Another day, another postcard

Well, I could whinge about how my healthy eating plan's gone doolally today. Me having stuffed my face with meringue nests, an extra large bag of crisps and squares of white chocolate, all snacks scoffed between meals. No, I don't know why I did it either.

So, let's concentrate on craft. Namely my 31 days in May postcard challenge. Tuesday's been all about the blues. I'd tried taking inspiration from images of Australian art I'd found while browsing online. Several paintings that were drenched in gorgeous shades of blue. Cobalt, cerulean, kingfisher blue, through to dark, moody navy, indigo, midnight blue. Only I was finding it hard to get going.

I cut out lengths of fabric and sewed them together to make stripes. Not exactly thrilling, I think we can agree. Ironing this flat I turned the piece over and thought 'Actually, the reverse side's more interesting. I like that better.'

I began hand sewing lines of running stitch and a few lines of machine stitch. Vertical to contrast with the horizontal stripes. I liked the fraying edges. They made me think of vintage fabrics. Textiles that have a history of being worn, washed and worn again.

Above: this is how it looked after I'd completed the hand sewing. I still wasn't happy with it, so I began all over again, from scratch.

Version number two.

I pieced together rectangles and stripes, including scraps of denim, plus fabric with the reverse side of show because I liked the rather faded effect from doing this. Again, I used needle and thread, simple running stitch.

But I still wasn't happy. Out came the rotary cutter and I chopped each of my attempts into two pieces.

And two became one ...

I added some rough 'n' ready binding, and there we have it. Not the prettiest thing I've ever made, but it's oddly pleasing. The lines of blue, especially the faded effect you get from using the wrong side of material, make me think of water. The sea. Rainfall.

I'm glad I persevered, though for such an itsy bitsy little thing, it did take up a ridiculous amount of time. I need to speed up tomorrow. Not mull over decisions but keep it quick and instinctive. Oh, and tomorrow - fewer snacks, right?

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

Another week's flown by ...

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