Embroidered Quilt Gift

I am one lucky girl!

At my birthday gathering back in Feb. my dear friends had planned a surprise and presented me with this wonderful embroidered wall hanging.  It blows me away to think that they think that much of me to make me something so very special.

Close up of the blocks.  The work in them is exquisite and I love how the ladies have included some bright colours to make the whole thing ‘pop’.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

My friend, Joan, also gave me this fabulous hand knitted face cloth and sweet smelling soap.  It was tied together with some of her lovely cotton lace.  xxx Thanks Joan.

Marleen gave me this colourful, handy pot holder which has been put straight to use.  She made it using some type of lined paper, and all she had to do was sew on the lines.  She said it was easy - I might have to commission her to do some for me to give as gifts!!  Hugs to Marleen.

The months are flying by and now it is officially Autumn, although you wouldn’t know it by the heat waves and tropical storms we have been getting.

Looking forward to Easter – one of my favourite times of year here in Toowoomba.

Until next time – happy quilting and crafting – Dianne.

Birthdays & Weddings

Hello dear blogging friends.

Another birthday has happened – we cannot stop them – and why would we? 

My lovely quilting friends chucked a surprise and took me out to morning tea. They presented me with something really special. It has been kept secret for months – apparently.

We went to the cafe at Spring’s Garden World and they had wonderful cakes and goodies.  I have never seen such a large piece of carrot cake.  Compare it to Marleen’s lemon cheesecake!!!  Half of it came home in a take away box for my hubby to enjoy.  Thank you everyone for coming and making my 61st birthday so special.

They all pitched in and did these very gorgeous little embroidered blocks and I love how they have joined them with a mix of all the colours and fabric they know I love. Special thanks to Loretta who constructed the quilt and Alison who did THE most wonderful tiny hand quilting stitches.    Thank you also to Shirley, Marleen, Joan, Linda, Vicky, Marilyn and Dot.  You are truly wonderful friends to have.

Here is a collage close up of the embroideries – some nice little patterns here.

Shirley surprised me with a Gelli Plate for my birthday and the Gelli Plate book to go with it.  It is something I have had on the wish list for ages.  Thank you my dear friend.

I will post some of my prints in the next blog or this one will get long and boring.  Gelli printing is sooooo much fun.

Marleen gifted me this bright and cheerful pot stand which she tells me she made using paper which is all lined out with the pattern and you simply sew on the lines.  Think it will be easier to commission her to make me some.

Joan gave me this very soft knitted face cloth and the most delightful smelling soap (rose & geranium), and of course some of her special lace.  She is always giving me some of her lovely collection of laces.  Such a sweet friend.  The washer and soap was purchased from the gift shop next door to the Cuckoo clock centre at Cabarlah.  A shop that sounds like it needs checking out sometime!!

Our beautiful second daughter Bonnie is marrying soon and so her friends took her out for her final single fling last weekend.  That is her on the right and Rebecca on the left.

We are so looking forward to the wedding. 

Until next time -    Dianne.

A Big Birthday - Best Wishes – Best Friends - Bits of Art

 

Yes, it was a biggy!

The actual day was on a Tuesday, and so on the Saturday, my darling husband and daughters arranged a family luncheon.  I did not have to do a thing – it was lovely and I was spoiled.  Our oldest daughter made the cake and it was a white chocolate mud cake.  I love white chocolate and the cake was delicious!!

Hubby doing the dishes  xxx

Lilian did her own make up especially for the occasion.

 

Even Bella, our 13 year old border collie cross, joined in the party and enjoyed some attention from our youngest daughter.

On the Monday my dear friends from quilting joined in celebrating, and we had lunch at ‘The Two Birds’ cafe.  All their food is homemade on the premises – it was yummy.

Around the table L-R  Vicky, Marilyn, Linda, Loretta,Shirley,Joan, Marleen & Moi.

  They also spoiled me rotten.

Beautiful gifts – thank you my dear friends. 

On the day of the birthday my hubby took me to the flicks and lunch.  We saw ‘The Book Thief’.  I enjoyed my day.

A few weeks ago I did this collage/painting spread on a piece of old card. It will be a book cover one day.

Front Cover

The branch part of this image is a collage taken from a picture in an old National Geographic magazine.

Inside cover

Bird image from Karen over at Graphics Fairy.

I have to finish with my cute little Lilian.  This is how they come out of prep each day holding hands – very cute. (Lilian in the middle)

 

Until next time……………..Dianne

Paper Collage Fun & Fabric Box

When I saw the fabric box on Anneliese’s blog HERE I knew I had to make one for a friend for Christmas.
The tutorial is on Jane LaFazio’s blog.  Jane has a fabulous blog with a few little tutorials for us to try out and her art work is very inspirational.  Take a look HERE… and enjoy.
Firstly I collaged the fabrics to the stiffening (1)  and then I added a fern stamp in an off white colour using a handmade stamp I made from a polystyrene fruit tray. (2)

(1)

(2)
I added some embellishments and some free motion quilting. (3)

(3)
The finished box.


To finish the top off I hand sewed a silk sari strip around the top and added a little bead drop on each corner (4)

(4)
A couple of weeks ago I signed up to do a “Getting Started with Collage” online class with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  I am a great fan of Julie’s, and love looking at her videos and art work.  (Click on Julie’s badge in the side bar to visit her)
If you get a chance, visit Julie’s blog and be inspired, especially if you love journalling and collage. 
Because I love to make cards I used her techniques to make some greeting cards to have on hand.  It is a process that I got really engrossed in, and for a few days the dining table looked more like an art studio – a very, very, messy art studio with a mad wannabe artist at the helm!!!

Julie showed us four ways of designing a collage.
Using some monograms as a focal point I made these collage cards for friends’ birthdays (next year).  How is that for organized??

Front & Back of the M Card

Front & Back of the J Card.

The blue card is using the ‘grouping’ design and again I used a focal point on the pink card.
The pink card uses old dressmaking patterns and a stencil from a magazine cut out.

On the left a pictorial collage and on the right the ‘crossing’ design.
Most of the paper used in the collage has been created by me using acrylic paints, spray inks and various methods of surface treatments following some of the instruction on Julie’s video.
It has been soooooo much fun and I can’t wait to make another big mess and do some more collage.
Thanks to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for making this online class for us to enjoy.
Until next time…….. Dianne.

TAST Embroidery 2013 & More Dyeing Fun

 

There has been some frantic stitching going on here at Eat Play Quilt.  Christmas is looming fast, and, of course, the ‘last minute girl’ has just realised this.  There is always good intentions in the New Year to be more organized but, alas, it is just the make up of the girl.  There is a lot of Secret Santa stuff, so I cannot show at the moment.

As the stitches come on to Pintangle each week I have been trying to keep abreast of my TAST i.e. (Take a Stitch Tuesday).  You can check it out HERE.

Here is the latest sample I have finished:

The little coloured ones are Raised Cup and the pink one underneath is Turkman Stitch.

I enjoyed doing the Turkman stitch very much.

Week 68 – 75

top to bottom:

Slipped Detached Chain

Buttonholed Double Chain St.

Crested Chain

Bullion Buttonhole

Wrapped Coral

Portuguese Stem Stitch

Zig Zag Chain St.

Woven Zig Zag Chain

Week 63-67

Top to Bottom:

Scroll Stitch

Top Knotted Buttonhole

Buttonhole Bar

Coral Stitch

Fancy Hem Stitch

 

Week 76 – 81

Vandyke Stitch

Woven Cross Stitch

Cloud Filling

Chained Cross Stitch

Raised Chain V1 ( L )    Raised Chain V2 ( R )

I have really enjoyed doing these samples but I will definitely have to refer back to the instructions to repeat them.  So many interesting ways to use needle and thread!!!

My friend, Joan, has just returned from a marvellous holiday around England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and parts of Europe.  Lucky duck!  She brought me back these goodies.  The little reindeer decoration is wooden and carved by hand in Austria.  Thank you Joan.

Shirley has been a bad  good  influence on me and I can’t go past a second hand bookshop anymore without checking out their old embroidery books.

I was lucky to pick this wonderful book up from Lifeline for just $4.  The book says it is about colour, but most of the illustrations are in black and white.  There is quite a bit on colour theory at the back of the book which is very informative.  There are also many design possibilities for creative embroidery.

 

There has been some more attempts at botanical dyeing.

Firstly I tried some bark.

“mmm What’s for dinner dear?” 

The fabric came out a beautiful deep rich caramel colour.  (no photo yet – too boring)

Next, I decided to try the bouganvillea flowers as they are so rich and steeped in colour at the moment. Here are pictures of the plants.

Lilian & I plucked the blossoms ready for the boil up

This is the fabric soaking in the pink bouganvillea juice.  It looked very promising – smelt disgusting.

Alas, the bouganvillea experiment needs more work.  Must get some mordant of some description.  Anyone got any ideas??

The fabrics from both the orange and pink bouganvillea came out pretty, but very insipid (no photo – boring again).

I will keep trying.

Until next time……………………..