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I'm destined never to have a neat and tidy house.  I mean, look at the state of this perfectly good dining table.  Having moaned about that, I had terrific fun playing about with the Gelli printing plate again.  Most of the prints you can see are very much works-in-progress, and will be printed over or stenciled over and stamped on.   Apart from that, I dug out a couple of incomplete quilts in the making, checking what else I needed to do in order to finally get 'em completed.  This denim lap sized quilt won't end up any bigger, so I had to decide whether to use wadding as well as backing fabric for it.   I think wadding would make it too bulky, so I'm going to add a backing of something like thick brushed cotton.  A cosy fabric, but not one that's stretchy like fleece.  I fancy a bright tomato red, along with red binding, but that might change.   I really like the differences in colour you get with used denim.  Some darke...

  After my recent flurry of Gelli printing I felt the urge to return to patchwork this weekend, and pulled out of my stash various pretty colours.  Mainly pink, green and light grey.  I'd a piece of plain white cotton and a 9 and a half inch square quilt ruler, so I cut out eight squares from the cotton.  Which was as many as I could get out of that remnant.   Deciding on a wonky log cabin pattern I machine sewed my blocks, making sure each block differed. I really like these colours and the log cabin design.   Am not sure whether to make more blocks of the same fabrics or whether to alternate them with plain blocks or join them together using sashing.  Will have to think about that and see what I prefer.  Anyway, just a couple of other things to tell you about.  I found two more books for my To-Be-Read pile.  Couldn't resist these charity shop bargains.   Oh, and I made another quick page for my art journal.  I'...

In between binge-reading chapters of 'Career of Evil' (very creepy, but excellent) and pulling up bindweed on the allotment I collected yet more blackberries and came home to cram them into an already full-to-bursting freezer.  I also couldn't resist experimenting with Gelli printing again.  I really need to give it a rest for a while as I'm going to be drowning under a sea of painted paper soon!  But I have been using several of the sheets to make booklets that I can use as either notebooks or art journals, so at least I can find a practical use for some of 'em.  I was really pleased with this blue, green, purple and silver printed paper.  Looks really pretty, and I included metallic paint so it's got a nice sheen when it catches the light.  Rather less pleased with this piece based on a yellowy-creamy background.   The colours are a bit all over the place, but it's not a total disaster.  I do love that bubbles stencil from Hobbycraft. ...

It's been a beautifully sunny day, and I've been a busy bunny, though managed a stroll into town and back, stopping by several blackberry bushes on the way to collect another tub of shiny sweet berries.   I swear the freezer's three quarters full of fruit.  Earlier in the year I was freezing those homegrown strawberries that escaped being devoured within minutes of picking.  After that, it was raspberries from the allotment, and now blackberries.  They'll all get added to porridge or overnight oats during the autumn and winter months.   Naturally, being in town meant a quick rummage around the local charity shop, and I managed to get a very nice haul of goodies at a bargain price for £6.00 for the entire lot.  A good as new Christy dusty pink handtowel.  A stencil to add to my small stash of 'em. A couple of board books that'll be squirreled away to use as the basis for art journals in the near future.  Plus, some very shiny reels of wha...

It wasn't the weather for allotmenting today, so instead I spread newspaper over the dining table, reached for the paints and Gelli plate, and cracked on with yet more printing.  I know, I'm obsessed with it right now.  The sewing will resume soon, and progress will be made on all those quilts that're partly made and piled up waiting to be fully pieced, quilted, bound.  But for the time being I'm going where my enthusiasm takes me.   I made a little more progress with the board book that I blogged about yesterday, and tried to take some better photos of it.  But I can't quite capture the colours, they look faded in the photos, but maybe that's something to do with the metallic paint I used?  Not sure, but I've never been great at taking pictures.  Here are the blue pages at the start of the book.  I've began adding details in the form of stenciled bubbles and stars, plus some scraps of tissue paper and wrapping paper.   Please bear ...

  Lately I've been obsessed by printing.  Specifically, making prints by using a gelli pad and a roller (known as a brayer).  I've bought a selection of acrylic paints, several stencils and a ream of photocopier paper.  I've also gathered up lots of things to add texture to my prints.  Bubble wrap, bottle tops to make the outlines of circles with, nuts and bolts, dried poppy seed heads, and so on.   I've been watching lots of videos on YouTube about gelli printing, and that led me down a very enjoyable rabbit hole of creativity.  I've been  introduced to the concept of art journals, of making your own simple books and using them to print in or make collages in or paint and stencil.  So, I've made three simple art journals of differing sizes, and finished those off today, making covers for them.   I've also come across a great idea from an artist called Drew Steinbrecher.  He makes wonderfully bold prints, some of which he'...

  I'm sat here feeling pretty pleased with life.  It's been a gorgeous sunny day, and I walked into town for groceries and came back via a bramble lined track.  Which meant lots of chances to gather free fruit in the shape of shiny juicy blackberries.  My fingertips are still stained purple, despite a good scrub when I got home.  As it's Wednesday I'll get round to my craft book review in a moment, but first things first, here are my recent charity shop bargains.   These two dresses cost a few pennies short of a tenner for the pair.  The red dress is a simple shift, complete with pockets and ideal to wear with leggings.  But the stylish olive green and white dress is much classier.  Originally from Monsoon, my favourite label, it's 100% silk and feels luxurious.  I hope to goodness it fits!   Having loved Maggie O'Farrell's 'Hamnet', I bought this paperback, yet another to add to my To-Be-Read pile which never seems to get...

Well, I have to admit I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.  I wasn't convinced I could make this work, but it's really not too bad at all.  My first attempt at making a paper star.   This all started because I was trawling through YouTube, looking at videos on how to successfully print using the gelli plate.  Too many of my prints were ending up muddy messes, so I needed to learn some techniques.  I came across an American artist called Elizabeth St Hilaire and one of her videos called ' Fabulous Shimmery Gelli Printed Paper Star, Easy! '  I mean, with a title like that, how could I not watch it?   She made a wonderful looking decorative star, very bright and bold, and constructed out of paper bags.  Yup, a stack of humble, everyday paper bags.  After they were printed on, complete with metallic and iridescent paint to make them shimmer, she cut the bags into a point at one end and glued them together.  The construction's qui...