The end is nigh.

Tomorrow I have to turn in my final pieces for Uni and then I have finished the first year. I feel I have done all that I can and what will be will be. Today I  decided I was just going to sew, sew, sew just for meeeeee. I bought some beautiful fabric from Dot on Saturday, at the Crosby area day. Elaine Humphrey's was the speaker, he quilts where simply stunning.  A great day was had by all, as always lots of chatter and laughter with great people. It is days like this that make me want to rush home and make a quilt.  I purchased my lovely friend Janet's block of the month pattern a few weeks ago, with the intention of making it during my summer holidays but I couldn't wait so I started it today. I have completed three of the applique flower blocks and four log cabin blocks. I have really enjoyed sewing today. :)

Its the little things....

that make us happy. This is my second attempt at reading a crochet pattern and look what I to made this little Amigurumi bunny. I have placed her next to a cotton real so you get a feel of how small she is. I started her a few days ago and finished her last night. The pattern is from Craft Pattern: Crochet spring Bunny, by Stephenie Jessica Lau. It was a little fiddly because I am still quite clumsy at doing a magic circle and holding the crochet hook and wool when it comes to crocheting tiny piece.  Sometimes it takes me up to six attempts at the magic circle before I'm off and running but I am so pleased with what I have accomplished in the last three weeks. Seeing as Easter is just around the corner I think these little guys will make perfect gifts for loved ones together with a little egg. Now you know what rabbits are good at folks? and now I have two, I think a few more will shortly appear. x:)

Shelley Rhodes, Pecocks and their feathers.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to attend a work shop with the amazing artist Shelley Rhodes which was organised by the Contemporary Quilt group of region 13.   I loved every minute of the day. It was quite an intense work shop but most enjoyable as Shelley had lots of techniques, tricks and tips through out the day and she crammed as much as she possible could in the six hours we where with her. We had to bring along a interesting object which would be our focal point of the day. I chose a Peacock feather although it took me weeks to decide what to take because I got hung up on the word interesting.  The rest of the requirements list for the work shop was enormous luckily everything fitted into my little suit case and away I went. The two bottom images are little bits of the work I produced on the day. I came home and put them to one side knowing that someday I'd come back to these little works of art. The following week Natalie and I took the three boys to Walton Hall Park in Warrington and strolling around the little zoo where several peacock. I snapped away thinking what beautiful creatures they are and how the sun shimmered the gorgeous colours of their tale feathers. Then a few days after the park trip we where given our final brief for drawing for textiles and its was open. Yey we could chose anything we wanted and yep you guessed it I have chosen PEACOCKS! The top image is the work I have done so far and I've even managed to incorporate the art pieces from the Shelly Rhodes work shop. Happy days all round me thinks. X

Ta Da......

This is my sleeping bunny I am so pleased with how she turned out. She is made with left over pieces of DK wool so she has odd feet and odd hands but I think it adds to her uniqueness. I have named her Flop (I know very original,hehe). If you would like to make her the pattern is free on http://craftroom.tumblr.com/post/20243451718/amigurumi-sleepy.

Sore fingers but oh so pleased........

with myself because I have been teaching myself to crochet. It is part of a brief for uni called loop link. We could choose from knitting, crochet or knotting but you had to choose one you could not do. Well I can knit so that was not a option for me. I knew how to do a chain and a treble in crochet but that was all  knew and as for knotting! total blank. I decided to go for crochet, seeing as I already had a tiny bit of knowledge in this department surely I was off to a good start. I googled easy to crochet patterns and found a delightful bunny pattern that said it was for beginners. Not being able to read the pattern I took it to my good friend Hilary at LB who is an abolute wizz with the crochet hook. Hilary gave me a little crash course on what the abbreviations meant and how to increase and decrease. I jotted down all the things she said but once home alone I became a little confused when trying to crochet the bunny on my own. Back to the drawing board, I was given some basic visual notes from the lecturer and using these I went back to the basic stitches. Next stop was good old utube. Step by step crochet for beginners. Two weeks on and I have crocheted three flowers and today the icing on the cake,

this little owl. He is about 2 1/2 inches in height he took me two hours. However spared on by this mammoth achievement I went back to a bunny pattern. 1 and 1/2 hours later da da.......

I've crocheted his head. Again its about 2 1/2 inches in height. That's me for today though my fingers get a bit stiff as I am still a bit all fingers and thumbs holding the wool, as I am having to retrain my hand to holding the work and feeding the wool differently to how I normally crochet. Meanwhile the remaining homework is screaming for my attention but it will just have to wait as this is the last of my crochet samples and if I can manage to create a successfully crocheted bunny rabbit I kid you not I deserve a gold star. (nothing like blowing your own trumpet ).

Hybrid Jewellery.

Beetle plus.....

Skyscraper =

This.

Ohhhh Nooooo there is a mark on the lense of my little digital camera, BOO HOO! I can't get rid of it. See it just under the models left cheek.  I will have to show DH see if he knows how to get rid of it.  Anyway, I thought I'd share my final illustration for the Hybrid brief in create thinking. We had to design a piece of jewellery from the two words we chose from two list. The two words I chose where Beetle and Skyscraper. Three weeks later here is my final illustrated design a metallic and bejewelled chunky necklace. 

The season is Spring.

From this to......

this.....

The new brief for "Drawing for textiles" is Spring. I have to draw a series of images depicting what my interpretation of spring is.  For me Spring is new life, growth,  a new generation, snowdrops, crocus's, daffodils, chicks and lambs.  Today I have attempted some still life drawing of some potted hyacinths.  I started off by using a range of pencils, this has helped me get familiar with my chosen subject.   Next I am going to attempt to introduce colour and try my hand at some watercolour paints before moving onto my fab Derwent pastel pencils.