Tag Tuesday-Letter Q

We have reached the letter Q in our Tag Tuesday alphabet

Q is for Quilt

For my tag I have made a Quilt, but not out of fabric, as that would be too easy! I have used origami paper. The backing paper is very thin too, and it was no trouble to stitch on the machine.

Chiltern Hills

I took these photos last week, while out in South Oxfordshire. For me, these photos capture what I love about the local countryside, with the gently undulating landscape and the chalk  showing beneath the soil giving it a light tint.

 

Textures in glass

I have a collection of glass paperweights which I display on my window sill, and they look fabulous when the sunshine catches them. For once I had my camera at hand when it  
     happened. You can see so many different textures inside.

Ultimate Crochet Bible

I found the Ultimate Crochet Bible by Jane Crowfoot at our local library, and hope that it will start me on the road to crochet. My auntie taught me how to make a chain and make Granny squares when I was little, but I needed help to start again. I have some nice variegated cotton yarn, and have been practicing double crochet and making a sample square. 

Tag Tuesday-Letter P

This week our Tag Tuesday alphabet is at Letter P.

P is for Poppy seed Bagel

I had such a hard time deciding what to do for Letter P, as there are so many things beginning with P and I had too many ideas! Yesterday I decided to just do something, and get on with it! I had lunch in a cafe in town and there it was in front of me, my Poppy seed Bagel! It was filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese, served on an artistic wooden board and looked really pretty, so I drew it. At home I painted it in watercolour and mounted it on a catalogue picture of a board. For extra embellishment I sprinkled real poppy seeds and sesame seeds on and around it. It was fun!

Watercress Beds

Yesterday the sun was shining and it felt like Spring at last! We went to Ewelme, 

a village in the Chilterns, and walked by the watercress beds in the nature reserve there.

Some more Sashiko

I have been working on some more Sashiko. This pattern

is called Water and Hemp Leaf and is worked in a variegated

blue thread. Watch this space for more Japanese embroidery,

 as I have another one ready to do! I knew it was an addictive

type of hand stitch as soon as I started it. The kits I used are

available from The Cotton Patch if you would like to have a go!

Collage Techniques

This informative book has just come through the post for me, Collage Techniques by Gerald Brommer. I had read about it in Cloth, Paper Scissors magazine. It has all sorts of information about collage and also a lot of photos of collage art. I can't wait to read it!

Tag Tuesday-Letter O

We have reached the letter O in our Tag Tuesday alphabet

O is for Orange

  

I chose the colour orange as my theme this week. It hasn't come out the bright

orange it is in the photo, unfortunately.

I made some orange strips using  rubbings made with wax crayons and a cheese grater, interwoven with transfer printed orange paper which I stamped with flowers to make a pattern. I put the weaving onto orange card stock.

Smitten Kitchen

My inspiration this week comes from a seemingly unlikely source, a cookery book, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by  Deb Perelman. Photos of food can provide great artistic inspiration for colour combinations, as well as being fun to look at.

At the weekend, I had a gift voucher to spend at Waterstones, and wanted to use it to buy a cookery book.  I was looking for one with good photos, good writing, new recipes and interesting ideas, and this book has all those things. I have been reading it and looking at the photos all week and it still thrills me. The recipes are all calling out to be tried, the only problem is to decide which one to make first. Should it be Peach dumplings with bourbon sauce? apricot breakfast crumble? pistachio masala lamb chops with cucumber mint raita? or the rhubarb triangles on the cover?

 If you want to look at more of her recipes, Deb has an award winning blog Smitten Kitchen .

Apples and pears

I just had to take a photo of theses apples and pears from this week's veg box. I was really surprised to see both apples and pears were the same colour and matched each other exactly. They looked so pretty in their black bowl, now they have all been eaten and were delicious too!

Decorating With Nature

If you, like me, love making things and are always on the look out for new ideas and projects,  then here is a book with inspiration for you to enjoy.

Decorating With Nature by Janet Bridge contains a variety of projects to make with dried flowers and other natural objects. I sewed this envelope lavender sachet from the book quite quickly. I like the white stitching on the white fabric (I used organza). I would like to try the ice vases which have frozen leaves inside, as that looks fun!

I am still not fully recovered from this virus, so am looking for simple projects to do at the moment.

Tag Tuesday-Letter N

This week's Tag Tuesday theme is the Letter N as part of our alphabet series.

Although the weather here in the UK continues to be cold and more like Winter, there are signs of Spring all around. In particular the birds are building their nests, so this week's tag is

N for Nest

For the background of my tag I used the wallpaper sample which came with a John Lewis catalogue -you see, I knew it would come in handy! I stamped it and added some drawing. The bird sitting on her nest is made from card stock. For the nest itself I used my bird and nest stamp on brown craft paper, cut into strips and built a nest.

More Sashiko

I have been doing some more Sashiko. I really like this Japanese embroidery, and want to do more and more! I haven't been posting much recently as I was ill with a chest infection. I found the Sashiko to be a pleasant project to do, nice and soothing . This design is Grape from The Cotton Patch and I really like the effect of blue on white.

Tag Tuesday-Letter M

Tag Tuesday this week is on the Letter M of our alphabet theme.

For my tag this week I have chosen M is for Millinery.

 I used a millinery calling card from The Graphics Fairy

for the base of my tag. I made a hat from a piece of old hat. ( I knew it would come in handy! When I was doing City and Guilds at Windsor we used to be given old costumes from a school acting cupboard to use in our textiles work, and I saved the pieces of hat for future use!) I trimmed it with lace flowers and ribbons. The idea of millinery was inspired by my favourite book of Victorian fashions, which has some marvellous illustrations, and I have used this as a background for the photograph.