A Wedding & Some Crafty Dabbling

Our beautiful daughter was married to her wonderful guy on 13 March beside the river at Noosaville. It was a fabulous wedding.

I got all dressed up.

So did the beautiful Lilian who relished in her job of flower girl.

I did the card sign and place cards. They were done with watercolours on watercolour paper. I used a pigma No 8 pen to write the names.

It started like this.

The scissors gave the edge the ripped look. They were fun to make and DD loved them

For the first time ever I got to try my hand at some procion dyeing. Here are my fabrics in their containers 'brewing'

Some of my finished fabrics. I used a white sheet from a set we didn't like. They were 'noisy' sheets made of 1,000 count cotton. Very annoying but have now been reborn.

I loved the dyeing process and can't wait to do some more.

 

Somewhere in amongst all the madness of the beginning of this year I fitted in an online workshop with Jenniebellie and made this journal. It is made with some old sketches gifted to me by Shirley. The sketch on the front cover was done by Shirley too and I am hoping her sketches will inspire me to do some sketching as well. I really enjoyed the journal making process and hope to make some more in the future.

Finishing up with a funny photo taken at the wedding photo booth. My sister on the left proclaiming her love for beer, DH in the middle who states "you only live once - YOLO" and me on the right.

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed Easter my dear blogging friends.

Until next time ................ Dianne

 

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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.

Some Art Journalling and Playtime

Happy Australia day for yesterday to all you proud Aussies.  We spent the day with family and friends enjoying a peaceful day and being thankful for this great country we live in.  There was a wee bit of tennis watching going on too

School holidays have just ended here in sunny Queensland.

We look after Lilian for most of the duration of the school holidays, and the one thing she loves to do the most, is paint with Nana.

She now has her own little art journal made from an old repurposed book and she has had loads of fun transforming the pages into art works.

After watching a video by Claudia Rossi, she wanted to embark on this one. Firstly she painted some bright rainbow colours onto the page in acrylics.

Then it was a fairly thick layer of gesso and while it is still wet she drew in some flowers with the end of her paint brush, which revealed some of the lovely colours underneath.

A little border around the edge and some words and she was done and happy!

My page shown start to finish below – I know, not as ‘free’ and smashing as Lilian’s.

  

I did this page spread which is at the beginning of a little travel art journal I have been playing with. This was our first trip we did in a tent.

One day when Lilian went to visit her little friend, I made her this sweet little pin cushion.  I had the components sitting in my cupboard for about 5 years.  She loved it and immediately raided my pin cushion to fill hers.

The Travelander is being packed ready for another little trip.  This is how it looks off the truck and then the tent all folds down into the white part and it will go onto the back of our truck. 

Until next time……………….Dianne

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to All

This nativity scene is constructed outside the City Hall building of our beautiful fair city.  Everything is so green after the lovely summer rain we had recently.

During the holidays I hope to work on some unfinished projects and play around some more with paints and textiles. 

My Sashiko quilt has been ‘maturing’ in the cupboard because of an artistic block.   The girls at Indigo Niche helped me, and suggested another piece of sashiko stitching be added into the next border, so I have launched into stitching this rather large piece of sashiko!!! Thank you dear Sue and Colleen.  It is a great project to do at night in front of the very boring TV.

I would love to get this quilt finished this year some time – but then again – we will be going on our camping trips again this year!!

   

This piece of rather tawdry paper cloth has now become this little book cover.  The little square of watercoloured paper was given to me by Shirley, and it was perfect for the front of my book.  Shirley.  There are another couple of embellishments to go onto the book yet, and I have now added some paper pages into it.  The lime green rectangles are finger painted with ‘Silk’ acrylic glaze.  It has a lovely sheen which doesn’t show up in photographs.

In the last month or so I tried another technique for paper cloth and the results are quite different.  It involves using paper and crayons and stabilizing it all with fusible interfacing, chopping it all up, and rejoining with more stabilizer.  It is interesting, and I will be showing it to the TQ Art Quilt Group in January where they can all have a go at creating some of their own.

This piece is a work in progress.  Goodness knows what I will end up doing with it.  It may get all chopped up again!!

My dear husband has been baking bread.  Is he trying to make me FAT!!  it smells divine coming out of the oven and who can resist?  I love eating the crusts with a big layer of butter and a smidge of vegemite.  mmmmmmm.

A friend of mine emailed me this.

So, to all my dear ‘fruit cakes’ have a very Happy Christmas and Festive Season and all the very best to all of you for the New Year.

Until then……………………………………..Dianne

Stitch, Cloth, Paper & Paint

This is the title of the latest book by my all time favourite textile artist, Angie Hughes.

I was gifted this book by my dear friend, Shirley. Mwah to Shirley!!  It is a very inspiring book and I can’t wait to try some of the techniques Angie uses.

There has been some fun and games around here at Eat Play Quilt.

Christmas parties, birthday parties and joyous gatherings with family and friends.

Lunch with Joan, Vicky and Marleen.  We talked and talked and beautiful gifts were exchanged.

 

Lilian had her 6th birthday on 9th December and Nana made her a chocolate cake.  Her mummy made her the Rapunzel cake for her little party she had with her friends.  She is loving her new ‘Frozen’ nightie.

Summer fun with her friends on Sunday.

Some simple tags I made last week with Dylusion sprays, acrylic ink and black sharpie pen.  After the photo I added a square of washi tape to the bottom of the trees for the pot.

Lilian and I did some crafting today.  We are looking after Lilian for this week and up to Christmas while her Mummy works.

Today one of our projects was making stamps from foam sheets and doing some printing with acrylic paints.

            Lilian’s stamps                                                                         Nana’s stamps

We mounted the foam to wooden blocks kindly donated by Shirley.  Thanks Shirley, they have been put to good use.

Loads of fun!

Until next time ………………………………….Dianne