Mostly not my work. . .

. . . like a Bethlehem scene, drawn out for people to paint, who came to the Christmas Fun Day our church had this month, which included also crafts and a performance of Sheila Wilson's Hosanna Rock. And on my table, stencilling and nice choice of colours produced some tasteful bits of wrapping paper.

A similar exercise at a similar Day focussing on Africa had a village landscape to paint and . . .

. . . . some Mali mudcloth patterns to play with, not using fermented mud, but freezer paper masking and black and blue acrylic paint!

And going back a bit further still to the . . .

. . . Quilters' Guild 3 Corners Day in October, 3 workshops to circulate round, of which i did one (in the exalted company of Kate Dowty and Carol Dowsett!) In my workshop we made small purses, from 5 x 5" fabric squares. It is one of these random things that comes out with unexpected charm.

But this is all my own work, and not in a breadmaker either! Not sure why it comes out all craggy, but DH says it gives it a nice rustic look.

Wild weather inspirations

I wanted to put these first two pix at the end but blogger is being contrary about arranging photos, sorry about that. Sunset, seen from the back of our house. Sun heading down, Poole harbour, Brownsea island across the water.

Another winter day at Sandbanks, with wild waves and kite surfers, and sun. Great for November.

And at Upton Country park, some autumn colour, quite spectacular.

More wild waves, at Bournemouth beach this time, on the windiest day of the year. We went with family to the Oceanarium down by the beach, and the grandchildren were leaning on the wind. But then the peaceful moments come, to our road anyway!

Hello, I'm still here . . .

. . . and will try to stay this time, a reformed character, keeping my blog more up to date with pix of visual interest and inspiration . . . I very much hope so anyhow. So here are some things I have been making lately - beads, from coloured magazine pages. There is nothing complicated about them, you simply cut long strips of paper, roll them up round a knitting needle or similar rounded stick thing, and apply glue to the last bit of the strip so that it sticks itself to the roll. If you want cylindrical beads you cut a straight strip. If you want a more rounded effect you cut a wedge shaped strip. You start rolling at the wide end, keep the narrowing strip in the centre as you roll, and it builds up a more rounded shape.

I made a book cover from nappy liners. There was a workshop online using dryer sheets and not knowing quite what they were I decided to try nappy liners, which I thought might be similar. They aren't really, but they gave a nice result.

I put 3 liners together, having printed and painted some colour on them. They don't take colour so very well, but enough for the purpose. I then stitched them together onto a piece of felt, with free machine stitching all over. Then a little zap with a heat gun and a bit more stitching.
Then I neatened the edges, wrapped some cord by zigzagging over threads, and couched that down, leaving ends to wrap round a button to fasten and threaded on some of my paper beads to look decorative.The piece was just the size of the book opened out, so I had to attach separate panels to each side to make pockets into which the book covers could be pushed. The book happened to be one I had made, A5 size, but any could be used.
It feels nice to handle, and was easy to stitch, so is on the list of 'Try that again sometime' ideas.