Found a wonderful new craft

So excited to share a new craft I found at  Westpoint Craft Fair today.  It's such a versatile form of sculpting fabric with glaze, varnish and pigment and so much fun to do.  Here's my first attempt below

Made for a friend

Unfortunately I didn't get this finished in time for a friend's birthday but, it's done now.  My friend likes to spend her summer weekends at her caravan.  As the summer season is coming to an end I thought she might appreciate this applique to remind her of her summer weekend home.

A major project begins

I've been meaning to start this Lynette Anderson Cherry Tree quilt for some time. I was recently given a voucher to spend at Cowslip Studios in Launceston by some lovely crafting friends that clearly know where to shop. This family run business is based in gorgeous rural Cornwall and prides itself in stocking a wide range of quilting and craft fabrics.  Cowslip Studios also run a wide range of workshops, mostly fabric based but also include other crafts too. To top it all they have a fabulous little cafe which serves lovely lunches, cakes and beverages, making this a wonderful place to visit for a fabric obsessed crafter, such as myself. One beautiful summer's day last last month, I took the opportunity to visit and, quite by chance Cowslip had an exhibition of quilts. There was some stunning work on display and I found it so inspiring. I came away fully fired up to begin my project.

I bought some beautiful batik prints which are lending themselves beautifully to the flowers in Lynette's design. It isn't easy cutting fabric with limited space but I cleared the kitchen table and made a start. Now the pretty bits begin, I'm really enjoying the applique on these little flowers.

Quilty dresser protector with heart applique

Who would've thought recuperating from breast cancer surgery could be this much fun? Certainly sorts your head out and stops you from dwelling on your cares and worries. I made this dresser protector because I wanted something pretty to look at each morning and also because I wanted a project small enough to cope with post surgery.  I applique the hearts whilst I didn't have much arm movement and then tackled the quilting as soon as I could move my arms without pain. Love the way it turned out.  I added a pocket to the end to store hair brushes, clips and combs.

Watercolour blooms

Been having fun with watercolour pigments last night. Really love the way that it moves on water. Anyway this is how the experiments ended up.

Live Laugh Love

After much dilly dallying over what to do with these panels, they finally became cushions (much to Joe's chagrin, he says men don't 'do' cushions) - shame that :)

A thank you gift

I make all sorts of things to raise money for my favourite charities - Dogs Trust, Cats Protection, The Donkey Sanctuary and Cancer Research to name a few. I've recently met a very nice Chinese lady who has given me lots of pretty cotton fabric scraps and I wanted to make her something to say 'thank you' for the donation. I've therefore made Di one of the covered notebooks below. Di mentioned she has a young daughter, I've therefore made her one of the covered notebooks shown below, and for her daughter some bunting with the motto "Carpe Diem" on it. This of course means 'Seize the Day' a saying made popular in the film Dead Poets Society. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Using fabric scraps

I wanted to use up all those little scraps of fabric which were too small for patchworking but too pretty to throw away. I also wanted a fabric cover for for my Moleskine - I put the two together and came up with this. What do you think?

Invites

Been having a lot of fun creating invites this afternoon ...

A new year full of possibility

Don't you just love a New Year? It offers so many opportunities to make a fresh start. No matter what you do in life, or where you're at - even if it's just changing your attitude toward something - it can make life a lot less stressful. I'm off to a creative start, I've been painting and sewing a little - starting more than I've finished (no change there) but enjoying myself indoors while the weather has been turning increasingly bitter outside. I've decided to take part in a Facebook Group which is designed to help people control stress through art and this lady below came from a meditation which made up the first exercise.

Today I have a stinking cold consequently I'm not venturing out of the house. So what does a true friend of the fae do when they can't stretch their real wings? We don our 'wings of whim' (wonderment, hope, inspiration and merriment) and get the glitter out ....yay! Loving the way these twinkly trees turned out.

Just finished off a little glittery loveliness for a good friend's birthday - I hope she'll like it.

Cats asleep by the fire, glitter in my hair and on my clothes, chocolate and wine in the fridge for later, Emeli Sande filling the air with her wonderful voice - what more could a girl need (apart from tissues and paracetamol)? Happy days :)