More ATCs to swap

Just the last few ready for the swap. Even when I use heavy watercolour paper, they buckle slightly and I need to weight them under a heavy book. I've also made some with mount (matte) board and they are perfect.

Whew!

 I've got the art quilts finished so am ahead of the game because the street market is not till 7 June. I had to hand sew them onto the backing because the sewing machine was being a bully and pushing too hard over the quilting. If it rains we'll be in the church hall on the corner, so that's good.

 

Everything you need to know is already in your head. You just have to find it. Garth Walker

New Fabric Pieces

I've been making some fabric wallhangings for a street market in a couple of weeks, and working on a bigger format is actually easier and faster than the fiddly quilts I made before. I'm using chopsticks to form the hanger.

My work space is sooo messy - it looks as though there's been a whirlwind in there. But you know what they say - if you want something done go to a busy person!

It's like first day at kindergarten - Typepad has changed everything!!

"Paint a little less of the facts and a little more of the spirit."

(Harvey Dunn)

Brokeback Mountain

I saw this film a couple of nights ago and it touched me deeply, in fact I couldn't get to sleep and even writing about it is making me emotional. The sadness lasted all yesterday and was compounded by the tragic death of Heath Ledger.

On a brighter note, I've started some new art quilts a bit different from my usual style and bigger too. It's always a comfort to get my fabrics out and play!!

Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there. Did you know that right  and left shoes were thought up only a little more than a century ago?

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

ATCs Swap

I've made some fabric ATCs for a swap - no theme but they have to have French knots somewhere. I love French knots so much!! I remember years ago when the back had to be as neat as the front - it's so ridiculous, isn't it? I really enjoy the no rules approach of today!

Gallery visit

I had lunch with a friend and afterwards we went to see a Renaissance exhibition in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence in Scotland of H.M. the Queen. The paintings were beautiful (they were all from the Queen's private collection)  so had never seen them before. It really makes you realize how detailed they are and how they must have used their equivalent of a magnifying glass. Here's the programme cover:

I have a book of design meditations which are wisdom, insights, and intriguing thoughts from leading designers - here's a sample:

No one ever discovered anything new by coloring inside the lines. Thomas Vaszuez

Old Photo Albums

There's a church here that has an annual sale of books and ephemera and I thought it was in July. What a memory I have, and to make it worse I bought stuff there last year! I  just happened to pass by when I noticed that it had started.  I found photo albums with beauftiful leather covers and metal clasps and lots of cabinet cards and CDVs and yes, I brought them home. I also found Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market' poems bound in the softest kid, and R.L. Stevenson's poems also bound in purple kid. They were so heavy I had to take a taxi -- what a cruel life hehe.

Mermaids

I'm getting lots of artwork done and I am still finding time to have my forty winks after lunch - an absolute necessity. I can remember at work that after lunch was the worst time for me, heavy eyes, so I used to go to the loo and nap (sitting down of course :)) and only five minutes would completely refresh me.

Here's my page for the Mermaids book:

ATC Fever

It's a fight between making ATCs and sitting in the garden 'cos  I'm not clever enough to do both at the same time! I started making ATCs for a swap and before I realized it, I'd made about 20 - I really love the fact that they don't take long to finish ... well, sometimes LOL. So here are the first lot (the others are under a heavy book at the mo)

Auction Book for Breast Cancer Research

I'm taking part in a book entitled 'Mermaids' which will be auctioned on Ebay in August and the proceeds will be given to Breast Cancer Research. I'm also doing the cover which I finished today. I scattered the sequins and thought I could glue them into place - hah - visions of glue showing bullied me into needle and thread, laborious yes, but worth it!