Autumn, Fairy Shoes and Ticking off lists

I am entranced daily by delicious vistas of autumn light – and raindrops so big you could loose yourself in them.  The environment is exuding a wealth that beckons a generosity of spirit.  My world is alive with the magic of enticing colour, warm light & shorter days.

Within the art of  photography, there is a time of day, called ‘magic hour’ – without getting two technical the half hour after sunrise & before sunset    Light at this time is warm & soft & you can capture photos with good shadows & tonal transitions. Subjects look warm, saturated in color.  Autumn in our house has me dashing to our front verandah – camera in hand………the half hour before sunrise & after sunset the light is soft & rich & has the depth of velvet.   Shadows are deep, but the light is extremely saturated, which makes for amazing sunset shots – which we are ideally situated to capture.  Autumn is one of my great loves.

(if you’d like to read a little more about ‘magic hour’ you’ll find some good info here & here)

I have been creating a bit of art with a needle lately.  I am thrilled to say that our little princess’s quilt is finished (which you may remember was on my list at the beginning of the year)  She has just turned 2 & she is so full of exuberance & has just a mischievious little laugh.  She is a little magpie and her little nonsensical conversations and comments make you laugh out loud – such a joy!!  What’s the first thing you do when you are presented with an heirloom that has cost many hundreds of dollars & has taken 18 months to make – JUMP  FOR JOY OF COURSE!!!  LOL!!!  We love her to bits – AND OF COURSE – as her grandies – we ARE biased!!  Back to the quilt – it’s huge – it began life as a cot quilt, then transitioned (when DIL & I discussed how the precious cot quilts of the older two had become obsolete now that they were in ‘big beds’) into a single bed, then finally into a king single (when I realized that was the size they had bought for their eldest.  The final size was 66in wide x 77in long…..aka big & heavy to ‘man handle’…..but it’s done now & sick person that I am, despite it becoming a guilty obligation in the end – I am already looking to the next one!  It’s the euphoria of the finished quilt driving me – no doubt!  After the spectre of failure that makes me choke at every deadline is overshadowed by a success – I want to recreate it.

We have an event coming up at the end of May that I am creatively involved in & I have been painting, sewing & doing some watercolours, mixed media & digital work – all around the topic of feet & shoes.  I have had fun creating fairy shoes, sweet little booties, as well as creating artful invites & treasures to sell on the night.

I HAD intended to post up the patterns that I made for the shoes – but that didn’t happen, so it has to be next time!  Til then – take care………..xk

Nest Builder

This atc is the next one for my online workshop.  It is a combination of machine & hand stitching.  It represents a significant amount of work because of the detailing, some of which is lost in the final embellishing.  I started with a piece of raw (washed) calico which I had dyed blue (& have the hands to prove it!).  Then I used a piece of cotton lace, dipped in bleach & pressed it on the calico & brayered over it.  This bleached the lace pattern onto the dark fabric.  Unfortunately, I got a bit zealous with the zig zag & alot of this detailing is lost.  I used a zigzag stitch on my machine, first in grey (for the background) & creamy white for the ‘nest’ section.  After that, I hand stitched some shredded string on & did some random stitching with linen thread & used the same thread to sew on the buttons for eggs.  Next, I used 3mm silk ribbon & embroidered long & short, random blanket stitches.  I tried out a few ways to add a bird & resorted to paper in the end, but it probably isn’t that suited to a fabric ATC.  Last of all, I added a little bullion stitch bee & some more shreaded string.  It was a bit of fun to do some free hand embriodery again………….it is literally years since I have done any, though I used to do it prolifically, & teach others as well.  A nice little project to break me in again!! LOL!!

Life in a Hurry

A LITTLE PRINCESS IS TURNING ONE T HIS WEEK………….That year has gone in a blink!  We called her ‘Princess Teeny Weeny’ ‘cos she was SOOO little!   I have been creating this week for princess Eleanor Grace   …….flock velvet overalls, a little pinny for my budding art pal & a little knitted teddy I called Nelson as ‘Mum’ specifically requested a ‘useable gift’ not a precious present……all for a little princess who now lives life in a hurry & is about to turn ONE…….ONE??????  Where did THAT year of my life go????  You will notice that ALL of these pics are blurry……….she lives life in a flurry, walking & waving & clapping & dancing……..in the 60 shots I have taken in three different settings today, this was the best of them, they are all blurry…………it is how life has been the last couple of days.  I am unexpectedly off interstate for about 10 days…….I hope to be able to post remotely, but that didn’t work at Christmas when I went to Tassie, so we’ll see how that goes.  I am hoping to catch up with the lovely Judy from Red Velvet  & touch base with her about our respective new projects.  I can’t take much with me in the way of art materials (I am flying) I have – watercolours & sketching with me & some research for 9/11 so I expect it won’t be an overly artful week, but a great time regardless.