Creating at Last!

Phew, what a month I've had while Andy has been away working (and playing) in the States.

Not that I've had a great deal of time to create.... I was rather busy socialising! Friends and family thought I might be lonesome and made cunning plans to occupy me...Much as I appreciated all the visits, 'phone calls and days out, I would have liked a little me time :)

I did try to have a little art time but decided some organisation was in order first :) I started sorting out my room, well, I confess - I am using TWO rooms at the moment! (Our offspring have all flown the nest and so I kind of SPREAD!) However, that project went awry - I tried to sort and I moved things around until I couldn't find anything! Aaargh!

Anyway, this weekend was my final fling to be creative as Andy arrives home on Thursday :D

I have missed him dreadfully.

Yesterday I went to a textile class at the Craft Den, taught by this clever lady - Jo

We made a sewing roll - mine is unfinished - I just have to stitch the edges. I am very pleased with the outcome and enjoyed it very much.

sew...sew like the wind...

Yep - that's my fancy stitching round those hearts - I was dead proud that I managed to make it look this good!

And this is the front - like I said, I still have the binding edge to hand stitch...

This has all been in preparation for my next project to make a patchwork quilt.... which I will begin in a few weeks... (watch this space) I have this sentimental idea that it will become a family heirloom :)

And then today, I went to my FAVE place AFTH for the regular Art Journaling class - it was great to see Dy and hear of her escapades in Chicago and Baltimore. We all loved looking at her fabulous samples and we touched and stroked them (well I did) while she was teaching her masking technique. She set us all off using her NEW stamp sets. They are all fab but if you love art journaling and you love quirky satire, you ought to be getting yourself those quote plates! Fun fun fun!

Here are the two pages I did today...

Oh, and I couldn't resist buying this stamp set while I was there....

And finally, its that time of month again - time to show and tell our 365 Art Calendars (see Kate's blog for more info) ... I was late starting July plus with all the blogger glitches, I didn't manage to leave comments on many blogs last month, I hope to rectify that this month, I enjoy seeing the different pages that everyone comes up with :D

And, going with my mission to use more purple in my art, here is August. Once I'd done the background I felt uneasy for some reason so ended up using some Spring Fling paper for the journal blocks to add a bit of pizazz.

The images are from artchix which I've had for ages - I'm on a mission to use up the stuff that I already have instead of keep buying more - that's one useful tip I gave myself whilst I was cleaning/tidying/sorting my stash!