Make & Do & Mend and Bag Wars

Week three of the Make & Do & Mend class, better attendance this week, six sewers and Mollie. Seems all enjoyed it as I have had messages from three  - We loved it - Really proud of myself making a sample curtain - Loved what you showed us.

So I'm really pleased with that and the non-sewer has now borrowed her Mum's machine. I think she's converted.

Cherry working on a Nine Patch cushion. Gilli caught mid biscuit, she had not had her tea!

Julia working on her sample curtain.

Maureen and Linda working hard.

We have a lovely room with its own kitchen and good lighting.

Now the bag wars. I've made this pattern before, its quite easy. 

Just a lined child's bag with interfacing, lined with pretty fabric, pocket and thin wadding.

Reinforced the handles with decorative stitching.

So how is it that I managed to sew one side with the pattern upside down?

The padded handles made to look so easy in the book would not work for me.

The iron on interfacing got put sticky side down on the ironing board and stuck fast. Arrrrgh!!!!

After several unpicks, gallons of coffee, a large contribution to the swear box and many prayers for help, I finished it.

Note to self "Do not try to sew when you are tired"

Cushions and a Visit to Colchester Firstsite

Oh I do so love a nice visit from friends, especially when they are picking up cushions that I made and they loved them too.

Mary has this lovely red check as the upholstery on her sofa. Lucky for me I had two matching fabrics in the super stash. Primped it up with some machine embroidery.

Close up detail, note to self try to get plain fabrics as checks and stripes are a pain to get straight seams on Every wibble wobble shows!

Back detail showing marking out the button holes ready for stitching.

The second cushion was designed around the fab ceramic buttons made by Miss Annabell Dee Gallery and Studio

So we matched them with denim and toile du jouy, a bit of vintage crochet and a label from the jeans saying Urban Spirit. Can't wait to see what they look like on the sofa. Just got two more to make which I will post off soon.

Here we are on the patio of Musa restaurant at firstsite food was yummy. Mary on the left me in pink and David coping well with all that female art chit chat.

This is the exterior of the building. It went sky rocketing out of control budget wise. You can see more on it here

We weren't too impressed with the current exhibitions, sadly none of us connected with the art.

Both the above by Sophie Von Hellermann.

The best was the Edward Bawden water colours. No photos allowed in that bit of the exhibition.

Cleaning the pantry, look who's moved in. All those children and - no noise!

Lovely Bank Holiday Monday.

A Tin Full of Granddaughter.

Bit of a gap in blog posts. Between making, making and more making, then boot fairs with my granddaughter I've been a bit busy. Oh and then there was the new group I've started Make & Do & Mend and I've had a brush up on the nails and hair front too. By some miracle I've also managed to fit in walking Molly and eating.

Me and Leia my granddaughter, nearly 60 and nearly 18. My excuse for looking so startled, well it was 5.00 am, who ever looks their best then?

Leia has been working on a very large 30 x 24 collage, which will be painted and further collage. It was one of my yet to be finished canvases, shes pinched it.

A flash hail stone shower gave my Oak Bonsai tree a fright. Planted by a resident squirrel, kept in the same pot for 4 years, no water or feed, outside and on a north wall. Leaves are about 1/2 size this year. 

Two of my Victorian animals awash with hail stones.

Despite the dull weather the garden is full of forget-me-nots. Every thing else is way behind.

Old and rusty, abandoned to the fate of a general auction. These old tobacco and cough sweet tins came home with me, then got re-abandoned in the shed. Then rediscovered and now having a make over. 

Sheet music with paper napkins, then images from a 1950's Mother Goose Annual. Colouring was done by the original owner, so sweet.

The little figures are raised above the background.

Backs are covered in old hymn book pages, nicely browned with age. Ric rac braid and wire for the hangers.

Added a bit of lace, crochet doily and vintage button's.

More vintage buttons.

A part completed tin front.........

...............and back.

This week at the Make & Do & Mend class we looked at a Nine Patch cushion cover made from vintage fabrics. I've done a tutorial on this in word. Just got to transfer it onto here, but yup blogger does not copy the pictures. So I get to do it all again.

Nearly completed another tutorial on lined curtains. Hopefully will get these finished soon.

Please let it warm up soon, I am being tempted to put the heating on, its impossible to sew by hand with frozen fingers!

Mixed Media Shadow Box Picture - The Tichbourne Claimant

Well I surprised myself by being able to finish a long term project. Luckily a day course finished ahead of time, so I took the chance to take some picture of this latest work.

The main illustration used in this piece came from The Graphic Newspaper dated June 14th 1873, that is 140 years old. As always I have used the original image. The trial and the claim on the Tichbourne estate was a real item of interest. The judges, barristers, claimant and the witnesses had the same fame as the superstars of today do.

I was fascinated by the story. So this piece is called The Theatre of Justice. I've tried to give the flavour of a theatre with the Victorian fringing giving a hint of stage curtains. then the little pegs as floodlights at the front of the stage.

The judges have been set on draught pieces and are atop engravings of London buildings. The heads are dried Poppy Seed Heads. They are set above everything to show they are in charge.

The "dock" is made from a childs' wooden brick and brass curtain hooks. Miss Mary Ann Loder is in the dock. She is directly in front of the fraudulent claimant.

The back board was already painted gold and I did some image transfers of old hymn pages. They were then sanded and rubbed, tinted with some glaze and varnished.

The court was packed every day of the trial with members of the public and Newspaper reporters.

This turned out just as I wanted, now I just have to figure out if I need to put it in a display case or leave it naked. It measures 16 x 12 inches.

Box for Curiosities - Commission

At last it's finished. When you get commissions you often have to work to a brief from your customer. Well I had a friend, Julia, come round to visit and she took the tour of the messy Art Room. Spotting a box she has a eureka moment. "Just the thing for Neil's birthday! Go on Joan do your thing with it"

Oh that left me with so much choice, but rein yourself in girl, no mad neons or over the top Victorian stuff. This is to be for Neil to keep his very special watches and other nick nacks. Oh and there are many, I know he's shown me some from Neolithic arrow heads to 1920's lithe flapper girl bronzes.

So I started with a nine compartment box. Measures 10 x 10 x 2.5 inches. Paint the whole thing black and then gold. By painting any small gaps will look interesting and not like bare wood.

Lots of snipping and sorting through my collection of vintage paper goodies.

Day by day, gluing, more painting, more snipping of paper, this time really old hymn books. Drilling holes, attaching handles, sticking on watch faces, many coats of varnish and then finally its done

Each side has random bits of hymn text and music. Neil is in my church band - plays base guitar.

Each compartment has four sides and one base, had to find a suitable illustration for each one.

Even have a map showing their village.

The handle is a vintage one, possibly made of copper so nice and grungy. Screws however were new, painted those to age them.

Watch faces are vintage but were a bit too clean so they got the grunge treatment too.

Whinge Blogger has turned this around again. But it's pages from Who's Who at the bottom of each compartment, listing all the Jones's. Hey you guessed he's a Jones Boy!

Finally the base, boys Lion Annual collage.

Julia liked it, so let's hope Neil does.

Hope UR all well. Next exciting blog will be a report on my Make, Do and Mend class. First one, so very excited or nervous, can't quite make my mind up on that.