Castle for Halloween

Carmen has let me know that the October page has arrived.  So, while she is busily working on pages for the rest of us, I will let you see what I sent.

I just posted more photos and a "discussion" of how it came to be on my blog. From The Basement.  Come visit me there!

Scotty's Castle for Carmen

The Post Office tells me that this page has arrived at Carmen's house, so here are the pics. I have particularly enjoyed the pages depicting scenes and life around the world.

There are not many castles in California to inspire me! LOL But...I have always wanted to visit Scotty's Castle in the desert area called Death Valley. The story of the "castle" is that of an unlikely friendship between a reprobate prospector and a wealthy, religious busnessman from back East. This link tells the whole story:

www.nps.gov/deva/historyculture/scottys-bts-pag11.htm

The rocky sand was made with Texture Magic. Great stuff! The cactus is one variety of prickly pear. I have never eaten the fruit fresh, but have had jelly made from it. The young leaves or paddles can be skinned an eaten as a vegetable or side dish (nopales). Once in a home in Tijuana, I was served a breakfast of scrambled eggs and nopales with still warm tortillas fresh from the neighborhood tortilleria, Mmmmm!

Belated post - Mandy's Castle page for Carmen.

This is rather out of sequence, but here is the Castle page I made for Carmen back in April.



As my attached letter explains, the picture is based on a photograph I took of my daughters playing in the ruins of Beeston Castle.





This rather wonderful ruin is on the top of a steep hill with magnificent views of the surrounding Cheshire Plain. The site was chosen carefully for its strategic value. Built as it was many centuries ago, it was there to help protect the English from the marauding Welsh. With a cliff to three sides and a steep hill climbing to the remaining side, the castle managed to survive for centuries eventually falling during the English Civil War. It has the benefit of an amazingly deep well, which would have been life-saving for the inhabitants during a seige.
As a family, when my daughters were young we often visited this castle. We learnt a lot about the history surrounding it whilst playing amongst the ruins. There are still regular events, where various societies come to re-enact different periods from the Castles long history.
Thanks Carmen for allowing me to wander very happily down memory lane as I put this piece together.

Castle for Carmen

This is the page I made for Carmen in May. Carmen has the topic castles. At first I thought about sewing a Loire castle. But I arranged the towers somewhat different.
I found the walls of the original castle a lot too gray - can you be happy, in boring gray walls? A good queen has to live in a colorful castle! ;-) My interpretation of the theme "castle" is colorful!
Perhaps there a party going on.

July Page for Carmen

Since I know that Carmen has received my page I made for her for July, I thought I'd post photos. This is done with machine embroidery (Carol Shinn style) and is based on a photo of the inside of Nunney Castle. I found the photo on the Internet and loved the play of shadows and light.

The back is pretty boring, just black felt but I needed something that wouldn't fray. The technique I used creates it's own edges and I didn't want to cover them up.

Here's a close up. I used tons of thread for this! I hope you like it Carmen.

Apologies to Chris, and Carmen.

I am so sorry that your May page - Coastline - is going to be a little delayed, Chris. I had started the page much earlier in the month, but since I just wasn't convinced the technique I planned to use was working, I decided to start again.
The page is nearing completion now, but it will be a few days before I can get it into the post. I shall let you know when the page has been posted.
On another topic, my April page -Castles- does not seem to have arrived with Carmen. I do hope that this arrives soon. If not, I shall remake the page and send a replacement for you.

March page update

As some pages seem to have gone missing or people are running late, I've posted my March page just for reference as I know Carmen said she did receive it. Maybe others are doing what I am and saving a copy of everyone's pages for future enjoyment! Also I hope my coastline has sailed safely across the sea now? We have so many strikes on here in Greece at the moment that I can never be sure what's happening with the post!

Castles - on the way.

I managed to get "Castles" finished yesterday - just within time, but wasn't able to post it until today. Hopefully it will arrive quickly.

Castle

I'm afraid my castle page for Carmen is running a little late at the moment. A mere hint above. I love castles, especially one particular castle not too far from here. Built in 1225, it is now a ruin, but much loved by my own family. We spent many happy hours there when my daughters were young.
Unfortunately, that is probably why I ended up running late with this. I just could not decide how to depict this much loved structure.
I shall get this completed and into the post as soon as I can, but apologies for the delay.

Preview for Carmen

Haven't taken a photo of the (nearly finished) castle page but this link takes you to some British canal craft pictures ( called Roses and Castles after the most popular traditional paintings) Enjoy!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40839614@N05/sets/72157622536646274

Indian Palace for Carmen

This is the page I created for Carmen in February. The theme was Castles and its an Indian palace I've depicted which is viewed through an arched window and that's the leaves and fruit laden mango tree which is also visible.

I used an actual picture of a palace which I mounted on thin card paper and stitched onto the backing fabric. The arched window is cotton fabric which has been appliqued and embroidered with sequins and blue metallic thread. Most palaces and forts in India are heavily decorated with murals, inlaid with semi precious stones or carved.

The mango tree and sky are embroidered and coloured with oil pastels.

Delighted and relieved to hear Carmen has received the page.

Jan page and sneak peek of February

Here's a peek of Castles - the page I'm creating in february for Carmen.
The page I made for Juliette in January- The Seashore. I've depicted the ancient Shore temple at Mamallapuram. In the foreground are two catamarans made of wooden logs and a modern fiber glass fishing boat.The ancient coexists with the modern.
The reverse of The Seashore page. A pocket on the reverse holds a magazine article about the rock sculpture and the shore temple of Mamallapuram.

Castles

I'm starting the page for February. This one is for Carmen and the theme is Castles.

Since I'm from India I'm trying to incorporate an Indian flavour to the pages I make. We don't have castles in India as far as I know but we do have fabulous palaces, forts and palaces within forts etc.

As you can see from the pictures I've collected for inspiration, arches are an important architectural feature in most Indian palaces and forts and the arched shape of the page is going to lend itself beautifully to the theme.

I've posted my first page of The Seashore out to Juliette. I think you should have it in your mail box by the end of next week.