Design To Stitch Lesson 5

This is my fifth finished piece for Shelagh Folgate's Design To Stitch.

I chose to use a hot colour way, but it is a bit bright!The piece is hand stitched.

Kitchen Garden

I couldn't resist posting another set of photos from Grey's Court. This time they are from the kitchen garden. When I did a tour round the inside of the house I noticed they had bunches of flowers from the kitchen garden arranged all around. The displays were simple yet effective, and I thought it was a lovely idea.

Basket of seed heads

Last time I went to Grey's Court, the seed heads had finished flowering. However, I was delighted to find the seed heads displayed in a basket and for sale!

Tag Tuesday- Rock Pools

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Rock Pools and Beach Finds.

I wanted to used shells as an idea, as we have a few collections lying round the house. I used cardboard for my base, then made papier mache using tissue paper and decoupage medium for my base to look like rocks. Then I added rubbings of shells which I made onto tissue paper using water soluble oil pastels. (Yes, really, they are great!)

I photographed my tag with some of my shells.

You may have noticed that recent tags don't have ribbons on. That is because I have recently acquired two ten week old kittens, and they are living in my studio most of the time. This means I have to hide away anything tempting for them to play with, so I have put a lot of things in my lovely, big loft cupboards up there!

Photographs

I have been thinking about photographs, after a discussion with a friend. Although I use a digital camera, I post my photos just as I have taken them. I don't digitally enhance them, or alter them in any way. I do know how to do this, but prefer to get the shot I want at the time. I wonder if other bloggers do this.

All the photos I put on my blog are originals by me, so please do not reproduce them in any way without my permission.

Tag Tuesday-Sea Birds

The subject for this week's Tag Tuesday is Sea Birds.

I  made the background using a transfer printing technique from a book I have recently acquired:- Image Transfer Workshop by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson. The print was made using a magasine image and acrylic paint. There are so many wonderful techniques to try in the book, my favourite is gelatine, but I haven't tried it yet. I find the book to be clearly set out, and I hope it will teach me everything I need to know about transfer printing! Watch this space for more examples, I am sure I will use them in my tags!

The foreground is collage, and the whole is photographed against a painted paper which I had in my stash, which reminded me of the sea.

Wallingford

 This is Wallingford, a  pretty market town in Oxfordshire, by the River Thames. You may recognise it as "Cawston" in Midsomer Murders.

Seed heads at Grey's Court

I have a great fondness for seed heads and was delighted to find a garden full off them at Grey's Court !

Design To Stitch Course

This is the fourth piece I have done for Shelagh Folgate's Design To Stitch Course. I used the apple motif and showcased it in a variety of methods, using both hand and machine stitching.

Library Books

  Craft by Kirstie Allsopp.

Crammed full of  50 craft projects, and sure to give you lots of ideas!

 Love Stitching by Jan Constantine.

Lovely hand stitching projects, and Jan's stitching is so neat and tidy!

 Beading in No Time by Linda Peterson.

Plenty of beading projects to keep you interested, lots of colour photos for inspiration

The Beader's Color Palette by Margie Deeb.

Mouthwatering photos, so much colour and texture, and a lot of information.

Tag Tuesday-Swimming

 The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Swimming.

I decided to make a collage of beach huts from a clothing catalogue of stripey shirts. I wanted to use beach huts as my theme, as they are so summery. They also seem very British to me-do other countries have them, I wonder? The background is painted paper with sea salt.

I photographed them on my painting apron, which is  made from 3 stripey shirts.

And here is our kitten, Kia, who was under the apron when I was taking the photo!

Olympic Torch in Caversham

                       

It was very exciting to watch the Olympic Torch this morning as it made its way along the tow-path in Caversham.                                

Grey's court-White Garden

  

  

The White Garden at Grey's Court was so beautiful! What a brilliant idea to have a garden only with white flowers. There are so many textures here, all showcased so well by the contrasting  greens of the foliage. I think I will probable post again about Grey's Court, there is so much to see and to photograph! The garden is very well laid out, with lots of different styles to view.

Tag Tuesday-At the Seaside

This week's theme for Tag Tuesday is At the Seaside.

For my tag I made a collage from papers I painted when I was doing my City and Guilds. The sailing boat and sun are made of Indian papers, the sand from sandpaper, and the beach hut is a scrap from and old shirt, already with stitching on.

The picture is how I imagine a perfect seaside scene should be.

I photographed it on a map of France, as it made me start thinking about holidays in the sunshine to get away from this constant rain.

Roses-Rosa Mundi

 Richard and I visited Grey's Court near Henley. We saw these fabulous roses, called Rosa Mundi in a spectacular display.