No slow stitch Sunday for me this weekend

Yet again the sewing things have been put aside while I continue my (probably temporary) obsession with gelli printing.  I did manage an hour on the allotment, the rain holding off, and am harvesting the first of this year's blackberries.  

My cultivated blackberries are slightly earlier than the hedgerow ones, I've noticed, and larger too.  Sadly the raspberries are finished, which is a shame, but the apple trees are laden with fruit.  My brother passed along a punnet of ripe plums from his allotment, which are sweet and juicy, perfect for snacking on.  

Apart from allotmenting, I've been playing with the gelli printing again, though it's been frustrating today.  All the colours I mixed seemed to come out muddy.  I couldn't get the bright colours I craved.  But I have had success with finding things to make marks in the paint and add texture to my prints.  

Joining the bubble wrap and poppy seed heads are buttons, nuts and bolts, cotton reels, shells and bottle tops.  I've also been cutting circles out of clear plastic document wallets.  

I spread paint on the gelli pad, then drop on to the surface my plastic circles, then apply the paper to obtain my print.  You get these lovely big loose circles.  Sometimes I let them overlap, creating more odd little shapes between the circles.  

The prints in these photos will have more layers added, so they're very much works-in-progress.  But here's one that I really like - 

I'm will have to put the paints away for a few days this week, and crack on with my quilting.  There are Christmas presents I've got in mind to make, and I need to estimate how much time they'll take and write down a schedule for sewing them.  Otherwise August will roll on, and before you know it we'll be into autumn and I'll not even have threaded a needle!