From one thing to another.

From this to.......

this.   

The brief I am currently working on is all about the forest and I intend to use tweeds, wools and  checks as well as lots of various styles of stitching.  To keep my cost low I decided to go down the road of recycling, I visited many charity shops and got a couple of nice pieces, a mans jacket, a pair womens collotes. A few friends very kindly donated various bits and bobs they thought I may be able to use. One piece that was donated was this mans coat (50% wool 50% Acrylic).  Yesterday I started to cut the coat up in preparation for one of the pieces I am making but then it turned in to this little guy. Please meet Mr Coats Solomon isn't he fab (even though I do say so myself) sadly he is not mine to keep even though I am head over heals in love with him. However, I know his new owner will think he is great too.  I seem to have a thing for rabbits but who can blame me their so cute.

Corsets, cakes,snowmen and teddy bears.

Yesterday I attended our area day at St Luke's Church in Crosby. The Speaker was Gill Roberts and she gave us a great in sight into the world of corset's.  As ever there was much laughter, lots of chatter and lots of delicious cakes.. Gill is a fab speaker, she brought along a selection of  her work which is exquisite.  The afternoon work shop was by my amazingly talented friend Janet who showed us how to make a snowman or a teddy bear Christmas decoration. I chose to make the snowman.

My primitive snowman made yesterday at the area day.

This little guy was made last night by my fab little man Cole with a little bit of help from me.

Its been a long time since I have had the luxury of making something not uni related as well as having the delightful company of my grandson.

Sacrafice!

My very own beach finds in a little display box. Except the spider crab which was a gift from my very creative and lovely friend Gill.

Observational, pencil drawing on A2 of the objects in the display box.

Mark making in my sketchbook

From sketch to stitch the beginning. Hopefully I will show you how it turned out next post.

My life at the minute is all about sacrifice as I hit the ground running with the final year of the degree. I am loving the new brief which is all about drawing, it is my cup of tea because I love to draw. It will also be the foundation for the whole year and hopefully will give me lots of inspirational ideas for designs in the coming months. I chose the theme collections based on my recent foraging and beach combing finds.  Reading between the lines on the brief its main focus is about observation, really looking at the object you want to draw, getting to know it and I agree as this gives you a better understanding of its shape, form , colour and even its purpose. The drawing of the mini display cabinet has taken me just over 12 hours to draw (not in one sitting I may add) so far and as you can see its still has a little bit left to do. Others may only take a few minutes its all depends. I have discovered that to reach the criteria for this brief by the deadline date I have had to make some sacrifices. Mainly time spent with family and friends, Colin would probably throw in house work as well but that's really no biggy, is it? Hence the lack of blog post again :( but I will try and pop the occasional one on when I can fit them in. A big Thank You to all those who read my blog and for the great comments, very much appreciated. X:)

Miss Willow has a friend!

Miss Willow has a frien,d Colin has a new bike which I have called Brian? Yep! don't ask it just popped in my head.

I found a crab on the beach I was sooo excited then I found another.

Today's beach combing finds.

This photo does not do this broken shell justice it has stunning colours, lilac, mauve's, purples and blues running through it.

Favourite finds from today.

OH NOOOOO! I only went and crushed my two fab crab finds, totally gutted.

I am ashamed to say that I have neglected Miss Willow since I got George, shame on me. However, a couple of days ago Colin purchased a bike and today we rode to Crosby Marina one of my favourite places. It was a beautiful day not a breeze to be had, the beach was so peaceful and I could have stayed for hours. I parked Miss Willow in my usual spot and nipped onto the beach to do a bit of beach combing. The tide was just going out and I found some amazing treasure. My highlight find was my very first crab quickly followed by a second (I know I am crackers but I assure you I am harmless) I placed them in there very own bag, carefully transported them home only to crush then under a box. NOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am gutted to say the least. However Miss Willow and Brian have arranged another date, we are planning to go to New Brighton, weather permitting at the weekend. Fingers crossed I find another crab:)

Natures colours.

Today I thought I'd share the beautiful photos Colin took for me on our walk on Wednesday. Yes silly me forgot to bring spare batteries for my camera and they died. When I looked in my bag I'd forgotten my phone. Whoops! err! Colin, darling!!!! The first thing that I saw, just as we emerged from the woods, was this magnificent furry caterpillar, not sure what he is? I'm rather rubbish aren't I but again if anyone knows please leave a comment. The next thing that caught my eye was a row of trees. The sun was shining on them and their leaves shone like hundreds of moving silver mirrors, it was mesmerising to watch. As we approached the beach the sky was an array of various shades of blue and the sea was a graduation of warm greys, reminding me that summer was not quiet finished yet. We walked back along the road and as we turned the corner I was hit again by an abundance of colour, a bush of rose hips. Glorious oranges and lushes reds all with a subtle hint of gold and the vibrant lime greens of the leaves where simply dazzling. An introduction that Autumn was creeping in.

Foraging finds.

Woodland finds.

The feathers are from everywhere I walk. If anyone can identify them from the birds they came from please leave me a comment. X:)

Beach combing finds.

Remember this shirt cuff I made in to a sketch book?

 On Wednesday Colin and I went to Formby woods so I could go foraging. The woods lead onto Formby beach so I also got to beach comb. Now, I am new to this foraging malarkey and didn't really know what I was doing so I just looked for things that I thought where interesting, anything unusual would be a bonus. I had a fab day plus the company of the hubby which is rare during the day.  I often pick things up off the floor that catch my attention much to the disgust of my family, whomever is with me think I'm mad and often walk away at an increased pace .I have put all the things I found into mini collections these are the foundation for my very late summer project for Uni.  Next step start a sketch book. I had recently came across the shirt cuff sketch book I made last year which nobody seemed to want to buy so I decided it was time to use it. It's coming along nicely and I thought I'd share just a few of the pages so far. I have even stuck in a shell and a feather from my findings. Today's plan of action is to incorporate some stitched textile pieces but you know what the say about best laid plans!

Gill's studio at the bottom of her garden.

A little pond just outside the studio with beautiful goldfish in it.

These are what I chose to study and draw ready to do some mono printing.

I was persuaded to go down the beach route when my eyes fell upon this crab. I just love him. Gill told me its a "Spider Crab"

On Tuesday I went to Freshfields to Gill's studio for a mini mono print work shop. I had a great morning Gill is such an amazing person, artist and teacher. She made me delicious coffee with a little chocolate treat followed by a lot of chatter, yes mainly me because I never shut up and I was just in my element being in her studio.  Seeing her work and where she gets her inspiration from was so inspiring and my own creative imagination just ran wild. Gill said she has been foraging for about 5/6 years and oh boy what a collection of objects she has, I was in awe. Gill kindly allowed me to take home my little collection to enable me to do some sketches of them. I am so looking forward to going back for another mini workshop next week. 

Formby Vintage Market.

My stall.

Inside the hall.

On Saturday I did my first craft fair. The organiser Julie-Ann and the other stall holders made me extremely welcome. I have to admit I was very nervous but my nerves soon dispersed as people began to arrive and I made my first sale, which was a felt Scottie dog keyring and a penguin! I really enjoyed myself but to be honest I didn't sell very much however, it was all a learning curve. One of the highlights of the day was I got chatting to very talented lady named Gill who does the most amazing lino cuts (lino-cuts by Gilly )and makes fab jams (Gilly's Jams). I discovered that she runs mini art work shops and lives only half an hour away from me by car. Of course I had book one! Its all been very exciting but I am off to forage now so I will tell you all about Gill's workshop and why I am foraging in my next post. X:)

Escape to Wales.....

Our view from the window in the little village of Bedgelert.

Carved Dragon outside a shop in the village.

The bridge that crosses over the river Dee that runs through Bedgelert.

Llanberis Quarry Hospital Museum

We met some locals but they where a little shy and kept their distance.

Beautiful water cascading through the gorgeous village of Betws-Y-Coed.

My selfie of us on the miniature train at the Betws-Y-Coed. It was an whole eight minute trip around the track.

At the risk of being repetitive where does the time go? I am so busy, but loving and enjoying every minute of this summer break. I realised I have not blogged since before we went on our little trip to Wales. We had a great time, dodged a few showers and crammed in as much as we could in the short time we had. A day trip to Llanberis to the National Slate Museum which was fab. However, sadly I had an upset tummy and was not feeling 100% and didn't take many photos but I only realised this when I got home. Not to worry, it just means we need to go back another time. On our way home we stopped at the gorgeous village of Betws Y Coed. It has a dinky miniature railway, which was so cute I wanted to stay on and go round again. It has some beautiful shops, cafes and a very scrummy ice cream parlour. Colin took lots of photos of the river which runs under the bridge, whilst I sat watching a family who where crazy enough to be swimming in it.  

Creative mess?

A few days ago I spent several hours sorting out my desk. Starting from the window sill I cleared everything off so I was able to polish away the layer (or maybe it was layers) of dust. I went through the stack of books, magazines and paper that had accumulated on the end and was becoming so high it had started to block out the light. I found a box for all 8 of the snowmen in PJ's as they where hanging from my shelves. I even went through the box I have on my desk that stores various envelopes card and other bits and bobs. So what do you do when you have a nice and very clean work top? Your absolutely right make a creative mess. I decided to have a break from sewing and make some new ATC's. I've recently been inspired by using magazine images as collage and I really enjoyed it.  I thought I would share my creative mess with you and the four completed ATC's I made. I also added various bits and bobs to my little art journal which I have not worked in for a long time now and my altered book with the zentagled birds in but I will save sharing them for another post. Well I guess I better roll up my sleeves and clear away my creative mess as my niece is coming tomorrow to Cat sit Poppy for a couple of days whilst Colin and I swan off to beautiful Wales.

Fab finds.

Yesterday I was digging deep in my fabric stash trying to have a bit of a clear out and I came across these two UFOs. The top one, my friend Kath may recognise as I sent her a fabric postcard with a very scaled down version of this image. It's taken from a book "Art Deco" and I decided I was going to make a quilt using several of the images and the quilt as you go method however, I never got beyond this block. When I discovered it yesterday I new it would make a great cushion. 

The second piece I found was the stitched panel. This is my own design which I did around the same time as "the Balloon" quilt.  As you can see Rabbit has two new friends his Teddy and Hedgehog. Once I stitched it I had no idea what to do with it so like all the other UFOs, it got put away. Seeing as I was in cushion mode yesterday, this also seemed to lend itself to a pillow style cushion.  I have a nice little stock pile now for the stall on Saturday 5th September 10am till 4pm at Holy Trinity Church, Rosemary Lane, Formby L37 3HA. Please feel free to drop by and say hello. X:)

Ppppppick up a penguin....

 at Formby Village Market, Holy Trinity Church, Rosemary Lane, Formby L37 3HA on 5th September.  X:)

A trip to Chester...

Two new snowmen today.

Lovely fabric I purchased today.

I just couldn't resist this one, hmm I wonder why!!

Today the sun was shinning, I decided to make the most of it and go out for the day. I jumped the train to Chester to visit one of my favourite shops, Liberty Bell. It truly is a beautiful shop and as ever it did not disappoint, I was spoilt for choice. In the end I purchased two fat quarters and two half metres of fabric. How cute is the snowman fabric and how very apt! I then nipped round to Abakahan as Liberty Bell had no blue striped ticking but I also spotted this lovely subtle blue spot so that went in the basket to. Walking back to the station I spotted this delightful little book in the window of a charity shop. I read a few little snippets on the train home its quite quirky but it was the beautiful illustrations that really caught my eye.  Of course I had to make another snowman in his PJ's with the snowman fabric. I love them all but I think he is my favourite so far. Some of you may recognise the blue check PJ's as Colin's shirt, which I used to make my little boy rabbits dungarees a little while ago.