Wednesday WOW – February 15

A very wet, foggy/misty day today.

Just the right kind of day to do some quilting!  Understand, however, that I do not go unsupervised!

I don’t think this is how one explores their inner Wolf!

Starry Sunday

Today was all about sparkle!

To be more specific . . . glitter!  This is really a quick and easy way to add some shine to fabric.  I used Beacon’s 3 in 1 glue to “paint” an area of fabric and then poured some extra fine glitter on it.  When I poured the glitter off, it left a nice thin layer behind.

I used some yellow and some red to emphasize portions of the flowers.  I get a fine glitter made for candle-making from Rustic Essentials but you could use regular craft glitter or cosmetic glitter. 

The really fine stuff seems to work best.  I usually mix it with a little varnish and paint it on, but this time I did the painting with glue first.

Of course, with the really fine stuff, you are going to get glitter on yourself!  In fact, just opening the container tends to disperse glitter all around me!   I swear.  It’s not safe to leave me alone with glue and glitter!

Wednesday WOW – February 8

I’m bouncing around doing a lot of unrelated projects and some days I feel like nothing is getting done.  I need to focus!

So this is what I worked on today.  It’s for the backing of the Comfort & Joy quilt.  I’ve had the blocks done for months – they’re mostly orphans from the quilt – and this weekend I calculated how many I need and how to piece the backing.  If I really put my mind to it I could have had the backing done in a day.

But, alas, I’m doing a lot of spinning of wheels, so this is as far as it goes for now.  Maybe next week.

Something a Little Different

Lately I’ve been exploring more paper arts, including journaling techniques.  Strathmore is offering some free on-line classes and I signed up for one called “Doodles Unleashed” taught by Traci Bautista.

We spent the first couple of weeks exploring ways to make interesting backgrounds and trying different mark making tools.

I enjoyed playing with watercolors and really like the effect of “salting” the wet drawing to get a mottled look.

Then we layered doodles and more paint, and more doodles!  I’m not sure about this as a whole piece, but I can foresee cutting it up for collage later.  I really like the two leaves at lower left.

This is from the last lesson and I am pretty happy with it.  Of course, I love drawing faces . . . and I love purple!  So how could I not love this?

Then, while waiting for paint to dry (ho hum!) I watched a different video about carving your own stamps.  So I got busy and produced this pelican stamp.  I’ve been thinking about using the pelican in some art work anyway, and there was all that blue paint left over!

It’s good to take a break from fabric and stretch some of my other skills.  And it sure is fun to make a big ole mess!  LOL!!!!!

Spiffy Sunday

When I looked at today’s “lesson” I had lots of ideas pop into my head.

I remembered that I have a book about fabric flowers and wouldn’t it be fun to combine a couple of techniques for this week!  So I went looking for that book.

He brought along a few friends!

Apparently this is a topic that warrants more attention, huh?  I thought about taking a little detour and devoting a couple of Sundays to fabric flowers.  Then I realized it would be a pretty big detour.  And the trouble with detours is you can lose sight of the regular road – and get lost!  So, no.  We’ll come  back to these another time.

So, I followed the directions in the Fabric Embellishing book and resisted the temptation of distractions.   Well, I followed the directions in my own way, of course. 

And this is what I ended up with.

I threw a few beads at the larger flower, but I’m not sure if I’m completely finished there.  As a nod to SharonB and her take a stitch challenges, I used the feather stitch to attach the leaves.

I like the smaller buds much better.  They seem to have more balance and character.

So I’ll continue following the book through to the end.  There are enough chapters left to take us to June, I think.  My goodness, that is a lot of embellishing!!

Finished!

I told you I would show you the dragon stitchery when I finished it.  Well, here he is:

I’m so happy with the way he turned out.  You can just see some of the glittery threads in the photo.  They really make this piece!

I stitched it as a cover for this box.  It was originally a Whitman Sampler.  But what to do with it when the chocolates are all (long) gone?

Well, I’m using it for my silk ribbon embroidery stash!  I’m already inspired to do some SRE stitching, so I guess this dragon is doing a good job!

Wednesday – um – Just Wednesday

I had everything all planned.  I was going to show you the tiny carriage I’m working on.  And talk about how I think I might finish it and accessorize.  Yup.  I had it all planned in my head.  And then . . . .

I left the camera downstairs!  And I’m upstairs.  And it’s been a really long day.  Besides, my feet hurt!  I don’t want to go down after the camera.

HOW LAZY IS THAT????

Pretty lazy, I know.  But, here is a picture from last week.

And next week I will have a for-real worktable shot.  I promise!