javi – pardalote makes

Posted on December 12, 2015 by pardalote

Cat dreams

Backed and quilted. The texture really shone this morning in the low light.

I sighed as I felt the softness of the red and orange damasks from Deb. Now that they are quilted down, they are soft and strong. I am so pleased.

After a trip out early to the market, I wrapped the edge of the backing around the whole cloth and stitched it down. Now it feels whole and done. Ready for gift-giving as a bookmark. I played with rolling and unrolling it.

I also decided to add some thread beads to the moon, it just needed some more texture. Using Jude‘s technique of sewing in the ‘in between’.

And from last night, some weaving.

Posted on November 22, 2015 by pardalote

Lazy day

Today was kind of a lazy day. I started immersing myself in Small Journeys and spent some time stitching scraps together as I listened and watched.

With Javi pressed up against me, as he has been for days, and is right now. Sigh.

As I’ve been reading stitching blogs again, I noticed people talking about their ‘cheaters’ and wondered what on earth they were talking about. It dawned on me that it might mean the cheap glasses you can by in pharmacists here. I googled around and yes! You can buy magnifying glasses-glasses and that’s what people meant.

Okay. Well I’ve been struggling with my lighting/magnifying set up for a while now. I have a light stand with a magnifier on an arm, on wheels. I also use a small LED headlamp if I want a quick splash of light but don’t want to wheel over the huge contraption, but I didn’t have a portable magnifying solution.

So yesterday, the man and I went on our usual Saturday morning market shopping expedition and stopped off at the pharmacy on the way. And Oh MY goodness. I bought a pair of glasses for $20 and they are marvellous! They even came with a hard case and a big cleaning cloth.

So I got right back into doodling some tiny trees and symbols on my doodle cloth and the ‘cheaters’ are grand. Everything is so crystal clear in them, it’s AMAZING.

The other thing that’s grabbed me again is the ‘Art of Manipulating Fabric’ tome. There are some techniques in there I’ve been playing with on a small scale. But in doing so I made this little surf board thing out of fabric scraps and the batting out of a men’s tie.

It’s become my ‘needles in use’ pad. Which I like. Small and useful is good. Maybe I can make brooches with my other experiments… hmm….

Posted on October 26, 2015 by pardalote

Beasts begin, roar!

Last night as the sun was setting, there was the most beautiful rainbow…

The man and I marvelled at how the clouds inside the rainbow seemed to hold onto the sunset more strongly, the inner was so much pinker than the outer.

To stitching! As I mentioned yesterday, I immersed myself once again in a workshop by Jude Hill, her Feel Free Patchwork Beasts. Last night before bed I finished applying 12 squares to my base cloth. This morning I lay them out in the morning light so I could appraise my starting point. Javi helped.

I love this open weave Japanese fabric, and the way it nestles up against an old tear in the sheet. I wonder if I should mend the tear, or whether I should keep it.

I have a sketch book with lots of face doodles, so I started there and selected one of my cat faces. I sketched it out on the fabric and stitched it up. I started to see this little guy as a forest cat, so I selected deep greens and dusty purples to help him blend in with the forest shadows. And bright eyes for hunting.

I wasn’t sure what to do next, and whether I needed to add any further details. Again, Jude’s wisdom helped guide me here. She suggests taking a photo at this stage, and printing out some copies to draw out ideas. I don’t have a printer, but I can doodle on-screen, so that’s just what I did.

I tried out some different arrangements of whiskers and other little facial details, and once I was happy, I once again sketched them out on the fabric and stitched them.

I’m really happy with how this is going! Back to stitching 😀

Posted on October 22, 2015 by pardalote

Squares of birds

I’m starting to worry that the squares are little cages. Note to self: let the birds roam around a little.

My first bird somehow became a little parrot.

Javi is looking outside for birds. But they are right here!

I’m treating this as a technique sampler but also challenging myself to try different sizes/shapes/poses as I go as well. I’m interested that the birds are creating their own characters as I go. In a way that feels like they are coming from a part of my imagination that I don’t reach by simply thinking: I need to MAKE in order for these characters to emerge.

Anyway, I have bluebird to finish. Be back later!