London & Wales

Continue from the last blog post. We have left the UK and are now in Greece. Here are the photos from our visit to the UK. We spent 2 weeks in London staying at my sister's apartment in Chelsea. We didn't spent the whole two weeks just in London. We took 5 days of to West Wales. A mini holiday from a big holiday, if you get what I meant! Having visited and lived in London on many occasions we are familiar with the city. We used London's public transports both buses and underground. 

We visited our favourites places, galleries and museums and shops we like as well. A visit to Liberty House in Regent St. is a must! Also went to the Cloth House the shop I found on Instagram and met both Jay and Niki the owners of the shop. 

Dyeing was also part of London's visit. I ran into a Eucalyptus tree, surprise surprise! It was my lucky day that a large branch was on the ground. I gathered some and wrapped with the silk I took with me. You can see the results from photos below: 

I continue with my stitching and started another section in London and have completed it as well. Scroll down to the second part of this blog to read about West Wales: 

Red telephone booths are the icons of London. Today some
of them provide free WIFI for emergency use.

A Chelsea Pensioner Bench, very famous! 

Celtic design on a side walk. Only about 8x8". It's cute!

Faces of London found their way into my journal page

The Liberty House, London

Cloth House with  warm greeting from Jay

Gorgeous fabric collection at Cloth House

A base of stitching piece

Completed the stitching

Eucalyptus tree found in London

Bundled, steamed and results!

In West Wales we booked ourselves into Airbnb. A charming stone farmhouse cottage. Being low season we got the whole cottage for ourselves. We took daily excursions and visited small towns and villages along the west coast of Wales. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Wales.  

Op-shop browsing awarded me with this beautiful
remnant of hand embroidered pieces. 

Stone farmhouse cottage

A typical house in Wales

Mwnt Church on Mwnt Beach

Typical Wales scenery 

A rainbow greeted us that day

A collage of Wales in my journal

A town scene completely hand knitted by member
of National Wool  Museum of West Wales

Hexies quilt using wool fabric

Woollen hand knitted tights at National
Wool Museum of West Wales

The last few days in London I met up with a few friends from Abu Dhabi days. It was lovely to get a chance to meet them again. I went to V&A Museum with Yasmin and saw Indian Fabric Exhibition. We really enjoyed it. Another day I went with Debbie to Harrods for high tea! Thanks ladies, you totally spoiled me, but I loved it!

We are now in Greece and having such a great time here with our cousins.  Will share the photos of Greece with you on my next post.

Until next time
Nat

Creative Journal Workshop

I was delighted to host a Creative Journal Workshop at my Tree-house Studio. It was the first workshop with many more to follow, I hope. The workshop was run by my bestie Jacky Williams. Jacky is a fulfilled artist and she keeps up a creative journal in her spare time! Her work is gorgeous, and I'm glad to host her first workshop at my Tree-house. 

The Tree-house is not that big. We can fit six comfortably with room to spare. I moved all my bits and pieces away on the day. Jacky arrived armed with kits, journalling supplies and props for everyone. She also brought samples of journals she has made.

We were given a list of what to bring. I think we brought far more than we needed! I had dabbled with journalling before and already had my supplies ready. It was good not to have to obtain more supplies for the workshop.

The Tree-house was filled with artistic buzz on the day. We started the day with morning tea and introduced ourselves so everyone got to know everyone else. Jacky talked us through many techniques and process of journalling. It didn't take long before we were busy creating. Time flies when you are having fun. It was like that for us that day. Below are some photos from the workshop. I only had time to take photos of my journal pages. Enjoy!

Jacky's many art journals for inspirations

Jacky busy setting up before everyone arrived

The journals are spread out for everyone to admire

Part of the props to work on that day

The art supplies were spread out

Some water colour paints

My bestie Mel was in her element.
She was natural at journalling!

My first page using collaging technique

My second page using nature and earthy theme

Another collage I did after the workshop

I pasted eco-dye photo over the collage

The theme for my creative journal is eco-dye, surprise surprise! It's easier working with what you know! The workshop went very well and Jacky was a great and generous teacher. Of course I knew she would be! The Tree-house was buzzing with creativity that day. It feels empty afterwards. I hope to have more workshops there soon.

Lucky find: 

Let me share my lucky find with you. No, not all of the Kokeshi dolls are my lucky find. This collection of Kokeshi dolls are at Kazari/Ziguzagu show room on Malvern Rd. I brought one home that day. I wished I had brought more though! I got a few in my collection already. I want to take my time collecting them so they are more special that way. 

We can slowly feel spring in the air here down under. The days are getting longer. I actually get home before dark this week! It hasn't rained much either. It's a nice change without having constant rain for a while. 

Until next time.

Nat

Blog Book and More

The blog book I ordered has arrived. I've been trying to come up with an idea how to print my blog. Both Mr Notjustnat and I came up with various ways, but in the end I decided to get it printed with Blog2Print. I decided to print one year at a time. My first book for the 2014 posts has arrived. The next one is ordered and it is on its way. I'm very happy with how it looks and feels. The photos are as clear as I see on the web. 

Apart from that, I had a busy couple of weeks yet again. I visited a great exhibition: Exquisite Threads, English Embroidery 1600-1900s. I took some photos of my favourite pieces to share with you here.

I was sick for most of last week. The doctor ordered for me to stay home during that time. No good giving my cold to the rest of the team at work! The weather was horrible the whole time I was home, but I managed to complete small sewing projects and put on a batch of dye during that time.

My first blog book for 2014

2014 when I went on a textile trip to Vientiane
Luang Prabang and Siem Reap.

Below are some photos of the embroideries at the Exquisite Threads Exhibition. The first one is a Bible cover from the early 17th century. What caught my attention was the work of free-form embroidery. To use it for a Bible cover was comforting to me because I'm making the same things, but for journal covers.  

Bible cover-early 17th century

Part of my hand-stitched journal cover

My 2015 travel journal cover

Coif - early 17th century. Linen, silk, gilt-metal
(thread, spangles)

Section of a larger embroidery panel 

Stomacher - early 18th century

Below are a few small projects I worked on while I was home sick:

Shibori stitched on linen dress, socks and
cotton threads ready for indigo dye

Quilt label for Red Star and Blue Sea
quilt posted here

The Civil War block I made using Barbara
Brackman's free patterns that I posted here 

I was given walnut hulls a couple of weeks ago. I soaked them until they were ready to be used. Steeping is another way to cook dye bundles. The liquid you steep bundles in could be anything from natural sources. All bundles for this batch had been steeped in walnut bath. 

Jars and bundles ready to be opened

Unwrapped bundle of wool and Eucalyptus

A peak into another bundle of silk and Eucalyptus

Another bundle using different Eucalyptus

Autumn maple leaves on vintage silk

Silk scarf dyed in walnut bath

Lucky find:

My sweet Abela

A lucky find for this post is not what I found recently, but it was a lucky find I found 15 years ago on eBay. This sweet Singer Featherweight is my proud and joy and I enjoy her every time I sew with her. I only use her to sew vintage fabric. I named her Abela to remind me of an Arabic name for a beautiful little girl. Abela was made in Scotland, but I got her from Texas, USA. 

Until next time

Nat