Behind the scenes

They say that behind every successful man there is a woman. Maybe behind every successful woman there is a scene of utter chaos and mess because we can't do it all, and let's face it, stitching is so much more fun than dusting...

As a result of ignoring the ever encroaching tide of mess and cracking on, I actually finished some work! I can't show the whole thing, as it's a competition entry, but here is the preview I put on Facebook yesterday morning:

What happened next was incredible, and I've been in a bit of a daze (too dazed to attempt anything strenuous like tidying up that's for sure). In the space of one day, that little pic has had over 2,500 views, and my "likes" have more than trebled! Woah!

So I may sit here for a while longer and let it all sink in. 

This little lot has been advancing over every available surface for three weeks. Won't hurt to leave it there a bit longer!

Cup cake

How to win a huge silver cup in two hours, door to door: 
Get driven to Eastbourne; parents fleeced for car parking even on a Sunday; play a spot of Schumann to audience of parents, piano teacher, adjudicator, one other child and parent from previous class, and clerk or general paper-shuffler; listen to general praise and constructive comments from adjudicator; collect enormous silver cup; giggle a lot but dodge photos; scoff even bigger ice cream from Italian place over the road; get driven home. Job done.

It's been half term since then and it's taken 5 days for the Girl to recover from her moment of glory and do anything else! She didn't even want to weave a CD, so I had to go it alone...

(First "draft" for Project with Tight Deadline....)

But I eventually got her out of the house on Saturday for some bonding-with-Mother at Sevenoaks Embroiderers' Guild, and we had a lovely day making Fimo beads, with only one heart-stopping "Mummy I've just cut myself" moment (on a Stanley knife blade!! She's ok, just a nick...)

Here they all are at home waiting to be baked

And my finished beads are here

 

Girl has squirreled hers away.  We liked some better than others, and found that even though we chose our colours carefully, we preferred the "friendship" beads made with slices from other people's canes.

And then here's this weekend's cake: a carrot cake with cinnamon icing. We had to take huge slices with us yesterday to (a) sustain us in our bead making (b) prevent Someone eating it all while we were out.

Finally, today, more colour with more CD recycling. I've Googled and can't find anyone else who's done this. I am a CD felting pioneer!

One of these (or one of the other three currently drying in the radiator, and probably better as I got my felting mojo after these first attempts) is for a little project, tight deadline, typical me. But they're fun, no?!

Spontaneous stitch

Doing what I want to do this weekend, with no real goal in mind.

This started life as a teaching sample for colour. The aim was to then overlay it all with automatic patterns.

But I did this to it instead

And then these pieces have been kicking around for over a year. Little collages of fabric and paper. Just started to stitch onto them:

And the inside cut-out from the heart is here:

Not sure why the pics are coming out so blue...

I might put shisha in the palm of that hand.

Now off to Eastbourne to enter nonchalant child into piano competition. She insists on defying everyone including the teacher by playing too fast, so let's hope she doesn't come unstuck on her semiquavers this afternoon....fingers crossed!  Or not...hard to play that way :)

Bean spilling

There I was feeling guilty for looking at a screen instead of reading a book (since The Bridge finished last week, nothing is quite the same now on a Saturday night and we're back to gogglebox-free evenings).

But just LOOK what I found whilst perusing the i-thingy late yesterday evening:

Waddyaknow, whose work might THAT be gracing the front cover?????!!!!!!

Would it be this little chappy by any chance?

fab photo courtesy of Michael Wicks

It's published 3 April, but you can pre-order Kim's Reclaimed Textiles Techniques for paper, stitch, plastic and mixed mediaright here!

If you click my link (clicking the book title above should do the trick) I may earn a few pennies from being on the cover - a little extra something to go with the fame and glory!!

I have no clue what has been said inside - or who else is featured in the book. Can't wait until I get my mitts on one!

New arrival

Look what I found under a gooseberry bush this morning...

Isn't it cute!