Friday, 25 February 2011
Daffodils and Dragons - Folksy Friday No 34
Next Tuesday, March 1st, is St David's Day. Here are my choices in celebration! Click on any item to visit it on its Folksy shelf.
Molly Moo and Jessica too
Bags of Swank
Buttercup's Bits & Bobs
Cinnamon Street
STEAMPUNK STORM
Quillmag
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Happy Thinking Day
A day of coincidences!
Lord and Lady Baden Powell (founders of Scouting and Girlguiding) shared a birthday - today! Now celebrated by members of Girlguiding, throughout the world, as Thinking Day.
I was not a member of Girlguiding as a child, but with a birthday of 22nd February, I was unlikely to remain uninvolved, particularly when my daughter joined Brownies.
Most often falling during half term, when many packs and groups do not meet, it can be difficult to convey the significance to the younger ones. My Brownies next meet on 1st March, when we shall celebrate both Thinking Day and St David's Day. We tend to pick a region in the world which has Brownies. Learn what they are called, what their uniform looks like, learn to say a few simple words in their language and, if possible sample their food. A few years ago we picked Australia and, in an attempt to convey distance, and time difference, we spent the evening in pyjamas, with our teddies, and ate breakfast. We always re-new our promise - adults and children alike. The older ones still remember our pyjama party, but struggle to remember why we did it - we did our best!
A few years ago, one of my Brownies emigrated to New Zealand. Girlguiding will be in my thoughts today, with particular time spent in thinking of those in New Zealand, in the light of this morning's news.
Lord and Lady Baden Powell (founders of Scouting and Girlguiding) shared a birthday - today! Now celebrated by members of Girlguiding, throughout the world, as Thinking Day.
I was not a member of Girlguiding as a child, but with a birthday of 22nd February, I was unlikely to remain uninvolved, particularly when my daughter joined Brownies.
Most often falling during half term, when many packs and groups do not meet, it can be difficult to convey the significance to the younger ones. My Brownies next meet on 1st March, when we shall celebrate both Thinking Day and St David's Day. We tend to pick a region in the world which has Brownies. Learn what they are called, what their uniform looks like, learn to say a few simple words in their language and, if possible sample their food. A few years ago we picked Australia and, in an attempt to convey distance, and time difference, we spent the evening in pyjamas, with our teddies, and ate breakfast. We always re-new our promise - adults and children alike. The older ones still remember our pyjama party, but struggle to remember why we did it - we did our best!
A few years ago, one of my Brownies emigrated to New Zealand. Girlguiding will be in my thoughts today, with particular time spent in thinking of those in New Zealand, in the light of this morning's news.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
'Daisy leftovers'
Daisy was a bit of fun to stitch and I really like her.
The remainder of that piece of painted fabric has now become this:
Several hours of hand-stitching, not counting painting the fabric, and I am pleased with the result.
The remainder of that piece of painted fabric has now become this:
Several hours of hand-stitching, not counting painting the fabric, and I am pleased with the result.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Daisy
My second post for today. Please do look at the lovely items in my Folksy Friday blog posted earlier.
I have been promising to finish my Work in Progress blog. Sam had commented that the addition of the layer of organza to the painted fabric caused some of the effect to be lost. I thought I would re-work the next set of photos, showing embroidered inchies with and without organza.
With organza:
and without:
Whilst I do like the effect of the organza, I think Sam might be right!
I have just painted another piece:
Wanting to produce something a little different (and without organza) I stitched Daisy:
I'd like to find other shapes/possibilities for this fabric and have begun to plan an amulet purse.
I have been promising to finish my Work in Progress blog. Sam had commented that the addition of the layer of organza to the painted fabric caused some of the effect to be lost. I thought I would re-work the next set of photos, showing embroidered inchies with and without organza.
With organza:
and without:
Whilst I do like the effect of the organza, I think Sam might be right!
I have just painted another piece:
Wanting to produce something a little different (and without organza) I stitched Daisy:
I'd like to find other shapes/possibilities for this fabric and have begun to plan an amulet purse.
The Beauty of Wood - Folksy Friday no 33
I have really enjoyed picking out these items for you today. There are so many items to choose from that I will definitely return to the same theme in the future. I hope you like my selection. Click on any item to view it on its Folksy shelf.
Dragon Wood Crafts
Tree Gems
Spirit of the Woods
Boxio - hand crafted woodwork
Julia's Driftwood Furniture
sew Annie sew
Thursday, 17 February 2011
The 'Birds' have Finished the Peanuts?
A little bird-watching from the conservatory, yesterday, gave some surprising results.
When my son was ill for a week or so around just before Christmas, I encouraged him to keep the bird feeders stocked up. Initially I thought the spells of fresh air, albeit ankle-deep in snow, would be good for him, but he actually became quite interested and watched from his bedroom window. We both love the long-tailed tits which visit in winter, and we argued for ages about the identity of small dull sort of tit that neither of us had seen before (ie not blue, great, coal or long-tailed).
A previous post mentioned our discovery of a vole (or maybe voles - but we only see one at a time) which has realised that dropped or discarded nuts or seeds can be found in plenty under the feeders. The surface in front of the arbour is broken green slate and he is easy to watch. Concerned that if we find him very visible, predators will more so, I asked my son to deliberately scatter some seeds under the bench. This seems to have appealed more to birds which find the feeders difficult, so the vole still has to wait his turn.
For weeks my son re-stocked the feeders without being asked, but is now busy, feeling deprived of cycling opportunities by various voluntary commitments - which seem to have piled into the same week, and asked me to do it yesterday. I was looking out to see which supplies I would need for which feeders when something brown and not very bird-like caught my attention clinging to the bottom of the wire peanut holder. Our little furry friend is obviously alive, well and growing in confidence and the peanut holder is now completely empty!
When my son was ill for a week or so around just before Christmas, I encouraged him to keep the bird feeders stocked up. Initially I thought the spells of fresh air, albeit ankle-deep in snow, would be good for him, but he actually became quite interested and watched from his bedroom window. We both love the long-tailed tits which visit in winter, and we argued for ages about the identity of small dull sort of tit that neither of us had seen before (ie not blue, great, coal or long-tailed).
A previous post mentioned our discovery of a vole (or maybe voles - but we only see one at a time) which has realised that dropped or discarded nuts or seeds can be found in plenty under the feeders. The surface in front of the arbour is broken green slate and he is easy to watch. Concerned that if we find him very visible, predators will more so, I asked my son to deliberately scatter some seeds under the bench. This seems to have appealed more to birds which find the feeders difficult, so the vole still has to wait his turn.
For weeks my son re-stocked the feeders without being asked, but is now busy, feeling deprived of cycling opportunities by various voluntary commitments - which seem to have piled into the same week, and asked me to do it yesterday. I was looking out to see which supplies I would need for which feeders when something brown and not very bird-like caught my attention clinging to the bottom of the wire peanut holder. Our little furry friend is obviously alive, well and growing in confidence and the peanut holder is now completely empty!
Monday, 14 February 2011
Where did these come from?
I'm sorry - I have allowed myself to become side-tracked again and have still to do the photos for the next work in progress blog.
I was working on some more fabric painted panels for pendants and brooches and wanted a little more fine detail than I was getting with the Caran D'Ache crayons. I remembered having some Derwent watercolour pencils and went to search them out. I didn't find them - which remains a mystery, however, I did find a set of 12 Caran D'Ache Classicolor pencils which I have absolutely no recollection of buying or of receiving as a gift!
They work wonderfully well - wherever they came from, and I have designed a pendant inspired by my photos in the last post. I won't show you here, since this is not meant to be an extra shop window for my work. It has been listed in Folksy for anyone who is interested. Anyone any suggestions as to the origin of those pencils though?
I was working on some more fabric painted panels for pendants and brooches and wanted a little more fine detail than I was getting with the Caran D'Ache crayons. I remembered having some Derwent watercolour pencils and went to search them out. I didn't find them - which remains a mystery, however, I did find a set of 12 Caran D'Ache Classicolor pencils which I have absolutely no recollection of buying or of receiving as a gift!
They work wonderfully well - wherever they came from, and I have designed a pendant inspired by my photos in the last post. I won't show you here, since this is not meant to be an extra shop window for my work. It has been listed in Folksy for anyone who is interested. Anyone any suggestions as to the origin of those pencils though?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)