Patchwork Bag, Watercolour Paintings and Card

Remember the pile of hexies I made? Well I've put them to good use and made a bag. I made it up as I went along so it's not perfect. By the way when I originally showed the hexies I said I made them on an evening while watching TV, I didn't mean one evening but many evenings.

I've been practicing more serious watercolours by copying from a book.

These were painted on loose pieces of watercolour paper. I'm not so keen on the flower.

It's my son's and his wife third wedding anniversary and as I couldn't go out to the shops I made them a card. The third anniversary is leather so I cut two hearts from leather. I used the brown card as that is what was used for their wedding invitations and I thought it would be a nice memory.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Mandala Patterns

I used to do a lot of mandala patterns on my tablet o use with my cutting machine. Here I've used the patterns to make a digital collage. I used a page from a vintage sewing book I have. It's the same pattern but one has thicker lines.

Recently I have tried using HTV or heat transfer vinyl to cut on the machine. For my first experiment I used various mandala patterns and ironed them on fabric which I then made into a bag. I chose the  colour I liked the least from the pack as it was an experiment. In hindsight I think my pressing area was to soft as it didn't adhere as it should have. Cover your eyes the [awful] colour is so bright.

I also tried the adhesive backed vinyl. I did some lettering for my storage boxes. I found it a nightmare to weed [that is to get rid of the bits of vinyl not required after cutting]

I thought I would try cutting a piece to use as a stencil on fabric. This weeded better and worked well for one use only as a stencil [yellow fabric paint]. I cleaned the paint off the red vinyl but it tore, but I stuck the remainder onto a box in my study anyway.

I'm linking with Paint Party Friday

Crazy Patchwork Bag - Blue

The second bag made from vintage tweed, coat and cord fabrics.

Many of embroidery stitches I found on Take a stitch Tuesday [TAST] at pintangle.

You will also find tips on crazy patchwork if you fancy having a go.

The other side is just patchwork, no embroidery.

Crazy Patchwork Bag - Green

I made bags for gifts for my arty friends, this is one of them. One side is crazy patchwork, the other side is crazy patchwork and embroidery. I used thick coat fabrics, tweeds and cords - all vintage.

Handmade Gifts

These are the handmade gifts I received from my 'arty' friends.

A tree from Marian with ribbon wrapped around the base.

A bagful [handmade of course] of goodies - clay decorations, felt house, decorated jar, pebble.

A doll from Gillian.

I love her curly hair.

A bauble picture from Vicky. It was difficult to get a good picture of this because of the glass reflection.

I've got some talented friends, haven't I?

All Present and Correct

These are the lovely handmade gifts I got from my talented arty, crafty friends.

Bags of things from Gillian.

I love the way she has done this button.

An unusual house in a cup pin cushion from Marian.

She's used tweeds and felt for the house and has embellished with hand embroidery.

She also made the lovely cup and hung a verse on a tag from the handle.

Helen made each of us a full book of inspiration, all different.

She has collaged images relevant to our interests and included other bits and bobs like the little bones on the dogs turbans.

And sparkly gems....

and buttons...

and a butterfly envelope complete with butterflies...

and a pocket with vintage postcards, etc....

Vicky has screen printed a pink Christmas tree design on a bag.

She has used this tree on a fabric called 'sugar coated Christmas Tree' on a background of stars, also with coordinating fabrics, which are available at Spoonflower .

She has also made this cute little brooch with the same tree with a laser cutter.

Didn't I do well?

Black Bag with Fringe

I've been using some of the fabrics from my stash again. The fringe came back from a student trip to a factory so I've had it a while. It was not a fringe really just a piece of frayed fabric and it has purple metallic threads running through it. The purple band is ribbon which I hand stitched on with running stitch. I gave the bag to my sister and she is using it to keep her knitting in.

I like eating these......