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From a proud grandad!

See Angela's earlier post today too!

Waiting Over

Well she is finally here. Nicki had been in labour since last Wednesday, she saw the midwife on Friday who said baby would put in appearance at the weekend and after several visits to hospital over the weekend they finally kept her in on the fourth visit and got things moving along. Ellie was born at 10.06pm yesterday and how about this for a play with numbers she weighed 6lb10oz. Mum and baby are fine Anthony is on cloud 9. We are going to see them this afternoon so there will be some pictures soon.

I'm really enjoying working on this hanging. I unpicked the stitching I didn't like and now I'm doing some running stitch but I have to keep stopping to make sure I don't get carried away and do too much. The silk thread is lovely to work with and it has a lovely sheen in the light. I think I'll be making at least one more of these.

Still Waiting

Get the balloons out I've finished something! It's a cushion cover cover for the tombola that Pam is doing to raise money for the Quilters Guild.

I saw a quilt on a blog and liked the pattern so I thought I'd have a go at making one myself and this was was my test block. It worked as you can see, so rather than just put it to one side or in the bin I've made it into a cushion cover.

This is my purple square that has got to be handed in to teacher next month. The next and last one is pink and I'm all out of ideas.

Remember the bumper and quilt I made for the crib, well it's now in-situ and waiting for baby - just like the rest of us.

Look at the size of her, you'd think she'd get a move on wouldn't you. She is fed up now this was Nicki two days ago.

Anthony said I had to show you this. He wants baby to to wear this when she comes home from hospital, Nicki doesn't, she wants her to look like a little girl. I think Anthony is little over excited.

Last weekend we had a heart bargello class with six ladies on the course so that they had plenty of room to spread out.

This is Caroles quilt, she's looking pleased as punch and so she should.

This is another Carole with her quilt. Carole was so pleased with herself for getting this far considering she arrived late on Saturday.

Here's Polly with her quilt and grinning from ear to ear she was so pleased with the result.

I think they all did a great job and the ladies who didn't finish haven't got much left to do but didn't want pictures taken because they hadn't finished but they looked just as nice and have promised to bring them back and show us.

This is a hanging I'm making inspired by the yellow square I made a little while ago. I have started doing some hand embroidery on it but I'm really not happy with it. I looked at it again this morning and I'm definitely not happy with it so it's coming out.

Having Fun

These prints are from the mono printing that I did last week at the Spectrum meeting. It was a great day and such a fun technique. It really is very simple and you don't need a lot of equipment which means it doesn't take long to set up or clear up.

The green ones are done using acrylic paint and a drying extender. I wouldn't bother to use that method again the results are not that good but at least I tried it and now I know.

The blue ones are done using a water soluble oil paint that Gina bought with her and very kindly let us try out. The oil paint was much more sucessful and I was very happy with the results. I'm going to get some of these paints and do some more printing I enjoyed it that much.

The brown ones are done using the oil paints as well. The leaves I used for the prints were found on a nature walk that teacher sent us on very close to the village hall.

These three prints were done by laying the paper straight onto the paint and drawing on the reverse. I'm sure this technique would not have worked if I had used the acrylic paint and drying extender, I think the paint would have been too wet.

These three are my favourites, of course the poppies found their way in.

There will definitely be some more poppy prints.

Time

Where does all the time go? Looking at my last post it has clearly been a little while since I last blogged but the time has gone by so quickly.

Steph is still suffering with her headaches and has been prescribed Beta Blockers and pain killers.

The baby is due a week tomorrow, Anthony is so excited and Nicki is huge and fed up.

Last week was the start of a new term and the first meeting of Spectrum. I had a lovely day. We spent time having a catch up with a show and tell, it was nice to see what everyone had been up to. There was certainly a lot of nice work and some wonderful sketchbooks. I spent the afternoon having a go at Mono Printing and I really enjoyed it, I'll show you the results another time.

I handed in the two squares I'd done during the summer break. I really like this turquoise one and I'm going to make a hanging based on it. The picture doesn't show it at its best, I think there's too much light and you can't see the stitch detail or the beads.

This is my blue one, strips of fabric laid down and some hand embroidery. I used just one stitch (fly stitch) and various thicknesses of thread. It's not one of my favourites.



Now all that's left to do is a purple and a pink square, think I'll go and make a start.

Prettiness

I made some more flowers this weekend. The first one is for Gill, she wanted a flower for her bag I hope the colours are ok - she asked for turquoise and orange.

These are three that I've made for Pam for her tombola stall.

This one is for Steph she wanted a pink flower with orange leaves.

Busy Busy Busy

It's been another really busy week around here and there hasn't been much time for creativity. Anthony has moved out this week in his usual chaotic style.

Both he and Nicki seem to be happy and are counting down to baby's arrival. They have everything in place - the pram is assembled, the cot is up and the rocking cradle is ready with a lovely little quilt and matching bumper.

They have all the other paraphanalia that goes with babies - nappies, dummies, bottles, babyclothes, blankets, toys, monitors , even toys for the bath but I think that is more to do with Anthony!

The house is very quiet without him he always was the child with the most to say and still is, I shall miss him.

Steph has been very poorly. She is still suffering with the headaches and been sick necessitating several visits to the doctors and an evening in AandE. Because the headaches are stopping her from getting any sleep she was prescribed some sleeping tablets but had an allergic reaction to them which got progressively worse. She should have had some more tests this week but was unable to have them done so this has put her further back. I feel so sorry for her she really is suffering at the moment.

On a much nicer note though when I got home yesterday the postman had left an envelope all the way from Australia with some goodies inside.

There was a little handmade doll, very cute and the fabric is lovely the picture doesn't do it justice.

The doll was accompanied with a needlepoint kit and a very sweet card made by Penny the very kind lady who sent me all this loveliness.

I have managed to make this flower brooch for Pam. A while ago I made a little zip up purse/bag for Barbara and Barbara has been taking great delight in tormenting Pam because she hasn't got one. Well now Pam has got something Barbara hasn't! Honestly and I thought the children had left home.

I'm hoping to have some time over the weekend to be creative. Enjoy your bank holiday weekend.

A New Skill

 I've always wanted to know how make crochet flowers and now thanks to YouTube I can. The red flower was made following the instructions to the letter, the green one is my adaptation. It's got an extra petal and I think it's much nicer.

I bet if I looked I could find a video for sock making. I tried to make some a while ago and I managed one sock but when it came to the other half of the pair and I got to the bit where you turn the heel I couldn't remember how I'd done it so they went in the bin. So I'm very tempted to look and have a go.

I've done a few more pages in my sketchbook . This one is my favourite at the moment.

I'm not sure that there will be much creativity this week due to a lack of time. We are very busy in the shop this week and Anthony is moving out. Baby is due in 5 weeks or thereabouts so they want to get all comfy and settled before their peace and quiet is shattered. They have got their house looking lovely and Anthony has done a fantstic job of the renovation, he has fitted a lovely kitchen and bathroom. I wish I had their bathroom - it's huge. Anyway I must go and do some work now.

Festival Of Quilts

Yesterday Neil and I went to the festival of quilts and we had a lovely day. There was some stunning quilts on display.

The Meerkats quilt was a group effort, such fun.

A lot of you probably recognise the next quilt, it's Pams doesn't it look fabulous hanging there.

A quilt show wouldn't be a show with out some poppies would it?

More poppies because they are my favourite.

This is Julie's quilt.

This astonishing piece won the best amateur quilt prize - some amateur! The quilt is quite exceptional, Neil says it's the best in show, if not ever!

Next is Jenny's quilt. Jenny doesn't have a blog, the photo's on the quilt are of her family and I can truthfully say that blood sweat and tears went into the making of this quilt, sadly Jenny's father passed away before it was finished.

I'm going back to the festival on Sunday with a group of friends and I'm hoping it won't be quite as busy. If your making the trip then enjoy your day you won't be disappointed.

Something In Blue

I've done some more sketchbook work. I placed one of my stencils in the middle of the page and cut around it and repeated this on  the page underneath. Then came the hard job of eating some Quality Street because I needed the wrappers. I used the wrappers on the back of the cut outs layering them as I went.
I put a piece of plain paper underneath to get a better picture.

This is the other side. I used water soluble crayons to colour this page and I really like it.

Even though it's the summer holidays Gina has given us homework, we have to make a Blue square and a Turquoise one.
This is my blue one. I thought it might be nice to work in just one stitch. Using a blue fabric I covered it with strips of different blues and worked Fly stitch in tapestry wools and a rayon thread in different shades of blue.

Now if you want some really exciting news just hop over to Pam's blog.

A special visitor! (with 6.00pm update)

We were delighted to see our good friend Jennie Rayment this morning! She popped in to see us in-between filming at Ideal World Create and Craft, and did an impromptu book signing while she was here.


Her new book 'Foldy Rolly Patchwork Pzzazz' is literally hot off the press and is fabulous! We have a few signed copies available at the shop (or by post at £14.75 post-free) if you're interested.

We are working with Jennie on a very special event later in the year, and will post more details as soon as we can.

6.00pm Update: Thanks for the name-check on national TV this evening Jennie, we're delighted you enjoy your visits to Art and Stitch so much!

Sketchbook Work

I've done some more sketchbook work and I've been enjoying it.

Following Gina's example for using a stencil  I combined two and used a metallic oil pastel in purple. It's very difficult to see that it's metallic from the picture but it looks very striking over the white card.

Much more subtle against the red page.

Here I used a white oil pastel and mixed purple and red Kohi-I-Noor colours together to fill in the poppies and then I cut away some of the page to reveal part of the underlying page.

I worked some more on the combined stencils page adding some texture. The top of the seed head is covered in the tiniest dark purple beads and I added a few words using my stamps.

This is the page that lies underneath the cut away page.

I took this picture so that you could see the beads on the surface.

This is my favourite page. I used water soluble crayons in various shades of red, orange, yellow and a dark purple mixing them all together. It made such a nice smooth surface to work on that I was reluctant to use it but I did. I'll show you the results in my next post I'm waiting for it to finish drying.

The tumbling block quilt is finished and has recieved lots of nice comments.

I've made a start on putting the pink and green star blocks together for Anthony and Nicki's quilt. I'm hoping to get the top put together today.

The purple and green log cabin hanging is coming along nicely and I've ordered the perspex rod for displaying it.

I must go and get on with the stars now.

Round Two

I have started another sketchbook the first two pages are the same as before, well almost I did make another stencil. Looking back at the two colours I've decided to stick with red. I know that will make it the same as Gina's but red and poppies have been my favourites for some time now and you just can't change things like that. I'm clearly not finished with poppies and I already have another project in mind but on a large scale.

Here I've added some words but it doesn't show very well. On the green page I used some stamps that I've had for a while which came in a very cute box but I can't remember where from. The letters used on the red page came from the local newspaper. I really enjoyed doing this. So much so that I have already made another stencil for the next page. 

This is the cute stencil box, just incase you wanted to see it.

Now for a real treat. Look what I made all by myself and probably never again. It's social stitching today so I made cakes to go with the tea.

I hope there's enough.