Showing posts with label Calendar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calendar. Show all posts

Summer stuff

"Foxglove, foxglove, what do you see?"
The cool green woodland, the fat velvet bee;
Hey Mr Bumble, I've honey here for thee!

"Foxglove, foxglove, what see you now?"
The soft summer moonlight on bracken, grass and bough;
And all the fairies dancing as only they know how

Cicely Mary Barker
foxgloves at Morvah

I've never had a lot of luck with foxgloves in my garden
but these quintessentially English summer flowers
grow prolifically in the hedgerows and woodlands around me
so I delight in them there

I love foxgloves almost as much as I love honeysuckle
the hedgerows far more alluring than a cultivated garden
"round whose feet ... a thousand fairies flock with blossoms sweet"

July and summertime bring many sweet pleasures
the strawberries that grow in the wild are by far the sweetest!

of course ... I sampled :o)

and this was on my way to Tescos
which was a rather strange experience for me since
I got half way there and discovered I still had my slippers on
my mind not quite on the job in hand obviously!

in fact there has been too much going on recently
and once again a bit of a catch up is necessary

Friday 10 June

I had a trip on the open top bus to visit a friend
who lives in the stunning countryside near Morvah

I always enjoy sitting out in the fresh air (and I mean fresh!)
it's alright so long as your dressed for the occasion
(and take a plastic carrier bag to sit on)
so would thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance!

the day passed far too quickly with visits to galleries at
Morvah School House and Yew Tree Gallery
as well as lunch at The Cook Book in St. Just

and a trip to Flying Squirrel for the purchase of batting
for my art quilt for Festival of Quilts
(separate post about that later)

and another blustery ride back to St. Ives!

looks can be deceptive!

Wednesday 15th June
Crow Day with Jo


Crow Days with my friend Jo are always loads of fun
really it's just licence to be silly, laugh a lot and have time to stitch
otherwise known as "professional development"

I started this spring landscape piece earlier in the year
but it has since turned into an autumn landscape
with the addition of seedheads, bare trees and autumn leaves

it's still not finished ... there are many more leaves to stitch
but soon ... I hope ... there will be some peaceful time to sew

Jo and I went to see the poignant exhibition of work by Roy Ray
"Observations on a Journey" and
"Where their footsteps left no trace"

Roy Ray with four of the five panels
an incredibly powerful exhibition of his paintings and assemblages
which form part of The Evilution Project
(please do visit)

These five panels each measuring 5ft x 2ft are part of the first phase of the Evilution Project and are memorials to the millions of innocent men, women and children who became victims of conflict by the corrupt use of science and technology: many because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or from the wrong country or wrong race. Every single one of those people meant something to someone and should not be forgotten

the panels are shortly to be installed at
St Peter's Church, nr. Ground Zero, New York


from 30 July 2011

they will be exhibited there during the 10th anniversary of
the September 11th terror attacks on The World Trade Centre

see press release for more information

Friday 17 June

We had friends arrive to stay with us in the cottage for two weeks

Just before (really bad timing) my washing machine "conveniently" broke down and I waited all week for parts to arrive and then it became apparent it couldn't be fixed and I needed a new one so then a frustrating few days was spent catching up with laundry etc.

The weather was really bad too with rain and cold chilly winds
so I stayed home and made beads whenever I had the chance

Tuesday 21 June

Jo and I went to see the exhibition of mixed media
and fine art textiles at Camborne College

I enjoyed seeing some fabulous and interesting work
from the fine art textile students
my favourite pieces were by Annie Ward

followed by a trip to the Cornwall Scrap Store for stash top ups


and photographing some natural patterns on the wall
of the old building round the back of the Scrap Store

and a treat of hot chocolate drink and
lemon cake at Costa Coffee in Hayle ... yum!

Sunday 26th June

We had our hottest day of the year so far ... swelteringly hot
and on Monday we had a day of fog and Cornish mizzle in St. Ives

we woke to a misty morning

our misty morning inspired this mosaic for Mosaic Monday
with thanks to my friends on flickr for sharing their beautiful photographs

1. Somewhat compulsive 2. Beach
3. Porthmeor beach, St Ives 4. Misty water spotty rocks

it didn't stop us getting out for beachcombing
and it didn't stay misty too long

early evening in St. Ives

Thursday 3oth June

a seaside inspired mosaic for TILT

Things I love Thursday

seaside piers, board walks, shiny shells, white coral
sea fans, sea urchins, mussels, ethereal seascapes
birds, shimmery wet sand and white surf spray


1st July

better late than never ... my calendar for July

image courtesy - rosewithoutathorn84

July wishes ... sunshine and time to enjoy it

Sorry it was a long one again but I had to catch up because the next month is also going to be another busy one with family coming to stay on Tuesday and the rest of the month spent bent over my sewing machine working on my entry for Festival of Quilts. I will be sharing the progress of my quilt at a later stage ... for the time being I need to make some serious headway with it!!!

I shall be at Festival of Quilts on Thursday 11 August

I don't leave Cornwall to go "up country" very often
so it would be nice to meet as many of you as I can on the day

please do let me know if you will be at FOQ on Thursday
it would be lovely to say "hello"

creative wishes
Carolyn

Summer sweetness

a tranquil summer sunset shone upon him
as he approached the end of his walk
and passed through the meadows by the river side

he had that sense of peace
and of being lightened of a weight of care
which country quiet awakens
in the breasts of dwellers in towns

Charles Dickens - Little Dorrit

a summer wish
a leafy lane
a warm summer breeze
a dandelion clock
scattering seeds
a summer hedgerow with wild flowers
new feathered fledglings
in dappled shade
the sweetness of honeysuckle
my favourite flower
honeysuckle flowers in my nan's garden 1962
thank you for stopping by
and for all your fab comments on the Cornish ramble
I'll organise another outing for us all soon ;o)

sweet summer wishes to you
Carolyn


[so sorry I'm a little late with the June calendar
- feel free to download and print if you wish
- oh and there will be another post along soon]

Roses at Ramster

My calender for October features some beautiful roses
I photographed a couple of weeks ago at a wedding
we went to at Ramster in Chiddingfold, Surrey

October wishes ...

good health
Autumn walks in the sunshine
amazing nature finds

time to enjoy my erosion bundle
time to finish my hand made books
time to work on my Brooklyn sketchbook project
time to work on exhibition pieces

peaceful time to curl up on the sofa and
think about making Christmas lists!


Roses at Ramster
... hope October continues to have a golden glow ...

Carolyn ♥

September wishes

I hope September brings a peaceful, calm feeling and some positive energy for getting back to work

I'm looking forward to Autumn nature walks, blackberry picking, making jam, natural dyeing, working in my various sketchbooks, catching up with projects (doing ok, just keep calm and carry on!) and just getting back into a working routine


























Soft faded petals





















September songs in our hearts



















What do you wish for?

Carolyn ♥

Elements of St. Ives - Art Quilt

















We are very lucky with the light in this beautiful part of the West Country and the golden sunrises and purple sunsets can be absolutely stunning










I love moody, stormy skies too. Skies heavy with dark greys and plummy mauves. The light in the bay of St. Ives is truly amazing and I really wanted to feature this element in my art quilt for Festival of Quilts
















A few of you have asked to see my quilt so I thought I would share a few photos of how I made it and a little about what inspired it

















I started by thinking about the elements of St. Ives I wanted to incorporate and the colours I wanted to work with. I spent some time gathering together inspiring fabrics, threads, beads, shells and images of cottages that I collect














St. Ives cottage inchies





















I decided to work in layers of colour and the fabric I used is dupioni silk which I dyed myself. I made some colour samples first before selecting the colours I wanted to use to dye the pieces
















The back





















This is the front panel. The four pieces were dyed separately then stitched together. There is also a border around the back and front panels in variegated dyed silk

I washed the panels on the front so they are lighter than on the back






















I appliqued a row of Cornish cottages as though on a brow of a hill, using many different fabrics such as silk, cotton, painted and monoprinted calico, crocheted lace, scrunched tea dyed cotton and painted bondaweb

The roofs were made from textured fabrics such as linen, hessian, three types of scrim, furniture fabrics and salt dyed cottons which I distressed with mustard gold ink for the look of lichen, which is very distinctive on the roofs of St. Ives cottages

The clouds were made from wadding bondawebbed to the silk and later quilted with pearl seed beads. I added a snippet of text to one of the clouds "from a pale grey sky"

















Next I prepared a backing layer for the cobbles. I used a natural backing fabric and snippets of many different fabrics which I bonded together with bondaweb

Snippets















The photo above shows the backing fabric, a layer of bondaweb and the snippets of fabric. I used hessian, polyesters, cottons, silk, metallic threads, metallic fabrics and cellophane sweet wrappers. I covered this with a sheet of baking paper and ironed the layers to fuse the snippets to the backing fabric














This is what it looked like after peeling the baking paper off

















The cobble panel was tacked behind the front panel below the cottages and then I free motion stitched "cobble" shapes through all the layers and quilted the cottages

















I don't have any more pictures to show of the next stages as I started to run out of time and needed to spend every spare moment stitching

I quilted ripple patterns on the layer of sand and hand stitched heat distressed chiffons decorated with real limpet shells, mussel shells and beads






The seaweed layer was lightly quilted and the bottom of the quilt was embellished with seaweed shapes which I made from heat distressed chiffons and ribbons and also melted plastic carrier bags. I added lots of beads, shells and eyelash yarns for coral










Finally, I cut through areas of the cobbles (reverse applique) to reveal the fabrics behind the front panel, added a binding in salt dyed cotton, water drop crystals for rain drops and window details to the cottages










So, that's it! I ran out of time in the end! It had to go in the post on Thursday to arrive Friday 30th (the Festival's deadline day!). I only just made it! I was still stitching it at 4.30 and really could have done with another hour, but in the end I just had to call it a day and managed to get it in the post at 4.45 (Next Day Delivery). Phew!

Elements of St. Ives





















If you are visiting Festival of Quilts at Birmingham in August I do hope you enjoy seeing all of the quilts. If you look at mine, please be gentle with me and bear in mind that it's far from perfect, that I only started stitching it on 14th July and that in my own mind it needs "titivating" when I get it back! I thoroughly enjoyed stitching it, I just wish I'd started much earlier!






















August rushes in ... and it's going to be a busy month but I'm hoping it will feel more relaxed than July did while I catch up with my other projects and blog buddies

Hope your week ahead is a happy one
Carolyn ♥

Rosy red ramblings

R is a lovely letter!

Rosy red ramblings make me so happy ... so my post today is full of roses and lovely things that are red ... perfect for the month of July

Starting with a mosaic I made full of gorgeous inspiring reds






















Beautiful reds

1. ~peek~ 2. Barn stationery 3. Slow cloth detail 4. On the bias ATC 5. Red background errors 6. Badcock T- blue wren 1 7. Spring's heart 8. Coral garden sketch book 9. Seeds 1998 10. A heart's affection 11. Coral garden sketch book 12. Growth series: Creep (red) 13. Monoprinting - red paint 14. Silly girl 15. Things to do with leftover scraps 16. Kimmeridge no entry 17. The red stuff 18. Starting with the back 19. Tie dye explosion 20. Doublet 21. Knitting 22. Untitled 23. Hide 24. Who knew what when? 25. Vintage girl tag

Thank you to my flickr friends and faves for their amazing REDS






















Berries are one of my most favourite red things. I made a tag using a vintage photo of a little girl with a basket of red berries






















I sewed some Christmas berries to the tag and added a vintage sewing machine bobbin with red thread (which I found in the loft of my old cottage). The thread is too old to use but it makes a nice embellishment

















R is for rubies - my inchy for the alphabet challenge on Inchybyinch


















R is for red letter day and red stamps






















Things I love Thursday
- romance, love notes in a keepsake box, antique papers/envelopes, vintage letters, beautiful handwriting, black ink and red postage stamps from faraway places I may never get to visit

1. Original envelope from outlaw Frank James' widow - 1915 2. Love letters 3. Vintage envelope 4. Postage stamps 5. Postcard for Alice - #11 - Red Ink! 6. Untitled 7. Stamps 8. South African stamp 9. Untitled - for the flickr group TILT















Red letter day

I really love making tags. For this one I used some undyed silk paper, some vintage text about collecting postage stamps, an English stamp that is a particularly lovely shade of red and the words "a red letter day"






















Time is flying so fast, I can't believe we are into another beautiful month!

In my calendar for July I used a vintage photo of my Mum and Dad with red heart shaped rose petals from my garden and some text about love






















Rose petals I picked this week






















Roses in my gathering box - as well as limpet shells, a mussel shell, a pebble, a lead bullet I found last year, a fossil from the beach and some oak apples






















During the week I had fun making a whimsical stitched collage






















It wasn't easy to photograph but there are lots of layers - a calico base with vintage beige lace that features roses. I added some linen and scrim

The leaves are free machine stitched ... you can see on the back here















The flowers are cut from a strip of lace Julie gave me last year and I used various vintage buttons on top. The "love stitching red" stitched strip was made for me by Cathie

Love Stitching Red
















I decorated with printed tape machine stitched down and some hand stitching with red beads and finally added a dried seed head that I dyed red






















The red ribbon flowers with buttons gave me a whim to make some rose corsages using silk petals, crochet lace and old buttons













































































































































I had a "Crow Day" with Jo yesterday. We both worked on hand stitched projects, had a good natter and put the world to rights. I took along my red slow cloth I've been working on from time to time. It hasn't seen a lot of action for a while!

I cut 22 squares (each roughly 4 cm square). The photo shows the squares positioned. I have since sewn them to the cloth and shall decorate some of the squares with more embroidery, before adding the next layer

I found it very hard to photograph the red which in real life is very rich and vibrant with shiny gold metallic. I think my photo looks a little flat

It's an ongoing project I come back to every now and again, inspired by trips to Thailand and Mexico and stitched during my trip to Egypt earlier in the year. Some of the gold embroidered fabrics I brought back from Egypt



















Jo spoilt me with more birthday pressies including this wonderful rustic bird she made for me. Meet Rosy Bird

Rosy Bird













R
osy Bird is made from hessian and red/pink rose fabric with secrets in the pockets (I'm whispering ... there were little heart shaped buttons hidden in Rosy's wings). I'm a lucky girlie. Thank you Jo

Wishing you all a very happy and sunny weekend and thank you for reading my rosy red ramblings

Carolyn ♥