My creative space

In my creative space today I've got a few updates. Remember this drawing? The other night I turned it into a multicoloured gocco print:
It was my first go at gocco printing using more than one colour at once...after 10 or so prints the colours started blending together a bit so I think next time I'd put some sellotape or dureaseal between the images to keep them separate. I think it'd be fun to have pyjamas with this print on them!

And remember these owls? I've turned one of them into a brooch, which I think Mr. Millicent Crow is road-testing today. I printed the owl onto calico then sewed it onto some wool from a scrappy old blanket. I put a couple of layers of interfacing in the middle to strengthen it.

Here's another picture of it just because I love that old "Flight luggage" logo.

And remember this feather skirt I was making? I completely stuffed it up. But hopefully I'll make another one soon.

What have you been making? Pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog to see lots of other people's creative spaces.

Happy first day of Spring (or Autumn if it's Autumn where you are)!

Back to the drawing board

My feather skirt was all going according to plan - I spent lots of the weekend working on it, and an identical one without the feather...

A little too identical. I had to cut them both a bit shorter, shortened the one with the print, then thought I was shortening the one without the feather...when actually I was cutting 8cm off the printed one I had just shortened, wrecking the print. So now I've got one featherless skirt and one sewing disaster reminding me that there's no rage like sewing rage.

My featherless skirt. 'Scuse the lack of ironing.

Found some pretty geraniums though; they're making their way into a painting.

And at least I didn't sew my finger to my garment this time! How about you, had any sewing disasters lately?

My creative space

In my creative space today I've got a couple of bits and pieces. First up, these two - a practice for some paintings I want to do:
At the moment I'm calling them Pearl and Abe. Pearl is pretty no-nonsense but she's got a heart of gold. Abe likes playing practical jokes, although they sometimes backfire, can't relax unless the house is tidy, and has beautiful penmanship. They're done with ink and a bit of watercolour.

And this is a sneak peek at a skirt I'm making using a giant version of this feather print. I had to make one of the pattern pieces out of a piece of lunchwrap, so fingers crossed it works! I'm always a bit nervous about using my silk screen for things that have to be right the first time - I'm finding it a bit hit or miss, but it seemed to work ok this time. I'm actually making two versions of this skirt, but one without the feather so it won't look like I'm wearing the same skirt every day!

What have you been making?

To see other people's creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

A lunchtime walk, a love story

A few photos from a lunchtime walk to blow out the cobwebs...

And we saw this on the weekend - Florian Habicht's Love Story.

It's wonderful, whimsical, and made me cry a single tear and want to go to New York. You should see it if you get the chance!

My creative space

In my creative space today I've got a drawing I've just finished of a little collection of...stuff I found lying around the house. A minimalist I am not!

I've got a few plans for this drawing. I'm hoping to turn it into a gocco print - maybe a multicoloured one, seeing as I've got a whole lot of new gocco inks I'm itching to use. I'd also like to use it to practise colouring in Photoshop - my sister and I are doing a night class at the moment to learn how to use InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator and we're doing Photoshop next week. The other plan I've got for it is to make it part of a little series of miscellaneous collections from around the house...I sure do have a lot of trinkets and things lying around!

What have you been making?

To see other people's creative spaces for today pop on over to the "Our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Secret memory

My camera has a little internal memory that only holds about 10 photos. Seeing as I only use it when I forget to put the memory card in, the photos that end up in there seem like a bit of a mystery, like a secret memory. Here's what I found in there today:

This one is a building covered in scaffolding and wrapped in plastic. But I like the way it looks like a mountain range!

I guess it's a bit like finding a roll of film you've forgotten to get developed. I've got one of those, that's been sitting around for AGES, I'll have to see what mysterious photos turn up there!

My creative space

For my creative space this week I thought I'd show you a painting I did for a friend's birthday the other day. It's acrylic paint on a linen canvas...I may have just bought a whole lot more of these linen canvases to do some birdie paintings for myself! White swans in NZ are few and far between, so they seem quite magical, although apparently they can be pretty vicious!


What have you been making?

To see other people's creative spaces pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Grey dresses for grey days

I've been making a couple of grey dresses to go with the grey weather outside.

This first one, a rare foray into knit fabrics, is made out of some kind of merino blendy thing and is McCalls M6112. It's a bit clingy, but (hopefully) nothing a slip won't fix, and is toasty warm.

This one's made of grey wool crepe - it's a bit institutional-looking and I possibly have enough of this fabric to make some kind of set of uniforms! It's from my go-to pattern, Vogue 1923, like this one and this one and this one and this one. I originally gave it big patch pockets on the front but they screamed 'homemade' and had to go.

How about you, do you have a favourite go to pattern that you make over and over again?

My creative space

My creative space this week is full of owls, owls, owls.

These little ones, screenprinted on calico, are going to become brooches, a bit like these feathers. I've had a bit of a brooch production line going on lately, I must line up some movies to watch or some podcasts to listen to while I handsew on all those backs!

I've also got some bigger owls, these ones are screenprinted on calico grocery bags.

Stacked up together they kind of remind me of Matryoshka dolls.

What have you been making?

To see other people's creative spaces pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Orangey

My heart leapt when I found this orange enamel pot at the op shop on Saturday. It might need to be christened with a fondue! It matches my orange beads and my orchid perfectly.

Do you know any good vegetarian fondue recipes?