More on Venice

You may remember that I'm in a textile group called Traverse and we are working towards our first exhibition: Destinations.

I was searching for something (can't remember what now!), when I came across these squares.   And as the inspiration for them is Venice I thought I might be able to use them for our exhibition.

I can't believe it's over 12 months since I posted about this fabric I had printed and was initially going to make into a book.  But by this post it was going to be a hanging.

So now I've started working on the squares again.  I had already added some stitching.  The black bit on the bottom left hand square is rather too heavy and some of the squares still needed some added bits and some more stitching.

With the added extras and stitching

A close-up of some of the stitching

Pinned ready for some machine quilting.

I tried the machining and it looked dreadful so I unpicked it.  I auditioned the squares on several pieces of background fabric and decided on this.

But then what to do?

The possibilities are:

• Cutting up the background fabric into strips and piecing it to the squares.
• Sewing the squares to the background fabric either by hand or machine.
• Sewing the squares to the background fabric with some wadding between the square and the background. either by hand or machine.
• Adding wadding and a backing fabric and machine quilting based on one of the above.
• Using deep stretched canvases and putting each square of fabric on as a tile.

Thinking time!

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Bucket Listing

I've been watching repeat editions of A Place in the Sun: Home or Away and several have included people who wanted to add more excitement to their lives.  And on an episode of Bargain Hunt there was a woman who had 60 things to do before 60 list - one of which was appearing on telelvision.

Which got me thinking!  Ok I know - I'm always thinking!  How could my life be more fun and exciting?   And I started researching Bucket Lists on Google.   Most lists seem to include a vast amount of money being spent on travel.

And then I remembered this list.

My second blog post ever was a list of 100 things to do in life.  I had done 30 of the things.  Since then I can add:
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
57. Started a business
68. Flown in a helicopter
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
73. Stood in Times Square
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House - does standing outside the railings count?
95. Seen the Alamo in person

I discovered this blog post as well which featured lists.  Well, didn't feature lists but the thought of lists.  In fact at my 60th birthday party I gave everyone post it notes and asked them to suggest things I could put on a bucket list.  I seem to remember it wasn't the most successful idea! I seem to remember they didn't take it very seriously and came up with some distinctly daft ideas.  I threw them in the bin!

So I was thinking about making a list of 70 things to do before I'm 70.  Two years to do 70 things.  That should be feasible.  110 weeks.

However making the list is proving really hard.  I don't want to do the bungee jumping, sky diving, zip lining stuff.   And when I looked at all these lists on Google I realised I have had a much more exciting life than I give it credit.  And it's been a really privileged life.

I toyed with the idea of listing here everything that I had done, but felt it was rather boastful.  Suffice to say, I have been to a lot of places and done a lot of things.  What I've realised is that I do the things, place a tick in a virtual box (inside my head) and then move on to planning the next thing.  So I'm going to spend some time writing down the list of amazing and exciting things I've done.

And during all the adventures that come my way in the next 2 years and beyond I am going to spend more time appreciating just how fortunate I am.

Have you got a bucket list?

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Taco book

Christine Chester has designed a range of thermofax screens in conjunction with Thermofax Screens.  And being totally addicted to thermofax screens (along with Washi Tape!) I just had to buy some.

I thought I was very restrained - I only bought 4.  Peeling Paint, Raindrops, Shatter and Spatter 1.

And of course I needed to try them out.  I used some circles of Khadi paper.  I started with Paper Artsy paint but it was too thin and so I returned to Amsterdam acrylic paints.

Raindrops

Spatter 1 and Shatter

Spatter 1 and Peeling Paint

Peeling Paint

Raindrops and Shatter

I tried the Peeling Paint screen on some printed fabric.

And when the acrylic paint was dry on the Khadi paper I painted it with Koh-I-Noor dye.  Which turned out a bit yellow!

I thought I would make the papers into a book.  Which is when I found out that the circles weren't geometrically correct or exactly the same size.

But never mind!  I've stuck them together and I'll paint the bits that are showing white.

And when it's closed - it looks like a taco!

Ah well.  I'll paint and stamp and doodle on it.  I think!

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

PS: Have you left a comment on the last post to win a copy of the July/August Somerset Studio?  You have until midnight tonight.