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Archive for the ‘Just for Fun’ Category

Making

Thursday, December 12th, 2013

feltpetalpinchushions

I love to make things. I don’t like to do production work, but I love to make a few things to give to friends. That is what I did last night. I followed the directions for Jamie Fingal’s Felted Flower Pincushions. She uses rectangle tins, but I am a devotee of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate triangles that come in round tins. I have been saving the tins to do something like this.

First, I lightly sanded the tins.

sandintchoctine

I used Washi tape to cover the sides. I love this tape with the scissors.

scissorwashitape

Here are some more photos of the ones I gave to my friends in STASH today at our Christmas lunch.

pincushiondetail

pincushiondetail2

I used wool felt that I purchased at JoAnn’s. I threw in a hot wash and the dryer and it crinkles up nicely.

Processed with VSCOcam

I then cut one inch strips which I rolled together and stitched with a long needle and perle cotton.

Processed with VSCOcam

I am excited because tomorrow I am going to look at a possible studio that I can move into the first week in January!!

I finished sorting and ironing the Japanese fabrics today. I think I will be listing my fabrics for sale over the week-end or early next week.

Thanks for checking in!

A Better Day

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Want to hear a funny story? I have felt kind of lousy for the last two days — achy and a bad headache. This morning when I made coffee, I forgot, (again) to put the pot in the coffee maker. So, we had coffee all over the counter and the floor. We cleaned it up and I picked up the container to make more and what to my wondering eyes do I see? — decaf! Well, no wonder I was brain dead for two days. All better now.

I finished getting my elements quilts ready to deliver to the jurying committee. This meant making a trip to the big box store to get some new lath for hanging rods, screw eyes and picture wire.

Here they are, all packed up with their picture labels, ready to go.

I delivered them at the High Fiber Diet meeting. We are meeting in a new place, much further from my house. I was supposed to meet some friends for dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. I had to pick up my CSA veggies at 5. By the time I got on the road, the traffic was miserable. I was stopped at a stop light and texted Terry and told her to order me some shrimp rolls. I love technology.

The meeting was great. We had two more excellent presentations on design elements — Rhythm and Underlying Shape/Compositional Structure. I am so happy that we are doing this. It is a great refresher for seasoned artists and excellent information for new artists.

Tomorrow, I am hosting a SAQA parlor meeting tomorrow, and then I think the excitement is over for a bit.

Messing Around

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

I finished my landscape for the next Twelve x Twelve reveal. Check that off the list!

Last night, I met Terry Grant for an early dinner and then we went to a High Fiber Diet meeting. We had a very interesting discussion about what makes a quilt art, finishing work for a show — sleeves, labels, etc. We also discussed the need to mount professional shows which means it sometimes does not seem fair because a lot of work does not make the cut.

I took a few copies our our new book and sold four of them. I have a link to buy an autographed copy in the menu on the right. Click on that and it will take you to a page and then to Paypal. I plan to include a piece of mini art with each book that is purchased.

That photo up there is one of the activities in a book that the STASH group is working through, Mess: the manual of accidents and mistakes.

It is  a wonderfully silly book. I have been way behind the others in the group and I did not want to show up tomorrow without something to show for it. For the exercise at the top, we were to slather the page with glue and drop small slivers of paper and let them land where ever.

For this page, we were to drizzle something sticky, such as glue or honey and then pour a powdery substance on it and blow or shake off the excess. Mine is glue and cocoa powder.

For this, we had to drop some ink or other color liquid and let it roll around the paper or do an ink blot. I did the latter.

This page has pomegranate juice poured from 5 feet above the page.

For me, this was just plain fun. I think it is a great way to loosen up and get rid of your inhibitions. I really had fun.

I am working on a big piece for a juried invitational show. I have the batting cut. I am working on creating some of Portland’s bridges on lutradur, which I will paint, once they are cut. Can’t say too much about this.

So, tomorrow, I am off for some fun with my STASH friends.

Studio Play Time

Thursday, January 20th, 2011


The next exercise in the Drawn to Stitch book is to add a layer of marks with variety in sharpness, width, shape, etc. I used some red paint and made marks on the black and white woven piece. Then, I almost obliterated the brown and yellow piece.  I am going to cut this one up and reassemble it. The paint was still wet when I took this photo – messy fun.

I also printed on the organza water with metallic paints using bubble wrap, a stamp with tiny dots, a sponge and even a fish.The yellow in this photo is really more green than this. Metallic paint is hard to photograph.

The second piece of organza has more white space which helps when I layer it.

I am anxious to start cutting and piecing this.

I also worked on a panel for the Dream Rocket project.

The Dream Rocket Team is collecting nearly 8,000 artworks from participants around the globe. The artwork will be assembled together to create a massive cover in which will wrap a 37 story Saturn V Moon Rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. We will also be displaying submitted artwork in dozens of national venues prior to the wrapping of the Saturn V.

The panel has to be 2 ft by 2 ft. I had a quilt that I made for an online challenge last year — a black hole. I mounted it on felt that I covered with gold metallic organza to make it the correct size.

I did some stitching on the organza and added some copper foiling to blend with the quilt. I then covered it with Golden Matte Medium. It ended up looking more gray than gold, but it still works. It will be outside in the elements so I wanted to do something to protect it. Definitely not a great work of art, but it was fun and is going to a fun project. Maybe when the matte medium is completely dry, it will look gold again.

With our health care, we get membership in an exercise program called Silver and Fit. You have a choice of facilities. Mr C goes to 24 hour Fitness. I just don’t like the mega gyms. So today, I went to the local swim and racquet club which has just started a program. I can take Pilates and yoga and work out on the machines. In the summer, I can use the pool.

I feel as if I am getting back into the swing of things. My energy level is greater and I am having a good time. If I keep throwing paint at stuff, something is bound to stick!!

And the winner is:

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

# 124 — Brooke Atherton! Congratulations. Send me your snail mail via the contact tab at the top of my blog and it will be on the way. For those who missed out, I suggest that you go to Jane’s website — Complex Cloth — order the book, and she will autograph it for you!! Thanks, again, for entertaining me with your comments.

As you know, from my tie dyeing escapade, I am heading out of town next week. My daughter and family are coming to house and Scooter sit. So, I have spent some time today, trying to get the downstairs area cleared of  my messes so that M & M have a place to play. I think they are bringing their Wi with them and they need some space.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to de-clutter my studio. It has reached that stage where I can’t concentrate on anything because of the messes. I need to get the aspen piece done asap. Once I get my leaves cut and everything attached with some final stitching, it will be ready for photography.

My fiber sketch for today was so much fun. I read recently that you can use lutradur for machine felting. So I cut a piece of my leaf fabric and felted with some of my curly dyed roving. It works very well. I like it because I am not starting with much thickness. So I will do more of this.