52 Tags : Project complete

I've been participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her weekly demos on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 52 = Macramé tree. Mine is a bit shaggy cos I used silk fibres and I love the colours. 

That's the last one for the year. See all my posts about this project HERE. They live in a box.

And they all have journaling on the back as a record of my year.

I love this view of the tassles.

Here they are in order for each quarter of the year. See others on Instagram here.

Next week we start #52flagshannemade. Find out all about it via her YouTube video. 

The project is going to be bunting and you can do entirely fabric ones, or work like this year's tags on a card base. A small charge this time and you join via Ko-fi (￡3 = around NZ$6/month). 

52 Tags : Weeks 50 and 51

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Two tags to catch up this week.

Week 50 : Circles. This was intended to be a simple option for last week thinking everyone's so busy but I couldn't even manage that until this past weekend. Done is better than perfect!

Week 51 : Wreath. Now on holiday and happy to spend a whole evening stitching this one.

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. One to go! 

Merry Merry to you. 

52 Tags : Week 49

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 49 : A memory. Discovered this sample of a transfer on lutradur. I think this was from a session almost 10 years ago when I was extending my love affair with Klimt's art to start using his work as inspiration for my own work.

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. I really loved Anne's tag this week and her process is fun to watch

52 Tags : Week 48

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 48 : Sheaf Stitch. I am a very busy bee this week so had to keep this one really simple and I love how it turned out

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. This is her tag so you can perhaps see what the Sheaf stitch is supposed to look like

52 Tags : Week 47

Last week was an especially challenging one and I just couldn't manage to make the quite complex tag on time. Week 47 : a little birdy. The minute I saw the heading I knew I'd be using my wooden block huia stamp for this one. 

This weekend I was able to print my huia onto fabric. These blocks can be a challenge to get a good print. I used a brush to apply the ink and then had the fabric resting on batting and an old mouse pad - a cushioned surface helps

I've been adding beads and stitching to the kowhai flowers and huia bird 

In week 29 our challenge was an ort (scrappy) and I used my Fantail block. It's fun to see these different interpretations of New Zealand birds together

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. This is Anne's birdy.

52 Tags : Week 46

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 46 : It's a wrap. Since it's Anne's birthday this week she decided to wrap something - in her case it was twigs in Autumn colours. I've posted hers at the bottom of this post if you want to see it. She always shares hers on her FB page. I decided to use handmade fabric beads with various wrappings. Yellow sunshine background as we head into Summer here in NZ

Edited to add the link to my original post about making these beads in 2010! with the original tutorial that inspired them on iHanna's blog.

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. As promised, this is her tag for this week.

I wish I'd shared them like this all year...it's really interesting to see what she did and what I came up with. Perhaps I'll do this next year if she shares photos of her flags publicly. The challenge lessons will no longer be public. I shared about the flag project for 2022 last week.

52 Tags : Week 45

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 45 : Fireworks. In honour of the 5th of November. I knew this one would be fun and got out my beading needle! 

I hope that soon I'll be able to post some art that isn't a tag! If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen I've been creating more collage fodder. Not quite done enough for a blog post yet so for now I am grateful that in the busy of my life, I can still manage to finish a small weekly creation. 

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Anne's going to continue with a weekly project next year but with some differences. Find out all about it via her YouTube video. The project is going to be bunting and you can do entirely fabric ones, or work like this year's tags on a card base. A small charge this time (￡3 = around NZ$6/month) Looks fabulous. I have so enjoyed this year's challenge. Might see you there.

52 Tags : Week 44

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 44 : Cross Stitch. Immediately thought of this piece from 2015 which has been waiting in my cupboard for a transformation

Stitched on linen, I loved the colours but wasn't really happy with it as project mounted on the wall at the time...seeing the photo now I like it much more than my memory of it. I think sometimes we get too close to projects and need to put them away for a bit and look at them with fresh eyes. Maybe 6 years is a bit long to wait though! 
I layered the linen on a piece of hand-dyed felt and added textures with sari ribbon and scrim. The linen frayed nicely too. This is my finished tag for the week

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 43

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 43 : Fringe. I adored my layered tag last week and knew that this one wouldn't be able to compete. So I took all expectations away and just chose a sample upholstery fabric in a design and colours that make me happy and then added my stitching and a few beads. 

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 42

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 42 : Tag on a tag (on a tag). I had a lovely piece of selvedge fabric that led to my gatherings of green and soft yellow. I wanted my layers to be pretty and spring-like. I added lace and a heart from my recent collage fodder play with the word WONDER. This was a joy to make and I'm delighted with the pieces individually and layered up.

Only 10 to go!!

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 41

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 41 : Bullion Knots. This one evolved in combination with my recent collage fodder makings and a comment by a viewer that got me thinking....I used gloss gel medium to glue my thin paper flower to my fabric. It didn't all stick down, but enough for me to stitch through. I did a few bullions and then added some pistil stitches and fly stitch. 

Still not loving the bullions but the fly stitch is quite a favourite of mine now

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 40

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 40 : Something Yummy. Anne kept it really simple this week and couched some yummy yarns onto hand-dyed felt. For me, Silk is Yummy - the feel of it, the colours, the different products that can be used. I looked through my silk stash and found a serviette trapped in silk coccoon strippings with sprinkles of Angelina fibre, sari silk yarn of various weights and colours, and a piece of hand-dyed Dupion silk. Not pictured is my stash of sari ribbons which you will have seen appear often in my work, including this Tag project. All of these feel delicious to me and make me happy.

This is my Yummy Tag - hearts and beads are also yummy and these are some of my favourite yummy colours

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Weeks 38 and 39. Three quarter check in

Welcome to October and time to share my recent responses to Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. These 2 tags from the past fortnight go together. Week 38 was Reverse Applique and we had to keep the pieces we cut away for Week 39 : Applique.

While I managed to do the reverse applique with hand stitching, I didn't have much fabric left so used lines of machine stitching to "applique" the small pieces left over. Can you believe we are three quarters of the way through the year and this challenge?

3 months of the year left. What do you want to make of or in it?

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 37

Time for my take on Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. Week 37 : Fabric weaving. The title of this immediately reminded me of this Sari ribbon slow cloth piece I made almost 10 years ago!

I still own and love this and it inspired additional stitching on my tag this week.

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge. You can view Anne's weekly demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade.

52 Tags : Week 36

I'm participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 36 : Slow Stitch. Playing with simple running stitch and getting calm with the process of slow stitching. We gathered neutral fabrics, playing with different weights. I used some handmade paper as well as simple broderie edging, sari ribbon, cotton fabric and some ribbon. 

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

52 Tags : Week 35

Welcome to September. That means Spring Equinox is almost here and warmer weather is just around the corner. I'm participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 35 : 3 Buttons and some special fabric. Why have it stored in a cupboard when you can use and enjoy it? 💜  This tag evolved from 3 points. 

1. Palmerston North in New Zealand went to Level 3 on Wednesday this week which means that children of essential workers are able to be supervised at schools in bubbles. Last year with all my breast cancer treatment, I wasn't able to help, but this year I'm all in so had to make some fabric masks since I'll be wearing them regularly and that's better for our environment than the disposable ones I've been using until now. This is my favourite so far - love these colours

2. A friend gifted me some beautiful wooden buttons when I had an operation earlier this year and I've been saving them...

I had a piece of fabric left over from the mask and it reminded me of water...I thought I could add the buttons like water flowers, and then I remembered

3. I have some beautiful lace from Burano Island near Venice gifted by a friend. It's been sitting in a drawer for a few years now waiting for the perfect project. I was able to snip off a bit as the perfect addition to a happy sea-themed tag for this week 

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

52 Tags : Week 34

I'm participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 34 : A lovely cuppa. This was a really cool challenge and a chance for me to mix things up again - I love using paper and fabric together. 

The "tea bag" tag is a New Zealand stamp and that together with the butterfly and button are the only bits hand stitched this time. I began by gluing a tea bag to some coffee bean scrapbook paper.

I fused the fabric cup and steam to the paper before machine stitching the layers together. Glued the coffee bean paper background to the tag right at the end. Very appropriate - drinking lots of coffee, fruit tea, and the occasional glass of wine during this lockdown. This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

52 Tags : one for Anne

I'm very grateful to be able to participate in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade. She lives in the UK and I live in New Zealand, and yet I can still learn from her. She is so generous providing a free weekly lesson on Youtube that when she issued the challenge at our half way point to send her a tag, I knew I wanted to do it. At the end of my school holidays I finally decided what I'd do and I posted her tag off early August. Decided to leave sharing here until I knew it had arrived over there. Very happy to see her post this photo over the weekend 

I decided that I'd repeat my tag from Week 5 : Kisses since I am loving this challenge so much. Here's my original tag and my gatherings for Anne's one. 

I made my base first and it's not exactly the same as my tag, but is a fraternal twin ♥

Here's her tag with my card of thanks. 

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.