CQRR06 - Last Block..

This is the last block for what has been a very long saga in CQRRO6 over on a craft forum... My contribution is a the the top of the block - mostly beaded with the word 'friends' in backstitch. Tomorrow the block leaves for the last leg of its journey - home to NSW. Roz I hope you like it...

AngelFace...

Look familiar??? Whilst this isn't quite stitching it is related in a lateral kind of way. This I started about... umm - yep so long ago I can't even remember... I traced her from the cross stitch design and obviously started to paint her - somewhere in the scheme of things to happen - it hasn't!!!! Since I have been stitching her my thoughts have wandered back to the painting which is on the lid of a heart shaped box - after a bit of a hunt I found her way up in a cupboard... Was my original idea to have both the stitched version and the box??? I don't think that was the intention - it was more that I liked the image - the angel with the peace dove. Angels, peace doves and hearts would be up there as far as favorite motifs. My reasons are varied to why - perhaps I am just a unashamedly romantic idealist at heart...

I haven't picked up a paint brush in ages but looking through a book on decorative painting at work has whetted my appetite to perhaps giving it another go...

Angelface

Another month has passed so here is the update on my stitching... For some reason best known to myself I didn't stitch according to THE plan. I think I was a wee bit weary of stitching her hair. Should I have a plan for next month - perhaps not - considering we are heading in the direction of the silly season at a rapid rate...

Reflections of Nature

If you have the opportunity to see a copy Janet Hall's 'Reflections of Nature' it is well worth it. Page after page of pure inspiration. It beats me how someone can look at a butterfly then recreate it in textiles. Some of the moths and flowers which are illustrated in the book are so lifelike it was difficult to tell them apart from their real models. A quote from the backcover says it all..

In a unique combination of art, photography and prose Janet Hall magically intertwines her exquisite work as a textile artist with the world which inspires it. She presents her breathtakingly beautiful embroideries through numerous photograhs and descriptions, conveying the very essence of her work: 'to achieve works which are not simply observational, but translations of wonder as well as nature.'

I borrowed this book on one of my many recent trips to the library - I found it by chance - and once I opened it I was 'hooked'. I have already enquired to its price - perhaps at some stage a copy will become an addition to my library...

To state the obvious...

...buttons!!! E had to go to Zart - an art supply shop quite close to us. Really it is more than just an art supplier it also has lots and lots of other interesting 'crafty' type stuff because of the sort of supplier it is. A few weeks ago it had amazing hand dyed shanks of wool just ready to be knitted into a million possibilities but I resisted!!!! Zart is as close to heaven as any arty type could want - there is paper and pencils and crayons and pastels and dyes and paints and - I could go on... If you are this side of Melbourne go check it out for yourself. We go there that often they knows us - scary!!!!!

P and I were wandering around waiting for E is gather her supplies together when P spotted the buttons - I don't think he thought that I would actually buy them - they were in 250 gram packets for $3.00 approx. While they are all modern buttons there are a lots of interesting ones among them and quite a mixture of sizes and designs which I could see used in a lot of ways.. What am I going to do with them - who knows - but I know that I have them in my stash ready and waiting.

Angelface...

Well here it is the end of the month already and here too is the progress I have made on my Angel... Not as much as I had hoped but at least there is some. My goal for the end of October is to have the top of her head completed and some headway down the other side of her face...

I have come to the conclusion I am not a natural stitcher nor for that matter anything to do with textile craft or sewing or knitting. I think it is because I get impatient with the slow going of it all. I am not one of these people who can stitch and talk too - I am better on my own. I can stitch in public places - hotel lobbies, on the train, at the bus shelter etc - but put me in a stitching group and I inevitably make mistakes which then I have to unpick and that I absolutely hate with a passion. Nor can I sit and stitch for long periods of time - an hour, at the most two and then I start to get restless.

I have another big 0 birthday in 5 years and I have made myself a promise that I shall do one major piece a year - that should cover at least some of the bigger kits I have bought over the last couple of years which I would loathe to give away not done - after that what gets done does...

Now back to my angel...

Op - shop finds...

Glasses Case
Easter Bell Pull
Glasses case kit and Pillow Sham pattern & threads

I found these Danish Flower Thread kits at my local op-shop yesterday. Two were glasses cases one a Easter bell pull and the third a pillow sham pattern and threads. The full kits were $3 each and the bell pull and pillow sham were only a couple of dollars each. The bell pull as you can see ( pic 2) has already been started and it is not much wider than a bookmark...

What fasinated me about the threads are that they are so fine and quite a different texture to what I am use to using... On closer inspection they seem to be the genuine article having a' made in Denmark' tag. And I would take a guess that the instuctions are in Danish although they do have and English version too.

Will I stitch them?? Undecided - but I believe they are worth having in my stash :) I think what gets to me is the story behind them. Who owned them originally? Were they bought in Denmark and travelled with their owner to Australia? Why were they never finished??? LOL- I guess the next question could be - will they ever be finished????