The casserole was so so! Probably because the meat was a bit blah. But he himself ate it without any rude comments so couldn't have been that bad! Unfortunately when putting the ingredients together my mind wasn't on the job in hand still being in my workroom thinking about my 'Rock Pool' piece. I have the other fat eighth still and will probably make a non fraternal twin to it. They would look good hinged together and displayed as a standing piece. Well at this moment I think so. I need to wait for the paintstiks to dry before attempting to sew on it, because I know from bitter experience that if I don't I will get smeary lines of colour everywhere. This can be frustrating so I am being patient. I don't do patient well! When I start again I will continue to take pictures so that the progress from start to finish can be seen. Do feel free to make suggestions and/or criticisms as I can always look at it afresh and re-adjust if necessary!

After my playtime this afternoon I think that I can honestly say that of all the mediums I use I prefer working with oil pastels, closely followed by Markal paintstiks. I love the way the colour spreads and how it can be blended with the use of a stiff stencil brush. I have a teeny weeny stencil brush which is ideal. I also like ordinary pastels which I will then paint over with very watered down Stewart Gill paints, especially Pearlise, as this helps to fix them but because of the transparency the pastels show through. Obviously this isn't for doing on anything that needs washing. As most of the work I do for exhibition and for commissions is for hanging then this doesn't really apply. Water soluble pencils are great fun too and I use these on naked fabric and then quilt. I feel that they can be wasted on dyed fabric as they don't always come into their own when competing with stronger colours and shapes, but they are good for highlighting weaker areas of colour. Many moons ago I started using my husband's soldering iron to burn out pieces of my design and at the time this was quite innovative. Now I see that this is a very common technique and that people are actually recommending soldering irons rather than tools for wood working. I forget the actual name of these tools. What I have found is that using a soldering iron on heavy applications of paintstiks, wax crayons or oil pastels is that it will melt the medium and create smearing. Gives interesting effects. I'm going to go over my 'leaves' in the piece with more crayon and then heat smear it to get the slimy look that seaweed has. This idea just came to me in a flash as I was talking about soldering irons - isn't it amazing how the brain works! Have to go and do it NOW!