Week 3: Remnants

 I seem to have missed posting this week with my #52tagshannemade  During one of those very wet days last week I had a lovely afternoon sorting out my embroidery threads. I had small selections of them in a variety  of places. They are now untangled and neatly stored in my current sewing box. Its funny what satisfactory feeling that little job has given me.

However when Anne posted this weeks tag challenge I didn't need my threads, so I gad another exciting afternoon sorting through my bits bag, The theme for this week is remnants. A chance to use up all those little bits that are too small for anything but you just can't bear to part with! I also became aware of just how much 'remnants I really have, I will have to find a project for all of that.

For this weeks tags we had to cut small slithers of material, fold it in half them sew to the base fabric. each piece was sewn on as close to the previous one as possible, it reminded me of rag ruging! I remember my Mum doing,  but its something I have never tried. I found I had a lot of red material so my first tag is in red. I went on to sew one with a few remnants from my lovely neutrals collection. I had the pieces running lengthwise on the tag this time and added little flags down one side, finally using a random selection of pastels for the third one.  I must say the backs of this work get better with each one. My sewing is getting neater and more even. Very satisfying.

the reds.......

the neutrals with little flags down one side. J think I might trim this one so that each piece is a little less 'flappy'

finally the random pastels. I put all these bits in a bag and pulled them out one at a time, love the ramdomness of it.

I shall add some dangles and buttons to this one later, I have some pretty glass sparkly buttons that will look great.

Happy sewing folks.

Family Art Club

 During the lockdowns last year we had a family art club that zoomed together once a week. Not everyone contributed every week but most of us did something most weeks. I do admit there were weeks when I sat at my desk/corner and could not do anything, the mojo just wasn't there. We have re introduced the art club since Christmas but are doing it fortnightly as one of the group is back out at work, 2 of the group have dribbles of work coming in and David and I are trying to work on the house. 2021 was always our 'do up the house' year. The bathroom is done we started that when we realised we weren't going to be anywhere for Christmas..... a bit before Boris realised it! Now we start on the hall and stairs. The ceiling above the stairs is over 20ft high, now we don't have a ladder for that (thank goodness) so we have hired a scaffolding tower! That arrives on Monday, the paint is here ready so a busy week next week.

I digress, the last art club theme was holidays. It was lovely looking through holiday pictures from years gone by as well as some of the websites touting holidays at the moment. My ideal holiday is the sea and sand and of course a lot of sunshine. I would love a beach hut. Somewhere out of the wind with a primus stove, tea/coffee, a tin of homemade cake and a deckchair for when the sun does shine. 

My art club creation:-

On the arm of each chair is a cocktail so this presumes the sun is shining. generally I would rather have tea.

The scale is a bit out but you get the idea. 

My OH did a collage of pictures from our holiday/honeymoon in Africa at Victoria Falls, (when I was young!) Next theme is Kites..........help.

Slow stitching week 2. Theme - contrasting heart.

 I am beginning to look forward to weekends again. When you are retired and in lockdown the days are all the same, the only thing that keeps us on track is the wonderful bin men who always arrive on a Tuesday, ready or not! But now I have Friday evening to look forward to as thats when Anne Brooke posts her new  weekly tag I then have a couple of hours collecting together little bits of material that I am going to use. I have already cut enough tags for January.

This weeks tag was all about using a contrasting material for a heart. With things to do with the heart we generally think of red, so I started with a fabric with red then built the background in blues. Really happy with this one. But once again I had to make 3!

My second tag is blues with a cream linen heart. Love turquoise. I have had the ribbed piece in my box of bits for ages. I can't remember what it was off but knew it would come in useful for something. I think this one is the best one of the three.

And then a patchwork of materials with pink/red and a blue check heart.

The three together, all very different. Next week I shall have to search out my embroidery threads.

January altered book - Lovely letters.

I thought I had posted this. On the first Saturday of each month I take part in a zoom class run by Phizzychic This is her fb link. Doing this class has encouraged me to get my watercolour paints out. They have been so well used my OH bought me a new set for xmas.  I am also using up bits of my stash as I go. 

My work is in an old hard backed book that was in the pile for the charity shop. The charity shops around here haven't been open for nearly a year now so the fate of this book has been to have pages stuck together, some pages cut out and others painted.

The lovely letters for me has turned into love letters. Once I had put red paint on the page I didn't think there was anywhere else to go. I have also added 2 postcards. I liked them so much I wanted to be able to see both sides. They have been added between the edges of some cut pages so act like an added page. We were also encouraged to make a letter within an envelope. This is all new ideas to me and I am really enjoying it.

This is the first page The little envelope also works as a pocket. This page still needs a title. I am working on that! You can just see the postcards. The handwriting on the top one is beautiful. Its to an Edinburg address.

The other side of the postcards. I have just added flowers and hearts to the top one, but used the lower one as somewhere to add tags, teabags and ribbon.

The top half of the second page I have used part of a small paper bag, tearing the top edge to insert some cut outs.

The lower half of this second page is my letter cascading out of its envelope, This is behind the bird cage cut out, tied in with the ribbon

Letters and more letters, cascading out of an envelope.

Looking forward to next month when the theme is Regency Regalia.

Slow stitching

 I haven't posted in a while, probably because I haven't done much crafting. It's the new year, sorry not a new me, same old same old. Life is still very strange, if not a little stranger. Living in a village has meant we have walked the local byways, making the occasional trip out to a couple of our favourite places, these are now quite busy even on a week day so we are staying local. Also waiting for my turn for the vaccine, not having any idea when that might, is making me a little anxious. These things are sent to try us...

I have quite a stash now of finished projects, they are all carefully boxed ready for when local craft markets get going. I thought I might try this year to use up my stash and increase the number of items I have for sale. I am really enjoying making large tags with many layers. Then the #52tagshannemade popped up in my fb newsfeed. I have done quite a few courses with Anne Brooke. I love her style and everything she creates so I am giving this a go. I know many of my friends will enjoy this. She posts on a Friday evening I plan to spend Saturday searching out my bits to complete the challenge and sit and sew on a Sunday evening. I do enjoy stitching with needle and thread. Its just threading the needle that is the main challenge these days! 

The theme for week 1 is 'White'. My base layer is cut from an old white linen serviette, remember those. I had the piece of lace and other bits in my stash. It didn't take me long to create my first tag. The piece of serviette is left over from some lavender bags that I made. There was just enough left to make a couple more tags. They are only 3" x 2" so quite small. 

Check out the hashtag on fb or Instagram. I am looking forward to next weeks theme.