I can resist anything except temptation.

I already have –er – six things on the go – so many that I made a collage rather than posting individual photos.

On the top row we have the printed canvas I started on holiday. I shall probably finish that tonight while listening to the TV, and then it will become a cushion cover.

Next to it is the salt pans – definitely not forgotten, just waiting patiently to rise through the pecking order.

On the middle row is an experimental piece I haven’t shown you before – inspired by pebbles. It has reverse appliqué, quilting and stitch. It’s stalled a bit because it needs more stitch but I'm not sure what.

Next to that is some locker hooking I started in an attempt to reduce the stash of knitting yarn – but I haven’t done enough to get into a rhythm with it and it may get abandoned.

Bottom left are 1.9  socks for Wensleydale – computer knitting, and very close to finishing if I just stopped typing and started knitting. And last of all the discharged, Kantha’d, shrunk piece.

Of course that doesn’t include all the bits of fabric and thread lying about the sewing room because I had an idea about what to do with them, but never got started. I do have some self-control.

And we won't talk about the large box on the top shelf of the cupboard with the things I will finish one day, honest.

Please tell me I am not alone in this habit of having too many things on the go at once? It happened much less when I was doing C&G  - oh, the discipline of deadlines!

So – this afternoon I was tempted and I fell. I started a seventh piece.

The BQL challenge for May is Trapunto. The original design by Kandy Newton is the word ‘May’ in Trapunto but of course I’ve been thinking about tiles.

So here is a freezer paper cut out adhered to some silk. Since then I have Trapunto'd it, and quilted it – and now it is saying it wants the fleur-de-lis outlined in gold, and probably some gold beads as well. So it isn’t going to be a quickie.

 

I have only Trapunto'd once before, as a sample for C&G.

It was in my leaf period – and my transfer dyes on poly satin period. You may spot a few small beads on there – very useful for covering places where my scissors slipped in removing the extra wadding.

 

 

Now for something a little more restrained. 

This is a design I made using Jane Dunnewold’s technique. This was my Klimt period, in case you hadn’t guessed.

Mmm – the Stitched Textile Design group challenge is to do something inspired by Klimt …

I will not start another piece, I will not start another piece – I will not start … – just yet.

Despite having a cold ...

I have been fairly productive.

I finished another little book at the weekend, since when it has been sitting under the ancient Singer getting flattened. This is the poly satin I transfer dyed under a selection of ribbons - with the ribbons in a grid on top. It is another pamphlet stitch binding, this time with 4 holes.




I also finished the BQL March challenge quiltlet, in record time for me. The brief was to use a photo printed on fabric but, never one to do as I'm told, I used a piece from one of my Inkaid printing experiments. The coloured squares are silk, but unfortunately I didn't have any black silk.

Wenselydale calls it 'Cosmic Chess' because the printed design was inspired by images from NASA.


And this is today's turquoise picture - although it could be the inspiration for a stamp . I took the photo at a hotel we stayed in in India - stunning building and position, the less said about the food the better .... Just use your imagination - er - probably better not.

Rising to a Challenge

I tell myself I shouldn't because it gets in the way of what I 'really' want to do [if I only knew what that was] but I keep signing up for challenges.


I have mentioned the BQL challenge before - this is February's. One for the pink and lime green fans out there.


I think it looks a bit boring and probably needs some stitch.

I am also a member of the Textile Challenges Yahoo group, although I haven't, up till now, got my act together to participate. I found February's challenge a bit scary as it required - nay insisted - on spontaneity - to make an ATC in 15 minutes from whatever was available. Then I realised I could use the left overs from the BQL challenge - so I did. Actually it took me 25 minutes, partly because I had machine problems - you can see that the bobbin thread was pulled up to the surface despite slackening off the top tension.

Then there are my personal challenges. This is the result of the first lot of snow dyeing. [The lump of crud is the threads I dyed, which, despite putting them in a net bag to wash, still ended up tangled together. Good job I enjoy untangling threads.

The top piece is the viscose velvet which has come out beautifully. Bottom left is cotton jersey, bottom right is UK muslin. I seem to be in a pink and green phase.

There is some bluey purple muslin in the washing machine right now, which may be the last snow dyeing for this year. There is still some snow outside but I don't have time to do more today and it is thawing. More snow was forecast for later in the week but that has been downgraded to rain - can't say I'm sorry.

Speaking of rain - that was this week's challenge on 'The title is ...' if you want to look at my effort and several others.

And my stamp making challenge today involves minimal stamp making. Jackie commented that she liked yesterday's image of weeds in the snow - and so do I. So that is today's image, although it doesn't lend itself easily to stamps because the lines are so fine.



On Creative Sketchbooks we were taught credit card painting - not the type where you smoosh paint around with a credit card, but the type where you print with the edge.

That technique seemed to me to lend itself well to this image.










The current challenge on yet another group is to make a journal quilt which is painted - this design may actually be translated into fabric - white satin, I think.

I added some nature printing, using the seed heads of the plant in the photo - not sure what it is, a long stemmed dandelion-like weed. [My mother, who taught me a lot about wild flowers, would not be pleased with my inability to remember what this one is.]

I also tried using the seed heads on their own - they gradually collapsed as I printed giving some interesting shapes.

Things have been quiet around here

since our visitors left, and not much has been happening on the creative front. I have had a series of insomniac nights which left me with little energy for making design decisions. So I did something I have been thinking about for a while - I made this. Mostly out of the scrap bag so the biggest decision was which scraps to use - I was surprised, given that I like purple and don't like pink, that I had few scraps of the former and masses of the latter.
















So when I turned my attention to the British Quilt List 2009 challenge, I decided to challenge myself by using some of that pink. [The design was pre-set so no decisions there, only about colour.] I also experimented with the programmable stitches on my machine for the quilting.

As usual I went through a phase of hating it and thinking 'What on earth am I doing this for?' - but now it's finished I don't think it's that bad. I still don't see myself using pink much in the future, though - especially now we've all decided that Babybel looks best in strong bright colours like red and bright turquoise ...

Inspired by this interesting blog from a very inspirational lady, I have decided to try to post a daily photo [with no great confidence that I'll manage it]. I certainly won't be able to add the discussion of design ideas that Dunnewold does, I'm afraid.

So, plucked from Picasa, is this picture of the fruit bowl before Babybel got at it. I like circles and I love the bowl, which was given to Wensleydale to mark his retirement as chair of governors. It is turned sycamore, made by a former colleague, and surprisingly light given that it is big enough for a baby to sit in... I also like the colours of the fruit against the gold of the bowl - interesting colours to experiment with.