knit,stitch,distress!

 

Well,that was the intention!
(I was attempting to follow Helen Cowna's directions as I'd blogged on Thursday,March 16.)

But.........
Yet again I've learned that I should read
re-read, and
read again....
before starting a project.

I knit the Sari yarn block......no problem there!
I laid the knit block on a toning cotton fabric block;I overlaid the Sari block with a couple of layers of (synthetic) sheers,and then--------
instead of using a heat gun,I attacked it all with a soldering iron!

Okay,I distressed the block.......without a doubt; But.......
for starters,I should never have laid such a light coloured fabric over the darker ones,and
NEXT time,I'll read the directions,and use a heat gun!

In the meantime,I'll see if I can excise that upper light coloured layer.
Watch this space.................. 

kurliskottage: March 17: The day for the wearing of the green

kurliskottage: March 17: The day for the wearing of the green

Photo of photocopy

 
The photocopy was one of those WET copies made in 1982 and is of the "Passengers' Contract Ticket" dated 14 April 1898.
It was the contract for my grandfather to travel as a Third class Passenger (steerage?) on the steamship Oruba from Tilbury (Port of London) to Albany,Western Australia, for the princely sum of 15 Guineas.
The contract also includes a listing of the weekly Sale of Provisions for each adult Third Class passenger,even down to listing an allowance of 21 quarts of water.
Talk about a BASIC diet: flour,bread,salt beef,suet,Rice,peas(dried split peas is my guess,sugar,treacle,cheese,oatmeal........... 

Needle Felting

I think I mentioned that I received a (dry) Needle felting kit from Rita the other day.
What I didn't say was that I have never actually seen needle felting "in the flesh";
I've only seen pics on the Web,and I do have troubles conceptualising the HOW of new tecniques.
So,despite the fact that I haven't shown you whatis the kit I present my first attempts.
Because I wanted to produce a tree for a particular project that's what I started with!
The choice of dark brown felt sheeting for the background was nota good idea,but I thought a non woven background fabric maight be helpful.

Then I thought that a chunky abstract piece might be a better/easier idea

Sari yarn

 

About six weeks ago I purchased several skeins of Sari yarn with the intention of using it in embellishing my CQ projects.
However, an aricle by Helen Cowans on "knit STITCH & Distress" in QA magazine issue 20 caused me to do a re-think!

If I wanted to test her procedure,I needed to knit up some sari yarn first.
Some of you may be wondering,what IS Sari yarn?

It's a yarn spun in Nepal using threads from the waste of the Sari looms in India.
Usually 100% silk,it can also contain rayon combined with silk sometimes and it can be purchased in different grades........I think mine was a low grade,juding by the uneven threadwhich varied from tightly wound and extremely thin,to very loose and bulky, and requiring care in handling so the thread doesn't fall apart.

Beautiful and soft to work with,I can imagine it being used in scrumbling because of its glorious colourings.........each hank is a different combination of colours.

Anyway,being a bower-bird from way back I hunted through my knitting needle collection from mother and Mother-in law,found a pair of 10mm needles and loosely knitted the skeins together.

Next step is to find and liberate from my fabric stash some synthetic sheer fabrics for upper layers and a toning fabric in silk or cotton(natural fibres for the foundation) 

Buttons

 
A butterfly,red hat and a pair of thongs!

My booty after visiting with a new (for me) quilting group today.
One of the quilters is also a potter,and she crafts these buttons in ironstone.

There were butterflies,gumnuts,pigs,chooks,billy cans,honey pots(like Pooh bear loves) jam jars,flowers,gum leaves.

Thank goodness I have short arms and deep pockets!

Unfortunately S does not have a computer,so no web site,but if my friends are interested................... 

Thongs;flip-flops,whatever!

 
Don't you LOVE them!!
3/8 inch wide by 1.25 inches long.......I can see them replacing the ones I made (a la Annie W) on my Summer bra.

Next time I'll buy the pink pair!! 

Buttons

 
I visited the Mountain Quilters at Peachester today,and found that one of the members makes her own ironstone buttons.
I mentioned to Shirley that I was always looking for buttons for my CQ,and she showed me two shopping bags full!

I reckon I showed great restraint in "only" buying these....
I mean to say: HOW could anyone resist these thongs?
(there's always another Wednesday) 

Tuesday update

Link
No pics today.....well,none at this point!
Yesterday I completed a few more postcards for the Rocky Mountain Quilters/SouthernCross Crazies Swap,and the Craft club swap;
A trial one is stamped and addressed to try out its luck in the postal world and will mail it later today.
The pink lady heart is ready to go south to Sandie;
Mother Goose redwork blocks will also brave Ozpost today;I hand quilted the Candlewicked Balloon block last night,and today our postie arrived with my order from Rita at www.needlefelting.com so of course I wanna go PLAY............

Bad hair day

 
The pic shows Alice's "hair" and lemon Alice band pinned in position;
The queen now has a crown and needs finishing off,but Alice's hair----!!! (yuk) 

Do you want to fly----------

 

.....in my beautiful balloons?
This pic is the foundation for the next page in Alice's Journey;

After X-stitch came Candlewicking where her needle soared to new dimensions.

I'm still debating whether a tiny figure of Alice is needed in the foreground.....
a bit like the "magic mushroom" she sampled in Adventures in Wonderland. 

A work in progress...page 3

 
Page three of my proposed Fabric Art Journal!
Ifyou said that I have absolutely no idea of how to produce a FAJ,you'd be correct!
It's not as easy as I thought it would be;particularly after seeing what fantastic fibre works the other members of the group are producing....it's a steep learning curve.

My theme is loosely based on "Alice through the Looking-glass".
Remember, I did say "loosely"......once Alice goes through the looking glass in MY version(sorry Mr Carroll) she lands in "Stitching land",and I'm attempting to chart her progress through new stitchery methods.

First up,she meets the X-stitch queen!
(Nothing at all like the patient lady who attempted to set me on the yellow brick x-stitch road)
and that is where I am now.........with an impatient CROSS queen!
The green lines are proposed stitch lines;
The tape measure? Just one of the tools in a stitcher's work basket.

The queen I first stitched in rayon thread,then I overpainted with Lumiere Halo violet-gold.
The crown will probably be gold thread and gold delica beads.
The Face mold I made is too big for the figure....I did mold before the sketching and stitching....bad move!

Go FASTER! she commanded! 

Things Japanese

">Link Because of the bounty I received earlier in the week:Kimonos and offcuts from a Japanese oriented store in Melbourne, a friend and I have been doing a little research.
Primarily because we were surprised at seeing a colour combination of red with white in a rather small sized Japanese "dress".

Why do I say "dress"?
Because one of the first things I learned was that " the term kimono means nothing more and nothing less than clothes!

I won't bore you with details,except to add go visit http://www.yoshinoantiques.com/kimono.html
to learn more than I can fit in here.
One thing I did learn was that the combination of white with red is a seasonal theme relating to Autumn.

And another question answered for me was:Why are these garments stitched together with a running stitch?
A: Unless they are woolen,the garments are taken apart to be washed;block dried then sewn back together.

And on another note,because we've been given a severe weather/storm warning, I must go batten down the hatches!

Stylish in black

Two kimonos with differing treatments:One has a gorgeous metallic looking fabric on yoke and sleeves externally;
The other has plain black external and burgundy,cream and blue/green linings across yoke and sleeves.
Probably for a man. 

Is a puzzlement!

As Yul Brynner declaimed in "The King and I"
This is the little kimono I wondered about:
WHY the combination of Red with White,two colours normally at opposite ends of the traditional Japanese spectrum 

Stash enhancer

Monday and Tuesday's mail had me fairly beside myself in raptures.
A very dear friend down Melbourne way went shopping for me at Kazari. ......this is some of the beautiful fabrics now in my hot little hands:
aren't they super!
G included a couple of kimonos and Haori and one in particular intrigued me: A little white kimono.........it's size would fit a small 5 year old,but the intriguing thing about it,is that the sleeves are lined in red!
Now traditionally white is the colour for mourning,and RED is for joy/marriage.
The white fabric is patterened with the 16 petalled imperial chrysanthemum, and the red fabric is patterned with cranes.So we have a conundrum:WHY the combination of red with white? 

Cat-a-tonic

The completed mad cats: As I said earlier,not my usual choice of fabric or theme,but I needed something "different" to relieve frustration over a more "arty quilt not going to plan. 

Cat (a) Tonic

Because my "planned" Journal quilt for February was giving me the ***,
I decided on a no-brainer.......well, that's what I thought!

After making a fabric PC first to see the effect,
I fiddled with composition over the weekend.
This is the result,vlisoflexed,satin stitched and quilted in position.
So cats,I got news for you---

You're STUCK! you aint going nowhere!

Regards this quilt:
apart from the feline content,colour and cartoon shapes aren't normally my choice but it was a fun thing,that helped reduce stress levels.............
I now have LONGER to come to terms with my original February project!

And,when it's completed: bindings,etc,I'll "treat" you to a photo rather than a scan.

Ciao

A Tribute to the Naked Eye

A Tribute to the Naked Eye, originally uploaded by SkybellArts.

Isn't this fibre postcard fantastic?
SkybellArts is one of the members of 6x4lives

http://www.flickr.com/blog.gne

Cat as trophy ?

Today was nearly a no-sew day!
But I managed to squeeze this one through this afternoon----------which gives me an excuse to go out tomorrow and purchase more Vlisoflex;
I also wish to visit a craft store and see whether I really need a bone folder.or whether I can live without it