Goodbye the old...

Here's a quick roundup of December:

I made it to my last screenprinting night class for the term and managed to print a few tea-towels for Christmas...

I really enjoyed the class and hope to sign up again.

There were some very talented people on the course and it was so enjoyable to get out of the house for a few hours once a week to be creative with like minded spirits.

At the end of the session we had to wash our screens and wash away our designs *sob* (until next time I hope!)


Christmas entailed, home-picked holly from our neighbour,...

a P.Y.O. (pick your own) tree. And I mean literally pick your own. The lady selling them told me where the saw was and off the boys and I trotted (well I hobbled LOL), found a tree we liked and I had to saw it off!


It got it's fair share of decorations (I think next year we will need a bigger tree!)

I also did the odd Christmas market...

The boys both had Nativity plays. One was a sheep...

The other a king...

We had a pre-Christmas trip to friends near Cambridge. Dh gave us a little tour of the land of arches and bicycles...

And the bashing accomplished a new window/door on the homefront...

Happy New Year!

Bring it on, I'm almost ready!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

His name is Major.
He warmed our bed for us when he stayed at friends.

Snow snow go away...

...come back when I don't have night class 45 minutes drive away!!

I missed last week's class due to the snow and if things don't improve (i.e. the weather and my snow driving skills!) I'll be missing tomorrow night's class as well which is very sad to say the least. I had hoped to prepare a new screen last week, but no such luck, however I can show my design which uses 2 screens and offset register as I wanted each printed piece to be individual. I feel this particular design sums up my goals from the course. I didn't have these goals when I started the course, I just wanted to screenprint again, but the course allowed me to focus on 2 goals: one was to find focus (!) and the other was to use my drawing and mark-making to enhance the design i.e. that I would not just do an outline, but utilise the very essence of screenprinting: that every line or shape drawn or made and exposed on your screen becomes a printed line or shape on your fabric.

For the first screen I cut flower shapes out of black paper for a background and the second screen is a drawing I did using my love of bees as a starting point...

(I did the drawing first and then took that as inspiration for the background)

Here, I printed the second screen in 2 different colours offset as part of my test prints:


And here, I printed my screen on to pre-patterned fabric:


I am thinking of stretching some of these over frames to make artworks.



It's all very well printing fabrics, but I also want to be make them into useful items so these are some coin purses that I have made from my earlier test fabrics:


I look forward to continuing my screenprinting journey and perhaps finding focus :-)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I almost don't know what to say! It's been so cold (minus 13 degrees centigrade again this morning!)

So I'll just show some photos that I have taken over the last few days to show how frosty and snowy it's been...



This fence was amazingly frosted over:

The poor sheep, although DS2 assures me they are warm with their wooly coats (poor things!):

Our drive:


The novelty of sledging has definitely worn off for DS2!

Doll Voodooo!

I'm going to do a proper post about the snow, the very low temperatures (MINUS 13 degrees C this morning!!) and my very enjoyable screenprinting night-class, but in the meantime...

For your amusement...

My first attempt at a doll... (without a pattern!!!!)

Made while my mother was still staying with us...



I left it on the sofa and my Mother said that DS1 saw it and was most upset that it didn't have a face. So he made it a face out of pins!



Of course I couldn't finish it after that because every time I look at it, I find the memory so sweet :-) Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!!

Website Wednesday...

www.handsewn.co.uk

Wordless Wednesday

Night-class-less Wednesday too!

Autumn Colours

I finally downloaded some of my Autumn photos...




I heard an 'urban legend' the other day, that if there are lots of berries around it will be a cold winter. There are lots of berries around!!!!




This picture was taken shortly before we needed a change of clothes as he got soaked!:


But he had a great time and we all enjoyed the walk from our favourite cafe to the playground where the other photos were taken...

D.I.Y. DH

Für B.K. ...


... da ist immer was zu renovieren!
(Und vielen Dank für den Anruf!)

Before & After: Living Room Chair

Upholstery has always been something I wished I could do. A few years back I enquired at an upholstery shop if I could be apprenticed, but I was firmly talked out of it.

DS1 sits on this chair in the living room which badly needed a facelift!:



The sides unscrewed nicely so I was able to cover all the visible parts of it as well as making new cushion covers in one of my favourite Sanderson prints.



DS1 likes it very much so job done then :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Night Class

I have been taking a night class for the last few weeks in 'Screenprinted Textiles'. When I was at school I did 'Graphics' which included screenprinting on paper and I have dabbled with a few screenprints on fabrics at home thanks to my kind brother who provided me with screens, squeegees, inks and exposures!



In this class we have been experimenting with designs and techniques using several small images.



I have learnt to try and focus. I say try and focus as I am still struggling to focus LOL.



It has been a lot of fun and I have learnt a lot from our very cool teacher. (Mixing paint is not one of them though - I am useless LOL)



Our tutor brings along inspiration:




Just like the schools we are on half term break for a week. I have homework to do for the next time we are back at class: one big design that I need to have focused on :-)
Here is a start I have made: