So my burlesque lady has been put on hold for now, not least because its the end of term and I'm franticaly trying to get my Hereford home in order before I go and house sit in Bristol for lord knows how long, and then go to Sonisphere festival with my good friends and Scouser. But aside from that, a new craft challenge has arisen: OPERATION NICOLE'S WEDDING.

Nicole was going to go to Vegas and have some kind of rocabilly/shotgun/expensive thing which reminded me of our father in many and varied worrying ways, but she has changed her mind and wants more people to be there (I could not afford Vegas on my student loan) so instead shes having it in England and having a huge picnic. However, this means that she needs picnic quilts and cusions for 80 people. And some bunting, because why the hell not. She wants a country garden/Laura Ashley/Attic mess style load of mismatched textiles (aka:my style, which is fortunate).

So, here are my prototypes. I'm trying to do this on a budget of £200. Can you hear my teeth chattering? No? Well that would be because I ground them all down in my sleep last night whilst I was dreaming about Fabric Land. Anyway, here goes:

This is the quilt prototype, its 1mx1m and made from heavy pinstriped cotton on both sides (I'm going to substiute the bottom for calico for cost and waterproof issues), with rather thick acrylic wadding in the middle. The corners are gold silk and it had embelishment in the corner. The edging needs doing still, and I'm probably going to use a nice thick ivory ribbon fot that, and some buttons for the middle, stitched on with thin ribbon tied in a bow.

Close up of the corner. The roses are made of gold silk and taupe cotton, there are some tiny silver forks sewn in there, then some knitted stuff (because I had to use SOME knitting, yo) and the back is some gauze which I used a needle to pull up strands of warp and weft to ruch and then tied in knots.

The back of the cusions. Half gold silk and half taupe cotton. I'm going to stitch these shut once the pillows are inside, or maybe button, I'm not sure yet.

The fabric for the front of the cushions, one is teal and gold polkadot silk and the other is this gorgeous floral stuff which I adore.

So thats it so far. Nic has managed to find me 20m of wadding for £19.80, which is FAR cheaper than the £8 per metre I was paying before. The calico for the underneath of the quilts is going to be £20 aswell for all of it, so now we just need 80m of 2inch ivory ribbon and 20 1m square scraps of random material, plus scraps for embelishment and then the cushions are going to be a bugger, because that silk is £2.50 for a cushion sized piece. So I might just make a couple like that and the rest knitted/crocheted or out of more scrap. Is this going to be possible? God I hope so, because it will be AWESOME if it is. I'll have student loans at some point too, so that plus my 200 odd hours work can be Nicole and Geoffs present, hahaha.

I'm going to look like a builder on one side after all this Singer action.

Something New

One of my housemates moved out a week ago and left behind a HUGE roll of modrock. I love modrock, but have never really modeled with it from scratch, always on to of papier mache. So I though I'd have a go, this time I'm making something a little different, in that the doll isn't a doll per se but a figurine (I have NO idea how to make articulated joints with something as fragile and powdery as plaster, without some kind of glaze and I haven't the heart to play with that right now), for my sister Nicole, who is a very clever sod and just got a first in her english literature hounours degree *round of applause*. Nic loves burlesque, so I figured I would make her something appropriate. Maybe I'll throw some day of the dead in there for her too. Heh! Day of the dead nipple pastie skulls... yeah! Anyway, poor quality pics because I am currently on my kitchen floor with my computer (winamp time) and I'm using my webcam so that I don't get plastery hands all over Gaz's camera.

She will (hopefully) stand in the end. Making sexy legs is fun, haha! On the note of sexy... has anyone seen Inkheart? Oh my good god. It had all my favourite things in one scene - Topless, skinny-ish, gangly-yet-muscly, long haired scruffy vagrant + fire in many differing states + baggy black jumpers + sweaty, grubby Paul Bettany = much, much replaying of the scene. In. Slow. Motion.

Anyway enough of that. On with the nakie lady.

Jareth

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

My jellyfish is done :D I got recognised too, and hit on by a crazy pagan. Good times.

SOrry for the picture quality, it is nighttime afterall.






Muhaha, that was fun.

What Next?

The first day of my summer holiday has arrived and its... well... dull.

So far I have knitted a little, chatted to Jareth (my cockatiel), trawled through some websites and now I am here. I have until October with nothing to do. Except two weeks of house sitting for my parents and a week of festival goodness with some old friends.

For the longest time I have wanted to try out wild living, just to get up and go and live on the move with nothing but my tent and a whole host of weaponry (I'm a paranoid kind of person).

So maybe, just maybe, I'll set aside a month for this, and take my sketchbook and my sleeping bag and trail the Wye Valley, drawing as I go. I really think its something I have to try at least once, and what better time to give it a go? I have no responsibilities, no one asking me not to, no job to hold down. The only thing I have to worry about is finding a babysitter for Jareth, but I'm sure Alex would feed him for a few weeks whilst I was away.

Hmm, yes, the more I think about it the more Hollie's Art Trail Camping Extravaganza seems like a great idea.

Yes I had to name it. Obviously. :D.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I got a C10, not that great but one mark off of a B and still a good 2:2.

Also on the way home I was comissioned by the yarn shop lady in Hereford to do a knitted drainpipe again for them. I'm going to take Gaz down to look at the blacksmithing in the courtyard as he might be able to give me some ideas and insight that I hadn't thought of, then I'm going to sketch sketch sketch and knit and crochet until my hands fall off! I'm so excited!

Plus the yarn Lady is giving me some yarn to make the selkie's seaweed outfit which is spun with seaweed! How good is that?

Good day, folks, good day.

Shoop Da Whoop!

My piece got selected for Berrington Hall! Oh yeaahhhhh.

As did the work of the lovely Amy Wallace, Daisy Davies, Lucy Baxendale, Charlie Lindup, Nell Neilson and Sara Rhys, plus a few more wonderful craftspeople. I'm so happy, and really pleased for my friends too, I adore their work and will post photos of it all at a later date, because it really is fantastic.

So Now I just have to get my results... I'm not hoping for much, due to paperwork I didn't do because it is STUPID. And I was too lazy and STUPID myself.

A C would be nice.

Fingers crossed!