Looking back and moving on!

I have been looking back to see what I was doing at this time in November five years ago. It was also fascinating to see what was inspiring me then. Such as this rusty anchor chain from which I designed and made this small wall hanging! I have it hanging on my living room wall still! And also I can still get inspired by this photo and have a few new ideas mulling round in my head.

I was also working on an apple wall hanging. I drew the apples and then played around with the arrangement in PhotoShop. The result was the piece below which is in the process of being stitched. I can remember having great fun doing this piece and getting quite carried away with it!                                 

And five years on I am still making wall hangings based on natural objects and found materials. At the moment I am busy designing and making a set of cushions to go onto the website as kits. The first one is nearly finished and I will put up photos when it is done. I have a small piece coming out in next month's Popular Patchwork under the 'What's New?' section which is great! It is amazing to think that my website has been going for over ten years now! How time does fly! And because it is moving on I am going to do a draw for one of my Christmas Cut-Out Shapes pack. So email me valeri.b@farnedesigns.co.uk or leave a comment and I will enter your name into a draw and the winner will get a Christmas pack as shown here! 

Working Hard

I've been working hard at up-dating the website with new fabric and packs of Bondawebbed cut out shapes. I am so out of practice as for the last year I really haven't done much on the website at all. But it is all coming back to me thankfully!










Also I've been dyeing and having fun with disperse dyes. All the pieces on this page are for sale and can be found on the website. I have a class on disperse dyeing this Saturday and I am making samples and doing hand-outs for it.



And much as I'm fighting against it Christmas is rushing up and I have to think of presents to make! I'm also going to have a go at making my own cards this year. Due to circumstances I really didn't do much at all last year but this year I'll make up for it!

 

With all this textile activity the poor garden has taken a back seat. I really need to get out there and tidy up and prepare for the winter. There are still flowers such as nasturtiums and hydrangeas and everything is very green still. Lots of self sown Forget-me-nots which will make a splash of colour in the Spring!

Not a good start!

Well not a good start  in writing the blog!But I had to have a back tooth out and it was the most painful time! Not only were the roots splayed but also one of them broke off in the gum and is still there! But enough of that. I've been busy cutting out shapes and packaging them with the help of my partner Graeme. He is proving to be most invaluable! I've also made a few samples to go with the packs. Here is one of them using the Funky Flowers shapes. This is my favourite pack but I also like the hearts and Christmas ones too.

I now have to update the website with the pack details. So far I have done four sets;Christmas, Funky Flowers, Hearts and Circles. The shapes are all Bondawebbed and ready to go and remarkably quick to use. I took some into class and my students were delighted. One of them made a Christmas picture immediately!

This coming Saturday I have a Disperse Dyeing workshop so I have to get some samples ready for this. It is so easy to do! All I need is time!