Painting on/with fabric

 Hello! I'm playing catchup today.  

I was hoping to have more of this piece done before I posted about it, but I need to, and have been felting as I have orders to complete so I think this will have to be put on the back boiler until...who knows when.

 I was fancying a change and decided I wanted to do a collage. To be more specific I wanted to do a portrait in fabric collage. I sketched a face in pencil on fabric and started cutting out bits of fabric but I couldn't do it. It didn't work, I wasn't at all sure what I was doing or how to go about it really so... I gave up! Tut tut!

 Instead I got out some paper and drew another face in coloured pencils. I used to do a lot of portraits when I was a teenager but only in pencil never in colour. Colour was too scary! In fact I still find colour a bit scary. I do struggle a bit with it. Anyway I'm getting off the subject.

 Now being the kind of girl I am, I don't like to be beaten so I went back to my pencil sketch on fabric and added some colour (after all I couldn't do it any harm could I?) but something exciting happened. I really liked it, I actually enjoyed it but what to do next? I still hadn't done what I set out to do so...

 I added a scrap of fabric here... and another piece there and then stuffed it under the sewing machine and whizzed about a bit. I actually whizzed about at bit too much because I managed to stitch the foot of my machine under a piece of fabric! That took a bit of jiggling and snipping to cut it free I can tell you, lol.

love Fi x

Take a note (book) Miss Jones.

 I'm fizzing today!

 There are so many ideas in my head and sooo many things I want to do! My heart's beating faster and my skin is tingling. I spent the weekend visiting Woolfest 2012 at Cockermouth and an exhibition at my local Embroiderers Guild (must remember to show you the photos)

You may think this is a good thing for a creative bod like me, but it's not. NO! It can be quite dangerous, as being full of so many ideas means I can't decide what to do first and often this leads to the dreaded 'not doing anything at all!'

PROCRASTINATION

I have plenty of  works already in progress to finish without all the new ideas in my head. There is a new felt picture to finish embroidering, felt brooches to put together, a bunny to make, stones to crochet, stones to embroider, crochet and knitting to get on with, a crochet class to prepare and notebooks to cover...

OO! Notebooks!

Nearly forgot about them (not much room in my head at the mo)

(front A5)

 (back)

 Yes, I thought I better show you my first attempt at covered notebooks before the photos got forgotten and lost in the myriad of files and folders on my computer.

(front A5) 

 (back)

Gosh! Just remembered I need to make a birthday gift for a dear friend, a thank you gift that's way overdue for another lovely friend and I need to make some more greetings cards. OH HECK! Daughters prom dress need altering too!

 (front A6)

 (back)

 I couldn't forget pretty insides too :) I think they're almost my favourite part, lol.

Maybe I should have one of these notebooks to keep my memory in! 

or at least my list of projects to finish. 

*

Thank you for the Meadow Felt love. It's now in the art and craft gallery, I'll try and remember to take a photo of it hanging in it's little space, but knowing what my memories like, don't hold your breath! 

love ...er...erm...oh yes... Fi x

Edited to add :: Just noticed this was my 300th post! WHOOHOO!
I think I better add 'organize a celebratory giveaway prize' to my to do list. 
You don't mind it a bit late do you? x

Edit number 2 :: Panic over, it's ok, I've just noticed Blogger counts your drafts in with your published posts so I'm only up to 292 posts, phew! A bit of breathing space, haha. x

Ta-daa! The Forge

 Here it is, all finished...I think.

 This was my starting point, a pretty little cottage called The Forge, presumably because it used to be...a forge. 

 I'm quite liking the straggly, frayey bits of thread. I'm not going to trim them, I don't want the finish to be too neat.

 My favourite part is the green railings which I had to wait almost till the end of the piece to do. You can actually see them better in the first photo, before I added the last two hanging baskets.

 After the railings, it has to be the little bits of stonework.

 I just need to find some way of getting prints made of it now. I need to start taking my work more seriously and making it work for me. But where to start, having prints made, that's a whole new ball game! I still haven't done anything with The Old Sweet Shop. I'm a bit of a control freak so not being able to take control of the printing bit makes me put it off altogether. V naughty.

Hmmm...maybe it just needs a couple more stitches here and there. 

Thank you for stopping by and any tips on how to go about getting good quality prints made would be more than welcome.

love Fi x

Napkin Greetings!

Once upon a time, many moons ago, a pretty lady, in a pretty shop, in a pretty village, bemoaned the fact that she couldn't source any really pretty greetings cards to sell in her pretty shop.

Aaaaaw.

But then the pretty lady had an idea and turned to her lovely friend who often visited the pretty shop and drank tea and chatted for far longer than she really should,

and said, "Oo...We could make some really, really, pretty greetings cards for my pretty shop couldn't we?". (Big flutter of eyelashes and sweet smile.)

It is at this point dear reader that I must explain that the word we when used in conjunction with fluttery eyelashes and sweet smile really means Fi.

So for future reference, We = Fi.

Got it? Good.

So after lots of sleeps and many moons had passed, the lovely Fi finally took up her pencil one evening and began to sketch. She sketched and sketched until her fingers were sore and her tiny brain hurt. By the time she fell into a deep slumber she had a little pile of sketchy ideas.
The very next day (or maybe a week or two later) after eating her porridge, Fi set to work with her snippety scissors and some odd vintage napkins. She snipped and she sewed looooong into the night.
The work was hard and Fi's tiny brain was tired but she persevered until....

Ta-daa!
She had a lovely pile of napkin corners all appliqued and embroidered, celebrating the things we all celebrate! I must tell you dear reader she was mighty pleased with her work.
But this was not enough!
NO!
All these gorgeous napkin corners had to be photographed, copied, printed, trimmed, glued and positioned. Card had to folded and labels had to made!
Once again Fi toiled hard into the night. She'd heard stories of old about little elves but alas they were only stories. Maybe her very own little people would like to help, but she knew deep down in her heart, it was a task only she could complete.

The next morning dawned (a little gloomy by the look of the photo) and BEHOLD! There on the table was a big pile of....very pretty ..... GREETINGS CARDS!
HOORAH!
A selection of 10 different designs.
Blank inside (just how Fi likes them.)

And all with a little label of love on the back.
aaaaaaahhh.

Soon after the little napkin corner cards were whisked away in a magic shopping bag to the pretty shop, where they were lovingly placed in the whirly-gig-thingy to wait patiently until they were chosen by lovely, lovely customers who, in turn, would fill them with 'lots of love' and send them to the four corners of the world to spread much happiness!
The pretty shop owner was also mighty pleased and gave the lovely Fi a cup of tea.
They sat together in the pretty shop sipping tea and gazing lovingly at the whirly-gig-thingy.


The pretty shop owner smiled and fluttered her eyelashes.

"I think we need to make some more of those!"

The End.

A gift for Mum.

This is my latest offering on the applique art front.

Inspired by my Mum and Dads house and pretty garden.

I made a little watercolour sketch to help me pick out the important features.


Plants on the patio.

Wisteria over the window.

Leaded windows and a suggestion of brickwork.

Stepping stones in the lawn and shrubs around the pond.

Finished just in time for Mums birthday!

And luckily she loved it, she even shed a few tears.

love Fi x

The Old Sweet Shop

For a long time now I've been wanting to be a bit more creative with my crafting. Cupcakes and bunnies are fine but there are only so many you can make without needing a change. Needing to explore your own creativity and crafting skills.

Above is The Old Sweet Shop.

A lovely little shop run by lovely people.

I knew you'd want to go inside so here it is!

Old, quirky, quaint and utterly gorgeous.


This is a page from my sketch book.

As you can see I don't do a lot of drawing these days, but it was enough to inspire me to do something I've been wanting to do for well over a year now.


The Old Sweet Shop.

I snipped and trimmed...

and stitched...

to my hearts content.

Look at the little sweety jars in the window!

I would like to do a whole series of pretty places and have already built up quite a collection of
photos.

Who knows maybe one day I could have an exhibition.

Just need to get the old arse into gear now!

love fi x