New Blog!

Hello all, I have decided to make the move to blogging on tumblr. You can now find me at http://robinclugston.tumblr.com/. See you there! :)

Some winter embroidery/ sewing projects finally seeing the light of day.

{Disclaimer: the quality of these photos is not supreme...they really don't do the beauty of the red velvet justice...but this fabric seemed to be singularly difficult to photograph accurately. Also...my ipad shoots at 72 dpi and doesn't do well with strong light.}

 Anyhow, here are some photos of some pouches I sewed and embroidered this past winter during my Great Sewing Adventure (a story for another day). The red pouch is real, real velvet I had bought at a used fabric sale back in high school. It is beautiful to touch and to look at...and lovely to embroider upon! This red velvet pouch was my first embroidery project...I thought of it as my "sampler" and on it I tried to try out some different techniques, but pretty much played it by ear and made up the designs as I went along, throwing down some beads here and there when I felt like it. I went from right to left on the fabric, and if you look closely you can see that the embroidery job/ design on the far left of the bag is kind of  funny. I guess the whole thing took me about 25 hours all told. Next thing to do is find or fashion a strap so I can actually use it!

A fine August morning

Geraniums and scarlet runner bean

Late August basil going to flower, and downstairs' grape-vine car-port

Some cottage paintings and sketches

From my vacation week away at Georgian Bay. I love everything about this cottage, and here are some attempts to capture some of the lovely old objects found around the cabin.

A pressback chair. Watercolor on w/c paper with digital background. Mostly I was hoping to record, in paint, the funky pattern and colors of the faded old cushion on this chair, but I have to say that while the cushion failed miserably I think the chair itself was a success! I took a photo of the cushion as well though, so perhaps all is not lost.

Pencil and watercolor on drawing paper, digital background. My dad's mini ("travelling") guitar on lovely old rocking chair.

I am not the first to sit and attempt to capture all that is going on on this delightful rustic kitchen wall nor, I hope, will I be the last. This kitchen has an old pump instead of a tap, that brings water up from the bay to the sink; the water that comes out of the pump is nearly hot when it is midday and sunny out. The stove runs on propane, and the fridge on recently-installed solar panels. There is no electricity in the cabin at all. To sit in this kitchen is to feel a delightful fresh breeze blowing off the bay almost constantly, and to smell sun-warmed pine trees; hear them rustling in the wind. It is more than likely that during a brief spell of sitting here someone will walk in and, depending on the time of day, ask if you'd like to partake in "elevensies" (the second pot of coffee); lunch, tea, or a gin & tonic. Ah, cottage life.

This china (and there is a large set of it, of a variety of dishes, platters, tureens, cups, etc) belonged to our lovely host's grandmother. I couldn't say when exactly the set is from, but I think logically it should be early 1900's. I've always loved the pattern, and when this little dish was sitting in front of me on the table one evening, full of chopped olives, I was inspired. Pencil, watercolor and ink on watercolor paper, digital background.

Again, always loved this tea cosy. So many good cups of tea have been had out of this old pot. Pencil and watercolor on watercolor paper.

Some small sketches of objects around the kitchen, made using a small stick and black ink on drawing paper.

Some recent sketches

 reference sketch (above) for the exciting Newton 09 project

 another Newton 09 reference sketch (more on this exciting project soon!)

Recent Sketches

Recent sketches