Flaming Dragon Hen!

Should I really be posting my laughable silk painting samples?  Oh, alright, just so that you can learn from my experience, you understand.  I thought that you'd be interested to see how this latest 'fabric colouring' for my C&G turned out.  Interesting, even if it wasn't quite how I expected it to be.

My two top tips for any other inexperienced but aspiring silk painters are as follows: 1) make sure that your gutta line is 'secure' (so that it fully encloses any area you want enclosed) and isn't so thin that you can't see it when you are painting (!); 2) don't spray so much water on to the silk that it bridges the gutta that you so carefully applied!

I'll try to remember this next time I have a go (after all, I still have half a large scarf to use!).




This second piece worked slightly more as I'd intended....but I've still got some way to go until I'd say I was completely happy with what I was doing.

 The rest of the week I've been sewing C&G samples.  This hexie pattern by hand, and then applied to a white background.

This prairie point tree was fun to make - although I'm not sure that the tiny one at the tip of the tree does anything for it!

Away from my C&G course samples, I managed to finish this.  I decided to make a wall hanging from these workshop sample pieces - the dense quilting around the faux trapunto roses meant that any quilt that used these blocks would be a bit too stiff to be cosy.  Although Ferret had suggested that it was possible to beat the bend back into heavily quilted items it all sounded quite physical - not up my street at all!

I opted for a simple zig zag around the edge, topped with a frame of large ric rac.  I think that they look rather like postage stamps now. 


It isn't a quick process, the micro pebbling around the top rose took me almost four hours, I think, but it does give satisfying results.


Off for some much slower hand sewing now - I need to get something done on my cathedral windows sample now.  Of course, I might have hoped to watch TV whilst I was doing this, but I would be unlucky today as it appears that DD2 has hidden the remote control on her way out to school.  Parenting top tip?  Don't start bickering with small children who are holding even smaller bits of technology if there is a chance that you'll want it before school comes out!  Thank goodness for Radio 4, my standard daytime companion!