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Fabric from New York

My husband has just come back from a business trip to New York, bringing lots of goodies for me and the family! The Oreos, Reese's peanut butter cups and Hershey bars didn't last long! He went to a quilting shop and bought some fabric for me!

Fat quarters

Snippets of New York fabrics

See my New York tag for Tag Tuesday using these here

More assorted snippets

Tag Tuesday-Letter Y

We have nearly finished our alphabet theme on Tag Tuesday, and have reached letter Y.

Only one more week to go, and then we will start a new range of themes. All the taggers have enjoyed this challenge, and now we have a few new people who have joined the group.

Y is for New York.

I was going to do York for my tag, as I am from Yorkshire, but then my husband returned from a trip to New York with some fabric for me, including some snippets with New York scenes and pictures on, and I just had to make a New York fabric collage! I photographed it on a map of New York city, what else!

100 Flowers to knit & crochet

Inspired by the knitted roses and crocheted primrose my friend, Leona made, I thought I would have a go myself. I bought Lesley Stanfield's book, 100 flowers to knit and crochet, which has a range of knitted and crocheted flower patterns, from basic, through intermediate to advanced. I started with a knitted field poppy, which turned out rather well. I want to use my beginner's crochet skills to try out a pattern, so watch this space !

The Blue Duck Gallery

Our local gallery, The Blue Duck Gallery, always has enticing window displays,

and my attention was caught by these beautiful ceramics by David Pope and Julie Simmonds from their 'Flight' series. I liked them so much that I bought a couple of pieces, one for my niece as a wedding present, and a small one for myself.

Still being obsessed with seed heads, I particularly liked these lamps by Hannah Nunn.

I loved the collection of stripey ceramics by Robert Goldsmith of Selbourne Pottery

 This colourful display of scarves by Jonny Kimber was fluttering in the breeze, and looked really eye-catching.

Tag Tuesday-Letter X

On Tag Tuesday this week we have come to Letter X in our alphabet challenge. 

X is for Xylem

There aren't many words in English which begin with X are there? When I was trying out X words, I thought of Xylem, which must have stayed in my head for many years from Biology lessons! With the help of my lovely book of Biological Drawings by Maud Jepson, I found her beautiful illustrations of cross sections of plants showing the Xylem.

In case you don't remember your Botany, the  Collins dictionary definition of Xylem is:-

1. 
   

   Xylem

   
   

   noun. a plant tissue that conducts water and mineral salts from the roots to all other parts, provides mechanical support, and forms the wood of trees and shrubs.

   
   

   
   

   I thought the cross sections of plants made really pretty patterns, especially when I coloured them in. These were collaged to a background I  made on my new Gelli Plate, using wooden print blocks and coloured with acrylics. I photographed it on the Biology book.

   
   

   
   

Riverbank

I walked along the riverbank this morning, and found it very peaceful, with not much wildlife. There were a only a few ducks, geese and coots, and I surprised a wren, or he surprised me, as he was in a tree right beside me.

Knitted Flowers

Look at these beautiful flowers which my friend, Leona, made for me. The roses are knitted. I am delighted with them and will wear them on my jackets and coats.

The delicate primroses are crocheted.

Gelli Printing Plate

 Here is my  Gelli printing plate, which is a wonderful new toy!

I think I will be using it a lot to create backgrounds and printed

papers. If you want to know more about it there is a very informative

web site and blog at Gelli Arts.

I have been playing around with acrylics and wooden  printing blocks to

make some printed papers.

Here I have shown the first pull(the darker one on the right) and the second pull

I think these would make good backgrounds. Again it is a first pull and a second pull.

This one is so bright, I don't think it would work well as a background, but the second pull would.

Tag Tuesday-Letter W

On Tag Tuesday we are on the Letter W in our alphabet series

For this week's tag, the subject had to be White Wedding, as I went to my niece's wedding on Saturday! Of course, it was a lovely wedding, the bride and groom looked  very happy, and the sun shone all day! We all had a great day.

My idea for White Wedding is rather conceptual and I have combined some elements which made me think of the wedding. I used thick cardboard with a covering of PVA glue and white acrylic mixed together and with rock salt crystals added for texture. I attached white lace, a coronet of flowers, blue lace (for something blue),  cream ribbon and white satin with seed beads, buttons and dried wild roses. I photographed it on my own wedding album which happened to be lying around in the sitting room.

Wisteria, Laburnam and Lilac

At last we have the correct weather for the season, and we have sunshine in June!

My neighbour's wisteria and laburnam are at their best, and so is my lilac. 

Tag Tuesday-Letter V

We have reached Letter V in our Tag Tuesday alphabet.

Mine is Vase of Violets

My vase of violets is worked on watercolour paper. The vase is made from collaged organdie, which being transparent I was able to trace my original drawing through it. I used watercolour pencils  for the violet design on the vase, and wet them afterwards.

For the violets themselves I used a fine liner and watercolour paints. The background is watercolour wash, the foreground pencil.