Sandra Meech...

So I spent last Friday and Saturday at the Bramble Patch attending a class with Sandra Meech. I was very pleased to have such a great group of people on both days to work with and I'm pleased with my results from the class.

The first photos I have are examples of what students achieved during the days

Below are examples of the paper collages we all made on the first day.

And these are examples that Sandra brought in for us to look at.

And below is my paper collage of a sea scape.
And the result of the transfer paints and other embellishments I used to produce another seascape.

I won't be posting for a couple of weeks - but I'll be back with lots of photos for you all.

Have fun.

What I've been up to...

My aim was to do some art everyday and for the most part I have managed it - it might only have been 10 minutes or a flick through a magazine - but I have done something. And the photo above is what I did for a week in the evenings. It was a very good friend's birthday and i wanted to make her something - so here it is. I'm very pleased with the result - and I'm pleased to say so was she. It's from a book called Kokoro no Te - Handmade presents from the heart and it's the first project I've made from it. I do like having something to hand sew rather than always being at the machine so another aim (yes I have lots of them) is to always have some hand sewing.
Now - although like me you are trying to forget how quickly the year is progressing - it is coming to that time of year again -yep Christmas. And at The Bramble Patch on Saturday Bren bought along some Christmas theme boards she'd made. The idea was to think about different colour ways for this festive season - not just the traditional red, green and gold - but silver and blue. What do you think?

She also had some great ideas for wrapping presents - from making your own paper to using fabric to wrap presents.

Now I'm going to leave you guessing what I'm up to with this....and ideas?

I'm finally getting over my sketchbook phobia - its only taken almost 2 years - but it was well worth the journey.

So here are a few pages.

Lots of dyed calico...

And here is the fruit of the sketchbook - well it's a work in progress.

And finally - Flo asleep on the bed. She won't move for anything LOL

I'm so excited as I've got a 2 day class with Sandra Meech at Bramble Patch on Friday and Saturday.

Have a great week.

And finally...

I've been meaning to show you this for ages -it's part of the village Bosworth in Bloom. Yes - it's a policeman's helmet planted up and hung outside our village police station.

And here is our stand this morning for the NSPCC coffee morning - we decided to make a contribution to the coffee morning but donate most of our takings to LOROS. I think we did rather well for 2 hours - I'll be able to tell you later in the week how much we took.

And finally - what comes in a case like this...

YES - ONE OF THESE...


Boy is it nice. It's runs so smoothly - it's a real delight. I only got it yesterday so I've not been able to spend too much time playing - but I'm very pleased with it so far. I promise to keep you updated with my progress. If any of you have the same model I'd love to hear from you and would like to receive any comments you have.

Oh and I have been creative every day for the last week - I can't show you what I've made for my friend's birthday, but I can show it you next week.
Have a good weekend - I'm off to play now.

A very crafty weekend...

Well I've had a great weekend - lots of quilting associated stuff.

I had a great day at Great Doddington at the Quilder's Guild Regional Day. I was very impressed with the 2 speakers they had Ferret and Katherine Guerrier. Both very different, but it was great to hear how they have developed their ideas and skills. It was a delight to heat them both speak. I'd highly recommend making the effort to attend either a regional or area day - it's a great opportunity to meet other quilters and hear well known ones speak and also meet up with fellow quilters.

I had a great day. It also fitted in very well with my challenge for this month - to do something towards my creativity everyday. So that's Saturday 4th October started - and today I've posted on my blog, bought some calico (for dyeing) and get set up to start some other things too.

I'm also very pleased to have my sewing machine back in full working order.

I'd also like to let you know about a few events coming up:

NSPCC coffee morning:- Saturday 11th October between 10 - 12. There's a £1.00 admission fee but that does include a coffee for you. And the Market Bosworth Quilters will be there selling some quilts. If would be great to see you there.

Christmas Fair - Saturday 29th November, 10:00 - 3:00 at the St Peter's Church Hall, Park St, Market Bosworth. It was a great event last year - and we were very lucky that Santa was able to make an appearance. Please do try to come along - you'll be able to buy some beautiful gifts for Christmas (or for yourself) and they'll be raffles and tombolas too.

Well I hope you've all had a good weekend. Hopefully I'll have some photos for you all next time.

Lots of bits and bobs...

Hello all. Hope you're all well and that, like me, you had a lovely sunny weekend. Yes dry and sunny in England and yes it's September.
I had a great day on Saturday at Brenda's class. It was so nice to meet up with everyone again and hear what they'd been up to over the summer.
I had great fun tray dyeing some calico - I do have photos and here they are:

And here are the results from the trays.

Lovely as this fabric is - I was aiming for an olive green LOL. You can tell I was chatting and not concentrating. But hey - I like it.

A mix of chestnut brown and rust orange.
Just royal blue

And my copy of Selvedge arrived. I love the front cover. I drive past these round hay bales every day and they're just asking to be rolled...

And finally - more photos from the NEC. I've still got lots more photos - I think I'll just pop a few on now and again.

Brenda Boardman's winning entry...

Lots more great quilts from the FoQ.

Have a great weekend.

My sewing machine has been fixed - but I think it might need a service...

Rain, rain, rain - it just didn't stop

Yep - it's been raining for days... and it hasn't stopped for days and days now. It's not a light drizzle - it's throws it down.

But today, for the first time in ages, it's dry and sunny.

At long last I've posted some of the photos I took at the FoQ 2008. I've got lots more so I'll try to post these over the next week or so.

I'm also a bit grumpy as my machine isn't working as it should so tomorrow I've got to get it sorted. It's so frustrating as I've done all it said in the book and changed the bobbin, thread, needle and feet and still it isn't as it should be. Ahhhhh. I'm sure it'll be better very soon.