Every Inchie Monday - Boa

So this week's Monday challenge word is Boa - I did think of doing a feather boa but on an inch??!!  It was hard enough trying to do a proper boa snake on an inch.  Didn't look forward to doing this one and again am in a "can't be bothered" mood today and all week so far!!  So what I've done is what you get!  Had great ideas of doing a tree snake - they look so good looped over a branch all green but I just couldn't get it right so just opted for loops and tried to widen the head rather unsuccessfully!!  Used curtain cord coloured and marked with promarkers!  The only trouble with promarkers is they look great when you've just done it but fade when they dry - I must have marked it darker in places loads of times but it still doesn't look dark and light! And now I can see the head properly on the photo (enlarged of course) I can see he has wonky eyes!  He's supposed to have a forked tongue - very difficult to achieve - just looks what it is - two bits of cotton coming out of his mouth!!!

Oh well you can't win them all!  Weather is miserable again - everywhere else in the UK seems to be having nice weather but not us - I think your whole demeanour changes when the sun shines!  Anyway thanks for dropping by and don't forget to click the link to see the other creative works of inchie art.  Thanks for all your lovely comments last week and should there be any this week - thank you again - much appreciated - hopefully they will make me smile! Hope your week is lovely!

Every Inchie Monday - Trout

So we are staying with a sea theme and this week's challenge word on Everyinchiemonday is Trout.  I tried to do a trout twisting in the water so as to get it all in on an inch as it is rather long for a square!  It looked quite good after I'd drawn it but after actually embroidering it - I'm not so sure - it was difficult getting the black spots on it! and maybe I should have used a single thread as opposed to two!  It has become a little chunky however at least I've done it! 

We had guests staying over the weekend and was busy last week so have not had time to fit in any crafting hence being late this week.  Strange to think we only have 14 more to do for this year!! That means it's less than that till Christmas!!  Yikes!  Who mentioned Christmas? - have decided maybe I won't "Do" Christmas this year!!  And for anybody who knows me you'll know that's a big deal for me as I usually go overboard!!!  Anyway plenty of time to decide!!  I'll probably give in at the last minute and then will be racing round like a headless chicken!  Anyway weather is uppity at the moment ... rain and sun - don't know where we are - I think I'll put the washing out and just as I've hung the last item it starts raining ... hard .... so I'm ripping everything off the line as quickly as I can having spent ten minutes hanging it out!!  What a waste of time!!  Anyway hope you'll pop into the other inchie makers creative works of art by clicking the link and happy days to you all - Autumn is on its way the trees are beginning to change colour and soon it will be beautiful - I love this time of year - except the darker days.  Thanks for dropping by and for any comments you leave - always appreciated.

Every Inchie Monday - Starfish

Well we are just coming down off of our high of Italian food!  Our lovely Italian lady has gone back to Italy having cooked every day for a week and her finale was escalloped chicken in breadcrumbs with roasted veg and a chocolate pear cake - so scrummy!!  We are still living off left overs!! In fact today has been nothing but sheet torrential rain and tidying up indoors and Sem did us gnocchi (from the freezer hand made by his mum) with a ragu sauce she did also - so you could say we are still eating Italian!  I managed to get my starfish done - I hadn't realised how many beautiful starfish there are - in fact I found a gorgeous purple one and one with more than 5 legs!  I did do one 4 years ago in orange peel which was rather lovely but I wanted to do an embroidered one with beads this time, however I didn't do a purple one as somehow it just didn't look right and I had this gorgeous orange variegated peach thread which I think has worked well with some two tone grey and orange beads and so here she is:

I wanted to make Silvana a little something to remember us by and so decided to make her one of my flower embroidered lavender bags with organza.  It's funny I haven't made one for a couple of years and I thought it was going to turn out horrible but once I started embroidering and then putting the beads on it turned out as pretty as the others I've made - I was very pleased and so was she!  The lavender I put inside was from France and was picked in 2013 but is still so strong in perfume - so much more potent than our own English lavender - must be the sun!!

 

The flowers bonded between the organza layers are lobelia, lavender and oregano with ivy and fern leaves.  I emphasised the oregano flowers with purple beads and the lobelia with blue beads.  Well that's all from me today, please visit the everyinchiemonday blog page, by clicking this link, to see the other inchie makers fabulous starfish.  Thank you so much for calling in and also many thanks for the comments you leave.  Have a fab week!

Every Inchie Monday - Hermit Crab

Well it's still Monday so I made it!!  I have visitors from Italy staying and am experiencing the most amazing food!!  They insist on cooking as they love it!!  I don't mind cooking as long as I know what to cook but I hate having to decide what to do or try and make something up from what's left in the fridge.  Rosie's mum-in-law to be is a master of using up leftovers and making amazing dinners.  She's made fresh pasta, fresh gnocchi, fresh pizza dough and therefore pizzas - fresh Ragu sauce and tomato sauce - it's delicious - it seems the secret is to cook everything very slowly for a long time - she has things sitting on my rayburn for hours!!  But the taste is wonderful!  Tonight we had fresh tagliatelli with mushrooms and sausage!!  She used up the beef sausages in the fridge - but they tasted nicer than usual!!  It's been so nice as it gave me time to finish my little crab, this week's key word on everyinchiemonday, this afternoon when they all had a siesta!!  Anyway I was at a loss as to how to do this and the only way I could think was to make a shell out of coiled wool and then couch the red cord for the little crab with two black beads for eyes.  It looked more like a hermit crab in my draft drawing but I quite like the texture and I did colour the background with promarkers and silver thread in the water area - however the shell covers most of that!!!

 

Thank you for calling in and why not visit the other inchie makers talented work?  Many thanks too if you leave a comment by clicking the link - I always love hearing from you - it makes my day.

Every Inchie Monday - Gull and Jellfish

Well what a time we have had - I am afraid last week was spent travelling to a big funeral in Eastbourne, staying the night and then coming back and then off to Hove a few days later with so many things to do in between times I never got a chance to visit or post my blog.  So I missed last week's challenge which was Gull (which I will post beneath this weeks).  The challenge for this Monday was Jellyfish.  I racked my brains on how I was going to portray something see through in embroidery and whilst visiting my sister-in-law in Littlehampton last week she suggested a bubble from bubble wrap and so that is what I went with.  I embroidered the little round flower bit inside (which I don't think you can make out now!) and then did loads of tentacles sewing a bubble over the top of the head - it looks to me more like an octopus in shape and I realise that's because I didn't get it flat at the bottom - I tried to use a bigger bubble but it was too big - anyway I'd gone so far down the line this will have to be it!!

For Gull I had wanted to do Jonathan Livingstone Seagull because I just loved that book,  but the image was too big to put on an inch as it was one with wings spread.  So I managed to do a standing gull on a rock trying to get the flow of the feathers with the lines of stitching.

 I was sad to miss posting it as I couldn't do it via my phone - I usually do it on the main computer but I really don't know how to upload to my blog from the phone - One day I will learn!! 
I did make time on Sunday to make 2 cards, one for my daughter's Wedding Anniversary, I fancied doing a sewn one, and one for a very good friend who has a chicken farm! I thought you might like to see my efforts!

Anyway hope you are all having lovely holidays or at least relaxing.  Thank you so much for visiting and any comments you leave and make sure you visit the other inchie makers wonderful creations by clicking here.

Every Inchie Monday - Frog

So this Monday's challenge word at EIM is Frog.  I could have gone with the old common frog which we have loads of in our garden.  In fact every year around the 6th Feb (almost to the date give or take 2 -3 days) I can hear them all "singing" as they congregate in our pond to mate and they are there for a week and then disappear to wherever they came from!  However I am rather fascinated with the blue poisonous dart frog or it's native name, Okopipi - (isn't that a fabulous word?). It is found in the forests of northern Brazil and it is the poisonous skin toxins that were used on the darts of natives for hunting.  The bright blue warns predators of its poisonous nature which causes paralysis or death.  The black spots are different on each frog making each unique and identifiable.  I'm afraid my frog is not quite azure blue (I didn't have the right colour thread!) and the black spots were difficult to define in thread - French knots were too bold and anything smaller too little!!  So I have large and small black dots but then my frog is unique!!

You may have noticed it's Tuesday not Monday!!!  So the reason I am posting this late is that it was my daughter's birthday yesterday and so her birthday card and cake took precedence!!  I was rather chuffed with both so I just had to show you:

Her cake is a favourite - Chocolate Peach Gateaux except I didn't have time to make it as the gateau so I cheated and made it as a roulade - that way it was just one rather large thin cake with the filling and rolled up with the second filling on top.  This is what it should have looked like:

But I have to say it was delicious and just the same taste as the main cake it just took me half the time to make!!!

So on to the last reason why I was late - I wanted to make an engagement card for her and since their favourite colours are purple and orange I decided to do a series of 9 inchies in those colours and put them on a card.  I toyed with the idea of actually making them into a mini quilt with little dangly bits of wool and beads but time was not on my side so I opted to put them on a card and then later I can always do the mini hanging.  However I really enjoyed myself - I have no idea how other people do this but I used a sheet of fabric colour catcher paper, painted it with brushos. 

Then I laid a sheet of bondaweb over it, overlaid that with thread, material and lace, then another piece of bondaweb and laid a piece of organza on top - then over freezer paper ironed the sandwich together.  This is what I got:

 And after cutting the inch pieces I decorated them with threads and embellishments, here are some finished - I still had three to go.

And now here is the finished card - again photography cannot capture the richness of colour and texture but this is the best I can do:

So it's been quite a creative weekend and after all the gardening and clearing out I think I deserved a play!!  Have got lots of travelling to do again this week and next week so just as well I've got all that out of the way!  Hope your days are bright and fulfilling and thanks for dropping by and any comments you leave, I always enjoy reading them.  Until next time and don't forget to click the link and view the other inchie makers creative work.

EIM - Aligator

Well it's Monday again and I hope every one is happy!?  I took a respite from the house at the weekend and have had a lovely lazy relaxing weekend but I wasn't able to finish my alligator until this morning as the light wasn't right and I just couldn't' see properly - however I don't think it would have made any difference!!  I still struggled with it this morning!  I drew the image onto a piece of my waxing material and then coloured it with promarkers and then began to sew - I had intended to cover the promarker colouring with matching thread but somehow it didn't look right - having sewn all the dark areas and little pointy bumps, when I filled in between with lighter thread it looked awful so I unpicked it (probably should have put more promarker colour onto it as it does tend to fade) - then I tried doing the foliage and even that didn't look right and in an attempt to make the muddy water look like water I used my coloured kreiner thread but the red seems to be more predominant than the blue and yellow but I still think the silver would have been too bright!  Somehow the eyes and nose needed more definition so I added black but when I tried putting more on it ruined it so I ended up doing more unpicking so I have decided to leave it as is - enough is enough - I even noticed a bit of green missing by his nose but I need to got to the attic to find the promarker I used so I'm being lazy and haven't bothered so sorry!!  Anyway here he is although I must say he looks lighter in the photograph than in reality!:

So onwards and upwards with the day, still got things to clear and get rid of so had better get on with it, the day is sunny too so gardening might be on the agenda this afternoon - happy days and thanks for visiting.  Please visit other inchie makers by clicking the link here and thanks so much for any comments you leave.