website trouble

There seems to be something up with my website server. I can't contact them as their own site is playing up as well so I can only hope they sort it out quickly

Bilbert's Adventures part the first

Morning All

I arrrived in Oxfordshire is first class style (thank you claire and postie) and the first thing to do was meet the rest of the gang. From the left there was Jarath, Jack Sparrow *WOW a real pirate! The Librarian, Ben the biker who I though was scary looking at first but he's a real teddy bear once you get to know him and Lady Loveday, a beautiful steampunk lady who has promised me a ride on her Zepplin tomorrow, I wonder if Naomi will lend me some goggles

Next person I met was Naomi's latest project, a beautiful winged mermaid.

Icould really go for this wing lark, save a load of postage if I could just fly everywhere

Not too sure about this fella tho, says he's called Fred but apart from that he didn't talk much

Bilbert the plushie has arrived!!

Bilbert, the beautiful plushie from doodledollies arrived yesterday and is making himself at home.

Knit1Treble2: Team Challenge #8

Knit1Treble2: Team Challenge #8: "A creative challenge hosted by the knit1treble2 team which is open to all members of Etsy.  You may enter as many times as you like! To ..."

knitt1treble2 team challenge#8
Carnival Town - Hot Pink and Lime
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTAyMTU4NDh8NTc5NjM5MDc3/carnival-town

Knit1Treble2: We have a winner ...

Knit1Treble2: We have a winner ...: "The winning treasury for challenge #7 is Floral Festivity by Knitella20011 . Thank you to previous winner TheFluffyDuck who says 'Knite..."

Featuring my Bumblebee Textile Cuff - Things that happen on a Midsummer Night - No 3 Mixed Media Experimental Feminine Layered Lace Art Textile Cuff

Treasury Features and New Treasuries from us

Thank you to Pookledo for featuring my Pleasure Garden pendant in her Treasury

My Garden is my Favourite Teacher




My Belov'd Brought Back Ginger


Paint The Sky With Stars

Mermaid Art Doll project #5 - Wings - a mad burst of creativity

A mad burst of creativity yesterday has resulted in my mermaid's wings cut out, stitched up and half decorated in the space of about an hour. Thankfully I had my wits about me enough to actually take some photographs whilst I was doing it.

I had been looking at a wonderful book called 'The Birth of Dragons' and it had such wonderful illustrations that it kicked off my muse.

I started out with a simple hand drawn paper template that I cut out in two layers, one of strong whtite cotton and one of muslin.

I then stitched around the outside to secure and form my tattered couture edge

these are my two wings all cut out, edge stitched and ready to work on

I did a mix of zig zag stitch in dark tan and straight stitch in greens, yellow and cream around the outside and stitched my leaf shapes in green and tan to form the pattern for my reverse applique ( I've not made reverse applique since college so was a bit nervous of going through the whole lot)

I then did a load of free form motion embroidery to give it a padded, layered look and to create the shapes of wings sections

These are my wings not yet RA'd but all stitched up. I'm really pleased with the effect

Treasuries

Thank you to Voila for adding my Troubadour Jumper to her treasury list



Thank you to Vollage for adding our Bluebell Woods Cufflinks to her treasury



Thank you to Voila for adding our 'Things That Happern on a Midsummer Night' cuff to her treasury

Mermaid Art Doll#4 and some research on mermaids with wings

The muse has not been forthcomig of late for my doll but I hope over the w/e I can really work on her

So far I've added sequins to her tail and embroidered the ends of the tail in green thread.

My next task is her wings.

Mu inspiration for giving her wings as an image from Das Buch der Nature in which there are all manner of fantastic creature one of whome is a winged mermaid. This was popular in the Middle Ages and was thought to represent the bird sirens of classical myth guiding the spirits to the afterlife.

this is the image I've been talking about

A search for mermaids with wings comes up with a few references to medieval carvings ,a strange tattoo that seems ot be part mermaid, part lionface, a truly gorgeous Raku pottery water angel that I recommend anyone looks at (here) from an artist called Nadine Unsworth and in images you get children's costumes, folk art and the odd altered barbie but not much else.

My idea is to have three layers, One of the same heavy dutty cotton as her body is made of, one of muslin and one of either green organza or light green cotton.

Step two will be to cut them out in the wing shape and machine stitch around the edges to give an organic look to them. I will then be doing some more stitching and reverse appliquing the layers so you can see all three fabrics and hand decorating with seed beads and metallic paint. I did do some sketches of what I wanted to creae but my track record of keeping with design plans is pretty loose so I'm going to 'wing it' no pun intended

A Whole Bunch of Treasuries

Two Treasuries for the 1000 things alpaca treasury comp

The Inventor's Daughter Gets Married - A Steampunk Treasury





Whispers of Summer Fading into Fall





Our Jacob Fleece has been featured in this beautiful treasury

The Falling Leaves Drift By My Window




Ode to a Pale Songbird