Oh also done this in the last couple of months

Remember the fabric I bought with all the beautiful goldwork, after dying the fabric I tried printing it but some of the effects were pretty miserable, which had a negative efefct on my way of thinking for a while especially as I had planned to use the fabric as scarves for female friends  and family. Thought this would be one way to life me out of my financial catastrophe, home made presents that look a bit less home made. But alas things went wrong. Stupidly I got into my head I should cut my 4 metre length of fabric horizontally which would give me more scarves, wrong move, all the fabric became slightly warped. I must make sure I stick to my original plans esp-ecially when it comes to cutting fabric the wrong way. Well at least I have learned something very important always cut along the vertical not the horizontal. What I am annoyed about is I knew this already. Guess i will put it down to tiredness and trying to cost cut.

Well three of my family received a scarf only because I wanted to give them to somebody and to be truly honest they will probably never wear them outside. And to make matters worse I havent taken photos of the finished pieces, good job they went to family at least I can ask for photos of them now.

just realised how busy I have been also done these

this was a cushion cover for my niece, aagin fabric found in my cupboard

this was going to be an apron but made it into a cushion cover for my eldest dauther instead.You might rememeber the design from one of my Paris blogs earlier in the year.  I saw the image on a wall in Paris which I then redrew and used as a print

I had made some 50s style aprons last year for a photoshoot for a client last year. I re-found these in one of my fabric boxes and thought great I know who loves cooking, once again a cheap alternatice to chrissy presents. Well out of the five I had left two made it into aprons. I used acid dye to print with but unlike the wool which loved the dye cotton did not. So after experimenting on the other aprons I decided on pigment. One went to my 12 year old daughter, the other to my niece. I think they look ok, lthought he red print could have been printed further down the apron, it looks abit misplaced. I was just impresed with how clean my print was.

Hope this explains where I have been for the last few months

Ok so I havent been blogging for a while but this has been down to working in school five days per week then making christmas presents. My 39-45 project has been put on hold although I have used the designs for christmas presents. I am coming around to the fact that this project is definitely going to be a life long one rather than a short term mess about. As for Hand and Lock im feeling back on track but dont want to say too much as will leave that for another post. 
I have printed on wool, never used this fabric before but truly love it. Check me out,  printed with acid dyes not and I repeat not pigment so this in itself is a breakthrough in confidence for me. Lets face it with pigment you know what your getting but printing with acid dyes is a whole new ball game. Im only a novice enjoying her thing rather than preaching to the queens of the screen such as Joy and Ingrid.But  after printing I started to get back into hand embroidery which I havent wanted to do since finishing my degree. I guess this is why I feel ready to restart Hand and lock. Let me know what you think
Each heart contains inside a hand stitched muslin heart filled with lavander fresh form my Dad's garden, surrounded by soft toy filling. Im pretty pleased with them.