Collage of Lady Designs

A collage of lady's and the odd cat and house...

filled also with flowers....that I designed and painted at different times.... one is the cover of the stitchery illustration book "Blass Them Stitches" circa 2000.

They are images in my mind that are from how I see myself at different times... 

Not necessarily how I actually look but the emotional images ..... from soft, peace loving images to that girl who is ready for socialising.... confidence is another ... not really seen in this batch, but she sneaks in now and then.....

This is most of same images I used for the other collage...

 

One of my Happy places Lavendula Hepburn Vic

My day out of isolation from Covid today....

I stayed indoors as it was a dreary, light rainy day.

So bored again !!!!!

Never mind....

adaption is part of the deal these days more than ever.

 

I have a love for olive trees....

This is Lavendula in it's beauty to stroll .

Like to be there today in sunshine etc.....

Maybe soon 

 

I think I am moving Forward ?

I wondered as I went to post these fabric painted flax pieces with added  button and frame... am I moving forward or just loitering in the easy lane ?

Sometimes though, what appears to be a fiddle and procastination is actually needed to move into another phase.

I intend to put these on my website as another form of the button stories...not frames but painted fabric and button.

With this flax it is stiff and not so easy to hand sew with but great to heat & bond and machine around or take this easy idea and slot into a frame.....

 

Then Came the story of Paper Making

Carrying on from the previous post...I am still way in the book of Frances Mayes 

Women in Sunlight....

Now another of the women go to a paper making class and later it evolves into her art ...

The talk of this deckled ancient styled handmade paper brings to me the paper I want to experiment with soon as i am let loose with a few extra coins in my pocket...

I love running my hand over the paper texture and have discovered recently the absolute joy of heavy water colour paper and painting with acrylics and using a permanent marking pen....

Oh I have my mind racing to go to one of the art supply shops and run my hand softly over the textures of the big pieces....I can see it cut into smaller sizes ready for me to paint on and package a bit better than I do often now with this painted work......

So......

I decided while I was reading last night that my blog will change direction..... I will write this journey......to enable my inner healing to flourish.... to wait some things out while I can also have a focus or two to engross my days with....

It feels right.

It is right.

Now I need to get this immune system plugged in & charging up 

I will continue as I am excited with this direction.....

It will I hope bring in my new painted Christmas stuff... I am waiting on the chalk paint....to arrive.

 

Thanks Frances Mayes and her writings

I am so grateful for Frances Mayes and her stories....

Under the Tuscan Sun

&

Women in Sunlight.

I picked up Women in Sunlight again last night to continuing along my maybe 3rd or 4th reread .

I have I hope a mildish dose of Covid after years now of being cautious.... however the massive stresses of last year with a "sweet" finale ( thus far) has used up a bit of the immune resources I guess.

I am reading along with the 3 amazing American characters in Tuscany as they explore a garden.... each woman represents the passion for painting , another for gardening and the other for cooking and all love exploring.

One mentions flowers as she plans to plant in their rental home for a year...

The mention of catmint, lavender, cosmos....the mint I need to leave in pots...

So I begin my reverie 

CATMINT yes I love the way it smells and is a wonderful filler along the side fences or maybe the vege garden makeover to a herb garden...

I need rosemary to replace the old struggling stick that wa sin the vege garden when I arrived & I loved but alas ....it died over winter.

So maybe 3 small pots of rosemary, 2 pots of catmint along the front of the vege border...with Italian parsely and sage already planted in each corner....

Cosmos...I adore

Takes me back to my new garden in Canberra where I grew pink & white cosmos in the front garden and the following year the finches had happily dropped seeds into the back garden... such a happy flower.

I had also been thinking of coreposis a yellow happy flower that spreads by seeding and this could enhance the happiness here along the borders of the vast fences and also in the front garden a sprinkle ????

Lavender the type I love has been hard to come by during the pandemic but I will seek at least 2 or 3 little tubes of lavendar.... to add into this garden....

Then my weeding will be lessened and the stress of weeding when my body groans with the pain of arthritis.....

I want to see flowers amongst flowers instead of weeds !!!

 

It's a different day & a different way

I love to do this and get into it with some hand painted decorations / buttons I do and use strong backgrounds to give the decorations  a place to show their worth....

Santas !!!! With Star cut out of coat and an etched MERRY CHRISTMAS on their coat hems....

Happiest Santa.... well I think all my Santas are merry 

Here are piles of Christmas buttons that went to a show with a designer Marg Low who used them on cloth tags some years ago now.....

Samplers are always easy to make....

I used a whole lot of buttons for mine and some border stitches ....

It also is a way of displaying buttons you love to admire each day ! 

 

Searching ..for what ?

 

Have you ever gone through stages in your life when suddenly you are searching for something ? just a feeling not an object...

maybe a door will suddenly slam shut...

or some supply is no longer there....

or the pandemic continues to swirl around and caution continues when I am so over being cautious of germs !

Always been a bit germ phobic ....epigenetics maybe ?

Anyway I am wandering about ...restless, unsettled, settle, content... emotions roll in & out.

"

Lets Create for Christmas

Today I have begun to create small projects for Christmas...

I have drawn some templates for 3 styles of stockings, little gift bags which I juts love to have to hang on trees... tags, hearts ...

I have traced a set of each onto a linen.... to sew on the tracing lines later.

I cut around another batch of stockings etc from felt.

These can be hand stitched or machined.

Before sewing the fronts & backs of each together work out what button would suit the stocking or bag etc....

some different coloured felt cut out to sit on front of stocking is always great look.

Tops of stockings & bags can be decorated in different coloured felt cuff & some embroidered stitches...perhaps or add ric rac some smaller buttons 

To attach a hanging loop do this in thread or twine or ribbons....or felt strips....

How much fun !!!

I adore the paper mache cones ( pre purchased) to decorate in all sorts of items 

Mine has some page from a book, ribbons I love with embroidery on them... hot glue gun comes out...wooden star 

www.theodoracleave.com

 

Having a Christmas in July at Theodora Cleave

 A friend that I have not seen for a while dropped in

 yesterday, so I was showing her some of the fabric painting, painting on water colour and some buttons ...

I had done in recent times.

So when I look at this collage it reminds me of a Christmas in July ......fabric for stockings, gift bags, tree decorations,

Painted little puddingds, holly .....trees

Stitch all this and add Santas & snowmans .....

Santa wooden buttons in my design add a lot to a sampler or even a cloth tag with a small word stitched, felt cut out and stitched ....keep stitching away for ages in cold nights.....

Then you will have lots to sell at a Christmas Market, or hang off friends & family gifts, tie to the tree or trees...

Little boxes ties with a felt small motive or one cut out from a paper painting thing.

Little Interesting things

Little Paintings I did a few on canvas frames that cost very little ....I have decided to sell this and 2 others on www.theodoracleave.com and keeping one for myself...

It's the fly them out there see what comes....

If I was at a market, these are much easier to sell as must have items....

The Mache boxes are small but ever so sweet....also out there flapping in the breeze....

 I love the red mache box with a painted tree ans Sweet Memories written on it.....Christmas tiny treasures could be popped inside....

The Pink box is same size but flowers ...softer look and there is also a blue box......

On a different note .... 

It would appear I have ingested some wheat or gluten over days .... a nibble at a product on a regular basis and trying to figure what, is baffling, but it also took me some time to register as I rarely rarely get any gluten ..... but what it does in the stomach & bowel is muscles spasm and inflammation first as it moves through my body and then other stuff and slowly can feel it as the food moves feels like it is being scraped... hurts... spooky stuff too.

I am not coelliac but carry this gene HLA B27 which is my lovely ankylosing spondylitis arthritis and can, and for me does present other things ...

.HLA genes are part of the immune response and this one is bit faulty !!! hence during pandemic is why I continue to wear a mask etc and stay back as I sure do not want this plus ....it is what folks do when they say Gluten Free or lactose free.... it is for a darn good reason .

Now next ? 

I puzzle over is why drug companies add LACTOSE to pills OMG is so fascinates me if there is a need for this sugar to be added drugs are not lollies, usually not chewed ... my gout pills and naproxen both carry lactose.... and I also am lactose intolerant.

you might just see I am  a bit cranky with this too LOL

TREAT TODAY 

But the treat was 3 magpies coming right in for some of my delicious bread from the pristine gluten free bakery in Bendigo ....I bought yesterday while having a tooth broken bit filled URK.... 

the magpies sang after their food and came around to the glass door to do this, just love it......

Collage using a Theodora Cleave button or 2

There they were a whole batch of Joy Lady Buttons waiting to be carded and sent off....

I was dawdling in the morning as i can be of the habit of doing.... slowly waking up!

I thought ...linen... it was nearby and voila....

Easy simple collages or add thread and slow stitch them.

Or stamp the fabric ..it is fun to add different mediums together.

The top picture i can see in a frame with lots of white space around it....or a tight frame also...

This little lady here is sitting on stamped flax fabric, make a great tag , add to make a framed event or sew on the a bag pattern .....as a point of "Look at Me" idea....

Bookmark too.....    

These are ideas that you can apply to many small easy projects for buttons you may have already ?????

It could be a house button, or a cat or dog.... or santa etc... 

 

Spring Maybe be sooner ...

I love to have blackbirds in the gardens ....

I also love the native birds too....

The blackbird to me is a character....

The song first before break of dawn in spring is clear and melodious and clear....

Anytime they want to sing is fine by me.

There is a couple about BUT this belongs to the family of 3 magpies and not always a share deal !!! 

Even though the land is long and plenty of space for all....

I first noted the magpies arriving back in the tree and now lawn has been mowed nice & low they as a family do the back lawn each afternoon...

Wonderful...

Then I spied the little blackbird on the edges of garden turning over the fallen leaves etc....

Each day it has become bolder....

Today I saw it scuttle out of sight because I stood up from painting at the window....it was a long way off

I laugh....

I am happy both birds come in as they prepare for spring...

amuse me, the magpie calls as I go outside & I call hi...

So when it's a sunny sort of day....with the birds it is lovely.

I drew these when I lived in Bendigo and the blackbirds would cheekily sit on the pots of olives...

Here I do have an orange tree, no olive trees....

But they are happy just digging....