MAY THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS FLY UP YOUR NOSE.....

Oh where do I start? Done loads recently, which is why Iv hardly blogged, do you like the birdie? made for my friend wendy, its a page in her birdie book, every page must be based on a song about birds, am I the only one who remembers this song?

And the silly book? finished at last, do you like it?

Could I have got any more onto this cover?

This started life as a white pillow case, its been painted, stamped, printed, embellished,

there may well be a bell on it somewhere.

and of course, a union jack...

as if I didn't have enough to do, I also entered the big postcard swap, the theme was celebrations.

I v based it on bonfire night, it may be a little odd explaining that we celebrate the gunpowder plot to someone from the USA and then I  will have to explain the guy,   hmm awkward....

I have also got ahead with my Christmas sewing
, ha! as if.
actually finishing last years Christmas sewing

And this? ah well this something I will tell you about in my next post.

 and this? its a little delicate page that Iv painted and stitched, I wanted it to be lightweight but have a firm backing so I used net curtain, it doesn't work- its too wobbly, but after consulting a kind fellow blogger, Pam from the crafty mugwump, I now know I should have used cotton organdie, I keep learning new stuff by picking the brains of friends I have made on line, thankyou ,all of you, your a great help..

POPPING UP AGAIN.

Yes I know I should blog more often, but life gets in the way, and life's been very good recently, been to several quilt shows, been to the seaside quite a bit ,been to a festival or two, and mostly, been sewing a lot....do you like the face? julie from mixedmedia showed me how to do this, cool huh....

this is my friend Wendy's sunflower bowl, she spent a lot of time dyeing the fabrics and constructing this lovely thing.

I really enjoyed stitching this book cover, my French knots are improving.



and this is the cover of my silly hearts book

And this rather beautiful place is Sandsend

, near Whitby, We had a wonderful holiday travelling up the east coast all he way to Bamburgh castle, I especially enjoyed Alnmouth, Alnwick and loitering in Barter Books, and I am definitely going back to Beamish....

this photo in no way does justice to this marvellous quilt .which was covered in fabric books
we saw this at the festival of quits and were blown away by it.

I didn't make this but I wish I did, isn't it exuberant....

 aaaahhh  summer days....

wings of time

Just back from a very lovely holiday in kusadasi, Turkey, yes I know-again..
but I really love turkey.
I was barely back when I discovered that Pam from crafty mugwump had announced a small exhibition being put on by calico- a stitching group guided by Biddy Baxter, So I hotfooted it over to visit.......

Oh my goodness, what lovely pieces of stitching, such skill and artistry, every single piece was exquisitely worked, a total feast for my eyes,

 I find this fine detailed work absolutely inspiring, I wish I could sew like this.

These tiny shoes are so beautiful and delicate

my flash wasn't working, so these  photos arnt the best.
I love the fragility and transparency of this piece.

This was a great opportunity to see this piece again, something about this always gives me a strong emotional response
don't know why- but I love it .Time has wings- how true..

my camera definitely doesn't do this purse justice- its soo gorgeous.

I had a lovely time, sat around drinking tea and chatting with the group, they are very talented and hardworking ,and I was lucky enough for pam to show me her next work in progress WOW..
and when I got home, these were waiting for me, aahh...

And now for this weeks weird moment.......
When I started my silly love songs book, my good friend Annette wasn't around to have a page forced on her[lucky escape?]anyway, I thought I would dedicate a page to her, I chose the song about the red rose in Spanish Harlem, amazingly , we met up on Friday and she gave me , this lovely small painting as a gift, she did it with ink tense pencils on cotton, isn't it wonderful- and just right!   spooky or what?

k

Thought for the week- I read this somewhere,-Art should give comfort to the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

sewing, sewing gone

Is this a bag?  or what?
I thought I would have a go at Ineke Berlins famous denim jeans bag, doesn't look very big in the book,
in real life- its enormous, I once made a loose cover for a large sofa, and this felt like a similar project, but its a wonderful, gigantic, mahoosive [yeah- new hip word- means quite large], the pattern comes from the book- The Quilted Object, excellent book.

Yes, the children are missing one or two pairs of jeans.

really enjoyed making this monster- just got the binding to finish, oh and its got secret pockets inside too.

Remember my silly book? some of my good friends have completed a page for me. this is Julies- tiny little hand dyed pieces of velvet, lovingly stitched over- it really  is exquisite.

And this is Wendy's-absolutely lovely, those little blue stars are tiny and have teeny tiny glass beads in them.



And look at this tiny pocket of stardust- guess what the song is....



what a beauty this is -thank you Jane

the detail in this is amazing.

I am very lucky to have such talented friends, thank you all.

and finally- this is the beginning of the cover of the silly book, hopefully it will improve.....
 

Il be off now, need to finish the bag ,must blog more often...

SNOWFLAKES

 



 
Hello again ,back from the  interesting intermission known as the school holidays. aaaaggghhhhhhhh.......sob...
Anyway,I read an article the other day in my  i newspaper by Ellen Jones, it was about being the person you cant help being, and it struck a chord in me, made me think about all the amazingly weird, wonderful, inspiring, crazy, thought full, muse driven bloggers that I feel like I know. We are all loosely in the same tribe, but all  individual,
I am always telling my kids that we are all snowflakes, all different, they are always telling me that I am a flaky hippy, same thing really.
Ellen Jones said ;I assert my right to wave my freak flag to the beat of my own drum, like the special snowflake I am.
A special snowflake---I like that.....
 anyway on to the important stuff, 



Remember the pillow case, that was painted?
the one that wanted to be a collaborative book?
well its coming along, it was going to have poems about the sun, moon and stars, on the pages, but I couldn't find much that I liked ....
and on its first night this song haunted me all night-
 Good morning star shine, the Earth says hello....
aaaahhh-- all night,
 and its been like this for the past two weeks



I'm being followed by a moon shadow.........

I m wishing on a star......

when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.......

don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight........

You are the sunshine of my life....

Ziggy played guitar, with screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo, like some cat from japan.........

Theres a star man waiting in the sky, he'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds,,,,,

you see, now you are haunted too,
 I actually need 16 songs, so any suggestions are welcome




And finally, look at this thread, absolutely beautiful,well done, Laura Wasilowski for making lovely hand dyed thread, and Frankie, for getting it for me...night night,,,,