One World One Heart 20011

To all the new visitors to my blog 'Welcome' .  My  name is Sharne Gregory and I am taking part for the 2nd year running in OWOH. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog which is mainly about my creative  work with a little bit about my family and home life. When not at work or doing household chores,  I spend my 'free' time working with fabric, thread and mixed media.    I am part of an exhibiting textile group called Fen Edge Textiles and our new exhibition will be opening very shortly (February 8th) at Art Van Go in Knebworth.

My door prize that I am offering, is a mixed media panel inspired by Hundertwasser.  The materials I have used is fabric, gesso, paint, paper metal, beads, pencils and buttons.  Mainly machine stitched with a tiny bit of hand stitching.  The panel is mounted on a canvas box frame. (more info on the construction of this piece on my blog)
To win this hanging you need:-
1) to be a blogger
2) you will need to leave a comment below, making sure that  I can contact you if you win the prize.
  I will announce the winner on February 17th.
To visit other blogs taking part click  Here or the badge in my side bar.

Only hours away!

An early start this morning, so that I could make a Scrumptious Slice and a huge Bread Pudding in time to take out with us.
I had a lovely nurse of  10 day old Antonia.  She would have been Tony's (our Best Man) first Grandchild.  It is a great pity that he didn't live long enough to see her.  It was then on to visit Chris, Tony's wife and deliver the Bread Pudding and see how much her 6 Alsatian puppies have grown.  (Kezzy wanted to bring one home with her, but we don't have the time or space for such a big dog) Then last of all, onto Mitch's Grandparents.  They enjoyed the Scrumptious Slice and have asked me to take another one down, next time we go.
So much talking, I didn't get as much stitching done on my boats as I had hoped, but will be ideal to do in my tea-breaks at work.
One World One Heart 2011 starts Midnight USA time, so I will be posting my entry tomorrow morning before going to work to allow for the time difference.

;0)

It's a good job that the hulls have to be painted after stitching, as, where I had the poison in my thumb, not only is it making it hard to stitch, but  the wound keeps opening up and leaving blood on the fabric!  The boats are painted in Zach's and Josh's favourite colours. We are out visiting tomorrow, so I shall be taking the sails  with me to stitch.

Our YE's

The project that Libby had for the YE's was to make some little boats. Ann's paper mache boats here   gave Libby the idea.  The girls stitched the hull together before painting.

 While it was drying, it was then time to embellish the sails with stitch, and then more stitching on the hull once it was dry.

A very quick lunch and then construction of the boats.  These boats were the first three finished.  I think the girls did really well.
I am now going to make a boat for each of my Grandsons.

U turn.

I know that the weather has turned colder, after the snow flurries on Thursday, but I hadn't realised it was cold enough for this to happen.  I was on the back road to Chelmsford this morning when I spotted this amazing sight, and just had to turn around to get some photo's.  The bush of icicles is about five feet high!  I like the reflection of the icicle bush in the puddle in the top picture.  When I came back from Chelmsford this afternoon after YE, I was surprised to see, that it hadn't started to melt yet.

Tomorrow.

I have got Y.E. tomorrow. I always enjoy the meetings and the girls are so keen.  I shall be taking lots of photos through out the day, some for the article I will write for our Branch newsletter and some for Regional Day.  

Something for nothing.

I am always dubious of companies offering to give you something for free.  But this morning 9.am, a representative from my local water board was here trying to find ways of saving water around my house.  Although we didn't need any of the gadgets to go on taps, showers and toilets, (already economical usage) I am getting a free water barrel and fixing set.  No strings attached!!  When he left, I also got a 'goody bag' as well.
I now need to make some phone calls with regard to our Regional Day before I go to work.

I have now finished my piece for the OWOH. I covered a box canvas frame with crumpled tissue, painted it when dry with copper acrylic and then added Treasure Gold-onyxnite to the raised areas.
Not sure what my next project will be.

January almost completed.

I am continuing to keep my journal up to date.  In my rubber stamp collection, I was lucky enough to have one of a Koala, just right for using on Australia Day.  I have decide I  shall also be using my journal to keep a list of all the things I create throughout the year.

Happy Australia Day!

This is the first year I haven't made Anzac biscuits for the family for at least 8 years.  Hubby would have loved to have emigrated down under, but I wouldn't leave my family.  I would love to go back for another holiday there though.
Must now get down to typing up the minutes of tonight's Committee meeting.  I left in such a rush to get there on time, I didn't take my glasses.  Luckily Diane scribed for me.

The embellishing is now complete, just need to get the frame ready to mount it on.  I feel as if I am fighting  some germs, been feeling below par since Sunday night, so I shall have to do that another day, as I am going to have an early night for a change.
Off to E.G. Regional Day committee meeting tomorrow night, I shall need a clear head and settled stomach for taking the minutes.

OWOH continued.

My piece for the OWOH has now been quilted and I have attached a piece of embossed metal to the roof.  Tomorrow I will start the embellishing. 

Kitchen up date

For my piece for OWOH, I have decided to re-visit Hundertwasser.   Instead of just using fabric and stitch, this time I will be making it with mixed media.  So far I have used paper from the Wall Street Journal and an old book, scrim, Dyna-Flo paints, Crafty Notions Colour Sprays as well as fabric and thread. A  poisoned thumb has slowed me down a bit today, and now I have lanced it, I hope that it will be easier to hold my needle tomorrow.

Hubby has finished tiling the wall behind the cooker and will be grouting it next weekend.  I am happy with my choice of tiles, you never know when you see a small sample, how it will look when it is on the wall. 

ALQS 5

The photo of this taken last night, had the colours too bright, so have taken this, this morning in natural light.

 As I was at the ERTF exhibition last night, I had to go food shopping today as my fridge resembled Old Mother Hubbard's.  To compensate, I stopped at Craft Arena to get the latest issue of Sew Somerset, I shall enjoy starting to read it, in bed tonight.

I bought a padded envelope to post off my quilt squares as I thought it would be more durable for the long flight down under.  I got to the Post Office too late today, so they will now be posted Monday.  I have now completed my hanging for the ALQS5.
Hubby has been very busy tiling the wall behind the cooker, really pleased with how it is looking.  I will post a photo once it has been grouted.
My brother Duncan, flew off to Kazakhstan  onThursday, to film the Asian Winter Games. We have heard that he has arrived safely, but the food is not very good.

Just a little taster.

Diane and I went to the Private View of ERTF's Owen Jones Exhibition at Chelmsford tonight.  Nickie was unable to come with us due to being under the weather.  A lovely evening, catching up with friends and enjoying the textiles.  It was lovely to be able to look through the sketchbooks and see the progression of work from the initial design source to the finished piece.  I will try and post a few more pictures tomorrow, having a few problems tonight, which is why you have only the image.

Oz comfort quilts blocks

My six blocks are now made up and I hope to get them in the post to Jan tomorrow.  I wouldn't mind making some more, maybe in the half term, but now I must get on with making my ALQS 5.

 Our friend who happens to be a gas fitter, came round last night at 10.30 to connect our cooker.  Too late to try it out after he left, so this morning, I tried one of the ovens to bake an American Cheesecake.

This  mixed media panel I made last year which had been gathering dust on a shelf, now hangs in the kitchen.  We hope to start tiling this weekend.

At work today, the children were experimenting with  press o print- the  thin polystyrene that can be drawn into prior to printing.  It gave me a chance to play too!

This is the piece I am making for the ALQS 5.  I still have to make something for the OWOH event, not sure what I am going to do for that yet.

At long last!

We were told that the cooker would arrive between 10am and 1pm.(heard that one before). It arrived at 10.20!  It got my day off to a good start.

Members night.

This is the one month every year when we don't have a speaker, and the committee provide something for the members to do.  With our Regional Day looming on the horizon, it was decide we would have stations making various items for the sales table that we need on the day.  Fifty five members turned up armed with needle and thread and stitched, laughed and chatted the evening away.


 

 Members can also bring along unwanted textile related items or books to sell.  Our Branch deducts 10%  to help boost funds.  I manged to buy this book that I have been wanting for some time :0)

 The committee members also make cakes for the members to have with their cup of tea.  I had a slice of Diane's Tipsy Fruit Cake-it was delicious.  This morning while waiting for my cake to cook, I managed to make another block for the Oz Comfort Quilts appeal-that's 4 finished now.

I don't wish to tempt fate, but it looks as if my Range cooker is going to be delivered tomorrow  at last.      

                                                                                                                             

Taking Liberties.

Save the date.

If you are not doing anything on these dates in half term, Textiles in Focus is well worth a visit.  Nickie and I are not teaching a workshop this year, we have asked to have  year off.  Instead we are going to be demonstrating. Exhibitions, workshops and lots of suppliers to buy much?? needed supplies from too.

Paint, fabric and thread. :0)

 I have not made any patchwork blocks since finishing my C&G, but I have really enjoyed making these basic blocks for the Oz comfort quilts appeal, the Moda fabrics are so colourful.  I have only completed three so far, as although I didn't want to, I had to go exploring in my large packing crate to look for backing fabric.( I cant get the lid back on now!)  I would like to post off six blocks to start with, not sure what the postal charges will be.

I have also done a bit more to my Calendar journal, not falling behind YET!!!
Last but not least, I have painted a piece of fabric ready to start work on my ALQS5. 

Time to play.

A lovely day at Cottenham, everyone has been very busy creating their work for our AVG exhibition.  It's a good job we went in Nickies car, as we would not have got all our work in my little car!  I cant wait to see everyones work in situ.
Nickie and I have also booked to do a 2 hour workshop with Marion Murphy at TIF in February, and then we will be demoing in the afternoon.  Not sure what I shall be doing yet, so need to get my thinking cap on.
Kezzy and Mitch are partying tonight and Hubby is cooking the evening meal, so I should, in theory, have quite a lot of time to stitch:0)

Getting ready

Nickie and I have our F.E.T. meeting tomorrow and we have to take all the work that got through round 1 of selection for our exhibition at Art Van Go.( Not long now!!)  That being the case, I have spent my evening getting my work together.   It is surprising how long it takes!

Happy fabric

As I am making some squares at the weekend for the Oz Comfort Quilts, rather than dig down the very large packing case in my room in search of some fat quarters, I went to Barleylands to get buy fabric.  I have chosen Moda' Happy' fabric to make my squares with, just loved the scrummy colours. I haven't bought any patchwork fabric for ages.

I also popped into Craft Arena too, as I wanted to get the latest issue of Somerset Studio.

A late night tonight waiting for Kezzy to get back from London.  She has been to see Blood Brothers, as  part of her GCSE Coursework

Nothing creative to report tonight as it was our Embroiderers' Guild Branch Committee meeting.  I have typed up and emailed out the minutes already so that tomorrow I can do some stitching. :0)

Oz comfort quilts- help needed.

I have been catching up on reading a few blogs and following a link, came across this one here.  Jan  is asking for help with making comfort quilts for those poor people who have lost everything in the floods down-under.(She organised a similar event for supporting the people involved in the bush fires two years ago)  I hope to make some  squaresthis weekend if I can unearth my fat quarters that are lurking in the bottom of a packing crate, if not I'll just have to pop to Barleylands- what a shame.  Every square will help!!

Before Christmas, I had intended to make lots of home made cards and presents.  In the end, life overtook the creative time and I only ended up making a few cards.  As for the presents, well, I had seen some metal hearts in a shop and it inspired me to try and make something similar.  Yesterday, I actually got round to finishing one.  I shall make some more at a later date, but use a different base fabric, something that is a bit more pliable than the craft vilene that I used.

2nd attempt.

I have enjoyed making these pages.I have made my boxes two and a quarter inches square so they shouldn't need that much time to journal-well that's my thinking at the moment.  Only two days left to fill in and then I will be up to date.  I have used my Koh-I-Noor stacking paints to colour in the little images in some of the boxes.

Duhh!!!

Trying to be different and use a different shape sketchbook for the Calendar Challenge has not paid off.  Start afresh tomorrow!!

Messy time.

Feeling in the need to splosh a bit of paint around, it didn't take me long to decide to join in with this calendar challenge.  I have to do a bit of catching up but not that much to make it impossible.  I painted the pages with Prussian Blue Brusho. When dry, I used a Tattered Angels mask of  bare tree with Crafty Notions  Creative Colour Spray in Silver, hoping to create  frosty trees.  Unfortunately the spray blobbed a fair bit, not a problem though, as most of this will be covered up by the little squares that I shall be writing on.  Cant remember the last time I had my paintbrushes out!

The reason for the trip to Bluewater today was to spend the John Lewis vouchers that the parents of my school children had given me for Christmas.  I was able to buy a silver charm bracelet for the charms Hubby gave me at Christmas, a pannini/sandwich toaster and these beads and threads.  I have saved some of the vouchers to spend when I go to Milton Keynes in February with Mum.

Just had to go in this shop at Bluewater, not for the clothes, but to see all the old sewing machines on display in the window.  Inside the shop there were  old industrial sewing machines, weaving looms, mangles etc. and all lit with old fashioned studio lights.

By the skin of my teeth!!

A trip to Bluewater today meant that I was able to take some pictures at last for the Splash of Colour project organised by Silverpebble..  The shoes were in a shop called Nao.   They had over 200 pairs of different coloured shoes.  The story behind the shop, is that a young boy, tired of walking barefoot and his mother always saying 'nao' to his requests for a pair of shoes, started making his own shoes from materials found in the slums of Belo Horizonte.

AGGGHHH!!!!

Suddenly realised yesterday, that next Saturday I have my FET meeting, and our finished work is going to be selected or not, for the Art VanGo exhibition.  So spent my 'free time' sewing hanging sleeves to my flower panels. I have not got as much sewing done as I had hoped or planned -whats new!
The young man who has been staying with us since before Christmas has a few problems that I am trying to help him sort out.  Thursday afternoon was spent at the Solicitors and yesterday we had his Aftercare Social Worker come round for a visit. In between times I have been researching the Internet.  How did we mange before Google???

Butterfly Effect

Look what arrived in my post today!

My book from Trudi that I won in her Butterfly Effect Giveaway.  It contains art work  and poetry from the children who were in Terezin Concentration Camp.  It is a very touching and moving book.
  ''15,000 children under the age of fifteen passed  through this camp only 100 survived ''
All those young lives lost in only 2 years!!!!( between 1942-1944)
 All the .butterflies that Trudi collects will be sent on to the Holocaust Museum in Houston click here to see the latest butterflies that have winged their way to Trudi.  Each butterfly will be used to represent one innocent life lost.  Have you taken part yet????

Trudi also enclosed these cards as well.   Thank you so very much Trudi!!!