I love zippers

It's been so cold here in far north Queensland, that we are wearing slippers and dressing gown.

The only dressing gown left in town anywhere near his size was this cute rainbow one, but rather than worry about a waist belt, and his penchant for wearing it around the neck, I put in a huge zipper I had on hand instead.

Now that's a win. (And he loves rainbows!)


I guess it comes in handy when your Mum can sew!

A special commission divination cloth

A client sent me a message requesting a pretty cloth that she could take photos of her card readings on, but with the layout showing how to do the particular cross reading she likes.

She sent me a picture of the cross, with the questions on it.

I created this cloth, and measured it especially to make sure there was room for cards of 3 different sizes (traditional tarot cards are the smallest, and they cover the white labels completely), but I needed enough space for the standard oracle cards and the extra large format cards to fit on the cloth also without overlapping each other.

As you can see, the cards cover the prompts completely, making it easy for the client to create her reading.

What a success!

Painting and Decoupage fun

These little drawers here have my name on them. I bought all there were on the shelves.

I have some sample paint pots.

These are 37ml pots. 

It turns out that I still have heaps of this chair coloured paint left. Enough for the table I think.

This is what I made in the class I took. Made from serviettes and book pages.

While I enjoyed making it, it's not really my colours or thing, I may just paint over it.

I also used a glass medium to paint this bottle then decoupaged some serviette pieces on here. I can put some of those battery LED lights on a wire into the bottle to create ambience.

Good to learn the techniques. I wonder what mine will turn out like.

Tea time

I was wandering around in a new (For me) local shop and I found this amazing fabric!

I hadn't seen anything like it since about the year 2000, and here it was, just what I needed.  Teacup fabric for the applique quilt I started 2 years ago. (Secret Garden by Esther Aliu, my Alice in Wonderland version).



I had halted at the teapot block, because it just wasn't going to turn out how I had first envisioned. Especially, as it was a mystery quilt, and I needed to work out how I was going to use these massive applique blocks and turn them into something I liked.

Check out this teacup! Yeah! I am back baby!!!

Let's see what we can make from maybe 4 completed applique blocks.

Venus

Ohhhhhhh.. Botticelli's the birth of venus on fabric.... could it get any better?

YES! I have done detailed freehand machine quilting all over to add dimension, texture and interest.... and I just love her.

When I was stitching the red mantle, I found.... a RED MANTLE! *wink wink*

And so this has become a coveted piece by a feminist woman, who is going to stitch it onto the back of her denim jacket as a mark of her feminist nature.

Such a lot of work in this one, and it is so beautiful. I am very happy.

Finished the chairs!

Well the chairs turned out to be SO BEAUTIFUL!

These pretty chairs really change the feel of them.

And no top coat of paint necessary!

I just pressure hosed the original cushions, covered them with new fabric and plastic.

LOVE IT!!!

The discovery of Fusion paints

And in other exciting news, I have come across a mineral paint I love called "Fusion".

I did a mini course in transfer techniques and now I am hooked.

Why not practise on these old chairs? The beloved said it wasn't worth putting the paint on them, but I understand the value of practising on pieces that don't really matter in the end whether it works or not.

The chair was cleaned with a high pressure hose and that is all it needs.

Next chocolate paint applied. Then some wax on the sports where I don't want the paint to stick as well, so it looks worn.

And here are my "distressed chair frames".

So I took my hands (which had the paint on them) into the fabric shop to find the right shade to cover the seats.

Next update to follow.

(Miss 8 LOVES the chairs, and so do I!)