Rest and Recovery

This is where you will find me for the time being

away from my Studio

pondering

contemplating

meditating

mulling over new creative ideas

in our garden room

  

reading and recovering from an arm injury - yes

I've torn a muscle in my right arm

and

DH (the arm police) is keeping me very much longer

than arms length away from

the things I most love for a rest from creating

and visiting blogs

in the hope of healing without

medical intervention.

and I couldn't think of a more peaceful place to be.

So please come and stay a while, say hello and take in some 

of this beauty with me.

(from a recent Nature journal I have finished).

I surely hope it won't be too long before I can reconnect

with you all because I'm already missing the 

blogging experience,

your company

and

the ability to create.

Loving thoughts and thanks for visiting with me.

Suzy xox

Layers and Layers of Collaged Lace and Doilies

Hello dear blogging friends!

  

Just before Easter I showed you an image of a new

Lace and Doily Throw I was starting to

assemble!

Well I am happy to say that it is now finished!

I started with an antique cotton tablecloth which had been

edged in a some exquisite hand crocheted cotton

which I used for the base.

Everyone knows just how much I love these beautiful

doilies whether cut lace, Battenburg or hand crocheted

and I can't think of a more sumptious look

when they are all put together

layer upon layer

 butting up and overlapping each other

 to create a sea of beautiful patterns of lace

swirling around the cloth

in perfect harmony with each other.

When I arrived at a pleasing effect to the eye

I started on another journey of layering the assembled

top to a prepared base of batting under which

is yet another beautiful white damask

vintage linen tablecloth 

(which was almost the same size in this case)

and once all three layers were pinned I was

ready to start some machine quilting

up and down the layers and in and out of the looped

doilies and around and around I went.

The final step in the whole process was

to sew through all layers with a large 

number of pearl and white 

new and vintage buttons. 

The quilted underside looks a bit like this and

these beautiful roses form part of the amazing patterned

linen thread work of the cloth underneath.

These pieces are precious and highlight

the amazing handwork

(and machine work)

of these well preserved pieces of linen and cotton lace work.

♥♥♥

This is my idea of some beautiful bliss

so I'm linking this post to

What's It Wednesday  at Ivy and Elephants with Patti

♥♥♥

This piece of lace work could be used as a throw over 

a chair or couch, as a wall hanging or a centre 

cloth for table or bed.  

It really is a keep sake for someone and I am

considering putting it up for sale.

It measures 41" x 48" approx inc. the lace border.

If you are interested just email me

at

suziqu@tpg.com.au

(I am happy to let you know that this new quilt has been sold

and is flying it's way to California!).

Some of you may remember this quilt above I posted about

a couple of years ago.  I think it has created

more interest than any other quilt

I have posted on my blog

so

I do hope this new work inspires many of you out there who love

 to create with lace and doilies to let

your heart run free! 

xox Suzy

In a French Mood!

Quite recently I was gifted this beautiful image

in an exchange with Lilla (Just Lilla blog)

and decided to create something quite dramatic in shades

of black with highlights of grey, rust and brown.

So a bag it would be with a flap displaying

"Odette" - isn't she beautiful looking out over the water?

 and using one of my own designs in a crazy patchwork fashion
 I couldn't resist

using some beautiful vintage laces and doilies

as well as some gorgeous fabrics like black velvet,

black organza and black laces with some from 

 recycled and upholstery fabrics.

and here she sits on my table in my studio next to my button box

for the time being!

The little crocheted medallion under the black button

was created and gifted from Julia

(Vintage with Laces)

and the rosette is from Carole 

(Flights of Fancy Boutique)

Carole has the most amazing collection of all kinds of embellishments you can imagine for your 

creations.  So go and pay her a visit!

Linking this post to Paula at Ivy and Elephants for

"What's it Wednesday".

♥♥♥♥♥

I do have such a large collection of beautiful fabrics -

new, vintage, exotic, rare, silks, linens, satins, cottons and 

thought to myself that

it might be time to start packaging some of them up

for sale in my Etsy shop.

They would be perfect in small crazy quilting projects,

journals, collages, etc. etc.

I have been collecting (hoarding) much fabric

now for many years and I think it's

time to let some go!!!

Sometimes we only need such a small piece

but that's is never what we buy - we tend to go for 

lots more just in case!!!! Isn't that right???

Are any of you interested in my idea

of destashing???

Hope to get some feedback soon.

Thank you dear friends for always visiting and leaving such

appreciative thoughts and comments.

Fabric and Lacebook re: Birds from Downunder

I know that birds are most often associated 

with Spring but I love them in any season

and

I wanted to share a book which I created

for Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered Blog

(as part of a swap we engaged in

several months ago)

about our native Australian birds here

- the "Honeyeaters".

The bird theme was a total surprise for Lisa!

I have also included a couple of other birds but it is mainly

focused on the Honeyeaters.

I took several pieces of fabric away with me on a short

holiday last year so that I could hand piece 

some fabrics together in the evening where we stayed

in a beautiful cabin on the beach.

This Wonga Pigeon graces the cover

and here are the first two pages inside.

I know how much Lisa loves birds and themes

related to nature but I doubt that she ever sees

any of these beautiful insect loving birds

in her garden!!!

Oh and popped in the left hand pocket on these

pages is a tag with one of our Kookaburras

on it!

You can clearly see this pocket displaying the Black Honeyeaters

was created from a rusted linen serviette.

In this pocket are a couple of vintage cigarette cards

from my collection of ephemera.

The Heron which is actually from a piece of fabric

I identified from my bird books as a Reef Heron!

I'm not quite sure where in the book this appears

but I simply loved that beautiful nest 

which I had to incorporate.

You can also see more rust dyed and blue silk fabrics

which have been collaged and hand stitched

with some vintage lace.

This photo on the back of the lacebook came from

 a dear friend, Ron.

See the little Blue Wren sitting on the fence post?

Now you can see how the many pages of fabrics

and lace look together to give it a

very rustic feel!

Last, but not least, is the spine adorned with a metal finding.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the creation of

this book with its many layered fabrics and laces of hand stitching

and I was very happy with the result

not to mention how thrilled Lisa 

was to receive it.

I will share what I received from Lisa in a future post seeing that

I have managed to take up so much of your precious time

in viewing this post already!

I'm joining the party at What's It Wednesday
Ivy and Elephants this week!

I do have at least two more lacebook journals that I will

share with you as we go along - one of which

relates to nature again!

Finally I'm just sending some Autumnal hugs

from our garden to all my friends and followers

in blogland with this beautiful

Windflower!

Enjoy♥♥♥

Have a lovely weekend!

Suzy xox