Needlefelt Rectangles Challenge

No artistic merit in this composition,but an attempt to meet the challenge of
"Shapes: Rectangles" before attempting the next challenge:

Firstly,using brown (craft) felt as the foundation I needle felted some Sari yarns,then cut them to shape.
The three tone green rectangle was felted directly to the green foundation,
and the rectangle superimposed on it was cut to shape then embellished to the base felt.
The sari yarn rectangles were then cut to shape and added.
(Some metallic threads were added for extra 'life'

My personal reaction to sari yarns?
Make sure you choose the type designated as suitable for embroidery......it's softer,easy to handle and fairly easy to 'destruct' or unwind to fibres for needle-felting.
On the other hand,the orange-red toned yarn above was purchased for knitting......NOT a good move,as I found it rough and scratchy and not at all pliable or satisfactory for the scarves I intended knitting...........it seems to have a high component of fabric strips rather than the respun fibres of the embroiderers yarn 

Quilters' F-Words

The following excerpt arrived as an Email,and I just HAD to share with you.Enjoy!

"A little background--I wrote my Artist Statement (The Surprise Factor)with a little bit of humor. IMVHO, some of the artist statements Ihave read at various quilt shows sound a little pompous and lofty (tome). It seems like serious business, and I think a more relaxedapproach appeals to and encourages others to think that they, too, canshow their work.
I included this little essay, along with all the blurbs and paperworkfor the exhibit and I really liked to see the smiles on the faces ofthe readers as they read and then scrutinized my quilts, and have themrealise that we are all in the same boat, and we all have talent, andit is supposed to be fun!
Quilter's F-Words
I have been asked why I usually name my quilts with words startingwith the letter F. Fabricated Flurries, Fabricated Feathers,Fabricated Forest, Facets and Reflections, and Fabricating a Fond Farewell are just a few of the quilts I completed for a show at HomerWatson Gallery.
My response was that I am fascinated with F-words as I cut, stitchand complete a quilt. Aren't F- words a part of every quilter'svocabulary?
Now, before you get flustered, I should elaborate, and try to explainexactly what I mean. I have a fondness for every facet of fabricating..
It goes without saying that Fabric is always on my mind-I am a fabricfanatic-but fat quarters made with florals or fruit aren't really myfavourite. I have a fond fixation for fussy cutting and funky fabricand fragments of these are never frittered away.
The fraternity of quilters is frequently female, but a few malesfabricate, too. We never have enough file folders to keep our freebiepatterns found online organized and at our fingertips.
We all have fancy machines to facilitate our fabrications, but a few of us find Featherweights are fine, too.
We are all familiar with frog-stitching (rip-it, rip-it) and fussy-cutting and freezer paper for foundation piecing. We all fantasize about fancy flourishes and are full of ideas to bring to fruition.
We all have to be flexible financially to finagle funds from our finances for affordable fabric. And we must always purchase enough-we try to be frugal, but it is fairly frustrating trying to figure out where you found the fabric in the first place! And we find that this frame of mind fatigue forms frown lines on our faces.
We all know that frazzled feeling when we foolishly promise to finish a fabrication and time flies so fast, we have to stay focused to finish. Most of us are afraid fellow quilters will find the flaw that we tried to fix when we made a faux-pas figuring out that fraction. By now, we are fraught with frustration and we have to force that fabric to fit. This is often referred to as the Fudge Factor.
It concerns me that I was forced to forgo fitness so I could finish fabricating for this show, and now I am fretful that I have a flabby fanny-I ate a lot of finger food. I made frequent forays to the freezer to forage for food for my family that could be defrosted fast.

I think my favourite F-words are in the familiar refrain: Fabric,Flat, Friends, Fortunate and finally......Finished!

So, you see, I (and now I'll bet you do, too!) often think of F-words when fabricating.
What did you think I meant??

Anne Beaudoin Ontario."


...and FYI,the lady featured in an Exhibition "The Art of Quilting" last April.
http://www.museumsontario.com/museums/events/details_view.aspx?event_id=2781

Fortunately for you my friends I felt like finding some facts about a lady who could fabricate with words as well as fabric.

Morning smoko

If you look closer,you'll see three different species of birds sharing the Feathered Freeloaders Restuarant!
The blue and yellow birds are pale headed Rosellas;
Sitting on the bowl on the right is an immature Magpie----hatched out about 3 months ago!
And the brilliant scarlet is of course the male King Parrot.
Waaaaay up in the branches above the King Parrot can be glimpsed the female Pale -headed Rosella who is more shy than her mate. 

Janome Xpression

To keep Emmy of the Embellisher group on Flickr happy,I've posted four different views of my Janome Xpression.....a needle punching/embellishing machine.

The first view is of how 'she' looks..a lightweight compact machine.
Lightweight because it doesn't have the bobbin and shuttle and thread carrying components of standard sewing machines.
No thread is used for stitching at all-----the barbed needles meld(?) punch fibres into a base fabric, meshing all layers together.

This machine comes with a five needle configuration and a single needle (and spares)
I like the fact that there is a movable needle guard to protect your fingers.........although I'm sure if you didnt watch out you could still punch a finger.

The second view shows the guard raised for a better view of the needle.

Picture three is the guard in position for embellishing.

Picture four:I've removed the free-arm and opened the front of the machine: that little "compartment is where any fluff or lint from the action up top hides out until you clean the machine..........guess who didnt clean the machine after her last effort.

Oh I forgot to mention:the toolkit and spare needles slot into that free-arm

Now as regular readers of this blog know,I've only had the Xpression for a very short time;
I'm an absolute novice at this and am learning as I go,with help from online friends.
What made me buy a Janome?
Well it's the fourth Janome I've bought.........does that say anything?
The price...........a lot less than other make(s) on the market.............I could not justify to myself the purchase of a Babylock......after all,I'm not a person who sells her work, so I couldn't defray the cost that way----

I'm happy with what I have at this point in time. 

A satisfactory day

Oh it feels good to see what's been accomplished today!

Two rich fruit cakes finally baked....for Christmas/New Year;

A beautiful loaf of bread;

Four jars of Tomato Relish

EIGHT postcards completed and ready for sending on their way as part of the Art2Mail Group 18 swap....(only another 15 to complete my committment there)
A birthday card printed for my only grandson's eighteenth birthday next week.

And I'm still trying summon courage to switch to BetaBlogger as 'everyone' seems to think I should.

Peace,Love.........

Showing the blocks in detail: 

Christmas is coming.....

...and it's time to hang one of my favourite wall hangings!
Little koalas celebrating the festival,and Santa urging his "six white boomers" to start the delivery run. 

Postcards in the pipeline

I "know" I should have been doing 'house things" today,but I was itching to stitch!
So here's a peek at some of my yet to be completed cards.....eleven in all,but you don't get to see the lot-------yet!
I need a whole heap for international postings,so I thought maybe I could do a little cheating....
The wild bird photos have all been taken in my yard in the last couple of months,so I've printed some to fabric and,using Australiana fabric designs have framed the pics with a rudimentary crazy patch.
WHY do I think this is cheating.........because,although the photos are my work it doesn't seem arty enough.
What do YOU think?Would you be happy to receive one of these cards,or would you feel 'cheated' at lack of art work?

The third card....another masked reveller has been languishing in a WISP pile for a few months;
and the fourth: another Christmas card. 

Walking on the wild side!

Barb Stone,one of the members of the Art2MailGroup18,sent me this "Walk on the wild side" this week and hoped I "didn't mind" where she walked!
Not at all,Barb...........vive la differance!
Although I must admit the hairstyle puts me in mind of the Wandjina people.........People of the Dream time!
It's so great to receive so many different themes and styles.
And my grand daughter asks at each visit:
" What new cards this week,Gran?"

So,Barb and others,let's all walk a little on the wild side! 

You've got mail!

From Nellie Durand!
Early in November between visiting Nellie's Blog ,and she visiting mine we arranged to swap Postcards.
(The Link for that was my November 9 blog entry.)

Nellie's fibre card ,which is one featuring Lake Michigan was accompanied by another card
"Passing Storm", advertising a Textile Exhibition featuring her work.

Close examination of the fibre card shows the way Nellie has used curved layering to represent the waves of the lake,and added paint/foam on the wave tops.

A visit to her blog is well worth while, not only for all the techniques she shares with the reader,but to enjoy her quilts and artwork.

Now to attempt a card for Nellie!

How good is this!

When you have such glorious wild birds visit your backyard...........
and let you spend ten minutes or more taking pics of them.
This cock King Parrot was most co-operative yesterday.............spectacular looking bird isn't he!
The hen is quite drab in comparison and more difficult to photograph..........

I'm going to MISS "my " birds when we move to suburbia 

Cups,saucers and pin cushions

I was adding a comment to another blog today,when the penny dropped............
I hadn't added pics of the cup and saucer pincushions I had made recently.
The cups and saucers I found at an op-shop down Potts Point(northern NSW) way, and I don't think they had ever been used.( a really good buy)

In the pic,two sets have been reborn as pin-cushion/brooch holders and the third displays a selection of old cotton reels which I inherited from my mother-in-law;

In the foreground are three "daisy" pincushions............two circles:one of felt,the other of cotton fabric; stitched together,stuffed with wool roving, then formed into a daisy by stitching and wrapping.
Something EASY to do whilst the Cricket is enthralling our menfolk. 

Completed

I think this will be the last Journal quilt for this year, as I have so much else to complete by mid December.
When I started this piece,I had in mind to attempt a sunset over canyon country.
I was hoping for more angles to give the illusion of canyon landscape,but that was beyond my skill.
So this is the result....my accidental landscape. 

Accidental landscape

I had sketched out the layout for my 'canyons at sunset',but along the way,things went pear shaped!
I was hoping for another journal quilt to add to my port folio,but.........not this one.

I'd still like to get the plan to work,but I think it will need piecing and applique rather than Needle felting.
You certainly need sunglasses for looking at this one.
It has a mixture of wool roving,silk tops,silk throwers waste,a couple of (unwrapped )cocoons and a few scraps of wool felt and silk fusion /paper,and yes,I was using my Janome Xpression. 

Haiku postcard.........for Katie

A while back,a CQfriend (Katie) in PA saw a Wip of mine:
I was attempting to portray Haiku verse in a postcard; The Haiku in question was
"Evening hailstones
Beat branches.
Their whiteness."
Unfortunately I think the translation loses something as it crosses language barriers!

Anyway,the upper card is now with Katie in the USA.
The bottom card is my first one.
Both were constructed using white kimono silk with an Imperial chrysanthemum self pattern fabric,some DMC cottons,Swarovski crystals and Angelina fibre
 

Crazy chick!

I'm not sure whether this crazy chick reminds me more of an Emu,or a Brolga!Anyway, ' she' arrived after a flight from the UK.........part of the Art2Mail Group 18 Swap.

Rosemarie ,who sent the card, has used a crazy patched background and appliqued her "crazy chick" onto it.
It certainly brightened my day! 

Fluttering by..........

I'm so glad that I didnt blog the scan of this card,as the photography more truly shows how gorgeous this Butterfly is! This card also arrived yesterday! From LisaM in AL, it came as a swap organised by Art2MailGroup18.

Lisa has fussy-cut the butterfly and applied it to the black and gold backing fabric.
A few hot fixed diamente and simple machine straight stitching really give the card WOW factor.
Thanks,Lisa 

My Crazyquilting Friends

Yesterday's mail delivered two Postcards from "Crazyquilting friends"!
The angel came from RoseAnne in Canada! Very dainty machine applique with a touch of bead and braid to glamourise her.

The Christmas tree and wrapped parcels arrived from a dear friend up Hervey Bay way.
It's funny,but whatever postcard swap on whichever site,we always end up swapping with each other.
Now,how Margaret could say this card is bland is beyond me.........I love christmas trees!
Thank you RoseAnne and Margaret!
This makes three PCs I've received from this group.........remember the burgandy toned one I received from JuliaC last week? 

Christmas is coming

 

These CQed Christmas themed postcards today started on their journey to new homes!
Hopefully they survive the postal systems!
In the last four months,five packages and a postcard have gone AWOL......very disappointing when you consider they all were mailed from the same Post Office and went not only to USA but UK also. 

Textile challenges

 

After attempting a "reverse applique" cityscape that ended up in the discard bin,I tried something simpler:
Instead of the five fabric layers I used in the first attempt,I only used three this time;
I also used a simpler shape: the Kanjii for "tora"/tiger.
All went well until I started using my heat tool for sealing the cut edges.........

Funny,that!The medium edged tool that was unsuccesful on the heavier fabrics was too vicious for the lighter fabrics.
I'll try the fine point next.