Thursday, November 28, 2013

More changes

Yes, life is full of changes.  Those of you who connect with me on Facebook will have seen that my degree passes are confirmed and I will graduate on 13th December.  More of that when it happens.   The end of my studies brings about its own set of challenges, with "what am I going to live on?" being the main one.

While I sort the big questions out, here's what late spring looks like in my front garden.  I have let poppies seed so they'll fill all the spaces and crowd out the weeds.
 Of course, they're Shirley poppies!  I've grown these for years because I love them and they self seed beautifully.
Unfortunately, they suffer from wind damage so tend to fall over easily. 

 where they have some protection, like these plants growing under the weeping silver pear, they can easily reach over a metre in height.  Those flowers are chest high on me.
 Round the corner, I obviously planted a pun net of Iceland poppies which have much plainer colours.  the fuchsias like it here as they get protected from the frost.
 I adore the look of poppies that have just emerged from their buds - so delicate and wrinkled.
The Shirley Poppies have a wide range of colours, being mostly bicolours.


Of course, there's always something creative going on inside.  Several things at once, usually.
 This Seafoam scarf for example.  I started to knit the pattern with some of my birthday wool but decided it was wrong, so I dug out a ball of white wool  and dyed it sky Blue, Wedgewood and Charcoal.  It'll look better when it's blocked and the pattern is more obvious.
And this was knitted with the other birthday wool - Malabrigo Rios, if anyone's interested.
Possibly this was Mothers' Day wool - are you seeing a trend here?  It's merino and silk.  I'm crocheting this; it makes an easy portable project to take when you have to sit around, as I did on Tuesday while waiting to see if I was to be chosen for jury service.  No, I wasn't picked.  Yes, I would have liked to have sat on the case.








Monday, November 18, 2013

Back again!

Dear Reader,

For the past 3 years, I've been immersed in doing my Bachelor of Applied Media Arts (Visual Media) degree, which seriously impacted on my creative time - especially as most of it was not related to fibre arts.  However, this is all over now, and I hope to graduate in a month's time.

Fortunately, I have reconnected with my fibre art roots over the past few months and I'm longing to get back into creating mode.  Here's a taste of what you can expect to see in the coming months:

Inktense Watercolour pencils - suitable for fabric.  Just add water, and these pencils turn into paints.  The colours are permanent, and I'm jst itching to find ways to use these. 

 Screen printing - I'm about to write an online class for screen printing that can be used by fibre artists and quilters (as opposed to making t-shirts).
 Electric Quilt - another online class that I hope to have up and running in the New Year.  Honestly, this software is amazing.  I've had an earlier version of EQ so can't wait to get into this new one.
Plus you'll see a bit of this sort of thing - one of Dijanne Cevaal's  Mirrabelle dolls that I am embroidering and playing with adding beads to.  For anyone proficient in beading, don't look too closely - I've never beaded before and have only a random selection, so this is very experimental.  I'll post some more photos of Mirrabelle as I progress.

Of course, I'm always knitting in the background, so you may see some of that too.