Belly Dancer

This is a doll I made for Neki.
We had dinner last Saturday, in Barcelona. It was so great to chat about textiles with her!
Thank you Neki for this time together!

Thanks also to Nellie from whom I get the inspiration.Go check her blog, she is a very creative and gifted lady.

Finished ... or not?

This weekend is a cool one. No on-line course to work on, no repairman to wait for, no travel to do. Perfect to tidy up things and show you some!
First a necklace we made at the shop, before Xmas. Not worn yet but longing to come out.

An little UFO: a wild woman, needed only a few beads to get ready for the picture.

Not an UFO, since it was started last Wednesday at the shop. A nice little purse, this one is quite simple. Deserves to get a bit wilder though.

This one is a true UFO. This is a project taken fro Quilting Arts issue December/January 2008. At the shop, we decided to do it as a scissors keeper. But none of us has been smart enough to check that we had enlarged the pattern enough for scissors to fit in... Of course, scissors are much larger... And now, though I'm pleased with it so far, I don't know how to finish it, and what to do with it. Any idea will be welcome...

I hope you enjoy your Sunday as much as I do!

Textile experiments

I've been following the on-line course by Carol McFee & Lynda Monk from http://www.fibreinform.com/

Here are some of my experiments.

Since they come from an on-line course, I won't explain the process. If you have the opportunity, don't hesitate, take that course, it is really good!

Diwali

This is a little wallhanging I made for my friend Wurzel.
The fabrics come from India via Shangari. The name of the kit is Diwali, i.e. the holliday of colors.

Go Green

A couple of months ago, Quilting Arts organized a Go Green Challenge. You can see the winners in the current issue, there are beautiful pieces.
I took part to it, using wrap paper,
my favourite vegetables nets
the remains of what was once a handbag
resulting in this
Have a nice day all!

PS, I'm not among the winners, just one of the many contestants!

Alien, continued

Even finished:
while I was working on it, my assistants were on intensive mode:At least, I know why I bought those chairs...

Alien ?...

OK, the strips belong to my slippers :-)
The other pictures are different steps of my personal interpretation of the curent project of our patchwork group. The theme is Self-portrait...

Belt, another one

Even before being off-line, I wanted to make this one.
No design research for this one. I wanted rick-rack, and I wanted to embellish it with a combination of stitches found in Carol Samples's book.
The threads are silk threads, gift from my sister.
I could no resist the beads either.


I'm not sure this one will resist the wear, but that doesn't bother too much. I had fun making it.

Back!

Hi to all! Sorry I've not been there lately: the thunder hit the house of my neighbor. By luck, nobody was hurt. But this left me without Internet, computer, TV, and maybe a few other things. I had to wait until yesterday late to be online again. And the man at the computer shop could restore all my data, that is a relief. All my pictures are back, not to mention my online-magazines files and the data for my flight to Munich in December... I have now a spare external hard-drive, for back-ups.

Not being online has provided me with a lot of spare time. Used to make this bag, among other things:

This comes from "Invasion of the Plush Monsters" by Veronika Alice Gunter. I've altered the pattern a little bit, as the initial one is for kid, and this bag is for my grown-up daughter. The monster face is the flap, not the body. The body provides some inside pockets. The monster mouth is the opening to another one, with some inside pockets too. The bag is about 40 cm wide. Made of recycled fabrics, kind of polar fleece.

Belt

I needed a belt. When I want shopping with my daughter, it was on mu list. But before going to cloth shops, we went to La Droguerie. It is a chain in France, specialized in trims, buttons, wool, beads. When I entered the shop, the idea of creating my own belt hit me. So i've purchased some trim, beads and a narrow velvet ribbon, as well as a buckle.
I've started working on it yesterday morning. First with some drawings and machine embroidery stitches (JoWynn, you see what your example makes me do :-)) I've applied the velvet ribbon with a fake cross-stitch (much more fun with the machine, as it was a plain straight line). Then I've added sequins and beads. I ended with some eyelets. And here it is:

Studio Journal

The online course proposed by Joggles and written by Sharon B has started!

Sharon aims at showing us how to use a sketchbook to enhance our creativity. The idea of this course was more than welcome by her students in former classes. Indeed, among the students for the Studio Journal, many have followed several courses by Sharon. It is fun to meet all again!

So, I've started my home work. First, I decided to go on with a sketchbook I had started some time ago, with the aim of collecting ideas and trying to draw some sketches. I just added some decoration on the covers, and an envelop to carry a view finder. I put my name and address too.

Then I played with drawing stitches:

And started working on a Van Gogh work, trying to translate it in stitches:

That's all for today, but certainly not for the week as this course is very inspiring...

Exquisite Corpse

Arlee has organized a special Round Robin, based on the Exquisite Corpse, that means that once you made your square, you cover it, leaving only 1 cm visible all around. The other participants try to mix with this little border, and cover their square too.


My theme was Fairies, mainly garden fairies. And they reached home today. Here they are:

The participants are
Julie Zaccone Stiller, Susan Sawatzky
Me, Nellie Durand,
Arlee Bar, Carolyn Watterson

My square is the empty one in the middle. I will add some leaves like the ones below, as Arlee was kind enough to send me some.

I'm so delighted with the result, and I thank all those gifted ladies very much!

I'm already very late for the belly dancing rehearsal, but I had to show that piece at once!

Cat

Again, I've taken my inspiration from Cloth Paper Scissors, from the May/June 2008 issue. Diane Taylor has presented a mixed-media collage. This is my version. I did not have the time to search scrim (I was heading to my patchwork club). So instead I took the vegetables nets I had at my hand, and little scraps of fabrics. Our meeting lasted two hours, this is the time I needed to achieve it.

New community for textile artists

Sharon B, of In a Minute Ago has just created a new community for all kinds of textile artists.
Anyone addicted to threads, needles and fabrics should visit it at once!


Visit stitchin fingers

Mme Corbeau's cousin

As promised, let me introduce you to Mrs Corbeau's cousin: She is on her way to Barcelona, hope my daughter will like her...

TIF

I've started working on April TIF challenge, on the "how do you see change" theme.
This is going to be the background. The words in blue mean change, the other words are synonyms, at least in my mind.

I could not get a better picture, because of the weather. But I won't be able to blog before Monday and wanted to post of TIF.

Thinking about what changes mean to me is a bit emotional. I've just turned 50, my kids have left the nest, my life changes in several ways and though I enjoy it, it is a time of questions.

Garlic...

A little project, again from the Cloth Paper Scissors issue of november/december 2007 (the one with Madame Corbeau). This was a very good issue, at least for me. Very colorful and fun. Ideal to use the little leftovers too. Robin Olsen explained how to make pretty chains. I was going to mount three of them like a rake on a twig, but my furry assistant provided some advice. She started to play with the chains hanging from a chair like only cats do, and gathered them into that. I had to agree with her, I liked them better that way. So that way it is.
Looks a bit like garlic, don't you think ?

Madame Corbeau

Please meet Madame Corbeau: A crow doll as explained by Kelli Perkins in Cloth Paper Scissors, Nov/Dec 2007 issue.

I've just discovered that Arlee from Aldebo has made a series of birds from the same article. Don't miss them.

Cardholder, bis

Thank you all for your comments on the little house. I like the way it turned out.
Since then, I've been working on the Exquisite Corpse round robin, but am not allowed to show you any picture yet...
And I did a second batch of cardholders, still with the madras leftover, but appliqued on boiled wool with the embellisher. Then I have added some machine embroidery. Even on the ribbons. I even made my first buttonholes with that machine. The feet is big, with an extra connection to the machine. Looks very difficult but it is in fact very easy. I just had to give the size of the button (here of the ribbon), and the machine did the rest. Gosh!

Oh, have you noticed the new logo on the side bar? the Annuaire Patchwork Discount? You can find some nice French textile blogs there.

Now back to the couch!

Another house

I found the first one a bit too straight. So I made a second one, for myself: