Finished Paper paper

This was just the best fun and I cannot bear to give any of it away. The large piece in the foreground is the leftovers so I went ahead an laminated it. I had to cut it down to A4 size and that gave me a little bit left over so I made a bookmark from it.

From my original 12" x 24" piece of fabric paper I ended up with a 5" box, a little notebook, a mousemat and a bookmark. I will probably give the entire set to my daughter for her birthday.
I certainly plan to make more of this paper and maybe store it untill needed . I  am dertainly walking outsie of my comfort zone and I usually like my sewing to be a little more finished than these items are but the rustic finish suits the articles.

The buttons on the little box are some Dorset buttons I made earlier and the gold tassels are store bought.

Making Paper Fabric

What fun I have had this afternoon. The Art4Mail group had a play day and made paper fabric. I had to go out so could not play with the other kids but when I got home I had the best time.
I used calico (muslin) as the base and craft glue mixed with water to stick it all down.

I used some pink, yellow, black,silver and gold tossue and then used some party napkins to the mix, My husband thinks I have reverted to childhood but I was never allowed to make these kind of messes in the kitchen when I was small.

I also used some thread offcuts from my embroidery machine and a piece of glittery knitting thread.
I can't wait till this all dries so I can play on my sewing machine with some fancy threads and stitching.
I will post some more photos as I progress.

I did it

Here I am yesterday sitting in the mess on my desk. It is a wonder I could find anything but as you all probably know now it is tidy it will take me ages to find where I have hidden everything. I must admit it is a sense of achievement to know it is done.
I even planted some of those fern dust thingies to see if I could grow more. I must just love mess LOL ;-}.
Here are some before and after shots of my achievement.

How can I be this sort of a grub but it just builds up .

 All tidy you can see the surface of the desk.

Here is the Tree Fern outside the window. We are on the second story of the house so that gives you and idea of the size of this tree. It is beautiful and the spores are only there about one week a year so I suppose I can get over it.

Here are the spores they are on my alpha file. Just as well I  and the family are not allergic to them or there would be big trouble as it is they just make the place look even dirtier than what it is.

another view of my pristine workspace. How good am I!!!! LOL!!

And here I am looking well pleased with myself. It is all very well to tidy things up but how long will this last this is the challenge for me. I am good a cleaning up messes but keeping things tidy is another thing.

I have joined the challange to be more organized and my desk seems a good place to start.

I love lists I make hundreds of them!!! Don't usually get to cross anything from them as I lose them. At least I try. Part of my craft room(s) is in the kitchen and as we have an open plan house I do have to keep that part halfway tidy. My long suffering husband reckons if I find an empty space I will fill it with fabric or paint or beads or whatever my current obsession is.



I must say though I always have a shiny sink as I can't stand dishes laying around that is why I have a dishwasher.

With this support group maybe I will be able to clear my computer desk. I have a tree fern outside the window behind my desk and it has decided to make babies (little brown dust) all through the place.

This dust or spores, as my daughter informs me, is so fine it comes through the flyscreens in the window. The solution I am informed is to close the window but then how would I get air into the house I hate being shut in.


Enough procrastination for now I am going to clean my desk I'll let you know how I got on.

Cheers

RR #14

At last the time has come around to start my very first Round Robin. This is so exciting I just hope everyone likes the naked block I have made. The fabrics come from some linen shirts I was given as well as a linen coat that is too big for me. 
This RR also made me look for a desktop publishing program that was free so I could make the little booklet. I found this one called Page Plus at http://www.serif.com/desktop-publishing-software/. It works very well and is free although there is a pay for upgrade.
I am so looking forward to getting Janet's block to work on and just hope my work will be acceptable. I know anything I recieve will be treasured for a very long time .

Christmas Crackers

How lucky am I here are some photos of the 2 beautiful Christmas Crackers I received in the swap. Velvets, satins, lace, beads and beautiful threads

Thank you so much Juli I just love it all and plan to do something very special for my bedroom with all the gorgeous bits and pieces.

 More of the beautiful pieces from Juli. There is a tiny little bee in the zip bag I am going to make sure she does not fly away.

Beads, threads and buttons and the prettiest little fairy silky this is just wonderful.

Here is the cracker from Suzie. So many things to play with I think I can see mermaids and fishes and all sorts of sea things trying to get out here.

 I can just see the seaweed and shells, sand and fishes and there are definitely mermaids.

There is even some foam of the surf. I am going to have a great time trying to encourage all these special things to come out and play with me.

Thank you so much to both my special swap friends. I hope the ladies I sent crackers to enjoyed theirs as much as I am enjoying mine.

Hi all
It's been a while since I wrote here. I have been busy with Christmas and all. One of the things I have made is a lap quilt for my MIL. The wonderful bicycle designs came from Juli at http://www.sewweird.com/. I have also been getting my Weekly Joe swaps and Birthday Swaps ready for next year. This is the year I am going to try and organize myself instead of lurching from one disaster to another.
I am setting myself 3 projects. I get bored with only one thing on the go,.
The first one for home only not sure what that will be yet probably a crazy quilt with all the stitches I have colleted from the Build a Seam Challange on http://kerrykatiecakes2.blogspot.com. This will require some disipline on my part as I tend to go off on tangents at the drop of a hat.
The second project will be a quilt for my thursday night quilt group and I want this to be an Origami quilt using the books of Kumiko Sudo for inspiration. This will be quite a challange I think.
And the third will be whatever the U3A can think up.
Here is a photo of the bicycle quilt.

In the next day or so I will post som photos of the cupcakes and some of the coffe mugs for the Fat Cats swaps