The Good and The Bad

So - good news - I am now well - actually have been for a few days but the bad news is that my doctor signed me off work until next Wednesday - this is actually both good and bad news - good because I get a few more days to get back into my textiles (I am slowly regaining my inspiration) but bad because I lose money - I only get the statutory sick pay for the two weeks I have been off work and believe me that is not enough to live on!!

Good news - my daughter came to visit last week and to join me in an outing. Back in June, for my birthday, my son had given me tickets for my daughter and I to go to a show - he had warned me that the date was a long time away as he wanted to get a venue closer to my home. The show was last week in Salisbury - We went to see Grumpy Old Women Live 2 - Chin up Britain! It is the funniest show I have seen for ages. We cried with laughter. If you get a chance to go and see this show you really must. The website is hereI fully agreed with most of their grumpiness and oddly so did my 22 year old daughter - is she becoming a grumpy old woman early??

Good news - I attended our Moonrakers Textile Group meeting on Saturday - we had two new ladies who do some fantastic work. It was a good meeting as we were able to sort out some ideas for the future - keep an eye on our group blog (see side bar) for a update soon - Bad news - I only managed to sew four darts in the four hours and came home feeling inadequate after seeing others work!! Good - I also came home inspired!!

Update: do you remember the post I wrote about 'Many Projects at Once' back in August? See Here. Well here is an update:

1. Klimt bodice - Good - Complete

2. Texture book (Scrapbooking but not as we know it) - Volume 2 large and Volume 3 small - Good - Complete.

3.Waste Not Waistcoat - Bad - has had a little hand stitching but is still really awaiting inspiration.

4. 7 Fairy costumes from Mid Summer Nights Dream - Moth and Cobweb - Good - Complete. Titania - Work in Progress and Oberon - at the pattern trying out stage (so really pre-work in progress) the others are still just in my head.(Good and Bad !)

5. The Fool bodice - Bad - still the same awaiting inspiration.

6. The new piece I started at the same time as writing the 'Many projects post' (now called 'Woven')is Good ish ! - Currently working on thisat the same time as my other projects!! - it may turn into a bag. The original fabric looked like this..... and has now become this...... (WHAT - Not those spirals again????!!!) - here is the back to give you a better idea of the very rough spirals .... I had to work from the back as (Bad) my machine did not like the gold thread in the needle, also bad news - the surface does not burn back with the heat gun - not sure why - it may be because I used bondaweb to hold the top layer - never done that in the past! So will have to come up with another idea for enhancing the surface more. Oh and another piece of temporary (I hope) bad news is that somehow the fabric has coloured my sewing machine!!....... it has a pink glow!! I hope I can remove this with some cleaning product!

Before I crawl back to my sick bed....

Just in case you were worried about the fact that I have not been here for a while I thought I crawl in to say I am here .....just.... I have been struck by the dreaded Swine Flu and am currently poorly sick at home, about to crawl back into bed. But before I do I wanted to say I have been busy since I last wrote -been to drawing class and also had a great weekend at Urchfont with one of the groups I belong to - lots of ideas brewing from that weekend - although at the start I was horrified at the idea of working yet again making silk paper (I know Maggie Grey has mentioned it too!!) - I have actually got a large stack of pieces to be worked on!

Since then I have also started two more new projects but wanted to ask WHAT IS MY CURRENT OBSESSION WITH SPIRALS ALL ABOUT??? Making 'new' fabrics as I have been from scraps recently when I start to free machine I seem only to be able to stitch spirals!! WHY OH WHY? Most of my current projects have been covered in spirals - why can't I stitch any thing else????? Here.... is the latest piece - started as this 'sandwich' - over stitched with matching cotton....(difficult to see).... burnt back and over stitched with metallic silver (here you can see the work in progress so you can see the original matching cotton under the silver) and here is what it currently looks like. There is more to happen to this piece but I am too ill to work and too ill to tell you more. See you again in a few days when I am better and working again.

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 .......

Spiral Sketchbook 3

Someone asked me the other day about the cover of my Spiral Sketchbook. As it was a boring navy blue 2008 diary - of course - I could not leave it like that so what have I done..... Firstly (and I forgot to take photos) I cut two spirals from thick card and glued them to the front, then a fine layer of Gesso to cover the whole surface making a bit of texture on the spirals. Here it is drying in the kitchen - you can also see the progress of the new diary 2008 A4 diary being painted. Next a quick spritz of my fav. Adirondack Colour Wash in Eggplant (I use this a lot and have only used about 1/2 inch of the bottle (such good value!!)). Next I painted Golden Acrylic in Interference Violet. The final topping was a rub of rubbing cream in gold, only on the spirals. You can just make out the two tone Interference here on the left... and there it is!! (still needs to dry a bit more - the white is some of the Gesso not quite dry)

Spiral Sketchbook 2

Do you remember this old diary from the post here ? Which then became the spirals sketchbook from the post here? Well it is now full... and I am preparing another old diary (this time A4) to continue the fun I am having with spirals. I have several ideas - hence the question a couple of posts ago about how you move from a sketchbook abstract to a textile piece (my mind is a complete blank at present).

This also means that the three bodices I had on the go will remain UFO's for some time. Or at least until the spark comes back. The Klimt one is still on the mannequin and I look at it every day but no idea of how to 'build' on it has struck yet.

Another failure rescued

I found another 'failure' to rescue this morning. This was a piece of coffee coloured tissue bonded to vilene, topped with silk paper spirals. When I covered it with gold markal I thought I was just highlighting it but it looked really bad so got put away into a box of UFO's. This morning I took it out, sprayed it with Adirondack ink, did a few hand stitches in some places and free machined gold spirals. Hmmmmm a bit better. However the best way to rescue it was to cut it up into 4 ATC's. Now I have added these to my large collection of ATC's ready for swaps etc, if anyone is interested.

Latest pieces and a lovely book

Firstly - Don't forget to write a comment on the blog here if you would like to be entered in my giveaway. Closing on Wednesday 12th.

I currently have several small projects/ideas on the go - something to do with spirals!! Firstly I had some left over silk paper and started a project that turned into a failure so I cut it up, re-arranged the pieces and created these two ATC's.

The notebook I take to exhibitions is almost full of notes so I have made myself a new notebook. It is roughly A5 in size, made using a piece of my acrylic felt stuff with painted bondaweb, machine stitched and hand stitched in gold. Topped with two of my 'frugal' spirals made from painted and puffed Tyvek. I stitched in 5 signatures of 5 sheets so I will have lots of space for creative notes.

In the post today I received this lovely book by Kelly Rae Roberts so I will be spending some time reading again tonight.

Spiral Sketchbook 1

I have decided to keep a sketchbook of spirals - inspiration from my Klimt work. I have just had such fun with this particular starting point - I wanted to share it with you.....

You may remember I used bondaweb to hold my fabric for the Klimt bodice so I could cut out the spirals easily.... Well, being the person who throws nothing away. I glued some of the backing paper spirals into my Klimt sketchbook, originally to illustrate the spirals I had used but then the thinking started - so I painted over them with Koh-i-noor watercolour paints. When dry peeled off the spirals..... and re applied them in different positions, painted with a different colour...... peeled off the spirals .....This looks 'busy' enough so stop here. I did think I could take this page out of my Klimt book but I think I will leave it there.

Now again not wishing to throw away the spirals - they look so yummy speckled with paint - I just had to stick them into my ''Spirals' sketchbook - This sketchbook is actually the one I posted about here - which I had intended would become a soul journal, but that idea will have to wait now - I have a much better use for it now!!!!! I will just play in this sketchbook after my pep talk from Sue Dove !! (If you are reading this Sue - thanks for inspiring me to play!) I think I am going to enjoy working in this sketchbook.