March for Fiona

Well, I am kind of, sort of staying on track with this year's letters. So far, so good, but I always fear falling behind again!

Here's where I have gotten to with my pencil letters…

I for Indigo..

J for Jade...

K for Khaki...

and L for Lemon. Lovely!

It's getting closer to the time where I need to unpack the sand again to get the pencils to push in far enough. M and onwards!

Annette - catching up!

Hi! I finally got January, February and March completed!  

For my alphabet, I made the squares out of heavy watercolor paper.  I covered each one with pattern paper using gel medium.  I then decided to play with some new "toys"; a Sears Catalog from about 1900 and an old metal stencil set I bought at an antique store.  

I love doing vintage collage.

I added some little details in the letters

P is for Pink

P is for Pink 

The quilt is for a little girl, so I couldn't go past this one.

April Letters and all!

My free form alphabet is ready for the next stage.  I didn't realize until I placed them down that they begin a very pale pastel colour and end darker with a lot more dribbles. Made a blank square, might become the title page or filler, yet to do the math.  Enjoying all the blogs and seeing the many styles and ideas. Very clever! My 'Place' alphabet is progressing slowly but progressing none the less.
I'm off the welcome a new grand-baby in May.......must get a little in front this month to make cuddle time. Yeah!

D, I, T & Z

18 of 26 is where I am at present. I've added D, I, T and Z.
D is for Dubai, I for Istanbul, T for Tokyo and Z for Zanzibar.
Still puzzling over options for Q and W.
A friend has promised to bring back a couple of inflight magazines from his business trip so I'll be able to add some more letters, more purple mounted ones going forward - places I'd like to travel to.

March Letters

Q is for Queen, drinks English breakfast tea. S is for shells. L is for leaf. P is for paisley

A Late Start

Late last year I signed up to join this challenge to make a letter of the alphabet each week in 2014 and suggested my daughter (Pennycello) join also as a fun activity for us to share. We live in different states and share a love of making things and tackling a challenge. Since then she has put me to shame with posting some beautiful letters. Finally I am getting my act together and catching up.

I have been keeping my tea bags to add to the garden mulch and like the different patterns of staining as they dry out in a bowl on my kitchen bench. I decided it would be great to include the tea stained tea bag paper in my letters so my first set are all made with recycling in mind, using things that I already have. The base is scraps of left over printing paper.

I tea dyed some crochet thread and popped a lace flower in too.

Each letter has been fashioned from the dyed thread and glued down with rice glue. I have added something decorative related to the letter and then covered it all with a piece of tea bag tissue. I like the textured surface resulting. Some tea bags are quite dark and others are very lightly stained.

C for Croc(odile)

Continuing on with the baby quilt.

I had a few options for C, but when I saw this fabric I had to use it. In the Northern Territory, Australia, crocodiles are part of our lives. This baby will definitely see a few in her life!

So here is C for Croc(odile) 

 

The block is a bit bigger than the 7cmx7cm, but I've started to join pieces together anyway, with other coloured bit between letters. This won't stand out so much.

Jacs March Letters

Here are the letters for March

I've just realised I put the W upsidedown on the scanner (I've already done M)

April Letters

 Some more letters from the English County of Kent. Out of alphabetical context may make things slightly more interesting.

Map letters for March

I decided to hop across to Ireland for the K. I was trying to choose places where the place name was enlarged on the map.

J-Jedburgh

K-Killarney

L-London

M-Manchester

and on the reverse

Sorry for the blur.

I'm on Spring Break from my teaching, so I've had a bit of extra time to play and have completed the Place Alphabet tiles. I've made 2 sets of tiles and mounted them into accordian books to give to my son and daughter to share with the grandchildren. I might make some quick photocopies and put a copied version together to keep for myself.

FROM A BIRD'S PERSPECTVE

Chooks, Red Tailed Cockatoo, I very rarely hear or see a Glossy Black Cockatoo, Currawongs, Drongo, coloured finches hiding in the grasses.....so many feathered delights flitting between the trees. I know why we chose this "place". Apologies "n" missed the film shoot. Was a little shy when I took the photo....hid behind a tree!

Here are some more cat breed letters.  M is Mustachio for long side whiskers.  Nainsook cats have very soft coats the color of muslin.  Ombre coats are shaded from dark in the front to light toward the tail.  Wouldn't that be beautiful!  And my favorite word so far is Pyknic for short and powerful.

I had a lot of trouble drawing N and may redo it.

Thanks for looking, Anita

 

February Letters Flowing in March

 

After an overseas absence, here is the latest offering of letters.

Choosing the right twig for each letter is both challenging and rewarding, especially where curves are required.

The gentle fragility of each piece embraces a flexibility when introduced to another of nature's elements, water.  The process and the outcome a rewarding reminder of the magical alchemy of nature.