Moving forward?

Still producing small projects - anything that needs more than half an hour of concentration is still on the back burner!  This is a postcard made for a swap with the theme of 'pink'.

Another postcard for the birthday swap - this theme was windows.  It was also a good chance to try out some reverse applique, as I'll need to do some in my college course in my next module.  This was a fun project, all recycled stuff on the front - a colour catcher cut into the window shapes and sweet wrappers under it, with random placement.

1. I've also made a few applique samples for my course - all the fast techniques have been covered (or at least, all the fast techniques in my repertoire - that's seven of them!) so I'll need to check my books later in the week to look and see which other ones I've missed.  I suspect that there are relatively new ones using glue or lots of starch that I haven't covered, and the 'old' traditional ones where you need to mark out with fine pencil lines.

I hope that your concentration is better than mine, and that you are having a fun and creative January!

Where does my time go?

 I have produced almost nothing, whereas I have received a lovely bag from the lovely Benta - who produced a number of bags to give away, and who seems to be very busy sewing on any number of different projects!  Thank you Benta (and she gave the girls lovely Ozzy gifts too, which they are thrilled with!).

 I have managed to make a couple of fabric postcards - one of my swap group had asked for cats, butterflies, or flowers - probably not expecting to have all of them on one card!

 Whilst I was fussy cutting cats I made another for a swap later in the year.

I did manage to spend a hour or so printing - and was quite pleased with some of this print, made with the edge of corrugated card, the top of an old tic-tac box, an old eraser.

It was fun to be printing - trying to pick out shapes from parts of concrete pumps, tractors, brick laying patterns to support the industrial theme of this part of my C&G. 


I just wish that I hadn't lost quite so much of the week doing bits of admin (furniture shake up in the living room, small house repairs to organise, more admin yada yada).  I need to get busy with a needle as I'm just not getting started on any of the projects that I've got in my head!  It all seems to be a slower start to the new year than I might have hoped. Never mind, I'll hope for more energy and zip soon, and just enjoy what bits I can do for now.

New Year, New Projects, New Lists!

 The girls have gone back to school, the living room has been tidied, and I'm just about ready to start stitching again!

This year I'm taking part in TAST - Take A Sitch Tuesday - run by Sharon Boggon.  The first stitch is fly stitch - only the second time in my life that I've ever tried it.  You can see a short section of the final result on this fabric (layered with rectangles of sheers that don't photograph well, sorry!) here.

I thought that it would be useful to have a practise on something plain and to make a reference 'sheet' too. In fact this is a sheet - a turquoise cot sheet!  I've split some roughly A4 sections into eighths and over the year I'll build up six or seven sheets of stitch examples - which must also help with the C&G need to build samples, I'd have thought!

This is how the pages started - cot sheet, A4 (ish) wadding - last year I used them as bead mats, but now I have lovely plush 'proper' bead mats for when my friends come round, so these can be used up - and some 505 spray to keep them together whilst I'm stitching.  I know that I could have basted them together using old fashioned needle and thread, but I was worried that if I stopped to do that I might never get started on the actual stitching, and I think that if I'm going to do it that I will need to try and keep up as we go along!

So, only a little stitching, BUT a whole list of stitching projects up on my pinboard, and lots of ideas - as well as a couple of deadlines for minor items like postcards for a swap that I'm in.  Off to get on with some admin now, though, as I'm still trying to mentally clear the decks ready to allow myself to get on with the lovely stitching ideas!