travel bag

I needed a bag for overnight trips, I had a small remnant of this fabric, I adore fabric generally and pounce like a demon on anything that is unusual, I also enjoy the technical challenge of making the most out of a small piece.



This bag is fully lined, piped seams, zipper on top and a sturdy webbing handle, from webbing from the always fantastic Frankles trimmings in the east end of London.





I made the beaded tassle to add interest.

art shrine, siren song

This shrine a lot lighter, different shape as the space is somewhat less defined than the previous one, and quite different, it is a papier mache fish. I tried to creat a microcosm inside, it contains a shipwreck on the rocks, lured there by siren song, and of course treasure waiting to be discovered. I find that I cannot escape the themes of seduction and womenhood in anything that I do. (I am still waiting for the perfect tiny image or figure of a mermaid for this one.)

The bottom level is the bottom of the sea, with shells and treasure,

the next level up is the surface of the sea, shipwrecked boat and rocks and the ships bell tolling its doom.

the topmost section is bright and has sun bleached coral, (collected from beaches near the great barrier reef) representing air.

this is the whole thing in situ on a blue wall, I wanted it to blend more than standout of the wall.

sock monkeys

I adore sock monkeys as does my daughter, so I had to have a go at making some, these are the boys, one of them is already on the way to the US (charlie), one is hanging around on the ceiling (harry) the other two are currently waiting on new hairdos and will be in my daughters stocking for christmas.

photos from our trip to switzerland

We went to the south of switzerland, the ticino region, and it is a stunningly beautiful place.

This is from the terrace of a resturant at the top of a mountain, it was simply the best pizza and the most stunning view ever
Verscio, a very pretty little village, with its own mime theatre

The view from the train on the way home.

halloween swap

I have been mostly focusing on craft swaps for the last few months, its currently keeping me sane during building work! These are some of the items that I have sent for a 13 days of halloween swap recently, I find my partners through the wonderful wonderful http://www.craftster.org/
For this swap I sent painted and printed t-shirts, embroidered hats, purses, bags and lots of appliqued items. And of course tons of jewellery. I love the imagry of skulls and the whole iconography of dios de los muertos

Medieval re-enactment, my other obsession

I have been a member of the society for medieval re-enactment (SCA) for quite a few years now. I have to confess to knowing bugger all about history but I do love sewing, I particularly love making lots of elaborate garb. I made this tabard for a friend of mine, its mostly made in velvet with the images appliqued on. It took more time than I care to remember but it looks fab on him!

cheats wristlets

A swap partner wanted a pair of knitted wristlets, but since the nuns at school, beat all the love of knitting out of me, I wasnt game to pick up a pair of pointy objects again, so I cheated, an old cable knit sweater was chopped up. stitched to stabilise the knitting and voila!

sewing

I have also been working a lot with fabric lately, lots of swaps, lots of bags, lots of sewing.

here are some of the random bags that I have made for swaps for other people in the last few months.

This bag was made from vintage fabric and has a winged heart on the front.

I went a little mad on the embellishment of this one, the dragon fly is hand embroidered and beaded onto an iridescent fabric, to try and capture the beauty of the wings of dragonflies,

The back of the bag has two smaller dragonflies, also embroidered and beaded in the same way, the fabric is also vintage.