SUMMER ART CREATIONS

It's that time of the year where everything is blooming and looking very good. So with the beautiful spate of good weather I decided to do lots of stuff with a floral theme.

Barrels

Inspired by some barrels that I saw in Durrow last summer, I began hunting for empty plastic barrels to paint. The owner of River Spices (Indian takeaway) gave me 2 small chutney barrels. I wanted a bigger one so I went to the milk market to source for one but I didn't like what I saw.

When I visited my friend Catherine, I saw some blue barrels and it was so nice of Ned to give me one. He loaded it into my car boot - a perfect fit! So I've transformed the barrels into 2 planters and one water butt to catch the rain that runs down the gutter..

I like the saddleback pig because of its distint black and white markings. So I modelled the water butt after the piggy.

Path

I couldn't leave a path in its original state.   I had to give it a makeover.

and the original path below

Wigwams

I planted more climbing plants so there was a need for bamboo/willow wigwams.

Pallets

I saw how pallets were painted at the Bloom and Clare garden festivals last year and so I decided to try it out.

Cable wheel

I turned this cable reel into a small table.

Food Cover

And to keep the pesky flies away, this is a bee hive with a difference!

I spend much time in the garden and it's all very worth it....The roses are all blooming and there is also a bumper crop of vegetables

I bought a chimney pot from a Recycle Centre in Scariff and did mosaic work on it.

and decoupaged a plastic chair

                         ..............made two floral hair clips to match my dress

                                   gave 3 bedroom windows a new stained glass look...........

       and finally did mosaic work on the window sills which won a lot of admiration from passers-by .               ............

The Beauty of Stained Glass

I always feel that the ultimate challenge to crafting is handling glass. Somehow the idea of scoring glass isn't exactly something pleasurable. Breaking the glass with bare hands or cutters is scary. And what about soldering copper strips? I won't even go there.

But I've always admired stained glass panels in churches so suppressing my phobias, I signed up for a workshop in Ennis. (I heard on radio today that we should try - at least once a week- to do something that we are afraid of.) Yes, that's good therapy.

Claire Carroll the expert guided me through the process of planning the design and then cutting the glass to match the design, just like pieceing a jigsaw together.

Pieces of glass cut according to the design

I also learnt a glossary of stained glass terms: shards, sharpie pen, pistol grip and pencil grip cutters, running arrow and grozing pliers and how to tack the flux.

Pistol grip cutter

Pencil grip cutter

Grozing pliers

Running Arrow pliers

Tacking the flux

Then I had to grind the rough edges. This is the part where I had to wear googles and look like the expert.

And we were given a good lunch as well.

It took me 3 cups of coffee, one scone, one plate of pasta, 21/2 hours of driving and 5 hours of glass cutting and soldering to make this wee fishy.

Stained glass quilted sofa throw

We wear leather jackets to keep warm. The bovine kind can stand in the fields for long hours and yet they do not shiver because they are protected by their hides. So why is it that the leather sofa is so very, very cold to sit on? Give me an upholstered sofa anytime!

Now with autumn here and winter fast approaching I've whipped up a sofa throw which can double up as a snuggie blanket when I watch telly. 

This quilt is inspired by the beautiful stained glass windows that I see in cathedrals. 

                                                             St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh

A mishmash of batik fat quarters separated by black strips. I bought the fat quarters in New York when we went there last year.

They have been sitting pretty in my stash press all this time so finally, I've pieced them together and voila! looking forward to a warmer sofa ......

And while I was in the mood for quilting, I did this baby quilt and stamped some brown paper to wrap it up with....