ess-arr: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

Tea For Two.......

.......a pretty quilted wall hanging given to me by my sister many years ago. she hand stitched the appliqued teapot, cups & reused an embroidered doily for the cloth.

the hanging did live on a wall somewhere in the house, i can't remember where.

it's next place of abode was on the seat of a chair, & as things come & go it went to a box in the cupboard along with other bits & pieces that had out lived their lives.

every now & then i pull these boxes from the cupboard to see what they contain, & to see if there is anything that can be reused.

along side the wall hanging there were pieces of block printed calico left over from previous bag makings. most of them blue, my favourite.

one can never have too many bags, so here is my newest.

a good size for shopping or carrying sketch books, or lunch.

side gusset.......

......lined inside, with a pocket......

.........the back, long handles.....

......or short handles.
(raylee).

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Moulding Paste Mixed With Acrylic Paint..........

...... to create texture on a canvas.
to begin i used a previously painted canvas that had random lines drawn into the paint while it was still wet with an old fork.
i repainted over the canvas roughly with white acrylic.
when dry i taped around the sides (green masking tape), to make a border.
at this stage i had no idea what i was going to paint. so decided to challenge myself & use green, not my favourite colour!
i just mixed colours with the moulding paste to see what would happen when they went onto the canvas.
the green was a bit dull by itself, so of course pink made an appearance to liven things up a bit, also not a favourite colour.
sometimes you just do what you have to do!
this shows some detail of the texture created by using the paint mixed with moulding paste & applied fairly thickly.

while all the paint was still wet i again used the fork to create the lines.when it was completely dry removed the tape.
you can see some of the colour from the previous painting on the border.

now hanging on the wall.
(raylee).

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Mango Chutney

i fell in love with mangoes at the first smell........growing up we had never heard of mangoes.
it wasn't till later when we moved from the country into town that mum brought some home from the fruit & vegetable shop.
i had never tasted anything like them before........you just can't eat one.......

i was given some recently,...... well a lot,..... so many we couldn't eat them all.
so i peeled, & cut them up, added garlic, ginger, chilli, spices, salt, sugar & vinegar........

brought all the ingredients to the boil,.......simmered slowly, let it cool for awhile.......mango chutney!

spooned the chutney into jars.

put labels on the jars........ i found the labels in a magazine ......."daphne's diary" www.daphnesdiary.com

went through my scraps of fabric (all bought at the op shop), found some pink block printed calico, ( previously curtain lining that i had block printed with acrylic paint & textile medium to make bags), some pieces of floral linen & an embroidered doily , & tied these onto the lids with raffia.

my favourite part of this was not the cooking, but decorating the jars & taking the photos.
(raylee).

Sunday, January 26, 2014

dollies again

two new dollies for the collection...

found a baby doll pattern...

that I had to fiddle with to get the head right...

she has a bib...

and a nappy that can be changed....

with the help of a couple of press studs...

and she also has a blanket to be wrapped in...

she became Miss 4's birthday present...

and she is loved...

but a lot of work cause she constantly needs a nappy change...

and this dolly will have an awake face...

on the white side ( as first photo shows)...

and an asleep face on the pink side...

when I get around to it...

Happy Australia Day!!!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hibiscus Love....

let us not therefore
go hurrying about
& collecting honey, bee -like,
buzzing here & there impatiently
from a knowledge of what is to be arrived at.
but let us open our leaves like a flower,
& be passive & receptive.
-john keats.

(raylee).

Friday, January 17, 2014

Horses & The Noosa Hinterland

as you can see i haven't been doing anything creative this week........but i have been out & about looking at the countryside.
open spaces mean freedom.
i have always loved horses, all shapes & sizes.
riding a horse is one of the greatest forms of freedom ever!

thanks for visiting our blog.
a good weekend to all.
(raylee).