normal service is resumed

hurrah!!
lovely schooley school is back and all the small people are fully occupied,
again,hurrah
.I had a lot of fun in the hols, even did some sewing

above is a piece of batik fabric that I did at Angela's summer school, we had a lot of fun playing with messy paints and dyes and I came home with enough altered cloth to last me all year,
below is a book cover in progress, its a vintage doily that's been space dyed the white embroidery took the dye really well.



I have had great fun this summer, ,    I
took a break from blogging just to give my brain a rest[ its old, it gets tired]been to the woods, and parks and the seaside a lot
,I even camped at a hippy festival- wow the most fun Iv had in years, it was soo cool. hippys everywhere and lots of sitting on the grass doing handicrafts, and listening to great music, I even had a lesson in bollywood dancing to banghra, I used to be a hippy and it was all soo nostalgic , already looking forward to next year....

above is a standy  upee concertina folding christmas book  stroke ornament that I taught the ladies at academy to make this week, no doubt, as usual, they will return next month with at least three examples each, all better than mine and they will have thought of a better more interesting way to do it, they are very talented ladies,



And here's a second one I made, more stitchy.
certain people keep laughing at my loosness and raw edges and general untidiness[ you know who you are] so I am trying to be much more tidy and neat, I have to say its killing me, I practically feel like a grown up.





 I do hope, dear reader, that you are all very impressed with my calm thought fullness and neat edges,  grrr.

here is a nearly finished postcard, just needs a bit more stitching,its my entry for a masking tape challenge, it came along just at the right time, as I had just seen, fallen  in love with and purchased a big beautiful tube of the orangiest orange acrylic paint Iv ever seen, so I had a lovely afternoon smearing paint over about a yard of calico, so there will be more of this in the future. 

and now for something differant, my youngest filly is making a little folding bird book, well suposed to be, so we are slowly making pages based on birds or feathers.



last night, I grabbed some scraps and a thick felt chicken thingy and just stitched a birdie for her.



before



and after....

 One last thing, the top picture? I sewed that on tuesday night whilst gazing at Martin  Shaw on the telly, phwoar, be still my beating heart...

and one more last thing, found a new blogger today   hoolatallulah    a gal after my own heart, worth a visit.

am I all caught up?  yes? then good night, my needles calling me...

hippie chick strikes again

Yay! we have a hippy chick in the house
.One of the divas came in today clutching a well grown out of favourite pair of jeans, and asked me to............. make a bag!!!!!!!!!.

it doesn't seem five minutes since my mum made me just such a bag, I had enormous Rupert bear tartan oxford bags and a really long nearly to the floor woollen waistcoat and every week I would sit and gaze at top of the pops and hope to see Marc bolan and t. Rex- this was before my David cassidy days...
hm, maybe more than five minutes then...

so, we set to and cut and stitched,she did really well and we found a sort of retro floral for the lining
bish bash bosh!
a very pleasant afternoon stitching, resulting in a fab new bag, cool huh.



so what else have I been doing?
tomorrow evening I will be at the pea room quilting group as part of a 4 corners  night,what am I teaching?
well, I was asked to do some of my funny stuff.
so funny stuff it is.



I thought I would show my folding books so Iv quickly made some basic pieces to explain the process
so, above is the vilene pages stitched together.



above is one with a couple of pages stitched in,I didn't know what to base this little book on, and then I thought---buttons, got a lot, keep collecting them, never use them, now I will, hurrah



am I getting carried away? its only supposed to be an example....I thought if I showed the ladies some simple books then the tea book wouldn't be such a shock,  how funny should I be exactly?
.oh and PS Iv added my little plan at the bottom in case anyone wants to have a try, go on, you know you want to, and all the blocks are square, by the way.

ha! one last page.

the partys over....

Yes, sadly, the party's over and wev all been jubilleeed out, doubly so in our house, as it was also Mr shed mans 60th birthday as well as the queens big do,  ooh, we were busy,
but now back to sewing, remember  this page?
I am making two folding books at the same time and I am soo excited about them, The page above is modern fabrics, scraps, bits and bobs
, ah but the lower page  is part of a book that will be entirely made from angela daymonds naturally dyed fabrics.
the lace, cotton, and threads were dyed with daffodils.

I would like to say she kindly gave them to me, but actually I was really cheeky and rifled through her natural dye samples and snaffled quite a bit-
[ shes used to me by now]

these will be the backs[ to be stitched]

.
And this is the next page
these fabrics are dyed with Cutch, an Indian dye.

And this is the other side

and blogger has eaten my next photo, Im getting resigned to this now....if youd like to see my other book- its fun please visit here..night night,


 

I am ready for the getgo!



Oh yes , I am soo ready!!!!
I have the  tea set, ready for my royal jubilee tea,
and the tray,



And the tea towel,and the travel mug- but I dropped it,
 AND the shopping bag,

and two sorts of bunting,

and the face paint????
and a big shopping bag that I forgot to photograph,
and actual union jack paper chains[I had to look for them]

And the car flags and the big flags and the kids have the tee shirts,
and the hair bobbles and sunglasses, I even had union jack MnMS yesterday
Mr shed man has the royal underpants and did I mention
five, yes five different union jack  sofa cushions,
The next village up the road is having a best jubilee decorated house competition, why didn't we think of this?
OOH YES, I am definitely ready......

Anyway, I had a good day today,I went to town to buy a watering can- hose pipe ban etc...blah blah
, and saw a basket of threads in the window of the charity shop,they had to come home with  me
,also three rather fine necklaces, gorgeous beads....

And a great hat with a good open weave, guess what I will do to it?

Did I mention my jubilee necklace?



Sewing? oh yes sewing,
well,
I am really excited about my new project, but you will need to visit my other blog to see it,
night night......Tina.



All present and correct



well, here it is, done and dusted
This little book is a birthday  present for Frankie,




I hope she likes it
I certainly enjoyed making it.



I love the way the pocket is also the hinge.

I found this little motto in a bag of fabrics she gave me for the kids, so added that as well.

Oh, I love these little books

I felt like a very proud mother last night, because, when I turned up at my local quilt group, several ladies had made their own version of the little book of pockets ,didn't have my camera with me so I cant show you, but ooh, I do feel proud.



Last Saturday, I was at the unique cottage studios- for sheep day, all the artists were demonstrating their techniques based on wool.
Angela was in her studio demonstrating dyeing wool,I was stitching a little picture ,made of dyed woollen blankets, and Wendy was demonstrating  needle weaving on the little copper wire frames- it was completely engrossing and we were all very absorbed in stitching these tiny little thingies.



Isnt it sweet....

I am starting a new project,dont know how it will work out, but its entertaining me,its a little meander book, keep watching to see how it goes




I found this scrap of a william wordsworth poem and it just set me off.........

  And then my heart with pleasure fills,and dances with the daffodils.

And if your wondering what this is, visit my other blog here.,

night night.

seems like yesterday

deepest apologies, I hadn't realised how long its been since I last blogged,
 I intended to post last week and do a review of the uttoxeter show, but my new sooper dooper phone refuses to move my photos so Iv been sulking.
not just sulking actually, Iv been such a miserable whiner for the past few weeks that my good friend Frankie felt obliged to make me three perfect little prayer flags to cheer me up.



I thought this one was a particularly good likeness-especially the hair, got that right.



very kind, thank you Frankie.
so what have I been doing lately?, well the doodly thing is nearly finished, I have just bought a little screen printing wot sit, so I thought Id add a bee, cool huh....



And a sort of indian paisley flower.



also machine quilting this little chap[I know, I'm rubbish , wheres Trudi when you need her]]

And here's some glimpses of an interesting stitchy thing, that will be a gift so only glimpses,I'm afraid.

I do love stitching- hope it looks indian...

And here's a shopping tip of the week;-A  precision oilier,
  fantastic for sewing machines, less than 10 pounds in a halfords near you, or possibly your hubby's toolbox, I can say this because Mr shed man doesn't read my blog,Trudi says everyone should have one.

And does anyone remember this?Mexican shibori...
its had a nice holiday in the wardrobe, now its time to come out and be
STITCHED-A LOT...if you want to see more visit my other  blog,
expeditionquiltart.blogspot.comexpeditionquiltart.blogspot.com

thank you and goodnight...

whaaaghhh  wheres my picture gone?--knew it was too good to be true...