rubykittyruby

It's not even midday, and I've already demolished a bowl of porridge with blackberries & sultanas for breakfast, a brunch of poached eggs & feta cheese on rye crispbread and a white chocolate Bueno bar.  Seriously thinking I might be overdoing it a morsel or two ... oh well, diet begins Monday.  Isn't that how the saying goes?  (Luckily, there are lots of Mondays throughout the year.) Anyway, I've a couple of things to tell you about.  One of 'em is this book, '365 Days of Creativity' by Lorna Scobie.  I received it as a present last Christmas, and finally got around to starting it.  The book has 365 prompts in the form of pages to paint or draw on, collage or write on, all aimed at kickstarting your arty crafty creativity.  Like this starting page.   You're encouraged to fill each bowl with something.  Fruit or pencil or random objects maybe.   I really enjoyed this, cutting up an old Sarah Raven catalogue for pictures...

  Thursday already, and this week's charging ahead.  It feels like the year's quickening, as if it can't wait to roll into November, December and see in the New Year.  The nights are definitely drawing in, with the overhead lights going on at 7.00pm, if not a little before.  I miss those long light evenings even more than I miss summer's warmth.  I spent an hour on the allotment today, tidying up and trying to get the plot ready for its period of hibernation.  I collected a handful of leaves while I was down there as I want to experiment with using the gell plate and printing with them tomorrow.   This idea was set in motion by Wednesday's Stitch Art group that I attended.  The theme was around environmental art, with particular ref to Andy Goldsworthy, the two images above being examples of his work.  For our little taster session we spent part of the time printing on to calico using leaves and various colours of Speedball printing ink....

  It's a grey rainy morning, and I'm trying to concentrate on pleasant things, instead of the News which is full of the grim reality of armed conflicts overseas.  But that kind of content is for other blogs, ones far more serious and weighty than my ramblings about crafty matters.   I went to the last of my fabric covered book classes on Saturday, and it was a joy to see all the different ways others presented their books.  My over-the-top creation is the grey and purple one you can see above, and - if the light here improves - I'll try and film a little video on my phone.  Will post that later today or tomorrow.  In the meantime, look at the other books - the one with the eyeballs, the stripes and buttons, and the beautifully embroidered tiger who came to tea.   No two books were even remotely the same.   There's a pretty embroidered toadstool, and look at that pretend cassette tape!  During the class, because I'd worked a lot...

On Saturday it was back once again to a ridiculously busy Leeds city centre - can't abide it when it's busy! too much noise, too many people - and to the Art Gallery for the second of four classes on making a fabric covered book.  (We'd the option of making a fabric cover and paper signatures inside, but I've opted for a wholly textile book.)  With this second session people had more idea of what their individual journal might look like, and it was great to see how many different interpretations we had.   Some were working on their embroidered covers, but I opted to concentrate on making my pages.  I've four double pages in total, slightly different sizes & mainly made of upcycled upholstery swatches.  I began adding extra smaller pages, like this lovely cream coloured material, and more pockets.  There's only so much you can sew in a two hour session, so I carried on over the weekend.   This material was originally curtain fabric from th...

  On Saturday it was off to Leeds Art Gallery again, this time for the first class of a four-week course making textile art journals.  It's something I booked months ago, hesitating for ages before committing to it as there're other things I could've done with the money.  But I'd been to a class by the teacher before - embroiderer Hayley Mills-Styles - and knew I'd enjoy it.   It's being held in the Drawing Room, a multi-purpose arty space, where we're surrounded by lots of lovely scrap fabrics, sorted by colour in all those brown bags.  Plus yarn in tempting colours.  All available to make the most of.   Through the glass doors is the Sewing Room where the machines are kept and we can use as needed.   I'm hoping that later on in the course I'll have a chance to do freehand embroidery on one of them.   Note all the stitchy examples of textile work pinned up on the wall.  I love looking at what others have done. ...