wild blaeberries and wild sewing

Most people are familiar with blueberries, today they are recognised as a superfood, packed with health giving antioxidants. Made into delicious smoothies and indulgent muffins they have so many uses. 

Fewer people  would know of its smaller cousin the bilberry or blaeberry.

As a child I was brought up on the north west coast of scotland. The land is windswipt and heather clad. Heather made a great playground, I remember making dens in the springy mounds. In amongst the heather mounds we would often find wild Blaeberries. I think the word is just used in Scotland, but I may be wrong.

Shiny garnet/ black jewels.

Smaller than blueberries and difficult to find as the bushes are low growing and mingle with the heather.

Artistic licence means my version are crimson with black stems. I also added gold flakes before stitching which shimmer as if in the sunshine.

The Blaeberry panel was made with paper cloth sewn and fixed to a wooden panel.

Another of my wild sewing series.

Linking to Paint party friday

Inky skies

last week I had been working small on sewn landscape collages, this week I started working on larger pieces

Muted purples and inky skies.

Then working larger using paper cloth and intuitive sewing!

A little cottage nestles in the swirls

I use the paper cloth to help me choose where to take the lines.

And, my 'cast off blanket' is finished, and my leg cast is off too.....

slowly getting back to normality.  ;)

'Wee ones' and a sombre self portrait!

 Yes, I have  been busy sewing this week again!

This week lots of  'wee ones' made from paper cloth like this!

This is one I made earlier ;)

 appliquéd and sewn
 then stretched over small wooden panels.

once stretched the panels were backed neatly with felt. Ready to be hung.

detail

The above are some close up details.

On this piece I needle felted a few orange tufty flowers.

 And finally..
 linking up to paint party friday and their special birthday party self portrait theme. As regular visitors may know I am laid up with a foot fracture and seem to have spent the whole of 2015 hibernating so my self portrait looks rather sombre. I  only wear glasses for reading and drawing, so to my annoyance had to draw myself wearing them..perhaps that added to my sombre mood. ;)

self portrait

collage with thread

Well I am still recuperating from my foot fracture, thanks for all your well wishes, they really cheered me up.
Life on crutches is very frustrating and I have been looking for ways to fill my time that require minimal movement. Painting you would think would be simple with one leg, and it is! Cleaning up though is not so quite so simple!
 Crutches require both arms and hands, so cleaning brushes, emptying water, in fact getting messy is really not good. Collage making too, with glue and paper is equally messy and difficult.
Sewing however is not messy, It can be done with my foot elevated and pedal-less! I discovered my machine can be used without the foot pedal, using a switch on the machine instead... simple!! This made me very happy.. ;)

I made a stack of paper cloth over christmas which was fortunate and used stitch instead of glue to collage everything together,

This gives you an idea of scale, it is reasonably large.

you may also remember my ' cast off' crochet blanket, well it is growing slowly.....

It probably wont be finished by the time my leg cast is removed, however I am not expecting miracles and know it will be a little while till I can throw away the crutches, so I will be needing a sofa project for a wee while yet!

Linking up to

Paint party friday

Unfortunate and fortunate. My right foot.

Today it's not so much what is on my desk, as I can't get to it at the moment, but what is on my lap!

I mentioned in my last post that I had been ill with pneumonia and was at last on the mend....

Well life often throws us a curved ball and within days of that last post I had fallen down my steps and fractured my foot!
I have never broken a bone before and nor do I want to again. Life on crutches is proving tricky as I can't weight bear for around 4 weeks. :(
Things I take for granted are often out of reach, my house has become an assault course, and trips up or down stairs to be viewed with trepidation.


I have started to sketch on my  lap, it is hard to get things easily to hand so I am using what is easy to get hold of.

Sketching with Inktense pencils.

I have used some of the lovely get well flowers sent to me as inspiration.

I have been doodling flowery patterns too.

Also... Big Tah dah...

 I have spent my sofa time learning to crochet, something that until last week had baffled me! Now courtesy of you tube I am beginning a blanket. By the time my cast comes off I want it to be finished. It will be a reminder of how much I take my mobility for granted and how lucky I am to be fit and able bodied ( Usually) Many are not so lucky and it is not a case of enforced rest for a few weeks and the removal of a cumbersome cast.

  

I may be unfortunate, but I am fortunate in so many ways.

linking up to WOYWW this week as I have lots of time to seek out woolly inspiration.;)

 Learning to Crochet

Linking up to  Paint party friday too where I have lots of time to peruse this weeks artful meanderings.

Daffodils

Neocolor crayon and collage on bamboo paper

It's been a few weeks since I last posted having been struck down by a horrible virus, which then left me with pneumonia. I  am not a good patient but lack of energy and breath made doing nothing very easy!!

Feeling the energy levels returning I finally opened my tin of neoocolor crayons for the first time in weeks to do a little sketch.

I am still not up to full speed yet but each day I can do a little more.
I sketched some of my  'get well Daffodils' They are such joyful flowers.
 I added some book-paper petals before the water wash.

And  using picmonkey I  blended the original photograph and the neocolor drawing.

Hope to be up to full speed, blogging and creating very soon.....

Linking to Paint party Friday

After the storm

The skies have been heavy with storms

The year has begun with a roar.

Not the weather for venturing far from shelter.

I have been sewing again, I find it comforting and therapeutic on these dark evenings.

 This piece was the begining of a happy accident, the sort of accident where despite failure something better comes along...

You know the feeling... we have an idea...it starts off well but then begins to go wrong. We struggle with it... but in the end realise it just isn't working...

I  had been contemplating how in my textile seascapes the sea never looks as water-like as I wanted it too. Fabric is just too matt.
 I decided to see if I could fix tin foil to fabric with bondaweb to add some watery sparkle.

Yay!!! It worked!!
 In fact it looked, once I had ironed the foil down to the backing fabric like cosmonaut suit material  ready to use for the next mission to mars!!

Then I made the mistake of adding seagull shapes. This didn't work but I did re-use some of the ink splattered foiled fabric.

 I sewed some sequins and pieced it patchwork fashion together with some fabric papers. I love the shimmery surface.

And below the finished textile panel.

I like the unfinished surround so may leave it like that when I decide how to frame it.

So busy this week totally forgot I needed a birthday card for my Mum.

So here is a super fast way to make one ...

Look through your paper stash for a nice paper napkin.....

Cut out and sew the poppy to some brown card...

Using a white marker draw a quick stem...
quick, easy and sweet......................... :)


Linking to WOYWW

And Paint Party Friday