Planning ahead and a real bargain

In my head I am planning ahead - the doublet for Oberon. I will need wadding to pad it. So today I visited the local Scrap store and look what I got....... The biggest roll of wadding, a roll of layout paper (otherwise known as newsprint), two small rolls of white felt and a large skein of rusty brown wool - all for the bargain price of £10 !! If you are a student or a teacher, living in wiltshire, I would suggest you visit the scrap store - it is fabulous and a great charity.

Now back to being creative!! Oh and by the way it is your last chance to enter the One World One Heart giveaway this weekend - it ends on Feb 15th with the drawing to give away my small texture book!

Started the Hard Part

I have started the Wire Rebato for Titania' costume in earnest today. Remember I spent ages stitching over the wire to cover it - like my cords but with a fine wire core. This is my first trial layout - which has since become more like this... and now I start to hand stitch the wires together.The wire design for the centre panels will be left till last and I may cover the central back panels with net once it is all finished - I am yet to decide.

Thanks to those who have so far entered my giveaway in the One World One Heart Giveaway - I have been too look at all your blogs too. There is still time to enter. Oh and by the way I have added some beads to a couple of the scrapbook pages!!

One World One Heart

NOW CLOSED - THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED.

One World One Heart giveaway starts today.

Click on the logo on the right side to see the full site and the instructions.

I am giving away this..... One of my small texture scrap books. This is the cover on one side and this is the other side and here is the book open. If you would like to enter this giveaway please leave a comment on this blog post. The winner will be chosen on February 15th using a random number generator.
Remember to look at the main site as there are hundreds - literally hundreds of other giveaways!!
Good Luck!

They say luck comes in 3's

They say luck comes in 3's - well I have had no luck so far finding a new job but I have had three lovely pieces of luck recently. I have been waiting to tell you about them and I can now!!

Firstly -I won £10 on the National Lottery - useful !

Secondly -I won a giveaway being run by Constance Rose (Click Here for her blog)- This lovely piece called Off the Wall - it is mounted on a box frame and is lovely subtle colours - it is currently hanging in my hall way - THANKS!!
Thirdly - I won a giveaway being run by Doreen - (Click HERE to see her blog) the giveaway was originally for some of Doreen's stash but she decided that I have enough 'stuff' so she sent me this piece of work instead!! It arrived this morning!! The colours just sing and are so me - there is so much to see I have been looking at it for the last two hours!!!! THANKS ! Now lets hope my job hunting luck runs the same!! Back to the latest corset!
PS - remember the One World One Heart giveaway starts on Monday so I will be posting the item I will giveaway then!

Can't keep up with myself

This morning I realised that my creative spirit is back with a vengeance! Yippee!! If only I did not have to look for a real job!! I have two lists 1) current in progress projects and 2) ideas (flowing thick and fast!).

1) Current in progress projects:

a)Titania - bodice complete, small ruff complete, Rebato currently - 2nd lot of wire stitched and ready for shaping. b) Oberon - currently at planning stage

c) Fool Bodice - still at same stage as posted HERE.

d) Waste Not Waistcoat - still at same stage as posted HERE.

e) Red/Gold Bodice - is now looking more like a bodice than it did HERE. I have chosen the threads I am going to use for hand stitching (note - not the blue or silver ones!) f) Zentangle bodice - front panel still work in progress - this is time consuming and needs a lot of concentration!

g) Black/Shot bodice - working on again today!!

h) A small 'scrapbook' in the style of the ones described HERE ready for January 25th when we start the One World One Heart giveaway see the Tab on the right for more information.

Perhaps I should at least finish one of the above - H is quite urgent so that may be worked on later this afternoon when hand sewing is the order of the day!!

2) Ideas

Well that would be telling !! - Suffice it to say there are several ideas floating in my head (really need to get them documented) including three more bodices! One to be made from green velvet and gold organza, one called 'tattered hearts' and a rusty one. Here is a little about the last one. Yes I have done more rust dyeing in the last few days. Here are the packages I took out of the airing cupboard this morning.... the two cans looked like this before unwrapping and like this when unwrapped and like this when washed - even after only 3 days dyeing you can see the rust has eaten right through the fabric in places..... as you can see the can has not much life left but hey I will still use it!! The other package contained the stuff I want to use for the idea I have mentioned. You remember the horrid lace I used for Titania's small ruff? Well I have loads and loads of it so I cut a strip and thought rust dyeing. Here is is before unwrapping from around the rusty item. Unwrapped..... washed.. you can see the lovely colour variations.... this just must go onto a bodice don't you think??

I've Done Something Today

Hooray!! I have actually been creative today!! Two things actually but they are only small.

The first is A6 in size and is a cover for my diary. As in the diary in which I write about my day - not my appointment diary (which I carry in my handbag) and not my so called journal of which I now have several in my studio. When I was little I had been given a five year diary which I loved, then through teenage years and the first few years of married life I gave up writing about my days. In 1995 (I think it was) my son (then aged 10) gave me a small A6 notebook as a gift for Christmas suggesting that I start to write again. So I did and I kept writing in various sized notebooks. In the last year I have started several new notebooks - written a few pages, torn them out and found a new notebook - I think it was because 2008 was such a difficult year for me I could not settle. I can't join the pages together because I have kept a couple of the notebooks just not written in them and the last one is definitely not suitable to take apart.

Anyway on 30th December whilst sorting out some stuff in my workroom I found an A6 notebook which had actually belonged to my son (it has his name of the front) with only a few pages missing - I think it may have been a prep notebook at some point in his schooling. The policy in this house is you never throw anything away so I guess I was given the part used notebook to use for shopping lists or similar. I had one of those Ah Ha moments. It was as if my son was with me (I had actually just dropped him and his girlfriend off at the station). I knew this was the new diary for 2009!! The one which will be filled with my days and will help me sort myself out!!

Today I made it a cover to keep it special. I used more of the scraps from my Klimt bodice. Here it is - Front and back. The second piece of creativity is also small and will be the giveaway for the OWOH giveaway starting soon. I know it is only simple but it has been made with love! It is a slip cover for a sketchbook only this time it is just 4" square. The fabric was a piece I had been given (can't remember who by) but it was a beautiful red felt chiffon sandwich, left from their project. If it was you who gave it to me THANKS - it has helped me make a small gift for someone else!

The original piece looked like this..... Then I stitched with purple, heated, then gold... then added these and hey presto - one removable slip cover for a tiny sketchbook .......

Help needed - Giveaway

When I offered my giveaway for my blogaversary HERE the winner was Alex of Oxford Branch. - I have had no contact with her - so if anyone knows her please get her to email me her details. I will set a time limit on this as I really want to offer this giveaway before the next one (see below) - so if I have not heard from Alex or a friend of hers by 15th January I will have to do a re-draw and I will feel bad.

The next giveaway will be for the One World One Heart project - I did this year and loved it so am joining in again. Go HERE for more details and then watch this space!!