Shades of Plum and Pink

My pages for my next journal are slowly growing. With more dyed lace and silk with plum chiffon, brown and gold sari silk, silk organza, shabby dyed tassels, lace and beads it is taking shape.

A close up view of the first layer of lace which came from an old blouse of mine!

Thanks to the wonderful appreciation of Diane from Diane Knott's Musings Blog my followers have increased quite quickly past 100 so I am currently preparing a GIVEWAY which I will be offerring very soon so stay tuned!!!

Next Journal Page

This, in fact, is the final look as I have added more in the way of a flap on the side of the page with 

some more embellishment here and there!

 

Moving into some shades of pinks and browns for this collage with fabrics of ticking, tapestry, paisley, rust, velet, organza, a dyed damask serviette and satin embellished with dyed lace, tasseled fringing, motif and button. I shall be adding more later when I put the journal together!

Early Spring Roses

As promised earlier I have posted some of our early roses in our Spring garden. The roses which always show themselves first are the Climbing Roses, such as Lorraine Lee as seen in the first pic, followed by Zephrine Druin, then Dublin Bay, Pierre deRonsard, Cecile Brunner and finally Crepiscule (not quite out as yet).

This pic shows just how full and wild the garden is - there are
Grannies Bonnets, Lavenders, Foxgloves, a Lemon tree, Valarian and Orange Blossom.

A David Austin rose here, I think called Jude the Obscure (what an amazing name!)

And finally here is a mosaic I made to show the garden as it is at present but, as you know, gardens are continually growing and changing so the next garden post will display many more roses for your enjoyment!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Tattered Silk Tassels

This is the second in my series of the "Pre-Raphaelite Vision". This dreamy model's face has been adorned on a heart of some very old emboidered gold satin, black printed organza, black and gold paisley lame, rust dyed silk, lace, tassels, and broches.
From "Love and the Maiden".

The Pre-Raphaelite Vision

As you can see I have collaborated my first Fabric Art Journal into a slideshow at the top of my blog for those wishing to take an overall look at it.
I have enjoyed this work so much that I have decided to launch into a new, but much smaller in size, journal
(6" x 8"). The previous journal measures approx. 9" x 12" with quite a few extensions! I made this journal so that I could add text and pictures at a later stage thus leaving space opposite full collage pages.
The theme of this new one will be to honour some of the women who were painted (sometimes obsessively) by a small group of painters who formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. These painters included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Some of these collages will include small portraits of women such as Jane Burden and Elizabeth Siddal. This art work is among my most favourite!

My Journal Journey is Over!!!

As promised I have here the whole completed package of my Fabric Art Journal at last!!!
It really has been going on now for some weeks but it really has been worth the journey.
Good Heavens!!! I was a bit afraid that I might be turning into a "Journal Junkie" but I am getting over it  even though I would LOVE to make more. The journal has been wrapped with some gorgeous old Spanish handmade lace given to me by a dear friend, Lyn, acquired from her great grandmother (how special is that!).

As you can see I have added even more peices to the pages shown previously on my blog to frame my pages more elaborately.

The front cover is shown here.

And the back cover here.
Let me know if you want to see more pics but I will put together a slide show so that you can see each page finished in its entirety.

I am a bit sad that it is finished but I shall start another soon - what do you think???

Getting Closer Now!!!

I really don't mean to tease you - but this journal of mine which I have been on about for a few weeks now, really, I promise you, is comning to it's finale. The pages are finished and now I'm getting the front and back pages together. These pics give detail of the inside cover with two little "envelopes" which can be used for keepsakes - special documents, photos, etc.

There a lots of pieces which go into each page and I guess it is all taking time but I hope it will be really worth it.
At least I am having a great time playing!!!
Hope you all get to have a great break over the weekend and I'll be back soon with more of the same but different!!!
With thanks and hugs to all my blogging buddies - and thanks to all of you for your kind support - it is appreciated!!!

Final Pages of Journal (and then..........)

 

 

These are the final two pages of my journal .


 

 

This collaged piece I had made some time ago which I decided to include in the journal.  Both pages have been put together using some upholstery fabric as a base adding several layers including satin, silk,  printed organza, naturally dyed silk and velvet, lace and beads.
But, of course, yet to be completed are the front and back covers which will hold it all together.  I have some ideas for this which I am working on at present.  So far I must say that it has worked out reasonably well considering the fact that I am making it all up as I go.

 

From our kitchen window this morning I took this pic of two wood ducks which visit our garden every morning and evening.  They had 6 ducklings which have all grown and flown.  They have become really tame and feel very safe breeding here!

Family Matters (To some people)

1920 was the year of my grandparent"s Wedding and 90 years later my dad is still going quite strong although plagued with that nasty lung disease, Asbestosis. We had a most precious time with him when we recently visited Adelaide where he lives (which is a 1.1/2 hour plane ride away from where we live in New South Wales, Australia, sharing stories and lots of laughs over many cups of tea.

It was also great to meet Judy (and Nev), a blogging friend of mine over coffee one afternoon where we chattered our heads off over one hundred and one things all related to our creative fibre work. So many ideas and plans were discussed for future sharing of our work.
Now back at home I'm working on the last 2 pages of my Fabric Art Journal which I will be posting in the next day or so.