Autumn Fantasy

I know it's not autumn here in Australia, but the colours of a tradtional autumn are some of my favourites.  Not very long ago I purchased and downloaded online lessons to do with creating texture on textiles.  You can see the lessons here  I have not actually worked through any of the lessons in their entirety just yet, but this little art journal cover is a start.  The above photograph has been taken outside in the shade, but is not actually showing the colours as they are [more 'red' than pink].

I've called this Autumn Fantasy simply because I don't 'draw', and much of the time squiqqly lines and leaf/petal shapes are my limit, so all I can do is fantasize that I may one day magically be able to 'draw'.  Perhaps this photograph will show the little lumps and bumps that are on the surface of the fabric.  There are so many layers on this, gesso, texture paste, paint in various colours, little snippets of linen, machine stitching, glitter, and yarn [it was originally a piece of loosely woven calico].

The back view is showing the leaves/petals being blown along by autumn winds, scattered on the ground, piling up along paths, etc.  Stitching this very stiff, rubbery 'fabric' was rather a nightmare, made worse by the choice of metallic thread.  You don't want to know how many four letter words were used during the process!!

Some of the colour inspiration came from this piece of fabric that I received as a little gift from a friend some time ago.  I'd often admired it in some pieces she'd made, and she was kind enough to send some to me.  And, no, I have not used it as an inside lining for this - that is just black wool felt.

I am looking forward to working through my PDF lessons in due course, as soon as I purchase a few more provisions.  I have uploaded the last photograph which was taken out in full sun [please excuse shadow in bottom right corner!!].  It does show the colours a little differently, much brighter, and closer to how it is in real life.  Digital cameras don't photograph metallic all that well.  In case you are interested in the size, this little art journal is A5 with lots of good quality water colour paper.  I hope to make the effort to record some of my thought processes from hereon in.

Thank you all so much for actively taking an interest in my attempts to amuse myself..........LOL......

Pina Colada

I have not long finished my third piece for the Sumptuous Surfaces class, run by Sharon http://www.pintangle.com/  And, yet again, I've made a folder sleeve using my piece as front adornment.  I have had such fun working the samples for this class, and also learnt a lot of interesting features about stitching, ie viewing and using stitches in different ways.

I am including a good close-up of the pineapple, so if you click onto the file and see it in it's original format you can get a good look at the stitch.  This stitch is called Vault Stitch, found in my Mary Thomas' Dictionary of Stitches.  It's original purpose is for canvas stitching, but bring it down to a finer level, mix up your thread colours, and hey presto, great texture for pineapples in my opinion.

I'm not going to go through the whole journal making procedure yet again, but will show you the back, so you can see how I've crinkled up the abaca tissue, lightly sprayed it with gold Moon Shadow Mist [a product purchased from my favourite store - http://www.thethreadstudio.com/  and just a small amount of machine quilting.  I'm not sure if the photographs will do the Moon Shadow Mist justice.  It adds just that flecked gold lustre to the surface of the folder.  I just love it.  This abaca is a slightly aqua blue/green, with golden yellow-brown mottling.  I tried to take some of the 'blue' off it via the Moon Shadow spray.

And in my usual style, I managed to find something reasonably suitable for the lining.  I've had this green/yellow mottled/ringed fabric for ever so long, and thought it blended fairly well with the journal colours.  I did not buy one single thing to make this journal.   It all came out of my stash [not sure if I should actually gloat about this..............LOL].

Thank you all so much for the interest in my stitching.  I'll be leaving this course behind now, and moving on with more knitting, crochet, and other counted work, but really must clear away all these green and yellow threads!!!

Colour Theory

I'm back with another journal cover to share.  I seem to be fixated on these, and the eucalypt at the moment, but for me they are something I see every day, and I never get tired of the inspiration they provide.  Our Sumptuous Surfaces online class is dealing with colour theory at the moment, and despite never having done much of this, I find it fascinating, and can now understand why I know some colours just look good together............LOL........  

I used this part of the class to quickly stitch up a gum leaf sprig using a few different layers, not much stitching, but different 'fabrics' for my leaves, and some dimensional stitching for the flowers.  The gum leaves are Hanah overdyed bias silk ribbon, fused together with Mistyfuse, cut into shapes, and then fused to the background.  This product allows pieces to be adhered to a background, yet everything stays soft enough to stitch through easily.  I've used bronze sequin waste to give the impression of 'chewed' leaves.  

The actual cover itself has been made using Abaca Tissue.  It is often sold under the name of Tissuetex, dyed ready for your use.  I purchased some from http://www.thethreadstudio.com/catalogue/catfront.htm  Abaca tissue is extremely strong, despite feeling a lot like paper.  It can be painted, stitched, crumpled, you name it.  I didn't purchase this colour especially for the project, but had it on hand.  I crumpled it several times before fusing it to some beige wool felt [again with Mistyfuse].  I did make crinkles in it before I actually used the iron to set the fusible webbing.  Prior to stitching on the postcard sized embroidery, I fused the wool felt/abaca fabric onto pelmet vilene.  It makes for a much firmer fabric all round [do you get the idea that I like fusible products.........LOL].  The postcard was attached using satin stitch in a green multi metallic thread.  The lining fabric was one of my red/grey hand dyes, not the best match, but not the worst either [you can just see a little of it set into the side of the postcard].

After all the stitching was completed, I gently rubbed some Rose Gold 'Treasure Gold' into the surface of the Abaca, which gives it a rosy glow.  It looks and feels a little like leather.  


This was just a very quick way to produce another cover, using colour combinations I like.  I need to make another small project now with much more 'stitching' on it, and haven't quite decided on a theme or if it will be used as a postcard, or as a decorative addition to something else.  We have one more class lesson on Wednesday, and that will be it.  

Thank you all for taking such a keen interest in what this is all about.