A worthy creation

I love expressing myself ( or trying to) by slapping paint, fabric & stitches about but I sometimes feel a little guilty that it might be considered occasionally to be a frivolous pursuit.

So I was delighted to be asked by one of my customers to make her a functional, useful & well, worthy, padded gauntlet to protect her Ulna bone when playing the guitar .

You'd have been proud of my measurements & trying to think in 3D - the main padding is in the middle panel, above; 2 layers of soft batting & thin foam in the middle. One side has just 2 layers of batting & the other I thought of thinning the whole thing a little & cut one layer of batting out before I sewed up that side. I'll just have one layer each side next time.

Of course, it never occurred to me, this being my first heavily padded item, that the padding would add over an inch to the measurements so I added a panel, above on the right to which I stitched the 3 strips of Velcro (easier to manage than buttons & loops & not noticeable if worn under the sleeve). Amazingly I thought of the solution to this problem  (I know, obvious to some) while laying in bed the morning my customer was to arrive for a fitting - I don't usually think in the morning - & true to form (I did have B&B prep) I was putting the last few stitches in as she arrived. She was delighted & I really felt I had made something very useful.

A warm welcome to new followers, it's been a while so I'm delighted! Do leave me a comment so I can visit you at yours.

I've been making cards, too.

 Above turned into these, below, ready to mount (the colorful background papers needs stitching)

 I thought I'd photographed the flower stamp I made but I did take a pic of the dried seaweed, below that inspired the stamp I cut out of foam. Fiddly tho. 

 I've been watching the wildlife on the shore in front of the house, geese & deer, while getting the place ready for the start of the season.

 I even managed a trip up the Island to Skyeworks Gallery last week with a top up order

 Isle Ornsay lighthouse

& had to get my camera out to take these pics on a bright clear day with fresh snow on the hill. 

Cuillin Hills

then a delicious lunch in the Isle of Skye Baking Co below the Gallery  (& cake ;)

A sprinkling of snowdrops

I've been working on some textile pieces around the theme of snowdrops. I am enthralled by them & I was trying desperately to finish them before the snowdrops disappeared!

Above is a narrow sketchbook given to me by a friend - I gessoed the brown pages & will use it as a flower book, as they come out in my garden, helped hopefully by the inspiring DMTVvideos by Linda & Laura Kemshall that I subscribe to, small bite size clips that I plan to work thru.....

All the rest of the photos are looking decidedly sepia - I guess they are that color & I don't always have access to good daylight ;) Above I layed out & loosely stitched down some varying textures of white, gold & lacy recycled fabrics - I didn't use bondaweb as it's getting hard for me to stitch into.

 I'd been round the shops in Edinburgh when we had a stop over picking up the Youngest for our journey to Wales for Christmas & found this wonderful collection of lace for a very reasonable price

Above is a 'small hanging', about 5" x 13" In the middle, not desperately clear, is a sprig of Pussy Willow using scrim & bits of tea dyed silky fabric for the 'whisps'. I may need to define it somehow & also add a couple of stems to make the snowdrops 'nod'

Above is an abstract version, needs more hand stitching, (about 5 x 5" as are the next 2)

 I made a total of 15 little drop petals, using the miss shapen ones for my sample piece. I learned to use a stablising fabric for the 'silky' ones as they obviously just curve in - I did stuff the one in my sample piece, a little bit of stmpwork! I've used lacey bits too in the willow above.

 I left the middle petal half free & knowing someone might take a peek used a textured fabric for the underside.

 
 There's gold organza for the top or crown  of the flower.

 A couple of small brooch sized patches & all the bits I cut the petals from I turned into a flower

Here it is in my 'main' sketchbook page - a drawn & gold painted layout - oh how I love that gold acrylic! a ref pic from a mag - I'm trying to sort my piles of gardening mags useful for reference but I reaslise you just don't need to keep them ALL ;) & my sample piece about 4 x 4 so good to be able to touch what you've made in your sketchbook when the 'real' pieces are either covered up or sold, what a favour I did myself when I started to make samples!

I'm off the the Creative Stitches Show this week at the Glasgow SECC, which they've changed to the Quilting, Stitching & Sewing show or something  like that, can't wait, books to buy, stitchers to see, it'll be fun!