Tims August Tag

Had a fabulous time at T!ms UK event yesterday and I guess spending a few hours surrounded by lots of crafty folk has reinvigorated my papercrafting mojo as I have managed to grab an hour today to do T!ms August tag:

Have kept it fairly simple as I am also entertaining the children at the same time!  I did the background with Frayed Burlap and Iced Spruce stains, the stamps are from Artful Flight -CMS069.  The bird was stamped with Stazon and cut out from a masking sheet, then I stamped the image on the tag with Jet Black Archival and placed the mask over the top.  The nest was then stamped with Coffee archival and the cage from Crimson archival.  I then, with the mask still in place, inked the edges of the tag with Vintage Photo and over and around the tag with Mustard Seed.  When I removed the mask the image does indeed pop! 

I usually use post-it notes for my masks as I never like the area that never stamps properly around the edges of the layered image where it meets the mask, and the post-its, being slimmer, alleviate this problem, but now I have discovered the technique of leaving the mask in place and inking over and around it with blending tools (I find it very strange that I have never tried this before! I think I have always removed my masks straight after stamping)  I am much happier and will probably use these types of masks again - yes I think my mojo may be returning!  We shall see when the children go back to school next week as I am hoping not only to have a bit more time to myself but also a lot more energy!

Thanks for looking - Still on high from yesterdays class from Solihull

Hexie Blog Hop

Hi everyone,

It's my showcase day for the hexie blog hop and here is my project:

It's made up of 578 1/2" hexagons and measures 25.5" x 16".  I got the idea from the fabulous Hexa Go Go book by Tacha Bruecher who had a union flag in the back of the book but I didn't like that design as I am a true Brit and like my flag to have the bottom left hand side having a wider white part at the top of the red diagonal.  So I downloaded some blank hexagonal grid paper from www.incomptech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal and got busy designing - three evenings later I had finally ended up with a Union flag that looked correct so I purchased a set of Sizzix hexagonal dies cut out hundreds of .5" hexes from freezer paper - ironed them onto spare red, white and blue fabrics and got stitching.  Imagine my horror when I had it completed and compared it next to a picture of the Union flag to realise I had got it wrong!  (lesson learn't there to check out the item I am replicating first!)  So, being the fussy person I am, I unpicked the top left and bottom right hand sections and redid them (only took a couple of extra hours - no biggie really!) - it means the red diagonals don't got right into the corners as the true flag would but at least the blue sections are correct - who knew that the four middle blue sections are the same size? Not me anyway!

I was a bit worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew taking on this project as I only had four weeks in which to complete it but I managed to get the whole thing done in just two weeks! I was rather pleased with myself even if the house was a bit of a tip for a while!

For my second project I have done the table runner from the above book:

The white doesn't look so good on the picture but it does stand out in real life - here is a closeup:

 - and just to add my own twist (the above is basically straight out of the book) here is my own design on the back:

 

here is another closeup:

 

I used some wonderful Westminster Christmas fabrics that I won in the Ho Ho Ho hop last year.  I can't wait to use it as it will make a fantastic addition to my Christmas table this year!

Hope you have enjoyed my entries - here are the other sewers who are sharing my hop day:

Sunshine Girl Nicola you are here!

Cheryl James

    Fish Kopp   

Grizz 'n' Dove   

Secretly Stitching  

In the Boon Docks  

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs 

Quilt Doodle Designs 

Ridge Top Quilts 

KaHolly 

Why-Knot-Kwilt

So pop along and check out all of their creations too :)  Also I want to say a big thank you to Debby and Mdm Samm for organising this wonderful hop.

Just edited this to add that if you were in the Dresden plate hop earlier this year you may remember my cog quilt - well its being published this month (September issue) in the British magazine Sewing World - very exciting!

Reedited again to add the Dresden link http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/i-dared-to-dresden.html - never thought of that - thanks KaHolly!

Thanks for looking - addicted to hexies from Solihull

Toot

Gosh its an age since I have blogged - over a month in fact!  Nothing wrong just having some pc downtime at the moment and getting on with lots of home/craft projects rather than spending hours on pinterest!

Anyway a short post from me (need to get back in the swing of it I guess - hee hee) but I just wanted to shout out to the rooftops that I have been published this month in the British magazine Sewing World - I have been published numerous times in papercrafting magazines over the years but this is my first venture into sewing articles - let me know if you read it.

Am currently snowed under with sewing projects - I am in a blog hop for hexagons next Wednesday and in a pin cushion hop in September (have made four in the last two weeks) so its all go!

Thanks for looking - Enjoying the holidays in Solihull