July Swaps

These two lovely books are actually a June swap that Alis of Unlimited Textiles made for me. Alis has not been well, and was a bit late with her swap, and wanted to make up for it! Well, as you can see, she certainly did that handsomely! The larger Notebook at the back I will use for special Quotations I want to keep, and the little book at the front is a mini star book - it opens out into a star shape when you 'turn it inside out' when putting both covers together. You can then hang it from the loops at the top of the spine.

It is so pretty, completely made of painted watercolour paper and other fancy papers, with lovely little treasures adhered inside. It is approximately 3" x 4" and even has a 'V' paper clip on the front! I love it and thankyou again Alis.

July theme for the Quiltie (5" x 5") was Seasons - and this little beauty was made for me by Sandy, which as you see is Fall. Sandy used ultrasuede for the leaf and added loads of beads - what patience! Just gorgeous Sandy, thankyou again.

This is my interpretation of Seasons, which is A British Summer - Sunshine and Showers! That seems to be the constant forecast this Summer - every day we hear it - more of the sunshine and less of the showers please - that's what I say! I made this for June and she was delighted.


And finally..... Calendar Girls swap for July

This was our inspiration, provided by Pippa.

This is my interpretation which I made for Debbi. It started off as a piece of crumpled kitchen foil adhered to some fabric, then I added gesso, some paint, bit more paint, some gauze, more paint, a bit more gesso, and more paint, till I was happy. Debbi has received it and is absolutely delighted.

Sandy made this interpretation for me. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to get touchy feely with it (I've pinched the pic. from Sandy's Blog - hope she doesn't mind!) but I do know it is on its way.....

There have been some super cards this month, and if you would like to see the others, just click on the Calendar Girls Logo on the right hand side.

June Swaps with Unlimited Textiles

The theme for the June Quiltie swap was Birds Bees and Butterflies, and this little beauty was made for me by Jill. As you can see, it is all hand quilted, and the four blue birds with their wings joined, leaves a negative space which, if I had put the quiltie the right way up (!) looks rather like a flying goose. This is my interpretation of the theme, and I made this quiltie for June. The background is a piece of hand dyed fabric and the butterflies are hand dyed paper.

This I also made for June. It is a different swap, using the suggestion of an ATC sized mini book. The cover is snippets of fabric held down with chiffon and stitched in straight rows (lots of them!) then embellished with a grid. The 'heart' shape is dyed Tyvek. The edging is torn organza doubled over and tacked in place. The pages are gilt edged and each one has a gold tag protruding, with a bead attached. The beaded string is a bookmark, and the tassel is shop bought!

I've done some more .....!

I've been away for a few days, and before I went I decided to try my hand at some more rust dyeing - I have only done it once before, and my stash is all finished up.
I rolled the calico, and a bit of muslin, around a rusty old chain and some bicycle bits and some very old iron nails, poured half a cup of malt vinegar and half a cup of salt over it, put the tin in a clear plastic bag, and popped it in the greenhouse.

Five days later it all looked like this - what magic nature does weave!! Maybe the very hot weather helped it along......
You can see the imprint of the bicycle bits, but on this particular piece I have green and blue colours as well as the rust - I am amazed and delighted! It might be something to do with the base fabric being old white cotton sheeting?

Another pattern - different base fabric.

Sorry this pic. is a bit blurred, I was shaking with excitement! I rolled a very rusty long chain into this piece, and the patterns are amazing. All the pieces look even better now they are ironed.

Talking of being amazed - look what's growing on the bark of a tree in my garden - it is very hard and firm, and the gorgeous surface of each one looks like velvet! Just beautiful.