It's Time to Celebrate a GIVEAWAY

Ah! Ahhh! Life is full of wonderful surprises

and, as luck has it, I wanted to express

my sincere appreciation and thanks

to all of my new and old followers

here by giving you all a chance

to win a piece of

my artwork!

So having reached over 400 followers

and with it being so close to

Christmas

I decided to offer this prize as a gift.

Without your interest, loyalty, inspiring comments

and your positive input as well as all of the

many wonderful friendships I have made

I doubt I would have extended

 myself in my own creativity

as much as I have.

 There are no tricks or hoops to jump through

just leave one comment per person here,

following if you wish,

and you will be entered in the draw

to win

  

 this fabric collage (20" x 12") featuring

a Dante Gabriel Rosetti print from

my own collection of

"The Damsel of the Sanct Grail".

I have used a number of vintage laces, jewellery,

upholstery fabrics, embroidered velvet,

repurposed printed velvet,

tapestry (vintage and new)

raw silk, braid and tassels.

"Thank you so much" all of you Blog Landers!

Now most importantly

the draw will take place on:

MONDAY, 12 DECEMBER, 2011

Please make sure your email address is on your profile page
of your blog too so that I can contact you - thanks!

Please feel free to place this button on your sidebar too!

I wish everyone the very best of luck.

Love and hugs from me to you,

Suzy xxx

Another Mixed Media Journal for my Etsy Shop

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a journal (which incidentally has been sold)

 that I completed

with Isabel Hall from the U.K.

when she visited Australia promoting her new book

entitled " New Studio Techniques"



well I have completed a second similar Mixed Media Journal

 which is now for sale in my

Etsy Shop

www.suziqu.etsy.com

(see above)

Once again the cover has been made from
Crash (a cross between paper and cloth),
crayons, alcohol inks, gold and copper
encaustic wax as well as scrapbooking pages.

It measures approx. 11" x 8" with

12 signatures in both printed and  plain pages in

 shades of chocolate, coffee, olive and beige.

and the spine has been sewn together with

variagated embroidery threads.

More details can be seen by visiting

my Etsy

above.

Oh and just a few more wonderful things:

"Love yourself

Accept yourself

Forgive yourself

and be good to yourself

because without you...

the rest of us are without

a source of many wonderful things!"

.....Leo Buscaglia

xxx Suzy

Crazy Quilt Gatherings Winter Issue

For all of you who just are addicted to crazy quilting

and

everything associated with this subject including

embellishing, embroidery,  collaging, fabric art,
 lace painting, tutorials and tips on
making

clutches, bags, fabric journals etc. etc.

then

you can purchase your very own copy of

Crazy Quilt Gatherings

by visiting

www.gatherings100.blogspot.com

where you can read all about obtaining this at MagCloud

and this issue contains a publicaiton

by yours truly

on some steps in creating your own fabric journal



such as this one above.  In this article I explain

some steps in what you will need

in starting to create some collages

which form the bases of your pages.
So go to Pat Winter's blog above
where you will be linked to
MagCloud Publishers
to review
the Winter Edition of this most beautiful magazine.

Pat must be commended for her incredible
publishing skills in bringing together
the artworks and creations of
some of the world's best
crazy quilters and mixed media artists.

Thank you so much Pat.

Love Suzy xxx

A Bit of Sewing and A Bit of Garden to Show

Whilst I have been putting together an order

for some needlebooks
(which I promise to show on completion)

shown above

I thought I might share some Springtime Garden Roses and

other plants from our garden on the far south coast

of Australia.

This shows the driveway entrance on the right

and a front paddock with our goats.

A rose arbor at the entrance.

Pierre de Ronsard climbing on the right

A sea of fox gloves growing amongst two more

climbing roses -  William Morris and

Teasing Georgia on the right.

Some close ups of climbing Charles Austin

The Alnwick rose of David Austin

and

Sally Holmes on the bottom of the stack.



Around the back of our home are more climbers

including Crepescule below

Cecile Brunner rose over the pergola

and outside our bedroom window is

David Austin's Umbridge and also

Lorraine Lee climbing along the verandah.

If only I could share the fragrance of this incredible bush

of Mock Orange which fills our bedroom of an

evening.

This view is of some Manchurian Pear trees, Silver Birches

and Chinese Elms which we planted on our arrival

here about 6 years ago.

Last but not least is a flower picked from our

Magnolia Grandiflora which

has the softest fragrance

but it is just such a large flower which measures approx.

8 inches across and is truly magnificent.

So there you have it -

a mini tour of our flowering Spring Garden.

Hope you enjoyed it.

A special thanks and welcome to all the wonderful

people who have followed me recently -

you are so appreciated!

xxx Suzy

Vintage Roses and Lace Clutch

From time to time I have made

these clutches

often as a "giveaway" here on my blog.

I have just made another one which is going into

my etsy shop

at www.suziqu.etsy.com

I get so much pleasure from putting these together

as I get a chance to use some of these

gorgeous vintage laces, doilies

and embroidered tray cloths

which I have been collecting over the years.

Look at this gorgeous embroidered butterfly on this piece.

I have lined it with some very soft beige and white cotton with a

beautiful large flower printed over it.

and embellished it with some roses dyed from cheesecloth

and added layers of collaged

dyed doilies

topped with a cameo and pearls.



and finally the back of the clutch

is embellished with

another dyed doiley

and it looks so pretty I think!

I have bordered the whole purse with some

very soft dyed cotton lace.

So if this appeals to you then go visit my Etsy

for more details.

Just thought I'd share some Summer love

with this most beautiful rose

called

"Sally Holmes"

growing happily in two places in our garden.

Isn't she a real winner?

Enjoy! xxxSuzy

A Lace Book for My Etsy Store

Now tell me!

Just what girl doesn't love old lace?

I know that I have always been addicted to such
beauties

so I decided to pull some out of my stash

to create a book full of some of the most

gorgeous laces I have

and put it

into

My Etsy shop.

The pages are all made from a wool wadding mix

(rather like felt)

which I have dyed.

Each page has been heavily layered and collaged

with doilies, some dyed,

as well as dyed cheesecloth

(using my silk dyes)

and, if you look closely, you can see some dyed raw silk

which I have captured in the layers.

Some other features also include

these gorgeous printed French accented

images onto a soft calico ribbon

which I purchased from a beautiful

Etsy shop called

http://www.homesteadtreasures.etsy.com/

And some of this most beautiful vintage lace came from

Marie at

http://www.santangelodesigns.etsy.com/

So many beautiful vintage laces and medallions

one of which I used on the front cover

(see above).

Inside back cover looks a bit like this:



And this shows the sum total of 12 pages

standing alone:

So if you can't resist beautiful laces and doilies,

 dyed and stitched raw silk, dyed cheesecloth,

mop buttons and embellishments

then go and visit

my Etsy Shop

above

or

www.suziqu.etsy.com

I was thinking what a lovely idea for a giveaway

 but no promises (not yet anway!!!)

Thank you to all the wonderful comments I have

received about my journals and a very

Big Thank You to all

of my new followers wherever you are

I shall endeavour to visit you all soon!

Your comments so inspire

my creations!

Have a cosy weekend enjoying

what nature has provided!

Love Suzy