Calligraphy !!

Hi everyone, it's been a while ! my family has left and it took me a little while to get over the sadness of saying good bye we had so much fun !

I have been doing a calligraphy course all week and it's my last day tomorrow it was so intense but fun at the same time and the teacher Susan Nelson has been simply wonderful !  i will get some pics together of what i have been learning over the weekend !  Hope you are all having a wonderful summer i know i am but it is still very busy so not much time for creating !

I am going to try and catch up with my altered book i have done a little work so again i will post pics soon ! for now thanks for dropping by and happy creating !! x

Family visiting !

Hi everyone, just a quick post why i am not blogging, my family are here from England visiting and we are having a blast ! We are out touring most days or laying by the pool but keeping very busy ! I will catch up soon ! hope you are all enjoying the summer !

Online workshop !

I started another online workshop with Shelagh Folgate called follow my heart. Its altering a book and making a fabric book along side it.  My theme is The seaside and i am basing it on Blackpool beach where i am from in England.  I am just at the first stage but i will post as i go along with each stage !

Canvas art and 3creative studios quilt

I have finally finished a couple of pieces to share !  I have been going to Sandra Spagnuolio's studio to learn some mixed media techniques and we did a two part class on making a mixed media canvas.  Sandra taught us about layering and adding texture i have so much to learn but i kind of like my result !

I also managed to finish a small art quilt which i am entering for the 3 creative studios color palette challenge. I love the purple silk dupioni layered with painted orange batting and foil. I added angelina fibres machine and hand stitching and a few beads.

my canvas

my quilt

My gorgeous daughters prom !

Just wanted to share some pictures of how beautiful my daughter looked for her prom yesterday !!

My new toy !!! take a look !

Well i did it, i traded my janome 7700 in for this Bernina sewing/ embroidery machine ! It stitches beautifully and it looks so stylish !  It comes complete with matching bags so cool ! I have never had an embroidery machine before so something new to play around with.  I love the bsr that it has i tried it a little today and my free motion looked wonderful. Very excited to play with that little tool.  I also picked up a couple extra feet one for jeans and the 1/4 " foot still a few i want but enough to be playing with for now.

I am in for a busy few days so might have to wait till sunday before i can properly play, off to London tomorrow to a quilt show then Toronto on friday and finally St Jacobs quilt show on saturday.

Well here she is ......

It's been a while !

Yes i know i haven't been blogging like i should but honestly life really did get in the way !!  I have been renovating painting and getting new hardwood installed. I am still doing some other home improvements but i did manage to get together with some of my friends recently had such a fun time, just what the doctor ordered.  We made some ATC's and played with our journals, i felt like i was back at school painting stamping colouring etc.

I am also considering swapping my janome 7700 in for a Bernina 635/ 640 not sure which one yet do any of you own a Bernina !! would love some input !

Happy mothers day !!

                     Just wanted to wish you my lovely friends out there a very happy mothers day !

Happy easter !

Just a quick post to wish you all a very happy easter !

 i was going to share a couple of things with you but my camera was dead so charging it at the moment !   I will share a picture of my house i had taken in the summer it's an ariel view and i just got it framed i really like it .

Finished my quilt and vase !

Hi everyone been a little while since i blogged !  i had a great time in Florida apart from bad headaches which i have continued to have  but in between i have managed to finish my embroidered quilt and a vase.
My quilt started way back as a mixed media embroidery piece a class taught at my embroidery guild and i was unsure how to finish it.  I did a few sketches and settled on making a template for the patterned overlay and i really do love how it turned out.  I am thinking about calling it nerve ending or brain explosion unless someone else has an idea. i am going to enter this for the 3creativestudio quilt challenge it falls in their colour palette for this month.

My vase was a challenge issued at my embroidery guild it started out as a mop up cloth and i added more paint, stamping and some stencilling with shiva sticks. I then embellished with hand stitching beads and yarn. After it was quilted i chopped it into 5 pieces then rearranged the pieces and stitched it back together and shaped it into a vessel.  would love to hear what you all think !

My wylde woman

Hi everyone, just a quick post before i head off to Florida !  yes i'm off to the sunshine state for some sun rays can't wait driving down with my family this friday.
 But i had to share with you a fun day i shared with friends
 last week at my house. We had a play day and we made wylde women pins i should have taken pictures of  all of them but in the excitement we forgot. I will get pics though to share with you.   We all used our embellisher machines to make the fabric backgrounds and we made paper clay faces that we painted.  I used wire and beads for arms and legs. It was such a laugh !!! here is mine... complete with handbag ! and check out her wonderful heels... i used a sizzix die for them and cut them from stiff card stock covered on both sides with silver plumbers tape. if only getting new shoes was that easy for us lol !!!  see you when i get back !!

My first journal page !

Well i finally got around to finishing my first journal page ! i followed the free online class at Strathmore  online journal site which you can find HERE.  It was taught by Pam Carriker recycling art and adding different techniques.  I promised myself to try new things this year and try and create at least every week well up to now i have managed to do a little.  The first part of the next set of lessons is out but you can still do the first ones.
I also want to catch up with the online journal challenge there is a link on the side of my blog they have differnt themes each month so march was just announced so i have a whole month to catch up with jan and feb and march's lol !  Oh well if i do it i do if not well theres always another day right !  really need to get on with two sewing projects that i have started busy busy busy !!!

playing with paint !

As some of you know from my previous posts i have been going to Sandra Spagnuolio's studio to play,  she is a mixed media artist and has wonderful energy. I am learning so much regarding colour and texture and best of all i'm having fun.  I wanted to share a mixed media canvas i painted i used painted paper kitchen towel for some of the flowers and  raffia for some of the stems i added a crackle glaze to the finished surface.
  My next set of paintings was from a class where we had to not think about what we wanted as an end result and to use a limited amount of colours and use them in each square it was hard not to think out a process but i do like the outcome and i think i will add some stitches and i may put them into a quilt or frame them.  What do you all think ??

my canvas

my paintings

Look at my fabulous prize ! & hand made paper !

It is a beautiful morning the sun is shining although it is still very cold !  So my new mac won't take my camera card so spent the morning looking for my usb lead ! so i could up load my pics !  Well i received my wonderful prize package from Three creative studios and i have to show you my wonderful goodies. The journal is gorgeous and the fabrics from Vikki are so yummy ! I love the paper quilt book and the buttons and yarns and texture magic boy i am really going to have fun with this lot !! Thankyou three creative studios you really made my day !!

I also wanted to share my hand made paper i made at Sandra's studio what a lot of fun that day was and i will definately be making more.  loved making the paper lace should have made more though , but  hey whats to stop me right ! well don't drool to much at my prize !!

Fabric painting !

Well as i promised i want to share with you what i have been getting up to !  I had to buy a new laptop this week as mine totally died i was so upset as it was only 2 years old anyhow i decided to buy a mac book pro so i am on a learning curve with it at the moment so i am hoping i get this right !

I took a class on fabric painting with Maggie Vanderweit and it was amazing so much fun !! We used colour vie paints which are pure pigments mixed to a base so mixing colours is endless. Gunnel Hag was the creator of these paints and you can learn about them HERE  I played around with different surfaces and used bathmats,  bamboo table mats,  rubbing plates, stamps, bubble wrap, sequin waste  stencils and anything that had a raised texture and i love the results especially the pebble bath mat !  I will share more in the next day or so !