Saturday, August 3, 2013

Kaffe Fassett - Such An Inspiration..........

A page from the book "Dreaming In Colour"
I absolutely love the work of Kaffe Fassett - his name is pronounced like "safe asset".  I first discovered his amazing output of needlepoint, quilts, knitting, mosaics and much more around 1999 when I really got into cross stitch and tapestry for the second time. I loved doing the little tapestries of cutesy subjects like lions and flowers etc that my grandmother would give me for birthdays and Christmases as a child. Anyway, during my second wave of needlework I borrowed "Glorious Interiors" from the library and was blown away by his use of colour.
Right now i'm reading his autobiography "Dreaming In Colour" which is such interesting reading and filled with beautiful colour photographs. He has inspired me to pick up a very old UFO (unfinished object) which is a tapestry - needlepoint cushion of a Hyderangea pattern from an Italian cross stitch needlepoint magazine Le Idee de Sussanna. It doesn't matter that the entire mag is in Italian, you just need to look at the diagrams. This piece finished was supposed to be a Christmas present for my mother back in 1999 - haha, perhaps she'll get it this year!

I did some work on it last night, and plan to do progress shots until its completion, which should be motivating. Also, i've decided that I cannot start any new projects until I finish my current ones. You might notice i"m not using a frame or hoop - Kaffe doesn't use them - so there!

Back to Kaffe, he's had exhibitions worldwide and at The V & A - so he's pretty special.

Here are some pictures from the book and a picture of the Hyderangea tapestry in progress.
A page from "Dreaming In Colour" Kaffe Fassett
My work in progress
needs a press!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What To Make With A Bag Of Lemons......

I made lemon friands yesterday and lemon curd last week and thought morning tea - yum!  Especially nice to accompany my cup of tea.  Sprinkled some coconut on top of the friands, delish.

The vintage English cup and saucer set, I have no idea what era it's from but it looks Art Deco or 30's to me.  Printed underneath the plates is: Solian Ware - Soho Pottery Ltd - Cobridge England and the pattern is aptly titled "Sun-Ray".