Copied And Pasted From My Old Blog

Please ignore details above. Below is the original time and date posted!

Saturday, 14 July 2007

Good evening,
Well, I said I'd post my latest smashing idea and I suppose I'd better do it now before I forget and go and colour co-ordinate my sock drawer or something. I do that you know. The Postman might ring the front door bell. Good I think, I've been waiting for that parcel. On the way to answer the door I spy a stray dirty sock on the floor. I take the dirty sock to the laundry bin in the bathroom but then decide the bathroom needs cleaning. I then go to the cleaning cupboard and notice that the shelf needs a wipe over so I empty the entire contents onto the kitchen floor. Only then do I realise that I am out of bathroom cleaning spray. I'd better put that on the shopping list before I forget, so I walk across the kitchen to find a pen. Halfway across the kitchen, Arthur the cat nearly trips me up whining for food. I turn to go in the opposite direction towards the cat food cupboard. I feed the cat. And then......I really must phone the Post Office today. They still haven't delivered that parcel you know!
But I digress. I was surfing t'interweb the other day when I came across Susan Sorrell's art quilts. 'Cor blimey guv'nor,' says I, 'what talent that lady has!'

http://www.creativechick.com/gallery.html

I SO have to make me one of those. My cousin Lynne did a portrait of Livvie (aged 12) a few weeks back and I thought it would be really cool to make that into an art quilt.

I love the idea of embroidering words all the way round the edge that refer to Livvie's personality. I have a huge list of words for possible inclusion on Livvie's quilt donated by family. :0)

Also donated by a lovely lady named Penny http://www.oohlalaonline.co.uk/page008.html from Sheffield Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/ is a bag of beads that I plan to use on this project. Thanks Penny!

Below is my coloured sketch that I copied from Lynne's original portrait and then follows my first thoughts on the border.

I'm sure all the colours will change as it progresses though.

I have many techniques planned for this quilt. Firstly I am going to embroider the blue background (actually looks green in the photo) to add depth. Maybe add the odd discrete sequin. Then I am going to make a pattern and applique Livvie on. I shall use black stitching lines as if they were a pencil and 'draw' the details and shading. I might add a 3D flower to her hat and an appliqued logo to her t-shirt. For the border i think I shall hand dye some felt and add some felt 3D flowers with button centres. I shall embroider the words round the edge once I have decided which ones to use. Oh and last but not least, I have some gorgeous rik-rak from Granny's sewing box that I will sew around the inner edge of the border. Gran would like that. I have quite a bit of fabric and haberdashery from Gran that I am planning to use. I shall try and post some photos of that tomorrow. :0) I am really going to enjoy making this!

Just quickly before I go, Livvie and I have been playing with a cool knitting machine that I saw on The Martha Stewart Show: http://tinyurl.com/2p4zzn It's called an Embellish-Knit by Bond America: http://www.bond-america.com/products/embellish-knit.html

It makes about 18 feet of knitted cord in ten minutes! So far we have made cats toys and necklaces. Pickles the dog, Chicken the cat and Livvie the 12 year old are all wearing them now! I even ran some black waxed sewing thread through it and it came out all spider webby. I added some black beads and gave it to Emily (aged 15) and she loves it. :0) I'm sure I can come up with some smashing ideas for the knitted cord.

Two very quick things before I go to bye-byes:
There is a massive spider in my utility room that keeps playing hide and seek with me! Me and big brave Gary tried to get it today, but I just ended up screaming and doing The Spacky Dance. The trouble is he lives within inches of a my drying rack. I am going to be SO careful that none of the clothes drape on the floor. Can you imagine the fright if someone found Insey Winsey in a shirt sleeve? Ha ha ha!

Lastly but not leastly. My Auntie Babs told me off for forgetting about eight years of my life.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2004/09/16/faith_hisway_feature.shtml
In yesterdays post I told you all about my crafting over the years. However, I neglected to tell you about The Plant Pot Puppet Theatre and HisWay Puppet Theatre. For many years I was a puppeteer, even winning 2 x European Puppet Ministry Awards as part of the team. In more recent years I have been making puppets. We made the coolest puppets in the known universe, but alas, that all went out the window with my good health. :0(

So, on that cheery note I bid you all a good night. Night night, sleep tight and don't let the utility room spider bite! X XX X