The latest pieces to be finished.

It's been a while......
This squirrel is a frequent visitor and sometimes brings a
friend a long. Only saw the one this time.
Obviously, not in my garden. I encountered these recently.
A family of swans, mum, dad and five one year olds. Also
the usual ducks. The swans were very used to humans.
The youngsters gave me a peck or two when they knew I'd
got food, they weren't nasty, it was more like a child tugging
on your sleeve for attention.
This character started appearing in the garden when we had
snow on the ground. It's a jay and is very skittish, so no good pics.
Sometimes he brings a mate with him who is even more nervous
of humans.

I finally finished these for Pennants for Patchworkers.

They only needed labels.

I also finished two more bonnets for the Roses from the Heart project

The hearts are fused to a fine calico then free machined stitched

all over.

Lastly, I have just finished this A6 journal cover.

It's all hand stitched with everything coming from my stash

of stuff.

I haven't finished the brick wall yet. I must get in the garage

to find my car spray paints to finish it off with some graffiti.

2010 so far

Isn't it interesting outside at the moment.
These two pied wagtails are tucking in.........
I heard an odd noise that turned out to be a duck being
chased by a cat. The duck decided to fly and the cat just
sat down in the snow. The ponies just carried on eating!
I didn't get my camera out in time to capture the duck -
on film.

It's good to be a kid occasionally......

Bread and butter pudding with a twist - made with mincemeat

leftover from Christmas. No need to butter the bread, there's

suet in the mincemeat. Made it to take out for lunch. It sink abit,

these sort of puddings always do.

Now for some Textiles.............

This piece is a response to 'Word for 2010' from the

Quiltart list. What is your word for 2010? - something

to inspire, motivate, keep you focused. It doesn't matter

as long as it works for you. I couldn't make my mind up -

what a surprise! The words other people chose seemed

so good and I could identify them with too. I remembered

an image used in a teaching excercise about relationships

with year 8 pupils in PSE(Personal and Social Education).

The image - a brick wall. Upto now, a negative image for me

but in this context , a positive one. It's to do with the

importance of foundations. I made a list of all the words

for my wall. Whilst doing this one word and a phrase

kept coming back to me repeatedly.

The fabric is hand-dyed, probably pleated in a tray.

I measured out the size and lines with a pencil and

stitched just to anchor the fabric.

I free machine quilted the words, not in any particular order.

Then the bricks were stitched.

The back of the piece.

It's curing at the moment as I've used Markal paintsticks on it.

BTW - there are one or two spelling mistakes. Does it matter??

Also I haven't forgotten to say what my 'word' is.

Happy New Year

Happy NewYear

Good health and Creativity in 2010

Resolutions???
Haven't decided yet.
Perhaps the first should be not to procrastinate!!!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad......

I always make cards for my Mum and Dad.

This is the latest, for their wedding anniversary today.

Phone pouch

I made this today for my OH's mum. She had a new mobile
phone for Christmas for when she takes the dog a walk but
she always forgets it. She also can't hear it very well is it's
in her pocket. I said I'd make her a pouch to put round
her neck. Hope it's okay!

She likes poppies and wears a red coat. I knew that poppy

fabric would come in handy one day! Having a stash is good!

Christmas Presents

What do you get someone who has everything they need or
want?.....................Cushions!!!!
It gets more difficult every year deciding what to get people
doesn't it. I made these cushions for my OH's parents for
Christmas. I had the fabric printed with the images I'd taken
at different times. I just emailed the pictures and instructions
to the company. I only had a metre printed and I kept back a
couple of the large images for later. Space was filled in with
smaller images, each about 10cm square. They'll be used for
birthday cards and other gifts I'll make.
The fabric was steam fixed and they assure me it's fast. They've
produced it for upholstery projects and fashion fabrics.
I was impressed with the results.

The images were slightly different sizes, my fault. I had

to stitch a border round each image to make them all the

same size. Each large image was approximately 16 inches

square without the borders. I used 18 inch cushion pads.

I was pleased with the results and so were the recipients.

It was an interesting exercise and one I would consider again

for quilting purposes. I don't even do small scale printing at

home, we don't have an inkjet printer just a laser printer.

P4P's more detail

A few extras -
This is the pennant of 2 halves, not a lesser pennant.
The join can just about be seen - it's a utility stitch. I thought
it would be better than a normal zigzag stitch. I did think
of putting another backing on to stabilize the pennant
but it's not the done thing to cover the backof your quilting.

Now then, I'm in a quandry! I read somewhere the other day

that someone was having difficulty with the edges of their

pennant and there was plenty of good advice - duly noted

and taken on board. However, a comment was made to the

effect of judges don't like corded and zigzagged edges.

Oh dear, the zigzagged edges on my pennants won't go

down well. But then I thought, they're not being judged so

does it actually matter.

I'm a fan of zigzagged edges. I'm rubbish at satin stitch,

it doesn't matter how hard try, I'm still rubbish. I do layers of

zigzagging using all the colours I've used in the piece and an

open zigzag. I don't get lumps and bumps and the overall finish

is more subtle. I have used this sort of edge for years on items

that have to be hard wearing. In this instance I use a polyester

thread. I know this edge is not suitable for every quilted item.

Surely choices such as appropriateness of fabric, thread and

technique, are made with the end use in mind.

My pennants nearly got consigned to the recycling bin

but then I remembered the spirit in which we are being

asked to so this. So my pennants will posted just as soon

as the finishing touches are done. I hope they fullfil the

brief set. By the way, I enjoyed making them - should

have been doing Christmas stuff!!