I won a prize!!!! I was lucky enough to be picked out of the hat for the prize given by Fan My Flame on the occasion of her 300th post. Gina also happens to be my lovely, talented and inspirational tutor on the Machine Embroidery City and Guilds course I'm doing at Studio 39. The parcel arrived today, and it was so beautifully wrapped, I was loathe to open it. 
But in the end, I couldn't contain myself ..... and inside was this gorgeous handmade book with a machine embroidered cover! And as if that wasn't enough , there was another package tucked inside the pages of the book. 
Again, beautifully wrapped, and inside this parcel was .............................
Chocolate!!! Thank you so much Gina, it's a wonderful generous present and I'll treasure it. Well, maybe not the chocolate. I'll probably save that for a special occasion. Like a wet Wednesday evening in June. Oh, that'll be tonight then!
I had another surprise today. I've got a phormium (or is it a cordyline) growing in my garden. As I was looking out of the window today, I noticed a large stem coming out of the centre, with what appears to be buds on it. Do they flower?? I can't wait to see what happens to it, I'll keep you posted. (Well, that's going to keep you all awake at night, bursting with excitement, isn't it?)
I had to go up to London last Monday, and as the sun was shining, rather than travel all the way on the luxury mode of transport that is the London Underground, I got off a couple of stops early and had a walk through St James Park. I stopped to take another picture of my favourite view ...
and then I turned around and took a picture from the same bridge, in the opposite direction. I don't know who lives in that big place at the end but they must have a few bob. Imagine what the council tax is on a property that size in central London.
On Wednesday, the aforementioned Gina took the envelopes we had made at the previous class. They were made from calico, bonded to vilene, then we stitched our names and addresses on the front. We machine embroidered onto water soluble fabric, washed that out, and then laminated the result, which went into the envelope. Then we just added a stamp, and 'teacher' posted them back to us. Anyway, mine arrived in the post the following day - how clever are we and Royal Mail. Big thanks to my postman. 
Last Friday we had a silk painting day at my friend Val's. We used steam fix paints in the microwave. The vinegar that you have to add to the mix to fix it makes the kitchen smell a bit, but it's all in the name of art (and it wasn't MY kitchen!) This piece of silk was twisted tightly before adding the dye ....
And this is it after 'cooking' when it was unravelled . Great colours...........
Here are the other results ...
It was good fun, and we all came away determined to do some more. And, after all, it's not like my microwave is ever really used for cooking, is it?
But in the end, I couldn't contain myself ..... and inside was this gorgeous handmade book with a machine embroidered cover! And as if that wasn't enough , there was another package tucked inside the pages of the book. Again, beautifully wrapped, and inside this parcel was .............................Chocolate!!! Thank you so much Gina, it's a wonderful generous present and I'll treasure it. Well, maybe not the chocolate. I'll probably save that for a special occasion. Like a wet Wednesday evening in June. Oh, that'll be tonight then!I had another surprise today. I've got a phormium (or is it a cordyline) growing in my garden. As I was looking out of the window today, I noticed a large stem coming out of the centre, with what appears to be buds on it. Do they flower?? I can't wait to see what happens to it, I'll keep you posted. (Well, that's going to keep you all awake at night, bursting with excitement, isn't it?)
I had to go up to London last Monday, and as the sun was shining, rather than travel all the way on the luxury mode of transport that is the London Underground, I got off a couple of stops early and had a walk through St James Park. I stopped to take another picture of my favourite view ...and then I turned around and took a picture from the same bridge, in the opposite direction. I don't know who lives in that big place at the end but they must have a few bob. Imagine what the council tax is on a property that size in central London.On Wednesday, the aforementioned Gina took the envelopes we had made at the previous class. They were made from calico, bonded to vilene, then we stitched our names and addresses on the front. We machine embroidered onto water soluble fabric, washed that out, and then laminated the result, which went into the envelope. Then we just added a stamp, and 'teacher' posted them back to us. Anyway, mine arrived in the post the following day - how clever are we and Royal Mail. Big thanks to my postman. Last Friday we had a silk painting day at my friend Val's. We used steam fix paints in the microwave. The vinegar that you have to add to the mix to fix it makes the kitchen smell a bit, but it's all in the name of art (and it wasn't MY kitchen!) This piece of silk was twisted tightly before adding the dye ....
And this is it after 'cooking' when it was unravelled . Great colours...........Here are the other results ...It was good fun, and we all came away determined to do some more. And, after all, it's not like my microwave is ever really used for cooking, is it?And I'm just including a photo of these flowers that Val had in her conservatory, for no other reason than I just love the colour combination.
That's it then, I'm off to put my chocolate somewhere safe where you can't find it.
That's it then, I'm off to put my chocolate somewhere safe where you can't find it.
Enjoy the chocolate... what do you mean it's already gone????
ReplyDeleteIt's a Triffid. Take great care!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I've seen that big house in London somewhere before, I think it belongs to someone famous.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of the microwave, was it at all like cooking though? Did you have to make a note of times and weigh things out?
ReplyDelete