Yuletide Catch Up

This year we spent the festive period with my In-Laws. had time to visit other relatives and for hubby to meet up with a group of his old school mates.

While I was there managed to get some stitching done and completed a halloween fairy I had started two years ago. She had been put away for ages. There was a lot of beading to do.


Had a number of great gifts. Below are a few pictures to share with you.

i did very well on books - one which is missing is Simon's Cat. If you have not seen the original on You Tube you must. Its so funny. As is the book.


his piece of art is by Sharon Hurst a local artist. The gift came from my friend S. Love the image.



Not sure if you can read but there are 46 CDs in this set. That is 54 hours to listern too. WOW I have starrted at CD 5 and we have just met Tom in the wood.


Finally I now have a big shot !! If your not into paper arts you will not know this machine. It cuts paper shapes or embosses. Works on all kinds of paper and I am told fabric too. already been trying it out.

Merry Yuletide



Season Greetings to all
and a Happy New Year !!

Snow and Art

This week a number of seasonal cards have been arriving. Including this hand made one from a friend in Wales.



Also this postcard from the lady who runs the All Things Tim group. This was a lovely surprise.


Saturday joined my friend SE for a little last minute shopping in Guildford. We had a great day out. I did best as went for a little clothing shopping for me !
On the way home while waiting for train , a steam train came though. Did not stop so only took one picture.


The story around here has been the snow. As normal the country came to an almost stand still. My train line was ok and I arrived at work mostly on time. The office was quite empty all Friday. We are suppose to get more. It does show that I need to get a new pair of walking boots. Some of the pavements are not cleared so Saturday I went over when I could not get any grip. Lots of ice everywher , no thanks to the kids sliding !!

Party and Plants

Wednesday evening went to the office party at Evolution at Battersea. Did not take many pictures.



Saturday DH bought me a butterfly plant as my Yule card for this year. My last one had a bug infection which killed it. So will be killing a close eye on this one. In the evening we went to see Status Que at Wembley. They had Roy Woods as the support. A good night out but too far off to get photos. Although w both thought that the Quo were not as on form as last year. I think coz we both were off par. DH just got rid of a cold and I had started one. So this has led to a quiet Sunday. We did get the decorations out, put on a season CD and put it out together.

Weekend in Bath

Friday evening Hubby and I raced home from work, packed a small bag and headed of to Somerset. Our friends
C & J live near Bath. Friday was a good but busy day at work. I heard confirmation that I have been the successful canidate for a secondment into a global team for 6 months. Yes sounds a short period but seemed like a good chance to gain some experince in a slightly different area. So that starts on Jan 1st. Meanwhile I have a lot of work to get done in my current role.

Saturday morning C and I headed off to Bath for a little shopping. The aim was to get a pair of ankle boots I
could wear for work , look for a few gifts, pick up a few winter wishes cards and a top for next Wednesday for
going out with friend from work. We did quite well . . . . I now have a pair of black boots (hubby did not like)
, a pair of purple shoes (not shown hubby) which were in the Jones the shoemakers sale, two new tops
, a small handbag for evenings and some new socks. YEY !!

While in Bath saw the store in the photo below. All the windows were filled with old singer sewing machines.
Had to take a picture. Well the sewing machines may not be clear but loved the effect of the reflected image :)



The guys had been to Bristol to see the ships held there.

The grooup had a nice meal out at the Railway Inn where we sat in a railway carrage that is attached to the back
of the pub. Then home where we ended up playing the Lord of the Rings trival Pursuit game after our friends said onlytheir daughter could play it due to the knowledge you need. As hubby is a huge LOR fan he took this as a challebge. We had a laugh. Girls against boys .... Where the girls won. We all found the questions about the making of the film VERY hard.


Finally home today for getting some washing done.

Art Girls Weekend

My friend S came over on Saturday. We spent the day make yule cards. I had the 2007 and 2008 card instructions
from Tim Holtz. His 2009 tags start on the 1st of Dec. My friend is still learning some of the fun things you can make
with alcohol inks, embossing powder and grunge board. We had a great time !

Below are a few of our creations.


This is my friend's one. The card has distress ink pad rubbed round edge using inking tool. Then santa was stamped
on. Finally the ornaments where fragments glued to a piece of photo card which S had coloured with alcohol
inks.



These were created using a simular idea. The back had a edge dusting of vintage photo disstresss ink , then
the stampers of words added using walnut distress ink and the other seasonal stampers added and embossed.
Finally grunge board seasonal elements where cover in brass crackle paint, inked in green or red then added
to the card and a ribbon added.



This one had a simular distress edge work. Santa was stammped on the card and a second sheet. The second sheet
has colour added. This was glued on a large fragment and added to the card. Finally a bow was added too.

I have also completed a set of ATCs for an exchange. Cannot show you those yet until they get to their new homes.

YULETIDE ART

Spent time today making a few more tree ornaments. I was trying out a few ways to give the effect of snow . This first one is not finished but I was looking at using liquid paper and snow glitter mixed.


This one has used more of T!M's grunge board. I mixed stamped images, paper layering , grunge shapes and stickles.




Hubby bought me a new set of draws for my art room today. These are 

Pictures to go with posting below...

First this is one of the altered art tree decorations I was making with my friend.


This is the art quilt I was making on Saturday morning.

More art and music

On Saturday morning spent time creating an art quilt. It was based round the wedding photo from a lady I work with.
Machine embroidery, ribbons, beads and charms all came together to create the piece.

Our friend Bunni came to stay too. Most of Saturday was spent catching up. In the evening went to see Funkee Claw. Very good evening even though it was not well attended. Our mate is the lead singer and his wife provides back up vocals too.

Sunday, Bunni and I spent getting covered in glue and glitter. I was showing how to make altered art tree ornament Tim Holtz style.

So although it poured with rain most of the weekend , we all had a great time.

Music and Art

Last weekend went to see Fleetwood Mac at Wembley. We joined my Sister and her partner. GREAT EVENING !



On Saturday attended a day school on colour on canvas. The class had been moved.
Denis Jones took us though using colour and creating creative canvas !! Below are two pieces I made. So OK, the second one I finished at home. Like the boxes on the right.

DH picked up more of my framed art. Most of the pieces I have had framed are Yule gifts so below is the only one I can share as its for me.

WE'RE BACK !

Hubby and I have had a great holiday in the States. This was my 40th Birthday event. Starting in Washington we hired a car and drove round.
*Started of having a day and half round Washington and George Town. WOW the sun was out and it was SOHOT.
* Next stop Altoona where hubby could visit a railroad and the horse shoecurve.
* Then a LONG drive to Rochester to visit our friends.
* We all headed to the National railroad meusem
* Next leaving our friends to head home, we spent a few days in Amish County before a quick one day stay in Philly. Fabric shopping round Lancaster was amazing.
* Driving through MaryLand we headed forWilliamsberg where we had a three day stop in the historic area. Where I learnt about drop spinning !
* Finally stopped in the National park over night, saw deer and wonderful views.
Below are a few photos.

The Capital !



The Lincoln Memorial !


The Philly Sky Line - taken from the top of a London double decker bus !



This is the house we stayed in while at Colonial Williamsberg. The next two pictures are more images from there too !


Liss in Stitches Club

Tuesday night was the second AGM. I am the treasurer for this next year. Well this is my third year so we are looking for someone to take over.

We had a summer competition to create a design on a canvas item. There were bags or aprons. So as you can see I selected an Apron and did a T!M apron. This went down really well and I came third. =)

At home now I am busy making Yuletide gifts for the familly. Been keeping the local framers busy! Sorry no photos to show until after they have all been given out.

Also made a couple of crochet baby shoes from a VERY old pattern I have had years for my two great-niece/nephews who are due soon.

Day out to Reading

Joined C for a day out to Reading. we have both been so busy not had time to catch up.
spent time shopping as well as chatting and walking round. Got some new ribbons for my textile art. Photos above.

Not much other news. Working on a stitched gift still which coming along great.
The green house has been attacked by catterpillas which are munching into my tomatoes. This is not stopping having some huge crop. Planning to make some tomatoe sauce tomorrow.

Harvest Time

Spent this morning in the green house. Harvesting and generally tidy up before the sun came out. There should be a picture here for you but not if it has worked . WHAT?? well anothing new thing the last few weeks is getting a N97 whic is the Nokia answer to the iPhone. So try out posting from my phone so that it is not another month bewteen posts. Plus trying to add photo taken on the phone .

Welcome Back !

A whole month with no posts. EEkkk !!
Well work has been incredaily busy not had much free time at all. I think this is the first weekend for ages when I have not worked !! Add on working to 10pm each evening .. .. .. a bit busy.

What have I had time to do??
I have worked on my Suzi Blu art doll. I have yet to put the wax over the top. Not yet sure if I finished. I think I have.


Last weekend, spent Saturday with friend S having an Art Day. We both worked on a canvas trying out different techniques. As this is a canvas I could add some distress hardware. This is not finished but still sitting back working out what it needs.


It was great to stop and have a day off.

Then on Tuesday took the afternoon off work to join my friend L for lunch and a walk round interesting stores in Old Covent Garden. Bought a few beads and two books for my altered art work. The books are by Dover and have a CD with them which contain all the clipart from the book. I picked one with art from childrens story books from 1900 - 1930 and one of old fashioned children's photos. Below is an example from the photo clip art book. This photo got my attention. Can you see why ??



Today been to harvest ALL the onions and shallots ... Here they all are hanging in the kichen window to dry out.

Mean while as I am now getting time to breath I have started to order items to make Yuletide gifts. So sorry - there will be no photos to come of the work !!

Goodwood Weekend and more Dolls

Last Sunday DH & I went to the GoodWood festival of Speed. It was a VERY hot day - hence we both ended up with sun burn =(
But had good timewatching the hill climb, the F1 guys show boating and the rally drivers going through the forest.


The forsest stage was great as there was lots of shade. As we walked round there were a number of famous faces to spot ! Here is David getting into a Williams F1.


This weekend spent a little time on my Petit Doll. Finally have a piece of wood to work on. Been building the background layers. As you can see I am working with purple , green and gold. Although not sure the gold shows in these pictures too well. Used some parchment which REALLY did not work.

I just laid the doll and the cat on to see how it was building. I need to do something for the cat, it looks quite lost !

Art Journal !

Yes finally got back to working in my
Art Journal.

First worked on this inches design.
The concept came from the latest copy of
Somerset Studio magazine. The same idea was shown with instructions to repeat this.

Well I mostly followed the instructions. But still used my own ideas too. I had fun finding the papers to cut into inches!



I have also been working on
my Suzi Blu Petit Dolls.

I should be working on creating backgrounds on to wood, but as yet not got the wood sorted out. DH said he had the wood in the shed but as it needs cutting to size it willbe another week before I can start.

So thought I would use one of the first girls I had drawn to try out a few techniques Suzi has been covering in the videos.

I don't think I have got the 'push/pull' quite right. The background is too strong for her. I do like her dress. As I was working on paper I could stitch the buttons on .... How will I do that when working on wood !?!?!
I had also been worried about the legs and arms, but in the end cut these from a piece of checked paper.

Once I have wood to work on - I need to spend longer on building the back ground. Also I know that although I love the Wiccian lady I had drawn, I really love the simple shapes that this girl has. So lets walk before we run !

Bunny Time

During the week I picked up a book on making spring time soft toys all in a American Country Style. Although the author is from Sweden.


The book has bunnies, chicken, hares, duck and good witches !


Picked up some 100% linen on Saturday and made one of the bunnies. As you can see in the picture. The duck has buttons on it to look like a pull along toy ! This went to gether really quick and looks so effective.



I have been getting along with
my hand stitched quilt. Making up the groups of 4 to create green crosses. Here are all the completed ones.

Its on our bed to give a sense of scale.
The across covers the bed, but I will need one and a half down each side.

So some way to go but its really getting there now.

Full Bodies on Suzi Dolls

I have been working on creating a

series of bodies for the doll heads from

last week.

Really enjoying making colouring the

faces. Colour pencils have come back to

my way of thinking ! The dresses are both

coloured with pencils. Did not want to

start digging out the paints.

The Wiccian Doll appeals to me the most. But I do love the stockings on the other one.