Where I have been

Hia all, haven't been hiding! Just busy busy! This little lot have kept me busy. Remember I decided to make smaller hearts to sell in school to the kids, well i have made over 80 in the last week. Here are some of the custom made orders I have done in the box, and generic out of the box. I have made about £70 so far and have about another £30-40's worth of orders left to fill by the end of the week! That is way more than I expected, it means I wil be able to get a significant amount of replacement bobbin cases and feet, and the rest can go for needles and scissors!

Don't forget my bigger ones are for sale in my folksy shop - link is in the side bar to the right.

On Sunday my Mum, Ellie and I set off through the snow to here....

The National Botanic gardens. It is a fab place with the singe span greenhouse and a great hot house, not to menton fab food, and only a £5 in in the winter time, free for children, good ha! Well although the plants were lovely I went for a more purposeful reason. I had heard that Val Hunts work was on show. So I HAD to go! Seeing her work up close was a revelation. They are beautiful in books but the skill of making is just amazing. Here are some examples, I hope Val doesn't mind, no copy right infringment is meant.

I love this don't you, such an amazing shape, and all from drink cans and foil take away containers.

It is only when you try to work with this metal that you totally get how amazing her work is. i tried a simple bit of weaving and man that was hard enough. I embossed and sanded the metal, which gave a great texture.

The next thing here is for the week 2 challenge over on my group Textile challenges. Marie is leading us in some fun and self exploritory challenges. In this weeks we had 20 minutes to find somehing not from your usual stash and make an ATC from it. I used and embossed can off cut and used it text side up. I stitched into velvet and beaded too. It was fun and I did complete it in the 20 minutes allotted.
Sunday turned into one of these days.......
We had a lovely weekend and I am going to hold on to this sort of positive when I am feeling poo! My hormones are getting the grip of me of late and that coupled with finding the work hard going isn't helping. But Val Hunt helped, even if it was by inspiring me to know I can do it, if she can produce exquisit work, so can I with time, with patience. Thanks for al your comments of late and I haven't forgetten about the postcards I am going to gift to 2 of the people who were so kind when I was LOST! So there were 18 comment on that post and I am going to pick 5 as this is how old my daughter is, and 8 as I am born in august...... right to see who the winners are.......

Gennie and Susan D

Send me your snail mail girls, my email should be in my profile.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. I do REALLY appreciate it.

Worked myself into a right lather - not in a good way

Last thing before the course broke up we were given a brief to design a collaborative "screening" for the 4 windows in the textile room of the new building. We were all excited about doing it so we are carrying on with it. We have a colour scheme we are all sticking to, and the themes are seed heads, waterfalls, I forget Sandra's and my armour. I want to work on 3D pieces, not flat, based on the plates in armour and how they curve and join. So I started sketching.

So under the kick up the bum scheme, and under the word of my Aussie Mum, I got on and did something......

Working on scales with the needle and no thread for a lacey effect.

Working on some of the shapes from my doodling of late. Well i am not happy with any of it! But I have cleared my head and realised that I am going about this the wrong way. I am working in the wrong materials. I need to have something more transparent, not so heavy. So thanks Doreen, and Jan or talking it through with me. At east I know what I don't want.

I did some FME as well, to see how it would go, if I do it again I would quilt it as the furrows in the Velvet are not big enough for me.

Snow go!

Snow go in our house again today. After 2 days off I will be glad to get back, love the routine me! Had to share this pic, this is hubby and Ellie may building a snowman and me throwing a snowball at them and managing to catch the moment of terror as it approaches hubby! Don't worry it didn't hit him in the chops! Wouldn't be fair to throw snowballs at a blind guy you say, I say rugby tackling is not fair - even if you get a soft landing!
Anyway I have been thinking tonight, I went into college today and seeing everyone working got to me, as I am NOT! Then i went blog surfing and saw a mostamazing bit of work. Arlee does such amazing things, and all the while I am reading her post I am thinking, why, oh why am i not working in the same way as she. Why am I still fiddling about with piffling bits of nonsense instead of working through inspiration properly. It isn't as though I don't have ideas, I have loads perculating, but so far I don't seem to be able to get it out. I wonder if it is fear, I seem to be able to sit at the machine for hours and produce piffle, hearts, swaps, etc, not that I don't love all that but if i want to be taken seriously, and I think I do I need to go back to where I was, sampling, playing, working though stuff. So what do I do...........
Well I made a list. I have a project to work on. Just before my college course dissolved we were set a brief to work on making window screens for want of a better description, so I am taking my armour project into that, but why can't I get started?
I want this to be a positive year so i am going to beat this. I have been really thinking about what I want, I want to be producing amazing things. i have been reading a lot of Susan Lenz blog too and how her work is impacting my want to be a real artist, ironic I feel I want to be more like her and she wants my piece of paper ( I have a BA in Ceramic design you see) but I worked out that after uni I made a series of decisions that meant i wouldn't have to find out if I was a real artist or not. Teaching was a big part of dodging the reality of being an artist. Not that i don't love it, or even that i want to quit, but I want to exhibit, I want a body of work, that is respected. So really I know what I have to do, I have to get in front of the machine and I have to make myself work through the process. Thanks for letting me ramble and get it off my chest. Love carol t

More hearts for sale

I have some more hearts for sale, some small ones about 7cm square and some larger. See my shop here.

Hope you like them!!!!

I have a snow day today - very cool to get a free day off! More later.....

Marie's Textile challenge week 1

Marie has us all whipped in to shape over on TC, this weeks challenge is to stop what your doing and make an ATC in 15 minutes, using only 5 "ingredients" So I duely did! I grabbed the left overs from cutting out hearts and snipped them into a big pile, ingredient 1. Next a piece of gold glittery net, ingedient 2. Then I free machined some lines and hearts (thread doesn't count!) Ingredient 3 was a stamped word and 4 a button.
And here it is but I wasn't finished. I went back and added a gathered stip of black net. I couldn't stick to the 15 minutes unfortunately, it took me 20 minutes but what a lovey 20 min! I am obviously infected with hearts as I had no plan before starting

I had a blast, what will she come up with next week. If you want to come play the link is in the sidebar!

Folksy shop update

Just a quicky, I have added this one to my Folksy shop, if you would like to buy it go here.
I will see how this goes, and I may add more. Thanks for putting up with the flagrant advert!

What I did last night

Well as i said with Craig having the flu I was on a roll. Here is a padded heart I made to sell at the college, hopefully if will appeal to the kids!
It is stamped with Stayz-on and has a felt heart with pearl beads and buttons. I found 4 little sets of mini alphabets at the Range yesterday at 99p each so was so leased to use them straight away! The is lots of raggy applique and machine made cords from the off cuts of the hearts. Love the shabby look!

This one is much bigger, about 6x6 inches and has the same processes. It is for Dotti and will be mailed out today. I also added a gathered net to this one.

This next piece is for Deb, my friend who is just getting into blogging and is in my sidebar if you want to check her out, she sells amazing painted and hand dyed fabrics. Now I know it is like sending coal to Newcastle but I had to use this stuning hand dye I did, in a jar. Her house theme is Home is where the heart is and while being on a heart roll, I went to town!!!! I made te front o the house a pocket and filed it with 3 little heats.

On the front of the house is a roof in gold satin that was hard edge appliqued and beaded. The windows are a thick silver foil - off the top of fish food!!!! Stamped and hard edge appliqued again. The door is glue gun glue with a stamp pressed in and embossing powder over the top, cured with the heat gun, and there is a little suprise behind the door.

This is what is in the pocket, felt FME'd and buttons and hand stitch

and on the back are those stamps again, with word I fet Deb would like, would be important to her, make her home where her heart is!

Hope you like them girls!

I have now had a brain wave and am going to be making little hearts flat out, my classroom is very under equiped and the equipment is old and recked, I have had 3 bobbin cases nicked and so only have 3 machines working at the mo, so i am going to make tonnes of padded hearts to sell on the yard at school at a £1 for the kids to send to each other. I may make some for my folksy shop too, do you think people would buy them??? Love carol t

Sew crazy!

I have been sewing up a storm tonight, made 4 things. Craig went to bed by 8.30 feeling fluy, so peace and the machine all night for me!!!! I will photographthem in the morning in the good light.
Flagrant advert for Textile challenges coming up....

My group Textile challenges - see sidebar - have a new challenge starting today( next 24 hours). Marie is doing a suprise reveal type challenge across the whole month and it sounds lots of fun, so if you want to come play - just come over and see us, we won't bite!!!!
love carol t

Better pictures

Here are some better pics of my cards from yesterday:

Last night I wanted something that was not too brain taxing and have been admiring Anna's zentangles. Now I don't think mine can be a true zentangleas I had my armour imagery all around me, but I really had fun and I think it has turned out really well. I am so pleased. We have decided as a group to carry on with our last project which is a collaborative thing, making art to screen a set of windows, I think this could be a good starting point.

Finding my way

I want to say how fantastic you all are, I have some amazing friends who have reminded me about the path i want to be on, and how to keep on it. I am really grateful for all of your kind words and suggestion, all are noted and you should know I haven't been idle. I have been working on my first card for Calendar girls. I somehow ended up with 3!!!! I used cotton calico and painted it with fabric paint. I then wrapped it up in a kind of shibori method and painted it randomly with copper acrylic. This gave a nice feeling of movement. I am not too worried about it being an identical copy of the picture but want to get the feel of it. The original picture is by Shane Pickett and chosen by Debbi. I started off with pearl beads.
But this was too stark for me, so I hand stitched, with twisted chain stitch in brown and copper, and added smaller pear beads. Better!

I made a quick ATC from the of cuts as I owe an ATC to Domi in France. I changed the orientation this time.

and finally when I painted the fabric I couldn't find a piece of drop paper to protect the kitchen table so grabbed some foil and hen left it on here to dry on the radiator. When I peeled it off the foil was painted too and so I couldn't resist, I thought the crinkled foil would be good for the outback. I added some copper acrylic for a bit of interest. Hand stitches, twisted chain again, and pearl beads. It isn't wonky in real life, I will rephotograph tomorrow as the light is so poor, the top of this one is much blacker in real life, it is so hard to photograph metallics. I am going to give Sandy, my Partner for January her pick and then I am going to give away one of the cards in a lottery to one of the people who commented on my last post, to say thank you. Watch out for who in the next few days.

So I hope this is te start of me being focused, I am going to work on my "body" of work still, and make as though I am going to exhibit, and then when it is done ( let's hope!!!) I may find somewhere to exhibit it. Thanks again to all those who cared enough to comment.

Love Carol T

Lost

Well today I am lost. I found out this week my evel 4 C+G in Stitched Textiles course has folded. I went in tonight to say goodbye and found myself in tears in the carpark as I don't know what now? I have no direction, and I am afraid I will just stop, make no more, not sample, not trial, not draw. I hope not, I want to keep going, but it was as if when the course was going I was getting closer to my goal of being a textile artist. I must make myself go on, and looking for the positive I suppose I am free to deveop the work I want, at the pace of my muse rather than by assessment date. I just hope I am up to it, disciplined enough? Sorry for the ramble/rant but have to let it out somewhere, and none of my family get it, they just see it as free time!

Positive strides

Well my positive strides continue and I am feeling the most comfortable in my own skin I have been for a while. That mainly comes from doling out advice to others and finally deciding to take some of my own. Last week I was able to go to college for the whole day, and everyone was at loggerheads and so I was dishing out the tellings off! I told all to go back and focus on the work. and so I took my own advice. I started working in my sketchbook again, having only completed 3 pages previously I was pleased to quickly have done 4 more! Yey! Here are 2:

So as a result I have been playing around with scales, as in scale armour. I am currently playing with painted foil, and wall papers, which have a lovely embossed effect. These are part of a plan for a £25 item, retail, for one unit of City and Guilds level 4.

The purple triangle is my first go at colouring/ dyeing with transfer powders brought to the boil, after endless days painting pelmet vilene, NO MORE!!!! Drop it in boiling transfer dye and this is the strength just the tip of the tea spoon sized amount will give, so great! Lots of possibilities here!

Bra bag

Well I am very positive today!!!! I am so glad to be able to be in this first proper post for the new year. I went to my usual monthly workshop with Fibrepaperarts, our local workshop group and has a blast with Anne Griffiths a tutor from GlosCAT a college in the south of England. Her workshop was on turning and old bra into a bag and it started out with a revelation. As most bra's are synthetic they are hard to colour, or so I thought. Anne made it EASY!!!! I can't believe I didn't know you can use the transfer dye powders to actually dye synthetics. If you mix it with water, to the desired strength, and then heat it above 80 degrees c, or to a rolling boil, it will dye. All you have to do is rinse and dry then as the high temp fixes the colour, no need to iron. I can not believe that I did not know that!!!!! If you didn't either leave me a comment so I don't feel as thick!!!!

Anyway, I was going to have a great gaudy bright one, but was seduced by a neutral brown, nude one, Now Arlee I know but I am weening myself of the brown!!!!! I just couldn't do it, I was like a junky, didn't take too much convincing I would love to do the brown and turquoise thing! So guided by the fact that this nude bra had the most stunning daisy straps I did. I decided that the bra had grid and lowers I would go with a trellis kind of theme. I brought out some of the gird with stitch and then cabled from the back the flowers. I found some fab turquoise trim and fringe and sequins from my box of lucks. When I got home I added a chocolate brown metallic thread to edge the flowers as they did not stand out enough. I added sequins to the flowers on the strap too. Here it is.....
Nothing is wasted in this idea, the cut off sides are used to gather the opening of the bag, but I confess to taking mine out as I didn't like the way it was laying, Grace my friend grassed me up to Anne!!!!!! The hooks and eye fasteners from the back become the fastener which I love as it is such a clever thing to do.I added the bow from the centre of the bra to the fastener. See nothing wasted.

Chris the organiser had these lovely chocolate dangly beads, and I added these tying in with the outlining of the flowers. The cup edges are lashed together with strong thread, mine didn't matter as I had the fringe to cover it!

Finally I lined the whole with a crinkle polyester taffeta.

It is such a lovely idea, I have already been booked to make a pink and frilly one for Ellie!!!!!

People's choice at Cyber Fyber

More on Cyber Fyber, apparently ther is a people's choice award and you ave to comment on the card you like. So if you like mine, find them here and here, could you leave me a comment? No pressure go visit you might like someone elses better!

Cyber Fybers

Hey look what arrived in my inbox. As part of Susan Lenz Cyber fyber exhibition marketing I got this great advert for the exhibition, and so I was scrolling down and boom! there was my card sitting amongst the others! I got a name check and everything! Mine is the one with the circles and beading, on the top right. I am so chuffed I can't tell you. I just forwarded it to half my family like a 3 year old showing certificates, and I only wish I could go and see it in the flesh. I am sure it is going to be great.

Looking for the positive

Well I have been in a black mood for far too long lately and have found it hard to find anything positive about 2008 and not really looking forward to 2009, all this credit crunch doom and gloom has really got to me. So inspired by others review of the year I am going to look at the positives.

1. I gave my first workshop, and it was fun despite being ill.


2. I had my work in an exhibition in the City Museum.


3. I made 12 arches.


4. I made 12 postcards for the calendar girls swap.


5. I made 12 (I think) ATC's or the lottery on TC.


6. I made at least 7 christmas gifts.


7. I started level 4 C+G


8. I got promoted to Deputy head of faculty ( after 10 years that should maybe be higher on the list!!!)


9. I had my 8 year wedding anniversary.


10. My Daughter turned 5.


11. I embarked on the Soul Journal journey, am temporarily on a hold with this as soo so busy!


12. I had the second year anniversary of blogging and of my group Textile challenges.


13. I completed my first online workshop with Lynda and Carol, which was superb.
14. My class got 100% A-D in Textiles this year.

So a good year really, and I am sure there is loads I can't remember. Hope you all have a great New year and a fab 2009. My resolution is to count my blessings, regularly - here - so that I am not so doom and gloom! What's yours?

Last arch of the year! (Don't look Cathy if you want a suprise)

Well the arch swap is finally drawing to a close on Textile Challenges (My group - in the sidebar if you want to come and play). This is my ast arch and it is for a friend I have made through TC and this swap. Cathy has been through a hurricane this year so I am glad to send her this as she has had a rough ish year! She asked for red and yellow and Interesting view. Luckily on the back of a brida magazine I have been harvesting for a while was this amaing ic o a boat and a sunrise/set. I added a wash of red acrylic to it. The outer is appliqued fabric paper which is sheet music and peacock sequins.
I then added vermicelli cable stitch and more sheet music and flower sequins. It came out quite indian, which was a nice suprise, does your work do that, I didn't know I was going there!

Finaly I added a lovely cord sent to me by someone, sorry I forget now who, in my secret santa swap.

I am pleased with it, and I only have to get my head round the C+G coursework now and I am gold!

Sue has another!

Sue also had another. Open the 6th folder in your pictures and find the 6th photo and post! So here goes:

Ha! This is mad, I did this completely blind, and the folder happens to be one my Mum uploaded from Shrewsbury flower show. Of all the pics on my pc or it to be one I have not seen, was nothing to do with me, bonkers!!!!!

Closest book to you!

Saw this on Morning dove's blog, which lead me to Sue's book challenge. This lead me to open the nearest book to me, Angie Hughes' "Stitch, cloth paper and paint" and turn to page 56 and find the 5th sentance and post it here. So here goes :



Wrap the thread around the whole book two or three times, passing it under the embellishment, and let it hang down. "



There we go, fun!!!. So grab the nearest book to you and find page 56, find the 5th sentance and post it! Tickled me!!! Let me know if you do!

Merry Christmas everybody

Just wanted to say Happy Christmas to you all and a happy chanukah to Cathy in particular. Hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow and a great New year. I wil be glad to see the back of 2008 and hope 2009 kicks ass!