Friday 30 December 2016

Mighty chuffed with my beach huts

Hello. Well it was more than just another stitch, it was ton's more stitches to finish the job. I had to secure it to a stiff cardboard backing which took a couple of hours. But here it is, finished. I have photographed it without the glass so no glare and reflections, it looks even better with the glass, gives it a professionally framed look. The dimensions are 14 inches by 11.5 inches. I chose green for the frame, it's ordinary household emulsion from my stash of tester pots, and I think the colour balances beautifully with the rest of it. It's a bright summery happy picture. 
The yellow sandy beach colour is lost a bit in the closeups. The first picture is closest to the real colours. I made the beach huts out of plain cotton fabric and painted them. Then used felt tip pens to add a few details.


Most of the stitching is simple running stitch, with a few French knots on the trees, and some back stitching.

The orange sun is a circle of felt. It took me ages to decide which fabric to use for the sky. The natural choice would have been blue, but I wanted to steer away from convention, and there would have been too much blue with the sea already blue. So red it was. First I tried patterned fabric but it looked a bit silly, so plumped for plain red and added the sun's rays.  


The back is now covered with the hardboard that came with the frame, and sealed with tape to keep the dust out.


I have really enjoyed making that. It made a change to work on something smaller, was much easier to handle. If you want to make the pictures bigger click on one of them for a slide show.

Have to wait now for another idea to pop into my head.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Almost the end of the year, have you thought about joining our Walking Group for 2017? Add your name to the post on the 1st of January, then update your mileage on the 1st of every month after that. Do yourself a big big favour and make 2017 the year you WILL get fit.

We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip

58 comments:

  1. I love this picture. Ilona, you are so talented. Ann

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  2. You are so creative you make some wonderful things.

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  3. That is really great. Justly proud.

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  4. Your beach huts made me happy. The red sky is perfect, and today when it is cold and I have a cold, I long to be under that sky.

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  5. Outstanding! Love your use of colours and fabric. The stitching is beautiful and I love how you have done the sun and sky. I agree with you about the colour of the frame too.Its all flippin perfect!

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  6. It's really quite beautiful,I wish I had your eye. I was wondering, what did you do when you were on the road and the creative bug bit you?

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    1. Hi. Reading mostly. I was always a sewer but didn't discover my creative side until I stopped work.

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  7. Love the beach huts they are so cheerfull , reminders of happy holidays when a child .
    I am going to try and join the walking club .
    A very happy New year to you from a chilly but sunny brittany

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  8. That's fun. The sky looks like a sunset- the salt in the air always makes it much more orange than the inland sunsets apparently.
    Arilx

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  9. I think you are very talented Ilona, I love the art work, you are very inspiring.

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  10. It is BRILLIANT! I love it. Such a gift.
    J x

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  11. I think this picture is my favourite so far. The red sky looks like the sun is setting.

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  12. The beach huts are absolutely lovely. I would love to make such beautiful pictures like yours. Perhaps, one day. I'm going to try.

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  13. This is great! Makes me smile just to look at it. I think you are a very happy woman and it shows in your crafts of all kinds (including your real shed). JanF

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  14. what a stunning picture, and all made with so little cost but with love and talent, have a great new year
    Tilly

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  15. what a fantastic picture. I love what you turn cast offs into. you're an inspiration

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  16. It's a gray,overcast day with the wind gusting 40 mph, but your latest artwork made me laugh in anticipation of warmer weather! You never fail to delight with your imagination and creativity. Thank you and Best Wishes for the new year!

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  17. What a cheery, happy picture. It's quite lovely. Karen

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  18. Love it too. Natalie

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  19. Beautiful beach hut picture! I keep meaning to do one - it reminds me of home - but too many other projects on the go. I'll have to check out the walking group. I don't do a lot of it in winter as everything is usually covered in snow and ice (including pavements, roads and trails). Daughter and I went out the other day (along with dog and bags for poop)and were dismayed to find that people weren't picking up after their dogs! Seems that with snow people just don't bother. Makes for messy walking :(

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  20. WOW! Brilliant. Love it. Cheers Jo

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  21. This is just beautiful! Well done! I love it. Tricia

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  22. Definitely one of your best makes, I love this one. I don't put glass in front of my fabric pictures, I think they look better without, only trouble is that they tend to get a fluffy look after a while, don't know why lo
    Briony
    xx

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    1. Hi Bri. The glass can easily be removed, but while it's in my possession I will leave it in.

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  23. It's unanimous, everyone loves it including me. I like the simplicity of it and the colours. Best one yet.

    Joan (Wales)

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  24. I really love this picture. It's just beautiful.

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  25. What a jolly seaside picture to brighten up a freezing cold winter's day. Love the red sky and the beach huts which remind me of Southwold. The turquoise frame finishes it very nicely.

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  26. Love the artwork..Thanks for sharing.

    You mention it took hours to secure to backing...
    curious what you used? I might have considered some type of fabric glue, but then I have not made any works like this (or much of anything)..so maybe not?

    The frame colour is perfect (I think) for a "beachy artwork"

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    1. Hi. I think I said a couple of hours. I used a piece of cotton sheet for the back to give it substance. No glue used. I pulled the fabric tightly over the cardboard lacing it with thick cotton. Then I stitched all around the edges to flatten them, sticking the needle through the cardboard and stretching it a bit more to ease out the bumps.

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  27. Absolutely stunning. You are very talented.

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  28. Lovely. You are so inventive, Ilona.

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  29. Absolutely beautiful picture, even the frame is wonderful, well done! I would really like to join your Walking Group for 2017, I didn't know if you would do it again-although I know that you personally intend to do the walking again. Do I need to leave a comment on Jan 1st to be added to the group? My walking is very minimal right now, and I get out of breath easily (I'm 10 yrs younger than you as well) so this would be very beneficial for my stamina. Doing it with you in a virtual sense will really help. I'm not saying I'll do 1000 miles, but I'll do my very best, thank you x

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    1. Hi Jayne. I won't be making a separate page for it this year, so the only records will be on the first of each month on the blog post itself. The dedicated page only published a couple of hundred comments then stopped, even though I was able to see them they didn't get published. If we keep it to the blog posts only they will all get published.

      It's up to you on how often you want to check in. The 1st of the month will be the Walking Group record, you can chat with each other about your achievements. There will be 13 posts dedicated to walking, the last one on January 1st 2018 will have all the totals.

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    2. OK thanks Ilona, I'll keep a note of my mileage with the help bike hike and let you know each month, thanks for doing this, it will be good to be accountable to other people to keep me on track. Happy New Year xx

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  30. That is amazing Ilona, very creative.

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  31. Loving your beach hut creation, with all those tiny stitches creating so much movement - I double-zoomed in to admire all those little details. I always like to see your sewing and how you make those ideas in your head come to life. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next year.
    We got a phone call today to say we can have 2 tickets to see the fire works display at 8.15pm on Sunday night - something I expect you will be able to see from your side of the Humber. I'm looking forward to Hull City of Culture 2017 and hope the council do us proud :) Happy New Year to you Ilona

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    1. Hi Lesley. I am thinking that I could see the fireworks from the south bank if I position myself dead opposite, which would be around Goxhill. I might do that. Don't want to come over your side and get stuck in traffic.

      I might come over on the bus one night to see the buildings lit up in the centre. It's on for a week I believe.

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    2. Jenny was in town last night and took some photo's of the colourful buildings. I'll be taking my camera tomorrow as I'm not sure how long the colour will last for. Here is a link for a short video, which you don't have to watch, but there is a map underneath with info. It says if you are in Lincs then Barton has a cafe at the Waters Edge Visitor Centre. I don't know yet whether our tickets are for zone A or B but just happy to get 2 of them.

      http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/hull-city-of-culture-fireworks-and-made-in-hull-everything-you-need-to-know/story-30021950-detail/story.html

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    3. Hi Lesley. I didn't get to see the fireworks. Got to Barton and the road was gridlocked, turned round and came back home and watched it on the live yooootooob feed.

      I will get the bus over one night this week to see the coloured buildings, they are on till Saturday, 4pm to 7pm. I think.

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  32. I would love that on my wall, very clever of you.
    Happy New Year from Heather.

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  33. Love your picture could find a home very easilyx

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  34. Your picture is utterly beautiful. It has come together splendidly. Happy New Year to you and I do hope to do myself a big favour once I get over this dreadful cold and get fit.

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  35. Absolutely gorgeous, like many have said this is also my favourite so far♥

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  36. Beautiful! Love the colors. You are a great artist.

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  37. I love all the fabric art you do and this one is especially nice! It is so bright and cheery! I love to make quilts and I've made a few quilted wall hangings but nothing like the lovely art work you do.

    Happy New Year Ilona!

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  38. Your beach huts look great! Good job and the frame's color is nice too. Phil and I walked late afternoon while it was still light outside. It's been quite cold and I've missed walking. Not sure how next week will be as it's to be 30s during daytime and into the teens for lows. I took some of my favorite plants into the garage in hopes they will survive. I've been known to cover outdoor plants with plastic when it's so cold like that. Happy New Year!

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  39. Oh, Ilona, I absolutely love it, love your tiny, perfect stitches, love the colours and texture, love the fun nature of it. Did you study textile art? You have a real flair for it. Have a wonderful first day of 2017.
    Fi

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    1. Hi Fiona. No, I didn't study textile art. I left school at 15 with no qualifications, went into shop, office, and factory jobs. I liked art at school but wasn't very good at it. I liked needlework lessons, made my own clothes, but that's about it. Only started this when I retired at 60.

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  40. I love it. It's my favourite of your art works so far. I love the way the colour of the frame picks out the colour one of the beach huts. Have a very Happy New year and a wonderful 2017.

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  41. Very, Very Charming! You ARE getting better and better at making art. I always think of art as one's own unique way of creating - and you are doing wonderfully well at it! Thanks for sharing.

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  42. This is my absolute favourite of your craft pieces. Love it. You are very creative. Due to a big drop in income I have had to make serious adjustments to spending over the past four years and I think I have finally got real control so looking forward to 2017 as my best budget-year yet. Your blog inspires me. Thank you. Hoping the next year brings you happiness and some unexpected treats!

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  43. Love the beach huts, very clever and pretty.

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  44. I've been away on holidays overseas for 5 weeks and back at work for 4 crazy weeks. So great to catch up on your blog. The beach hut fabric picture is stunning. I love it! The colours are so beautiful and the colour in the frame picks up the lovely colour in the picture.

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