Art

I fell in love with this collaged painting from Etsy :: robruhn :: Ro Bruhn Art shop, it's not often I treat myself to a work of art, so I am absolutely thrilled with this. The photo does not really do it justice as the colours are far richer than this in real life.


Not only did I get my collage, but Rohan sent me lots of sheets of her hand decorated papers and a tag. These colourful works of art are the things that make me a regular visitor to her blog. Thanks Ro.


It's been my lucky week. These metal wall hangings appeal to me and I wanted one for my lounge. They come in many varied designs and yesterday I saw one I hadn't seen before and when I showed it to my husband, he liked as well and bought it for me. Regular visitors to my blog know that we overlook the estuary and there are more yachts there this year than ever before, so this object is particularly suitable.


My internet connection is making my life particularly difficult just now and it is very frustrating not being able to visit all my favourite blogs. Hopefully these problems will not last long and I will have to spend a whole week visiting blogs! I'm also busy preparing my article for Issue 5 of Fibre & Stitch and I'm concentrating on that this week.
Next week I look forward to continuing all my online courses. The latest to arrive is Sharon B's Studio Journals Online Class. In a Minute Ago

SerenTex and a quilt

There's a new post on SerenTex if you are interested.

As we were having breakfast this morning a fire engine passed the house and we noticed there was a fire on the cob opposite us. I got out my binoculars and saw a bus was on fire. I hope it wasn't a school bus! I have heard no more about it, but I was watching and completely forgot to take photos. These were taken just after the fire was put out. The following is a photo of work in progress with a detail below. I was hoping to finishe the Daisy Doodle quilt for Terri's class this evening, but it was not to be.

Serentex fun!

What fun we had this afternoon at our SerenTex meeting. There were only seven of us present and Mary(Spence) was teaching us to draw. We had A2 and A3 sheets and that is big! She'd brought plants and flowers to class and pastels for drawing. we started by choosing to draw one of the vases of flowers. I chose a vase of Cornflowers and poppies. For this exercise we were only allowed pencils and just 10 minutes to draw it all. Then we drew a single flower, but this had to fill the A2 paper, again using pencils only (and no rubber), we were allowed another 10 minutes for this exercise. Next we drew the flower using the pastels and no pencil, again in 10 minutes.


Mary then collected all our flowers after we'd had a few minutes to study the flower we drew before.

The next exercise was so much fun as we had to draw the person sitting opposite without looking at the paper at all. They are so funny and cartoon like. Then we were again allowed 10 minutes to draw the person opposite but this time we were allowed to look at the paper. I think the eyes were the part most of us failed at.
My partner was Rhiannon who is sitting on the right in the photo. Poor Rhiannon, I'm sure she thought she was prettier than that.


I had so much fun that I've promised myself to sketch once a day from now on and I'll consider a drawing class in the Winter.

A windy day in North Wales UK

I love the wind, so when I my husband suggested a run in the car to Rhos on Sea a seaside town nearby I jumped at the chance of a brisk walk.


But first I had a latte at my favourite Fortes milk bar. This is popular with tourists and visitors alike and is always full.


The advert that used to be stuck on this board must have been blown away by the wind, but just look at that wonderful work of art below. Isn't that inspiring? Made by someone sticking the notice on the board with glue. How clever is that?



I just love them both.




I needed some photographs to inspire an embellished piece of work for Dales's 2nd Lesson and I knew just what I was looking for. It will be one of these two, definitely.

When I arrived home and looked out at the garden I had to take this video with my little camera.

This is the first video I've ever taken, but I had to capture that wonderful windy day yesterday somehow and still just would not do it. those trees were waving about with such a beautiful motion. There must be a wild child in me fighting to get out. If you turn up the sound you can hear that wind.

I hope you will forgive me for using this straight from your blog Fiona loveFibre?
"A shout out to any members of the UK Embroiderers Guild who read this. Members have set up a webring The Embroiderers' Guild web ring and a Flickr group Members of the Embroiderers' Guild to share work and celebrate being part of the Guild. Please join in and spread the word in your branch and region :-)."

Spending spree?

A question came up on one of my lists what textile 'stuff' had we bought recently. That was not the actual wording, but you know what I mean?
So I went up to my loft and took out some things I'd bought online, at The Embroiderers' Guild Regional Day at Arberth and Wednesday in Chester and of course I musn't forget Maggie Grey's lovely new book, From Image to Stitch.


I have some Adirondak Alcohol Inks, Stewart Gill paints, Dye-na-flow, hand dyed felted flannel, Fat quarters, Charcoal for Tuesday's SerenTex meeting (We are having a Drawing Day with my friend Mary Spence) some laces from the 50p bin in the market and some black cotton twill fabric and purple lining fabric for a special project. There's also some acrylic wax and 10 yards of Misty Fuse all the way from Joggles in the USA.
Doing all these on-line classes means I must have another stash, but it doesn't mean I will not be using what I have already. I almost forgot that I have also bought a Gocco printer which I still haven't used. What fun I'm going to have in the next few weeks. watch this space.

Course work

Today has been a good day and I have covered a lot of ground. Below are some samples of work done in Dale's Embellisher on-line class. This has been a lot of fun.


I have chosen this piece of work as my Take it Further in June. The fabrics have all come from my stash and are reminders of various happenings in my life. Mostly clothes that I have saved and recycled.


This piece is the back of a sample using wool tops worked on cheesecloth.


I found it very relaxing stitching these samples.



I had just as much fun doing these coloured marbled sheets for my on-line course with Sue using Shaving foam.


I made a fabric background for my Daisy Doodles quilt with Terri on her online course, I then used PSP9 to quickly design some flowers and stitching for it. The next step is to cut them out and stitch them.


Lastly I did some free motion embroidery on one of the printed silk designs inspired by Zandra Rhodes.

SESGA LOVE'S 1950'S

SESGA LOVE'S 1950'S I am sure you will enjoy my young friend Sesga's blog. She is a Welsh speaker like myself and lives a short distance away from here, but we have never met. I feel sure we will do so one day.


Here is the smallest house in Britain taken especially for Cathy from my window this evening. Can you see the arrow pointing to it? It's painted red and has a white sign saying that this is the smallest house in Britain.

Tag - You're It!
I've been tagged by
Cathy of Winter Wanderings !!!
So... here we go.... the questions are:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
• I don’t remember what I was doing then, but I will be checking with my husband who is sure to remember. I was probably doing the same things I do now 

2. 5 things on today's to-do list:
• Reply to some important emails
• Start my next article for Fibre and Stitch
• Work on some of my on-line courses
• Post my blog
• Do some handstitching

3. Snacks I enjoy:
• Mixed nuts
• Biscuits!
• Cheddar cheese, especially with an apple
• crisps
• Yoghurt

4. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire!
• I wonder if billionaires have time to enjoy the simple things in life that I love? I don’t think I want to be one!
• I’d like to have a £100,ooo, no more than that.
• With this money I would probably buy a new top of the range sewing machine and probably another laptop. I would also love one of those Digital Photo Frames so I could have favourite photos rolling all day.
• I’d visit Australia again.
• I’d visit all the Knitting and Stitching shows and exhibitions advertised.

5. . Places I have lived:
• A small village in North Wales called Nantlle until I was 17.
• Away at college for a few years.
• Another small village in the same area called Bethel.
• When I got married we moved to a very tiny village again in the same area called Seion.
• Moved back to Bethel for another few years.
• When my sons were 6 and 7 years old we moved to a much larger area, still only 50 miles from where I was born.
• We moved to a flat with a wonderful view about a mile away and I hope to stay here for ever.

6. People I'd like to know more about:
I love reading about other people's lives and I feel I know quite a lot about some of you already by reading your blogs. I don’t normally do tags, but Cathy is a friend and we are both on the Textile Challenges list together. So thanks for tagging me Cathy!

A free project

These very simple purses can be made using the free project on the Fibre & Stitch website. These samples were made using recycled fabrics, but I'm sure some of you have plenty of beautiful fabrics created already that can be made into purses, pouches or even small evening bags.

Yesterday I paid a visit to Coleg Menai, a local college well known for it's creative courses. I was not disappointed, the work was of the highest quality again this year and it always makes me wish I was 18 years old again. But as one of the tutors told me there is no reason why I could not go there to take an art degree as they have had 80 year olds doing well on their courses. If I did not have lots of other commitments that I enjoy I really would consider it.
The photographs below are from the Patchwork and Quilting, City and Guilds course. I was given permission to show you these photos, but it would be unfair of me to take any close-ups of this wonderful work. The tutor is our own Janine Jones from SerenTex, so can you wonder that they work is so good? She is an excellent tutor and there are still a couple of places left for the coming year's courses.

Take It Further Challenge - June

No Micki of Fiber Art: If I Create It, Will They Come?, mine is not the red one! I thought I would catch you out. My friends know I have a liking for a red, orange, yellow scheme with a bit of black added somewhere. Flame colours really. But I do have other favourites and this time I chose these colours for my class with Margaret Beal. Have a look at Micki's lovely blog if you haven't visited before, she does some very beautiful work using her embellisher.




This is the clever lady who made the red piece of work shown in this gallery here Digital Gran: Margaret Beal





















Take it Further in June « In a Minute Ago
Here speaks the Queen of all stashes! With a long and happy story behind them all. I have so many interests and they all need a stash don't they? The list is long and the details will bore you, but my interests are continually developing. I wouldn't say they were changing, they are all along the same lines.

Starting with Art, which has it's own stash of various papers, sketchbooks, pencils, paints...need I go further?
Embroidery with the fabrics and threads needed in all thicknesses, colours and textures.
Then there is Machine Knitting, after nearly 40 years I had to get rid of my machines, just a small matter of space. But can I get myself to get rid of my lovely cones? No way! There are black plastic bags full of them in the eaves. They will come in useful for embroidery, embellishing, cords and so on. I also love hand knitting and I intend to use those cones using 3 strands together to make beautiful knitwear (some day).
Crazy Quilting set me off buying and dyeing lovely cotton fabrics.
Journaling needs a stash of lovely papers.
Machine embroidery has to have embroidery threads in every colour.
I could go on and on with this list. All these interests also bring along an extra stash of like minded friends whom I love and have to keep in touch with, some nearly every day. Can you wonder I don't have time to use my stashes of stuff? My husband says I will not be able to use them if I live to be 200 years old. There are more staches. What about beading, card making, felting using the embellisher and.... This is the story of my life here!

Margaret Beal

I've had a wonderful weekend doing a course with Margaret Beal. She is a fantastic tutor and her class had to be extended 2 days because there was such a demand to take it.
I'm sure many of you have her book called Fusing Fabric which can be bought direct from all the craft bookshops and Amazon. Read what I said after her last course Margaret Beal Day2

Below is some of the work made by the students in the class the last 2 days. You will have to guess which one is mine! The photos are not of the best quality I fear, as I was enjoying myself far too much to waste time taking photos.


Jackie is enjoying herself as you can see.




I don't know how I'm going to find time to blog in the next few weeks as I'm doing 4 online courses. One is a short 2 lesson course with Terri which I am looking forward to doing very much and it's called Daisy Doodles. Sue Bleiweiss' new course Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques which lasts for 12 weeks!

I'm also doing Embellish, Stitch and Enrich with Dale of the Thread Studio and also a course with Sharon B on Joggles. This is enough to keep me out of trouble for a while. So watch this space!

Egypt's Pyramids

I am happy to say that I think the Muse might be on her way back, I can feel her giving me a light prod in the right direction. It has taken me longer than usual to recover after my holiday this year and it always frightens me a little and I begin to wonder if it will ever come back, but my energy seems to have returned quite suddenly and in the last few days I have been trying to catch up with a backlog of waiting work. Below are some photos of work I prepared for my latest article in Fibre & Stitch, Issue 4. I really enjoyed this project.


This was my final piece which is a journal and can be folded flat or used as a decoration. It would make a good conversation piece perhaps? I used the Expression Embellisher to create it.


This is a detail of the closure.


The inside of the journal.