Sunday, January 31, 2010

Leaf Print Sunday

I had to buy some more fabric for printing yesterday. I think it had a pretty good Sunday:

Hanging out
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Sitting in a shady spot
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Turned into leaf prints
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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Printing and Penguins

I’ve been itching to print lately and finally I’ve been able to have a scratch.

The only problem is, my flat has been completely taken over by penguins.

Penguins on trying to hide in patterns,
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Penguins lazing about on the kitchen floor,

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Turquoise penguins

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Calico Riso penguins
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Lurking all about the place
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In fact, my “studio” has been entirely swamped with them!
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Not too bad for a Saturday morning!

It was great becoming reacquainted with my screen and squeegee. I also tried to do some more riso prints, but the results were disappointing (the pengies with the drawn shading not the solid colour.) I think its because I mounted the screen on a piece of corrugated plastic with a hole cut out in the middle, so there is no "twang" to the screen, and it’s not attached to a board properly.

I have attached hinges to my “proper” screen and to a piece of wooden board which makes printing so much easier, and as the hinges’ pins are long I don’t have to push them in all the way so I can take the screen off the board easily to wash it.

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Yester day I finished a lino cut that I began ages ago. I have done screen prints of the same image, so it will be interesting to see which one I like more. I love cutting lino, but I’m not so great at printing with it – when I’ve used a press I haven’t had problems, but that’s not something I have access too. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes!

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Thursday

A peek at some other patchwork projects started recently…


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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Half finished items

Hope you had a great Australia Day! We celebrated traditionally, with a barbeque followed by pavlova. Yum!

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I started making this quilt for my Nan’s birthday which was, ahem, in December . The top has been finished for ages, but it seems like every time I’ve had some time to myself it’s been in a heat wave, when the whole quilting and binding process is very unappealing. It’s a large lap quilt – the biggest I’ve attempted so far - and it’s now half quilted, but I don’t know when I’ll talk myself into sitting down to bind it. Poor Nana. It’ll be summer in the UK by the time that I have it finished and sent to her!

While I haven’t wanted to do the quilting, I have felt like sewing a lot lately. I’ve used the scraps to make a baby quilt top:

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And another UFO (I still have to sew on half the binding), a potholder:

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This is also my first quilting using a walking foot that I’ve been lent. It makes things a lot easier!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Hello Again..

It’s been a lot longer between posts than I thought it would be!

The last couple of months have flown by. Moving house was ridiculously chaotic, no surprises there! But we're settled in now. I took a portrait photography evening class last term which kept me pretty busy, then it was Christmas season and somehow we’re half way through January already. Did anyone notice how that happened?

I didn’t do anything like as much sewing/crafting as usual. I think the only things I made between the last post and Christmas were a lap quilt which I’m yet to bind, a baby quilt (that I finished but gave away without taking a picture of) and a maxi dress for myself.

I made the view shown in black and white out of a multi-coloured abstract print jersey. Even though it was a last minute rush job to get it finished before a party it’s turned out to be a great dress and I’ve worn it several times.

I’m working on a few projects at the moment which I’m looking forward to sharing with you as soon as I’ve done a bit more work on them :)