Robin Redbreast

I have been working in the garden today - urgent things to do before the rain started - and it fell down this afternoon.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this darling young robin that waited patiently for each spade full of soil - so that he could get to it before the chickens


He is so tiny

So inquisitive

He spends most of his days in our garden - we are a cat free zone - the bantams see to that!


I do hope he stays with us all winter

Art Creations Friday Challenge 40

I have just found this blog and decided to join in with the challenge using the vintage image which they provided.

My entry is inspired by Lilla's from whom I have bought some bags, and from whom I received this gorgeous tag


Alas I do not have her wonderful talent or flair - or years of experience, but her work does fire me up with enthusiasm to have a go!

So this is my attempt for the Art Creations Friday Challenge


The image was in brown, which I have coloured with inks, and made a 'frame' to go around it.


It does look better in 'real life' the gold is very subtle - I took the above photo under a lamp just to show it up - but it is really not that bright.


I think I am going to take that 'flower' off the bottom which I made - it looks too big - I can just tear off the paper - no big deal

Thank you all so very much for commenting - it is so kind of you to take the time and the trouble. - And it encourages me to try even harder too!

Images

I just wanted to make a little announcement about the vintage images I sometimes use in my work.

A number of years ago, I bought three CD's of Victorian images from a company in the US.

I just loved the 'romance' of them. In all I must have a few thousand images on the CD's.

There are photos of cards for all occassions, in fact one disk is almost entirely Christmas cards , botanicals, butterflies. animals, labels (food, cigars, cigarettes etc) vintage scrapbook pages, angels, copies of paintings, the list is endless. There are also hundreds of vintage 'studio' portrait photos, ladies, children, men, couples, some photo postcards etc.

The reason I am mentioning this is that I have often come across these in the public domain, flickr, forums, blogs with 'giveaway' images, challenges etc.

So, if you happen to see me using a image that you recognize and you might have used it, downloaded it etc, and see it on here and have not received credit for it - please do not take offence - it is because it is one I have on my CD's.

I wanted to explain, in case I have inadvertently upset anyone, especially as I have recently resurrected them and started using them again. I used them a lot when I first started 'art work' then when I discovered and bought rubber stamps, they went by the wayside, but I have just started using them again for image transfers.

There are some that I just adore - and have started using and will be using over the next week or so - which are from my CDs but do appear quite frequently on other blogs/sites - wherever I notice them and join in a challenge I will of course acknowledge this site.

A little needle case

Edited 11.55pm to say:

I never knew there were actually needle books - and have just googled and looked up some links - and now feel rather embarrassed as this is nothing like they should be!

So in future I will make a 'proper' one - with padding etc. but until then - this one will serve it's purpose!


After peeling off the labels I just had to make something with some of the material samples - and this is what I made. But it almost never got started as when I took my sewing machine out of the case and plugged it in, it just wouldn't sew. The needle would not go up and down and the machine just made a whirring noise.

I was really puzzled as it worked the day before. I thought perhaps I had 'messed it up' sewing the bag and its' thick lining together.

I just could not work it out, and was very disappointed to say the least - thinking that I would have to try and find a mechanic to look at it.

Then I read the leaflet - and had a 'light hulb' moment - and hey presto it worked.
'
There is a 'thing' at the top where you fill up a bobbin, and it must have got knocked when I took the lid off. I clicked it back into position - and I was off!

Once again, no pattern, just one of my ideas having seen the sample materials, and wondering what to do with them - these were the plainer.

I found in my plastic box that I had all sorts of odd needles - not in anything - which is not very clever is it. Really thick ones on the left.



And overleaf a few that are 'sizes 3 to 6 sharp' That made me laugh, all the needles are 'sharp' I have the marks on my fingers to prove it after making the bag.




On the right is a semi-circular needle - I have tucked in the point as it is very sharp. I haven't a clue where it came from, I certainly haven't used it - and have no idea why one would need a needle that shape - can anyone enlighten me please?


Here is the back of the little case and..........

The front cover.


It looks very textured in 'real life' and the colours are lovely. Not a needlewoman's work of art - just a fun project by a beginner.

I did an image transfer onto a scrap of cream cotton. I coloured it with Promarkers, and used grey to go over the stems and poppy centres. I am not even sure that there were any poppies - I just painted them in! Ditto the yellow - I just painted them the colour of winter Jasmine! I know that poppies bloom in summer and not at the same time as the yellow winter shrub - it's called 'artistic licence' methinks!

The 'trim' was a free sample which came with a magazine ages ago. It was something that I never found any use for in my paper arty crafty work - but it looks fine on here. In natural light you can't see the glue strip which you can in the photo, and I have stitched it here and there to keep it on.

It was a totally fun thing to make and play with - and now at least my needles are all together in one safe place. They might even get used now that I have started 'sewing'.

I recently did a bit of genealogy research, and discovered that my mother was a trained seamstress - so perhaps I may have inherited some of it in my genes LOL - at least it is nice to think I might.

Who is a very lucky lady ? I am starting a 'stash'!

I put an advertisement in the village post office and sweet shop a couple of days ago - and didn't really expect a reply - but I DID last night. From a very kind lady who is moving and has been getting rid of things - wish I had known sooner - I could have bought a box full of ribbons and trimmings.

But I am utterly thrilled to bits with which I do have........


This wonderful lace is about 12 inches deep!


Two of these - which I think may be 'chair backs' that someone has made to protect the chair where your head reats. I can't stop looking at the wonderful embroidery.


Look at these wonderful material samples. I spent a happy time peeling off the labels at the back. Mainly Laura Ashley.

I also got two gorgeous 'shiny' half a yard/metre of fabrics.

This is the reverse side of the shiny creamy colour piece


And this is the reverse of the orange piece

And this sample I think I shall be afraid to use!


It is thick and like satin and embroidered. about 12 inches square - but looks like it might have been for a wedding dress bodice or something like that!

Finished bag - my very first one!

Well I have finally finished my very first bag - without a pattern or any instructions - and I feel very pleased with it.

My eyesight isn't too good, even with contact lenses and reading glasses, and despite having a little needle threader thing - I felt that I needed a threader to get the threader into the needle LOL!

Another lesson learnt the hard way thimbles - are not just a novelty from the Victorian times - my poor fingers are pin pricked - I am going to use a thimble!

I am particularly proud of this part. It probably doesn't look anything special or exciting - but it is as far as I am concerned as I managed to fit a magnetic metal catch - which was quite a feat in itself - and not a trace of the fixings show through the fine material!




The inside of the bag before I stitched it up. I managed to put the sewing machine needle through my thumb next to my nail! I had a bit of a job trying to raise it to get it out! It makes me feel ill just thinking about it now!




Isn't she lovely! Well I think so. The colour variants in the photos are due to my taking some photos under a light as it was getting dull - so those photos look a bet redder, rather than the purple.




I cut and coloured some lace, and sewed two pieces, to suggest a 'butterfly'. I don't trust myself yet to try and embroider a body.





It took me hours to sew on the threads on the right hand side of the lady. The tiny beads are made of glass, and they catch the light wonderfully, and turn different shades of purple, pink, green and amber.

I sewed more beads in her hair, and had to sew a new necklace for her, as the other one broke - I used thin elastic for that - so it's a good lesson to learn.




An option for a finish - a golden clip






Another option for a finishing touch - or maybe I will add the 'flower' I made - but I thought it looked a bit heavy. You can see the flower in the post below.

Sneak peek on a work in progress.

Yesterday, after I had finished the 'secret squirrel' project, I spent part of the afternoon and the whole of the evening doing something 'just for me'.

I am trying something totally new to me, and this is a work in progress, there is still lots to do.



I cut up a piece of an Indian hand stamped scarf which I bought in a charity shop - which I am going to make into my very first bag.

It is totally trial and error - no pattern - no bought 'special' supplies - just playing around.

So this is it laid in the shape of the bag - I still have to interface it, line it, do lots more to it.



I cut out a piece of the silky material - and that was hard in itself as it slid all around on the work top. I guess I should invest in all the right 'stuff' first - but I really needed something to get totally absorbed in, without thinking of anything else - and this was just what I needed.

The purple material on the left is a piece of one of those old Indian cotton skirts that I bought years and years ago from a charity shop but it was too big - it somehow
escaped the dustbin! I had sewed it on beside the image which I printed on special material.


I had one piece of the 'hairy' knitting thread which I have stitched on (I should have been more careful when I photographed this and moved the stray 'bits' which show on her face and on the purple material!) On the right, the dark blue looking thread (the only piece I have) is in fact a very dark green and matches the pattern on the scarf material. I will arrange it neatly and sew that around the lady. I really wish I had a little purple flower or some purple or green beads to sew into her hair as a little decoration. You won't believe how long it took me to make that little necklace and sew it on! - And I have also put on pieces and taken them off again after spending ages sewing. I also need something in the top left corner - don't know what yet. Can't find anything - so will have to try and work out how to dye something without any dyes. Maybe with some purple ink - but need to check to see if it will 'leak' or run if it gets wet!




I took the cord out of the old skirt and will use that for the bag (as I have laid out in the photo), and I have made a 'flower' from a piece of the skirt border which has some gold pattern on it - I will add that too.

Oh I nearly forgot this bit I was rather pleased with - and how I had the patience I don't know. I had a small bit of net curtain, which I coloured for some reason a while back and as I was looking at it, I worked out that if I cut out a bit in the middle of a pattern, it would not only look the same colour as the lady's dress, but I could also cut it in a way to make a collar!


I still have a very long way to go before this ends up as a bag - or if I mess it up it might end up as a collage for a book cover or something.

Inspiration and a tute on how to make the 'flower' from Lilla's blog, if only I had a smidgen of her talent.

Image from one of my purchased Victorian image cds, and also appears here