Enjoy...my word for 2012!

I've always enjoyed writing journals when I travel and find that I find them hard to resist when I see interesting ones when I go shopping.  Here are a few of the ones I've recently found to be very enjoyable.

 Some of these will be used for workshops to take notes, or draw sketches in.

 Some of them just make me smile when I look at them.

 Others are pretty and have lovely words.

 Some inspire you to learn something new like painting.

 Pink is a favourite colour and the embossed designs are so whimsical and enjoyable.

Finally these lovely designs to inspire and tease you to try something different.  Enjoy!  What inspires you to choose a word for 2012?

Eileen Neill workshop

Last week at our regular Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild meeting Eileen Neill was our speaker.  She came back yesterday to do a stamping workshop with us.  She started by showing us how to cut our own stamps and by using a fabric glue and embossing powder to get some interesting pieces.  We then embellished with Lumiere or Setacolour paints.  This was the piece she demonstrated on in the class.

 Eileen is also known as the bead lady and loves to make these mini quilts for you to work upon to hone your beading skills.  These pieces are quite small as you can see by the little blue scrunchy on the table.

 Here are samples of some of her other pieces, they are about 15" square.

 This one she used commercial stamps and then beaded.

 She also does some interesting work with tyvek and other plastic based materials.

 Then we were off and carving.  Some gals chose to use original designs.

 Here is another original.

 This one is an adaptation of her pages that she allowed us to use.

 Another original design..can you tell it is almost Halloween?

 One of her shared designs.  A lot of people chose this one, it rather looks like the Dogwood flower, our provincial flower.

This was my first attempt along with a test stamp to see if I wanted to remove more background.  I decided to enlarge some of the lines to create a bit more detail.

 Second attempt, I drew right onto the stamping surface.  Remember everything will be reversed.

 A design chosen from another reference book she offered.

 By inking the back you can test stamp and decide if you want to carve out more negative space.  The white lines will be fabric and the black will be covered with embossing powder.

 Hard to see but a line drawing of a bare tree.

 Getting fancy with circles Mary!

 Doreen trying a complex Japanese inspired design.

 Eileen adding some heat to her piece.  It changes the look of the piece.

 Below she is using a paint stripper for added  power and heat.

 Embellishing with Lumiere paints.

 Setting aside to dry for stitching.

 Here is my piece dusted with the embossing powders.

After the heat the look changes, less pink and more silver comes through.

 Embellishing with different paints.

 Trialing some commercial stamps.

 Liz getting the heat on her piece.

 Ready for the heat gun.

 Mary adding some paint to her piece.

 The bare tree stamp along with some curving lines.

 Watching Eileen how she enhances the design with machine quilting.

 Here is one of Wilma's pieces.

 After some paint drying it will be ready to quilt.

 Susan with a different layout and original design.

 Wilma was very busy during the workshop.

I started to quilt my piece and the thread kept on breaking.  I guess that means it will be finished another day.

Thanks Eileen for a wonderful creative day.

Summer in a westcoast rainforest

Yesterday I went for a walk in the rain...the question is what month is it?  July or November?  Yes it was July 16th but the rain was more typical of our November rainfalls.

 The Fraser River has been running very high due to the heavy snow pack we had last winter.

 Tugs have had a challenging time pulling barges up the river...they wiped out the swing span that is 100 years old across this stretch.  It has taken time to clear the barge, it's load and not take the span away for repair.  The trains have been silent for quite a stretch.

 But the succulents are enjoying the wetter cooler weather.

 Their flowers are almost neon in colour and so delicate.

 The fine hairs help hold the droplets.

 I love the colour of this flowering tree.

 This peony is a bit worse for wear, it's outer petals have fallen revealing a feathery centre.

 The marigolds are enjoying the wet days.

 What a lovely contrast of colours.

Here's hoping to some warmer, summer weather soon!