Christmas Swan

It's always good to try something new and the Christmas present from Jo and Haydn gave me the opportunity to do that.  The wooden swan came as a 'flat pack' kit with a set of instructions.

The lovely smell of fresh wood was released when I opened the pack and laid out the components for this photo.  The shapes were pre-cut and just needed pressing out from the sheet of plywood.  

The reverse of the cover sheet gave the instructions which were rather brief but I soon realised they didn't need to give a lot of detail.  Each slot had a number which matched up with the number on the piece which would fit into it.  

It was quite satisfying slotting the pieces together, a bit like a puzzle.  Here's the basis of the body and the little cross piece attached the head and neck to the body.  Later additions to the body reinforced the structure and the finished piece is very stable.  

So here is the swan gliding along the bookcase.  But the swan's potential didn't end there.  I thought the wooden shapes and structure of the swan were attractive and would make a good subject for a drawing.  

So thank you Jo and Haydn for a good present, it's something I wouldn't have thought of buying for myself.  

Negative Painting Experiment

Whilst perusing Pinterest I came across some attractive watercolours which were the result of a negative painting method.   Keen to have a go a I watched a you-tube video and then set to with a simple flower motif. 

The painting starts with a very wet sheet on which you dab the streaks of colour.  The advice on you-tube was to make sure the paper was completely dry before continuing so I prepared this sheet the night before.  

The next step was to draw in the first of the flowers which in the finished painting will be the palest flowers.  The background is then going to be darkened; I decided to strengthen the existing colours but this doesn't have to be the case.  Again the paper has to be dry before continuing so I went for a walk with the girls; this method can't be rushed in the early stages.

I really doubted how this would turn out so omitted to take any photos of the next stages which were to add more flowers and continue to darken the background.  I worked this stage 4 times in total and then decided I needed to consolidate the background.  I had veered away from the you-tube advice by now and in a bid not to turn the background to mud I applied a thin glaze of blue.  

Instantly the colours on the flowers stood out but due to all the washes their outlines weren't very distinct.  This was remedied with a black biro outline and then I continued to add a couple more flower shapes and some leaves.  I knew I would be applying another background layer and to make this final layer neat I needed to break up the background.  As this was an experiment I added double lines which would create a break in the final background colour. 

The final glaze was a thicker wash of dark green which brought out the paler shades of the flowers.  Although the lines were a device to break up the background I like the effect of the previous layers showing through them.  I added a blob of colour to the middle of all the flowers but decided against tinkering with the petals and risk spoiling the clean colours.

So that's the method and now I've tried it I'll certainly give it another go.  

I also have a tip if you order your library books online - check the print size; it might not be obvious they are in large print until you go to pick them up!  

Bits and Bobs

Most sewing time has been taken up recently by the Big Quilt, which is currently about 18% quilted. Here is the back of it, folded in half and taking up most of the living room floor.




I'm already planning the next quilt, which will have a steampunk, cogs and gears theme, and possibly a robot or two. These two experiments have been made into coasters.

Here is the garden at Chester, taken with the camera in watercolour mode, which gives a lovely flowing effect. That may be Kev's knee and Bess's bum on the right!

And here are some of the frogs, enjoying the Easter sunshine. 

Blankets and Patchwork

I’ve been quite industrious since the last blog entry and have completed the first of the baby blankets using up some wool which I’ve had a while.  When I saw the wool on Doncaster Market I thought it looked quite pretty but when I started to knit a tension square it became apparent the colours didn’t blend very well.   The white turning to grey just looked dirty next to the yellow and the orange tint went into a washed out pink colour so this wool clearly wouldn’t be for anything I’d wear.  I came across the group who knit blankets for premature babies and distribute them to hospitals in a prima magazine and decided I would happily knit up the yukky wool for them.  Apparently, they are short of 24x24 inch blankets and as I had, in a rush of enthusiasm, bought 6 balls of the ghastly stuff there’s plenty for the blankets.  As I had some wool with contrasting colours I decided to use that in a stripe and it worked surprisingly well but I still wouldn’t wear it!

One of the suggested stitches for the blankets was moss stitch, not a stitch I’ve used very much so I thought I’d give it a try.  It takes a little longer to knit than stocking stitch but produces quite a sturdy fabric and a tweedy effect with the random wools I was using.  It is also quite a wide stitch, I only needed 109 stitches for the 24 inch width.

The patchwork has also been coming along and the top of the cover is now finished.

I realised I was running low on dark materials and so enjoyed a shopping trip to Doncaster to top up my supplies.  I was particularly pleased with one of the fabrics from Knit and Stitch.

While I was taking the photos I noticed the girls in their usual position, fast asleep on Kev’s chair. 

A Patchwork for Harvest

The large display board in our school hall is changed every term according to the seasons and religious events, and it's my job to come up with a relevant idea and get it up on the wall (usually with Pat's help, especially at the top of the board.)

This year I had the idea of using real packaging to make a patchwork of the foods we all eat. A message was sent out to parents for boxes, wrappers and packets, and, when these were slow to come in, I began prowling the staffroom at dinnertime, snatching away any wrapping before it could be binned. This resulted in a unexpectedly large collection of empty hula hoop packets and tea-bag boxes, giving an accurate picture of the staff diet! All the wrappers were sliced into 3x3 inch squares using the grid ruler and an old patchwork wheel, which made the job quite speedy, even though about 400 squares were required. I interspersed these with some words from the children, hopefully to send a message other than pure gluttony.

It took nearly two hours to pin all the squares in place, while dodging the flying bean bags of a reception class PE lesson. Towards the end, I realised I was just a few squares short - the school secretary was surprised to find bags of flour and sugar being photocopied as I rushed to make up the missing squares. Finally,  the HARVEST lettering was printed in Word, enlarged and then used as a template to cut from yellow card.

I was pleased with the colourful result, which was the background for our Harvest Festival in school.
Sadly, displays don't stay up for long, and this one was dismantled over half term to make way for a Remembrance Day display.

Autumn

As the weather turns cooler it seems appropriate to be working on a patchwork of autumn colours, a change from my usual blues and greens.

Firstly, some background about the project - I have a tray I use for storing needlework in progress and this slides onto the shelves in the wardrobe.

At the moment the tray is kept in a pillowcase but frequently the contents are disturbed when I’m putting the tray in or out of this temporary cover so my patchwork is intended to make a more secure cover with a lid.  The sides will be heavily quilted so hopefully the lid won’t be resting on the pieces on the tray – well that’s the plan anyway!

I have accumulated quite a stash of autumn coloured materials and had industriously encased the paper triangle templates ready for sewing but it seems I need to do a lot more judging by how few are left. 

I spotted a patchwork of diamonds on pinterest which I used for the basis of my design and am pleased with the contrasting colours on the patchwork which will form the lid.  

I am going to make a border around the pattern of squares to complete the lid.

So that’s the progress so far, working the project will outlast autumn but as I have some other ideas for needlework I hope it doesn’t take too long, that tray cover will be in demand.  

Bees and Bugs

This week, I’ve been out in the garden with my camera set to close-up, having a look at who’s out in the sunshine.

A leafcutter bee has moved into my new bug house and is busy making doors for the holes. A bit of research tells me this is a solitary bee who lays her eggs in crannies and crevices, making the walls of the nest with circles cut from leaves. She is visiting frequently, carrying quite large pieces of leaf, and spending some time in the holes, presumably arranging them to her satisfaction.

Working hard to get the leaf circles in place.

A very neat finish 

This little chap is a green shield bug, marching about in the crocosmia  In the second photo, you can see two bugs, one lazing about upside down. This picture was taken in the early morning, after some welcome overnight rain.

I’m not usually a fan of spiders, but this one was dangling with a certain grace, and was not too big to be scary.

Finally, the garden is full of butterflies this year, who unfortunately don’t stay long enough to have their photo taken, unless you patiently hang around near the lavender. I like the translucent look of this picture, taken in very strong sunlight.