Paintings 3 and 4

Two little paintings today for my February challenge (I'm trying to catch up on the first 2 lost days - 2 tomorrow and I'll be back on track!). Another bird and some tiny feathers...

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle some eggs..

A painting a day

I was reading Claire's lovely blog Paint Drops Keep Falling on Saturday and was interested in her idea of doing a painting a day throughout February. I've decided to join in although I didn't start until Sunday so I'm 2 paintings down already!

I have a large blank wall in my studio which I'm going to use to display my February paintings. I started by putting up a bird painting I actually did a couple of weeks ago so have decided to keep with the bird theme and have added yesterday's and today's. By the end of the month I hope to have a wall full of birdy art to brighten up the space. I like the idea of not trying to complete a big painting but just making sure you paint something, however small, everyday.

Playday!

On Friday we woke up to a snowy scene. The back garden looked like this...

All the local schools were shut so no work for me and boys at home so I took full advantage of this bonus day to play in the garden and in my studio! Mabel had never seen proper snow before and after her initial surprise she decided she loved it and had to be dragged inside regularly to defrost!

I painted a little bird and had a go at some embroidery - still having fun experimenting with this. I also sorted out a pattern and fabric for my first homemade outfit of 2013! I hope to make this at the weekend although it probably won't be warm enough to wear it for quite a while!

When in doubt, doodle!

My plans to do more embroidery were halted when I sat in front of my fabric and threads and had a complete mental block! So I did what I always do when I'm thinking about things, which is doodle. I'm not even aware I'm doing it half the time but when I'd finished this particular doodle I thought it might have some potential as an embroidery so I gave it a lick of paint to see how it would look in colour. With a bit of simplification I think it might work.

It's not a great photo as the light was so poor. It's freezing today so to cheer up my little studio I hung some crocheted bunting in the window.

My blanket still isn't finished! I'm starting to hate it (or at least the making of it!) particularly as I've told myself I can't start anymore yarny projects until it's done. Each row takes me an evening and then  I have to sew in the 120 ends before I start the next row! At least I can console myself with the lovely colours waiting in my basket to be used.

Organising...

My poor studio has been sadly neglected of late and had become a dumping ground for all sorts of things as I tidied the house in the run up to Christmas. So yesterday I decided to give it a much needed sort out and  reorganise all my bits of crafty equipment to encourage me to be more creative in 2013.

I've moved all my woolly supplies and crafty books into here so that I've got everything under one roof. I've also unearthed my embroidery supplies and spent a very happy time winding all my threads onto cards.

I have plans for stitching some little birds, leaves and fish and displaying them in embroidery hoops so I played about with some ideas before resuming my tidying!

I've now got an organised studio and am all prepared for a creative 2013!

Inspiration

I was delighted to find a much wanted book under the Christmas tree yesterday. "Mark Hearld's Workbook" is a fabulous collection of his rich and textural art. I love the way he uses collage and linoprinting in particular, and after 3 weeks of complete creative lethargy I feel inspired to get back in my studio and make some marks! Hopefully I'll have something to show quite soon.

I've also returned to this blanket after weeks of shameful neglect! I've managed to track down all the colours I need to finish it and am aiming to complete it before term starts again in couple of weeks!

Small changes

I used to make a lot of my own clothes, but haven't done so for years. I recently bought some lovely fabric with the intention of starting up again, so naturally I turned to the blogging world for inspiration. I discovered two blogs in particular which have fired me up to not only make my own clothes, but to refashion old clothes. Refashionista and Charityshopchic both take charity shop finds and turn them into  stylish, original clothes. I have therefore decided to make an early New Year's resolution and not buy any new clothes for a year (with the exception of underwear and shoes!), and instead make my own, or alter old ones.

I made a small start yesterday by taking this plain but well worn cardi and adding a little embellishment.

Ages ago I bought some crochet cotton and a teeny weeny hook but couldn't then decide what to do with it.

I decided to add a little crocheted hem to the cardigan.  I started by doing blanket stitch along the bottom and then did two rows of double crochet followed by a simple scalloped edge. The stitches were tiny and took longer than expected and by the time I finished I had abandoned my plan of going up the button band and around the cuffs as well!

 

I'm now looking for some little green buttons to replace the existing ones. Very small changes indeed, but it's a start!