Christmas time

Boo,Winston and Arnie were last seen heading off to their respective homes on Christmas Eve. They didn't look very happy at the thought of being parted.


I promised myself some creative time over the holiday period. I made some printing blocks from polystyrene cutting the shapes with a soldering iron. This is how Frances Pickering does it,and I have to say it works wonderfully. The soldering iron just glides through the polysytrene, although I did have to work by an open door because of the fumes!


Then I mixed up lots of transfer dyes and painted and printed several sheets of paper. I have a specific project in mind for these, but more of that at a later date.

I also made a photo album with the goodies I had purchased recently from Falkiners Fine Papers in Southhampton Row.

The album measures about 7 x 7 inches. Having had a quick demo from a very helpful assistant in Falkiners, I included a spacer for the photos.

I also made a little A6 sized notebook, which is ideal for popping in a pocket or a bag.

Now, if I could only find my house keys I could get the car out of the garage, and go and get some shopping! I have been looking for them since yesterday afternoon. They must be indoors as I opened the front door to come in. I am always losing things. Saturday I 'lost' the eggs in the fridge, sent Hubs out to the corner shop to get some and as he puts them away in the fridge, he immediately 'finds' the other ones. I have for years lost gloves every winter. The children always threatened to put them on strings for me, like little children have. Well this year I am pleased to say I haven't lost any. I just don't wear them any more!

What do other people regularly lose? Do tell as I am sure I can't be the only scatterbrain around.

Merry Christmas!

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, prosperous and creative New Year.

Busy, busy, busy!

I haven't had much time to put anything on my blog recently, so thought I would share some photos of things I have been making, and receiving!

Firstly I did a one day "Wired wonders" class with Ray Slater at the local branch of the Embroiderer's Guild. The day went fine until we had a demonstration on how to stitch the head. 12 of us peered very closely across the table at the two inch high head in an attempt to see exactly what we had to recreate. A head the size of a football would have been better for demonstration purposes! We could just not see. I actually felt like walking out at that point, and I wasn't the only one to feel so frustrated. Then we were told we could only borrow the sets of instructions during the class, as they were copyrighted for a forthcoming book. Despite this, I did continue with my doll at home, and although she isn't quite finished, she looks quite fun, I think.

Then I did a two day Transfer to Dye course at Art van Go with Frances Pickering, which was absolutely fantastic. She is so generous with sharing her techniques, ideas and suggestions. These are the two main books I created, also not finished. I have a great pile of UFOs as I am sure everone else does.

Then I went to the Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Tate Modern with my friend Z, enjoying the use of her company's corporate tickets. Whilst appreciating the techniques used for the sculptures, I found the whole exhibition seriously disturbing. A review in The Guardian newspaper mentions "sinister sculpture of body parts" and "heads built of flannel or tapestry that softly scream". I couldn't even bring myself to buy a postcard, so serious was I in not wanting to be reminded of what I had seen.

Christmas came a little early with these gorgeous gifts from Z. A concertina book, some Christmas fabric and a sweet hand stitched tree decoration.

In the post a few days later I received these from C. in Dundee, as part of a swap. The leaves are exquisite and have been free machined on water soluble.


Then a Christmas postcard sent through the post. This has given me a few ideas!!

Have a good weekend everyone. Only 11 days to go to Christmas!