Sunday, 19 October 2008

Surprise swap

I recently made a postcard for a fellow TQS member who then said she would swap with me. I was expecting a postcard but in the mail on Saturday morning came a beautiful surprise.



Have been making postcards of late mainly as a way of learning what my new sewing machine can do. Here is the one that I sent to Diane, the fellow TQS member.

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

No more Romans

No the header is not  a racist comment, it simply means that my course - 'Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire' is now over except for waiting for the result in December. I think the exam went OK but will just have to wait and see. It has given me some ideas for some textile work, however, but will give it a couple of weeks before starting on that and just go back to playing for a while, particularly as the new machine is now up and running. 

I haven't been entirely lazy since the exam, immediately after I had to get a card and a gift box made for my cousin's birthday. I made my first foray into fabric postcards for the card and used Sue Bleiweiss' design from Fibre & Stitch for the box to house a lovely felted brooch that I bought at Chatsworth back in September. Both went down well.


Dale's course has now ended and we are about to embark upon an ATC swap between members of the group (another first for me) so I have also been making some of these ready. I wasn't sure whether they had to be embellished ones so I also chopped up a sample piece that I did at a workshop called 'Fossil Evidence' with Alysn at The Beetroot Tree a few years ago. Quite enjoyed doing these as they are quick!




I decided also that it was time to do some more quilting. In view of the fact that I am not fully familiar with the machine yet I thought some journal quilts would be a good idea - less to discard if things go wrong. I had some lovely hand dyed fabric that was so reminiscent of a tree in the garden that has just turned into its autumn brilliance and I also had loads of fabric that was pre bonded with Bondaweb from a workshop I did with Barbara Weeks about eight years ago (nothing is ever wasted is it?) so have just played around this morning. I think there is going to be some stamping and, of course, quilting but a the moment they are sitting on my design wall while I wait for them to talk to me. Just a preview although they are in progress of course.



Well it has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things but I have at least enjoyed reading what so many of you have been doing over the last few weeks. Hopefully I can be a bit more active from now on. I like this time of the year - shorter days mean less time for gardening and more time for creativity