abstract painting on canvas

So a painting on canvas isn't quite to do with stitching but I though I'd share some photos of my first (sort of) abstract painting.


I recently completed the Do What You Love e-course organised and run by the lovely Beth. I would highly recommend it for anyone out there who feels maybe a bit lost or looking for a new direction in life. Its defiantly helped me figure so much out and really changed my outlook -for the better- on a lot of things. It lasted 6 weeks so there was quite a few activities that I did as part of the course but this abstract painting task was one I surprisingly totally loved! Aimed at getting you to just go for it and be really random and play with the paint - as long as you had fun it didn't matter what it looked like, or so the task instructions said. 


I found this large canvas in a street near my house a few weeks ago when there was a community clear out day and everyone put there junk out to be collected by the council. As the saying goes one persons rubbish in another persons treasure, or something like that. So I snapped this canvas up along with a few other treasures. 

It was all going pretty random in the beginning. I had always wanted to just flick paint and make a bit of a mess so I got carried away with this for a few layers.

i phone pocket project from Mollie Makes issue 1

After missing the hard copy of issue 1 of Mollie Makes magazine I bought the digital version. I didn't want to miss out on having the free gift though so I used the templates and got some felt and stitched up my own version of the i phone pocket.

Heart screen printed tote bag - step by step pictures too!

Despite being just over a week of the month of love left I thought I'd share this post from the past about this hand screen printed bag I made last year. It has a 3 colour heart design and you can see how I got there with these step by step pictures. 

First of all I cut out the stencils - 3 for each colour.  

Getting all three stencils to line up was the tricky bit so I used this special fabric pen to draw round where I wanted each set of hearts to be. 

Then I ended up with purple hearts on my design. The ink fades when exposed to sunlight so I needn't worry about marker being all over my fabric! This picture shows the last stage of stencil so it was crucial for this one to line up so that the hearts didn't touch each other. 

I then looked through the screen to see where the hearts were. Using the squeegee the paint was forced through the screen - only to the areas exposed by the stencil. 

This is the completed print. I takes about 24 hours to dry then needs a good hot iron to seal the paint onto the fabric. 

I had pre cut my fabric to the size and shape to make a tote bag. 

The handles were reinforced with this 'cross in a box' stitching to make it extra strong for carrying heavy shopping. 

I also used this patterned bias binging to hide my raw seam edges inside to give it a neater finish. 

Its really handy for all sort of things and folds away easily in my hand bag too. I made 6 prints in total so have extra ones spare. I'm thinking of joining the 'giveaway gang' so if you would like to win this hand screen printed bag full of goodies then leave me a comment and keep an eye on the blog for further details!

revamped chair

Last sunday a few of the streets around my house were full of peoples unwanted 'stuff'. There was just about everything from actual rubbish to pool tables, chairs, pictures, clothes horses, baby car seats, boxes, coffee tables, mattresses and the list goes on.
What excitement! I went out wandering with my sis in law and we picked up quite a few interesting things including this boring old chair, unloved and a bit dirty... 

So I cleaned it up, gave it a coat of primer then a coat of this lilac pain I had hanging around

My visual mix tape book art

For those of you who have read previous posts you may remember I was working a theme on a book I made during my book binding workshop back in June. See previous posts What is book art anyway? and drawing with ink pots
Well I finally finished it last week just in time to submit to the MAC anticurate exhibition.


the theme is a mix tape - like a mix tape you would make up for a friend when cassettes were still around -the difference being this is a visual one. Where each song is represented by a picture created using several different mediums including acrylic, pencil sketch, textiles, embroidery and handmade felt.


I've picked the songs because they have meaning to me - either getting stuck in my head and playing over and over (big black horse and a cherry tree by KT Tunstall) or stir up special memories (The Strokes 12:51 - and I'm transported back to T in the Park years ago - singing my heart out while trying to stay balanced on someones shoulders).

so it starts in the box....

then it can open out and stand up on its own for display purposes

Glastonbury Festival 2011

My first experience of glastonbury this year was...well...not what you would probably traditionally expect at a festival...My first pic of mud is of course very typical and I felt it pertinent to include as as you can probably guess there is a lot of mud there! But as i found out there are soooo many other things there too.
We did the big name bands and pop stars we liked but also spent lots time exploring and stumbling across all sorts of stuff......me being me, the craft field was obviously a big highlight :)

This was a piece of art (i guess) made entirely of old stuff, was almost a bit creepy when you looked closely

leather cover pamphlet book

It was my Mums birthday recently and I decided to put my new book binding skills to good use and make her a little note book. I've got so much scrap leather from the loft clear out so decided to use that for the cover.

I tried to sew this little flower on using the machine but the tension was all over the place so I just used the needle to punch holes in it and then hand stitched it on