, added some pieces of of old patchwork from bed covers & stitched embroidered doilies over the holes.
a work in progress on a used canvas.......creating a  textured surface with moulding paste, stencils & stamps, buttons, & acrylic paint.
enjoy your day whatever you are doing!
(raylee).

Bits and Pieces

I recently got the opportunity to change my space...

so have been going through my "stuff "...

 

found a couple of lacy tablecloths... 

which became a curtain for the window...

a bit of a look at what I've been working on...

with the nose of the new machine...

sample fabric which still has the colour name stickers on...

trying to match up some similar colours...

to make a bigger size quilt...

also found this odd creation from my Grannie...

all the rage in my early teens...

baby doll face with crochet plastic raffia to hold a ball of string...

and the string end comes out her mouth...

funny...the stuff we keep...

an old box that I had covered in paper mache brown paper...

with the old Christmas images from a magazine...

and this box is full of maps...

places we've been...

and collections for use one day...

 

and a couple of Raylee's early works...

that I took from her stash...

a few years ago...

so everything old is new again...

different things to look at for a while...

till I pack them up again...

 

its no wonder that I cant throw anything away...

Creative Awakening - Wee Jasper Journal Pages

this afternoon i have been putting together some pages for "the wee jasper journal"........my earliest memories of people who sowed the seeds of creativity for me: in the beginning my mother & all my grandmothers, & my great grandfather.

 

 my mum with three of her uncles.

 my great grandmother "Nell". a collaged page for the wee jasper  journal......

 the old wee jasper school where my school days began. here is an excerpt from today's journalling:
 " i  started school later than most kids, i was close to nine! it was 1963, i remember it well as it was the year president Kennedy was assassinated. that was the biggest news during my early childhood.
my older cousin went to the wee jasper school, so my aunty volunteered to take me too. i was not keen on the idea, anyway after a lot of sulking & tears i went with them.
it was a one class room , one teacher school. the ages of the pupils ranged from about six to sixteen.
most of the lessons were all jibberish to me. i had no idea what the teacher was talking about a lot of the time.
i learnt three things at that school,: i hated boiled egg sandwiches,
                                                    lunch time was the best part of the school day, we played rounders i think it's like softball?,
                                                    the third & best of all was the first time we were told to go outside for a lesson.
what a surprise when we were introduced to a pretty young blonde woman - Miss  Nancy Cathles.
Nancy changed my mind about school, she taught us to weave - just the simple kind with wool & a piece of cardboard. this was major for me, i had only seen sewing & knitting until that day.
this was new & exciting & easy. i could do it without help from an adult!, which wasn't the case with sewing & knitting.
from that day on i looked forward to school, well just the days that Nancy came to teach us crafty things."

                                                  

 some of the kids i went to school with.

 Nancy was a pupil at the school in 1950 (kneeling on the right side of photo).

  i have stitched this page from the journal onto an old doily. i have decided to make a paper & cloth journal using embroidered doilies, calico & cotton florals.

 the embroidered side of the doily is the back side of the page......

a close up of the machine & hand stitching with tabs at the side. each page will have three  tabs.
  when all the pages are completed the tabs will be placed one over the other & held together with  buttons.
(raylee).

Some Days are Diamonds.....Some Days are Not

some of the feathered "gems' that have been visiting the back yard this past week.

i have had an up & down week, this quote more or less sums it up:
"God has blessed me
i have seen better days,
but i have also have  seen worse.
i do not have all my wants, but i do have all my needs.
i woke up with a few aches & pains, but i woke up!
my life may not be perfect,  but i thank God it is good."
i found this quote on pinterest, don't know the author.

while looking through old photo files i found another quote someone had saved:
"tomorrow will be better", i took that as a sign.
yes, each day has been better than the previous one......so i'm moving  forward this week.
i have been keeping busy & hope to actually finish some of the  projects that i'm working on & paintings that are kinda halfway there.
how are things with you?........all going well i hope.
(raylee).