Bind weed

We have had a couple of very warm, calm days, so it was up early to have a bonfire of all the weeds and cuttings. We wait until there is no wind at all and then have to extinguish the fire before midday. We collected all the various piles, which made the garden tidier. 

I then tackled a rather forlorn and forgotten area down near the wood shed. This area leads onto the 2nd terrace and was covered in bind weed, the flowers are very pretty, being purple, oh but it is such a thug and strangles everything. I rescued the grape vine from the tangles, then tugged and pulled at the vines. Such hard work but the result was quite amazing.

Still a bit to do.

The next morning, again we could burn, so set about the walk through area, such a mission, untangled some items that had been unceremoniously dumped, questioning as to why this was so, off to the dump, but anyway, the bind weed had really taken over, years ago we had a wire gate to ward off the boar, this had since collapsed and made such a great platform for the weeds. Intertwined through out the wire and wire fence beyond, including some old pallets,  nightmare, anyway suffice to say some headway was made and we still had enough time to burn. Except I continued, so we have another builders bag ready waiting. 

I can only do this if I´m sitting down, so a bit laborious, I always wear gloves, as you never know what is lurking under the shadows, and I always make a noise to make sure there are no snakes, 

Aha, a fence and gate posts.

I have a wicker baby/dolls/teddy bear seat which I thought Theo might like as his own, so I made a new cushion from dinosaur fabric and he loved it. I found a two tier shelf unit and made it into a toy zone for him. 

He is not so happy putting a jumper on at the moment, but as soon as I gave him one Yaya had  just made, it went straight on, bless.

We went down the mountain for a little visit yesterday afternoon, what a pleasure to be able to do so, I am so enjoying having them so near after so long.

Today, well that has had to be a chill and recover day, another one tomorrow

take care

xcx

Wacky techniques

Thought I´d share another needle case I made ages ago, with 8 layers, it takes a good stash of different needles.

The technique is using felt as the base material and paper. Years ago when the weekend papers had colourful supplements, I would save the best pictures to use, they had to be printed ones, not glossy or it didn´t work.

It´s a great way to experiment with the decorative stitches on the sewing machine. Match the felt backing to the picture and gently pin together. Stitch at will (avoiding the pins) reasonably close together, then you can use it like this or gently dampen the paper and fork out bits to reveal the felt below

When dry,  paint on acrylic wax and again dry. A couple of coats keeps it supple and slightly glossy. Use the fabric for what ever you want, stitch through it, seams etc, its very pliable. 

I made book coverings, 3D hexagonal boxes, where ever your imagination takes you. It was a great way to create your own unique fabric. Ok, it´s a little faded now but still intact

About this time I was experimenting with different everyday items just for fun. Try making a sandwich with 2 layers of cling film and filings from wax crayons, protect between 2 lays of greaseproof/waxed paper (an absolute must or your iron ends up a mess) and press a relative hot iron on the paper,  the wax melts and the cling film fuses, stitch, glue, use as background for card making, endless.

  Cut little pieces of thicker carrier bags, different colours, they melt and shrivel and create amazing patterns. Again protect your iron.

I even did a stint of cutting carrier bags into strips and crochet with a large hook, must admit that one didn´t last long as it was tough on the hands.

Theo and Rebecca had a mid week sleep over this week, we had so much fun, after a long walk to collect leaves, flowers and interesting items, we were ready to glue and paint. No paint!! so I mixed flour with a little water and food colouring, hey presto paint. Drawing, play doh, puzzles, numbers and letters and so much laughter and giggles. Don´t know about Theo but I needed a nap lol

Have a lovely weekend what ever you are doing

take care

xcx

  

 

Stumpwork

Gosh, first week of February already gone!

The 29th was Rebecca and Antoni´s first meeting anniversary and they invited us to join them for a meal. It was an Italian restaurant, don´t think I have ever been to one before as usually I would be quite restricted with the menu with all the cheeses and creams, but with so much choice I was fine. Thoroughly enjoyable, lovely company and Theo was so good and enjoyed his meal too. 

We had some nice warm sunny days so more garden clearing, another huge pile ready for burning, at least Chris managed to clear the first one. We have strict restrictions for this on the campo so it can be a challenge to have the correct weather conditions at the same time as being permitted.

One of my needlecases was looking very forlorn, grubby and even a few rusty needles, not good. I was having a sort out and came across a little case I had made ages ago but did´nt use. Time to rectify that and I´m enjoying using it.

 It´s 4 inches square and the motif is stumpwork/needlelace. I haven´t done any stumpwork for ages, I suppose other things have come along, but it is a technique that I really enjoyed doing. It has a hard front and back and opens out like this

Why didn´t I use it before, there´s a question. I found other completed stitcheries that really just need to be made into something, I will have to see what I can do.

take care

xcx