Saturday, March 28, 2009

Resolved circle T

I added 3 more circles to the right side of the T-shirt to cover the hole that I had made. It is possible that the t-shirt fabric is just not strong enough when the stabilizer is removed. We will just have to see. Normally if I had done an a-symmetric piece the detail on the bottom would be on the opposite side - but since this was a fix it situation Needs Must!

I am quite happy and will wear it at least once before it goes into the wash and then we will see what happens. Hope for success.

Circles T-Shirt

I bought this top at Anthropologie Yesterday. It is so pretty and purple and hey it wouldn't be that hard to make.....

I stopped at Old Navy on the way home and picked up a blue T-shirt ($12.50), I cut out various sizes of blue circles and appliqued them onto the neckline and side and cut away the excess t-shirt.


Hey Presto - Blue bubble Tshirt. I just wonder how it will survive my cavalier style of washing clothing, ie. not treating my clothes that well.

Detail of the neckline.
Oh oh - I actually found a little hole which I obviously made when I was cutting off the interfacing, i am going to put some more circles up the right side to cover my error - grr ( I will post another picture once fixed..)

Detail of the bottom.

The question remains - do I still need the purple t-shirt?? It was on sale but Anthropologie sale = still not cheap enough.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Award

I received a lovely award from my new friend Floss over at Troc, Broc and Recup' . I am honestly thrilled that she decided to give me an award. It is nice and gives me a little glowing feeling!

So now that I have been given the award, I am supposed to list 7 things that I love and then give the award to 7 more creative bloggers.

7 Things I love
Like the previous winners of this award I am assuming that you all know that top of my list would be my hubby and my family so I will not be including them in my top 7.

1. The Sea - I love the sea and miss living beside it
2. The changing of the seasons, I love the start of a new season I am so ready for spring and it just beginning glorious, but i will love the start of summer too and Autumn and Winter.
3. Shopping with my Mum, she is my favourite person to shop with. We had a lot of fabulos shopping trips to London when I lived at home.
4. London! My favourite city, I love Camden and Spitalfields and the markets in general I also love Oxford Street.
5. The Giants Causeway, this is a fantastic natural rock formation in Northern Ireland, I try to do my bit for Northern Ireland Tourism by recommending that people visit.
6. Fabric/sewing I am a textile artist and I love fabric and textiles and embellishment.
7. Barcelona, My husband went here on holiday before our wedding and we loved it, we made up our own little tour and walked all over the city. The architecture of Gaudi is amazing and it is such an inspirational city!

7 Creative Bloggers
If someone else had given this to me I would have nominated Floss of Troc, Broc and Recup' because I have really been enjoying her Blog. Since she gave it to me I will pass it on to 7 different bloggers. As a relatively new blogger I am still exploring and finding blogs that I love to read.

1. Calamity Kim - I discovered her blog from a google image search of a paper rose, I was hooked and keep checking in - she led me to -
2. The Little Red Hen - who hosted Colour Week which I found so fun and really helped me kick start my blog.
3. HenHouse - Gorgeous pictures, she has beautiful Union Jack Cushions which has struck a chord with me as I am currently making both U.S. and U.K. Flag pillows with Floral fabrics for the hubby and I.
4. Dogdaisychains - Beautiful embroidery and I have been enjoying her recent posts about Marrakech
5. Hens Teeth - the Header of her Blog captivated me so beautiful and I a hooked
6. Geninne's Art Blog - Beautiful Illustration and handmade stamps. I am also incredibly envious of her fantastically organized and neat studio.
7. Her Library Adventures.. - My newest discovery. I particularly related to one recent post about her love for old keys coming in part from "The Secret Garden". I remember having that same exact feeling and I have a small collection of old keys and did a piece based on them when I was in college.

After compiling my list I realized that some of the above Bloggers may have received this award before - Ah well I am sure they won't mind being told how wonderful they are! Check them all out!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Mothers Day

Springtime mini dish
Sunday is Mothers Day back in the U.K. and my lucky Mummy is receiving this beautiful dish from me. I bought it from Prince Design U.K. a couple of weeks ago and the package is sitting waiting to be opened. My Mum is very good and is waiting for Sunday. I think she will love it and I think it will go nicely in the Pink room. Prince Design U.K. is also Etsy's Featured Seller this week.

I also got her subscription to Quilting Arts a couple of years ago for Mothers Day and that is a recurring gift

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sharpie Car


aarting: Sharpie Lambo

Posted using ShareThis

So I was thinking about my Sharpie Doodle and I came across this post. I was thinking of doing some Teacups or something like that, but this is crazy!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sharpie Doodle

This is a little Doodle I did last night while watching the T.V. I think it has potential to be something else. it reminds me of a tattoo sleeve. I think I may do some embroidery from it. Or I may just let it be what it is. There is something really nice about drawing with a brand new Sharpie. For some really creative Sharpie use check this out.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Peacock Blanket


Peacock Blanket, originally uploaded by Janice of NZ

This is just a fantastic photo. The feathers are so luminescent.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Ruth St. Denis in The Peacock


Ruth St. Denis in The Peacock at the first Denishawn School 1915, originally uploaded by pufferfish_76.

Ruth St. Denis was one of the pioneers of American modern dance. I love the juxtaposition of her body form (including the train) and the real peacock.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Peacocks



Some Peacock inspired art from Etsy.

Rainbow


Yummy Peanut M&Ms - can there be a tastier rainbow?

This is a close up of a cardigan that my in-laws bought me for Christmas before I was their daughter in law - all the information that they knew about me was that I liked stripes. They did a good job and this is much worn and loved.

A Paperchase bookmark.

My Set of mixing bowls, a great housewarming gift from my good friend Jess.

I once saw a complete circle Rainbow from an Airplane, it was so beautiful. Every time I see a rainbow I look for the second one. There is often a fainter rainbow above the first but the colour way is reversed Blue at the top and Red on the inside of the arc. Next time you see a rainbow check and see if you can see another.

Thank you to The Little Red Hen for coming up with Colour Week. It has been a lot of fun and has certainly been inspiring. I will definitely take part again next year. Thanks to everyone who has posted pictures on their blog it has been fun to check them all out.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Violet

The sky is grey after yesterday's bright blue one and the light isn't great for the photographs but Purple is really one of my favourite colours. Here are two large Purple hair clips on my mini dress form.


This is a detail from a kimono quilt that my Mum (Felicity Aston) made for me. Actually she made one for my Brother and his wife for their wedding because they worked and met in Japan. I loved that quilt so much that my mum made one just for me. I am so lucky!

A photo album and note card set from Paperchase


My 18th Birthday present (wow that was a long time ago) from my Mum and Dad it is a beautiful piece of kinetic jewelry from Alan Ardiff. I still love his work and hope to own more pieces one day. While taking this photo I realised my jewelry needs a really good clean.

A shameless bit of self promotion - why not. A lilac flower from a clutch made by me. You can check it out at AshleyAmandaDesigns.Etsy.com or just click on the picture at the top right of this blog!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Blue

It is suddenly warming up here in Michigan and here is a beautiful Blue sky!


My Blue Salt and Pepper Mice that sit in my kitchen


A selection of Blue Air Mail stickers that line the spine of my address book.

I am very fortunate to know some very artistic people, this dish was made for my wedding present by Peter Meanley an extremely talented Potter and a close friend of my family. He works predominantly with Salt glaze and is currently producing a range of pieces inspired by Toby Jugs. He has modeled the characters for these Jugs on himself and my Dad. I saw some of the bisque when I was home at Christmas and can't wait to see the finished pieces. He had an exhibition a year ago in the Ulster Folk and transport Museum.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Green

My Green cleaner

My Green cup of Tea and a tin of mint Green Tea (which is not actually the tea in my cup) in front of my Green Kitchen aid mixer.

Detail of a nice Green bag from Whole Foods.

My Experiments with copper and verdigris. I haven't quite worked out what it is going to be yet but I like it! Detail below.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

sneak attack

http://www.handmademovement.com/images/sa_banner.jpg

This is a pretty cool movement. I just participated and I feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
Basically every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the good folks over at handmademovement.com select an etsy store to be the victim of a sneak attack. You then head over to that shop and make a purchase. The "victim" then suddenly finds that they have had an influx of sales. This is to help shops which have not yet established a customer base! So todays shop is beaddamedesigns and I just purchased myself a little ring.

Sneak Attack button

Yellow

A little selection of Yellow from my work table.


A little fabric rose from my Yellow bin. I don't really have much Yellow fabric, I might have to go and hunt for some the next time I go shopping.




A little Yellow wooden heart. This is one of 4 - coasters I am sure, but they sit up on my window sill and make me happy.


I thought it would be hard to find anything Orange - no Yellow was much harder. This is the only piece of work I own that really has any Yellow that makes an impact. It is a detail of another of my Mum, Felicity Aston's pieces.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Orange

Orange is not my favourite colour. The only room we painted when we moved in to our house was our living room and thats because it was Orange and I couldn't live with it. I don't even have an orange fabric bin. I have to admit it does look nice with Blue though (complementry colour and all). I thought Orange photographs would be hard but as it happens I do have some stuff.

This is a patched wall hanging that my aunt gave me when I was 13 or so. It features indian shisha work (mirrors) and beautiful embroidery, cut from vintage clothes or textiles and reassembled. It is one of the pieces of my high school bedroom that has made the journey over here. I did read somewhere that a lot of family heirlooms were being lost this way as people sold them to make some money, that makes me sad, but I really do appreciate the hard work that went into each piece.

I have a beautiful african wall hanging that my friends from Kenya gave us as a wedding gift. My wall needed a little something more to add to it. This is a basket that I bought at a discount store here. It hangs with its friends up on my wall beside the wall hanging. I have a notion to collect more in different sizes and keep adding to them.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Red

This is from my Gap T-shirt made in South Africa for Project Red (label below) this t-shirt makes me feel good! I also bought one that says Bo(RED) which doesn't really have the same uplifting sentiment. Happily I wear this one a lot more, and since this blog is really supposed to inspire me I think it is a much more appropriate. You can buy lots of RED products over at http://www.joinred.com


This is my Big Red Stripey Linen Log Cabin Quilt. When we moved into our house the Master Bedroom was painted Dark Red. We didn't really want to spend a lot of time painting so we just moved ourselves in. Of course nothing we owned went with a dark Red Bedroom. I decided to make a log Cabin Quilt for Our Bed. It is my first usable Quilt and I of course decided to make it a King size (we only have a Queen) in case we upgrade any time. This took me months to make. The fabric graduates from Deep Reds and Purples on the Bottom Right side to Creams and pinks on the Top Left. I probably used around 20 fabrics all stripey linen, and then bleached and dyed to get my colour range. I couldn't say exactly how many different colours came out of it. I have better pictures somewhere but I can't seem to find them on my computer.

Finally this is my Anthropologie jumper (sweater) that I am wearing today in honour of Red Monday. I love clothes from Anthropologie but why do they have to cost so much? It really is the most interesting clothing store here in the U.S.A. Back in Ireland I am love Monsoon and Peruna, but in general the clothes are a little more interesting in the U.K.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Colour week

Hello it is colour week! Who says - Little Red Hen. I thought it would be fun so I am joining in too! Here is how the week goes :-

Sunday- rainbow of colour
Monday - red
Tuesday - orange
Wednesday - yellow
Thursday - green
Friday - blue
Saturday - violet
Sunday - finish it all off with another rainbow of colour.



This picture seemed very appropriate for the Rainbow theme of the day. It is a lino print that my dad, Terry Aston hand painted for me last year. It is hanging in my kitchen and giving me a cheerful view through this long cold Michigan winter.


This is my somewhat untidy fabric stash system. Some bins are definitely more full than others that Blue one is overflowing. I should really go through and fold the fabric neatly.


Beads, Beads, Beads - this is just one of my many bead storage areas and it is rainbow so there you go.
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