Ready, Steady, Go ...1,2, 3

It's that time of the year again when I participate in the global art challenge #the100dayproject .... I have done this for the last five years and I love doing it. Sometimes, the idea of creating something for 100 consecutive days just seems ridiculous, but I've learnt over the years not to do something too ambitious, and to have an idea or theme which is entirely achievable. Today it all seems easy - it is only Day 3.

This year, 2024, I have decided to follow colour prompts curated by artist, EsteMacLeod. - Este publishes these colour palettes each week, and I thought using these means that half the work is already done. My 100 day project will be then to make responses to these prompts and work on each palette for a week for the duration.

1/ #100daysofcolourcombo - Bubblegum Cat

Day 1 Bubblegum Cat .... a Laurel Burch print , overstitched in bubblegum coloured thread. This particular technique follows these steps:

- stitch around the shape ( two pieces of fabric together)

- make a slit in the back of the figure, through the one layer of fabric only

- stuff the figure being careful to fill the extreme points

(I use wool stuffing, but polyfill is fine)

- cut carefully leaving a small seam around the edge of the figure

- paint the border of fabric beyond the stitched outline - front and back). (I painted the lighter colour first, and then painted stripes in black paint) . Acrylic paint is fine.

2/ #100daysofcolourcombo : Bubblegum Landscape Dreams

Day 2 : Bubblegum Landscape Dreams is a collage using recycled paper and postage stamps ... Apologies to all the philatelists - I was given a set of 4 Van Gogh [postage stamps and have kept them in my stash for years until yhesterday - I found a use.... the burnt orange and egg yolk colours were irresistible. The theme of people looking through windows is common in my work.... that's an interesting observation in itself - I wonder if this can be interpreted to have a deeper meaning, as in dream analysis. The background fantasy forest is a stitched magazine cover.

Day 3 : Bubblegum Celebration is an explosive circle of colour comprising more circles.... they are raw edge appliqued and reverse appliqued in the colours of the palette. As I was teaching a friend to free motion machine stitch, I extended my demonstration of the technique to make this sample. I have mounted it into a square greeting card and think it would be suitable for an happy occasion or wild event! All these fabrics were in my scrap tin, so they have been rescued from landfill. There is no special meaning here, just a celebration of colour!

What have I learnt over the last 3 days :

1. Setting some time aside each day is still a challenge

2. Working with set colours can be very restricting

3. Working outside my comfort zone of colours was quite a lot of fun.

4. Process not perfection counts!

Please follow my 100 day artful journey with me - here on this blog, or for a daily fix on my Instagram page.

Too Precious to Waste

Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons More than a year ago, a decision was made. The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2] A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that ...

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Countdown to Christmas 7- Fruitcake Lady

from Facebook Page /The Fruitcake Lady There are not many people who can say they showed Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise how to make fruitcake on TV. Marie Rudisill (1911-2006), known as the Fruitcake Lady was an author, a celebrated cook and a minor TV personality. She was well known on US television as a 90+year old who appeared regularly on "The Tonight Show" hosting an" agony aunt" segment, giving advice on all kinds of life's issues. Her forthright answers and wicked sense of humour endeared her to audiences although she was outspokenly intolerant and irrationally biased. The Fruitcake Lady's other claim to fame was that she was the aunt of Truman Capote, highly acclaimed author, and this connection was used in her own writing. Her published works included: Truman Capote , The Story of His Bizarre and Exotic Childhood by an Aunt Who Helped to Raise Him (1983) Sook's Cookbook : Memories and Traditional Recipes from the Deep South (1989) ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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