Birds by harrietalicefox

To make a change, I was really prepared for this months theme.

I knew immediatly what I wanted to create, and finished on time. If only I could be like this every month.

July's theme was Birds/Dawn.

I decided upon a Peacock, and whilst searching for an inspirational image I found an albino peacock that still had a splash of colour. I knew that was the bird I wanted to capture within my art.

 I'm going to pop it in a frame and add it onto my wall of pictures.

Birds/Dawn by Stephanie.

I was really pressed for time this month and couldn't explore either of the ideas which I initially came up with - but at least it was nice to be inspired in the first place!
I used chickens/hens/eggs as my theme and created a quick, practical item which I have actually required for some time - a doorstop for my sewing room.

Wadding was used as the template

Gingham was stitched around this, along with an appliqued patch. Then I added felt details.

Both sides are identical. They were over-stitched together and the piece was stuffed with buckwheat. Here she is in situ, doing a lovely job : )

To complete the theme, I made these cute little egg-cosies.

Posted by Stephanie.

Octagon quilt finally takes shape.

A few posts ago I showcased the layout for the octagon quilt I am making for a friend's Christmas gift. Over the last couple of weeks I finally began stitching the shapes together and thought I would show my progress so far.
The patchwork is to be entirely hand stitched, and due to the complexity of the shapes, work has been fairly slow. I have managed to sew together a third of the work so far.

Although I was fairly confident about the colour scheme and fabric choices, it's only now that I see it taking shape and coming to life that I feel extremely pleased with what I chose. I will post further updates as the work grows....

Posted by Stephanie.

Pincushions for charity.

Over the last couple of nights I have made these pincushions. I cannot take any credit for the original designs - I think they were part of a DMC kit I saw at a show a couple of years ago and the design stuck in my mind. The colour scheme is unusual and a fairly accurate rendition of what I remember the kit to look like. I drew the little cats onto paper first and used as a template.

I am going to make a batch of these - perhaps in various colours - and donate them to Leeds Feline Friends so that they can be sold at their Christmas Fair, an event I always attend.

Posted by Stephanie.

New ways with wadding...

During a recent hot spell I took quite a lot of photographs, mainly of flowers and insects - my favourite subjects. I got to thinking just how dull the camera case was and wondered if I could make something to house my camera which would be protective and functional, yet more attractive than the imitation leather case I had been carrying around.
I have quite a lot of pieces of wadding left over from quilt-making and I decided to use these as a padding in the case.

Despite having an abundance of cotton floral prints, I bought a piece of fabric specifically for the project. Here, wadding is cut to 3 layers for each side of the case, and then the fabric is sewn to size.

 I sewed the longer seams on the machine but hand-stitched the case into shape. I decided against a velcro fastening because it seemed quite industrial. The organza ribbon suits the prettiness of the fabric and makes the case more feminine, I think. As a prototype I'm pleased with the result - enough to think about tweaking/improving the design or simply going crazy with all the gorgeous fabrics available!!

Posted by Stephanie.

Kaleidoscope by Karen

No excuses, but I have been really busy with work commitments for the past month, however I feel that I must share with you my work so far. I was given some boxes of old costume jewellery and a button tin which once belonged to my Grandma. She was a lover of large sparkly broaches, I thought these would be ideal for a bouquet project which I have been thinking about for sometime. 

Firstly I sorted the broaches into colour, I made three main groups, A black and gold group, a gold and blue stoned group and the group which I decided to work with silver black and purple.

I attached some florist wires to the fasteners on the reverse side of the broach, then I used white stem tape to secure the wires. I then sorted buttons from the tin which I thought would work with the broaches. these also needed to be wired and tightly bound with stem tape. I then used the tape to group three buttons into bunches.

 I used some beaded wired sprigs from the flower market to create a tear drop shaped frame work to hold the wired broaches and buttons. I worked backwards from the tip of the frame adding broaches and buttons, increasing amount and sizes as I went.

I have completed about half of the bouquet, I am quite please with the way that it is evolving, but did feel the need to show you what I have been up to and I'm sure you will understand it is a piece of work in progress. 

I will show you when my kaleidoscope bouquet is all finished.

July Monthly theme

is Dawn/Birds so time to get cracking!

Kaleidoscope by Stephanie

Having been enjoying my patchwork projects recently, I decided that I'd set myself the challenge of using this method to come up a piece of work for June's Kaleidoscope theme. Hexagons seemed an ideal shape - but I also wanted to divide them in some way to use as much colour as possible.
Dividing each shape into 12 seemed attractive but was quite challenging. The only criteria I set was that each hexagon should be made up of a dark and lighter shade and have a plain centre. I used 7 hexagonal shapes of approx. 8.5in./21cm across.

Hexagons tacked and ready to have their centres sewn in.... 

The overall piece is finished. A loose running stitch has been used around the outer edges to neaten them up for the photoshoot!

 I particularly wanted the photographic shot of the work to be part of the project - ie. I wanted to try and catch the light so that the folded fabric at the rear of the work would create an effect of light and shade...

 ...and a close-up taken without the flash achieves this quite well. I love the stained glass effect.

 

I particularly enjoyed this project - enough to think about adding to it and creating something larger. I had toyed with the idea of enlarging it and creating another quilt....but having seen the effect of light coming through the fabric, I'm now speculating about a window hanging or blind/screen of some kind.

Kaleidoscope by harrietalicefox

June's Monthly project was 'Kaleidoscope'.

I've been toying with the idea of creating a stained glass effect window above our door for a while now.

So I thought this project would be perfect to plan it out.

I got this small piece of clear plastic and planned out my design.

Using marker pens and gouache paints, I drew and painted my colourful design.

Here's an image with the light shining through-shame there has been a lack of sun or I may I have been able to get a better picture. Now all that's left to do is translate it onto some larger clear plastic so that I can mount it on the window.

  

Harriet

Tea or Coffee anyone? by harrietalicefox

Check out my brand new Mug range:

I Love Biscuits!

Dancer

Beach House

Mugs also come in the following designs;

Retro Cupcakes

Souvenir

British Tea

Little Lady Bug

www.harrietalicefox.com

 

Harrietalicefox Greetings card commission

Last week I was working on a recent Greetings Card Commission.

The client liked a previous card I made and wanted a tweaked version of it, you can view it here.

So I made her very own version of the paper doll card:

I've kept the card quite simple and basic colours as to match the wardrobe of the paper doll.

I asked the client to send a photograph of the Birthday girl, along with any clothes she wanted me to include.

I also added some other outfits I thought would fit well with the character. 

Designed by harrietalicefox.