Monthly Archives: April 2012

Spritzing, Stains and Sketches

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I did get to making some cards this afternoon after the marathon quilting session yesterday. I’ve had a go at combining a couple of challenges again – the ‘Less is More’ sketch has a square centrepiece and sentiment, with lots of white space recommended. The other challenge is a new one to me – a ‘Seriously Creative Challenge’, hosted by Creative Accents, to do something with stains or sprays. Here are my creations:

As you might guess, the results of my experiments can be somewhat variable! The sprays used are Dylusions Ink from Ranger in Black Marble and I used Bubblegum Pink on a Magenta stamp as a watercolour stamp ink. I can guarantee my fingers are stained, as is quite a lot of stuff on my desk – the overspray is a nightmare – until I decided to create a spray booth in a cardboard box. The sentiments are all printed in Archival Jet Black and are from the WOW! Everyday Sentiments clear stamp set.

Quilt No. 4 – ‘Puzzle’

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The weather has been lousy here all weekend, and rather than making cards – which was my plan – I ended up quilting. There was something about being under the quilt as I was sewing it and binding the edges that suited the conditions! I started it at the beginning of February at a quilting workshop I was given for my birthday at Quorn Country Crafts, during which I finished the top. I layered it and started quilting on Friday afternoon, did the quilted border and corners and binding yesterday, and I finished it with a hand-stitched label this morning. Most of the quilt is quilted with stitch-in-ditch, with the wide border needing a little more, so I created my own quilting design. The quilt measures 64x64in with binding, and as you can see was destined to go in our spare room.

Update 24-FEB-15:
Thank you to my testers, Julie and Anita, and to Tricia: the description of how I made the quilt is now available!

The instructions are an instant download PDF file, purchasable via PayPal by clicking the button below (you will have the option to pay in your local currency). The link will be sent to the email address that is linked to the PayPal account you use to pay. If you don’t receive an email, please check your spam folder! The instructions are for the above size quilt and do not discuss alternative sizes. If you want it bigger or smaller you may choose to adjust the border widths.

By clicking on the download button, you acknowledge that you are not entitled to cancel the order or receive a refund (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 – digital downloads).
[NB: If you reside in an EU country other than the UK, please do not purchase via this page. Instead, please email me with your request and I will process your order manually. This is due to the new EU rules on handling VAT. Thank you.] [For clarification – if you are in the USA or Canada, go ahead and click the button!]

The Doodle Challenge – four cards

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I’m having problems with my broadband again… if you’re reading this, it means I’ve caught it on a good day and managed to upload the post. One upshot of having less time online is more crafting time – although I don’t recommend knocking over a cup of tea as soon as you get to your craft space… Great for tidying up and washing the floor, but not so good for several bits of kit!

This week over at the ‘Less is More’ challenge blog, we were set the task of doodling. Hmmm – I wonder how tricky that was going to be for me given my zentangling experience? Actually, keeping it simple and a single motif was as difficult as selecting the sentiments! All the cards are completely hand doodled, and coloured using the distress reinker watercolour technique which I learnt during the Creative Chemistry 101 course.

‘Lilac Time’ Quilt

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What do you get the man who has most things for his Christmas and birthday presents? Turns out that two quilting workshops are a very good idea! The first I went to was over six weeks in Jan-Feb 2012 at Quorn Country Crafts, where the lovely Margaret supervised the ladies and I in making a ‘Lilac Time’ quilt. The fabrics were chosen to fit into the spare room – which now needs redecorating… It’s amazing how much the costs mount – including all materials, wadding and backing as well as the workshop costs, this double bed sized quilt cost £200 before my time was taken into consideration! Don’t ever underestimate the cost of a hand crafted quilt! This one isn’t for sale though… The petal quilting in the feature fabric is to my own design and the rest is stitch-in-ditch quilted.

Two Point Perspective

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I’ve spent all afternoon on my still life homework for the holidays… an exercise in two point perspective. An hour of reading, a couple of outline sketches and some more research led to a couple of hours doing all the construction with vanishing points at the zenith and nadir rather than on the horizon line – but I kinda like the effect. It then took another hour or so to enlarge, trace and shade the image, and here it is. Those that know, feel free to critique!

First Birthday Giveaway – the commissioned piece

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If you remember, I had a giveaway at the beginning of March in honour of this ‘ere blog’s first birthday. The first prize was for the person giving the most comments and is featured here. The second giveaway was to the longest active subscriber to the blog at the 12 month point – and that was/is Shirley at 11 months and three weeks. I asked her what she would like as her commissioned artwork and this was her reply: “I have been looking through your blog and saw the ‘largest ZIA to date‘. I used to do a lot of counted cross stitch (until my eyes rebelled). Samplers was one of my favourite things. Would I be asking too much to have that as my prize?”.

Of course I couldn’t give that particular example away again as it was a unique piece for that particular giveaway. So I’ve created this one instead, including some of my new Faberge patterns and using my first attempt at a Celtic Knot. It’s a biggie again, being A3 sized, and took almost 6 hours to complete. Well done Shirley, I hope you like it!

Three Shades of Green with a drop of yellow

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It’s ‘Less is More’ challenge time again – and this week I’m a little earlier than I have been for the last couple of times! The first week of the month theme is colour, and they’ve set the task of creating a clean and simple card with three shades of green. I used the Hero Arts ferns set of stamps, and Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Inks. A spritz of water, punched flowers and a few drops of liquid pearls and here’s my entry: