Textured Turtle

Mosaic Cabinet doors

2010-04-05T10:00:00.008-04:00

I recently did a sunset tree mosaic for my good friend Lisa Peters

http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/
and her husband Hank, for their newly remodeled kitchen.
They sent me the cabinet door inserts, I created the design and nipped and glued lots and lots of glass then sent them back to them.

Inserts before installation

They grouted the inserts and installed them, aren’t they gorgeous??

Treasures of the Sea

2010-01-07T10:01:00.004-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted. Glad to say good-by to 2009, it was a sad, sad year.

Came to Panama City Beach, Florida the day after Christmas. It has been cold but beautiful, lots of walks on the beach and sitting to watch the waves, the seagulls and the sunsets.

I brought some fabric, yarn and beads along in case I wanted to make something, and have found lots of great shells on my walks. One morning I even found a tiny, perfect sand dollar, just laying at the edge of the water.

So I created this piece, it is approximately 8 inches in diameter. It features a beautiful raku button from Lisa Peters Art.

Fiber cuffs on flickr and Facebook

2009-11-20T08:09:00.001-05:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/texturedturtle/
Will be listing on etsy this weekend.

Felted piece hanging, sunrise and tiger lillies

2009-06-25T10:04:00.005-04:00

I added a stick and some cheesecloth as a hanger and it is hanging in my cubicle

Sunrise on my drive to work yesterday, it looks like a bird to me

Tiger lillies are everywhere, my favorite flower of all time

Dyeing wool and silk

2009-06-24T12:41:00.005-04:00

I got my Babylock embellisher in 2007, and gradually started accumulating roving in various colors from etsy and other online sources. I also, somehow, started collecting undyed wool roving, as well as silk cocoons, carrier rods, hankies, a little throwsters waste and even some wool curly locks.
I love to dye cotton fabric and yarns with procion dyes, but acid dyes always scared me, just the name, “acid” (of course that just means vinegar so it really isn’t scary). After a long break from my embellisher I am back at it and looking longingly at all the luscious hand dyed roving and silk hankies and other fibers out there, wondering if I too could dye wool and silk.
I also regularly read her Majesty Margo’s blog, and when she had this post about dyeing a bunch of different fibers in a turkey roaster, that was it for me.
I don’t have a turkey roaster so I used a large crock pot. For my birthday, my fabulous sister in law Anita (and equally fabulous brother Dave) got me a starter set of Greener shades dyes from the Woolery. They also gave me two bags of wool nepps and two skeins of pencil roving
So this is a picture of my first try.
I gathered wool roving, curly locks, pencil roving (right), cocoons and the wool nepps (left), which were gathered into nylon netting(top left). Yes, acid dyes work on nylon, yay!
The crock pot had a little water and vinegar in it. I soaked the fibers in warm water with a little synthrapol, laid them in the crock pot (two layers), sprinkled a little dye powder on each layer, and cooked it on low a few hours until the water was clear. Let it all cool, rinsed the fibers and laid them out to dry, all just like Margo said.
I was going for a mixture of blue and purple, and I am thrilled with what I got. The colors of these dyes are intense, which I love, and next time I will try and get a little more variation in the colors. I cannot wait to experiment with other color combinations and see what happens.
To top it all off, my amazing friend Gail mailed me some Jacquard acid dyes for my birthday. So I turned 50 and get to dye to my hearts content!

Felted landscape

2009-06-21T09:18:00.014-04:00

I finally finished my felted landscape piece, it is approx 10x11 inches. I have some very cool lacy stretch fabric from my good friend Lisa Peters, who also created the fabulous raku cabachon I used as the sun. I used my embellisher to needlefelt various rovings, including some beautiful, silky shiny bamboo roving from Fiber Lady, you can see it better on the in process piece below, the yellow at the top, the coral/peach/green at the bottom left and more bright green middle right.

After needlefelting, I tried a little machine stitching, then added some roving to the back and tried wet felting for the first time ever.

Although my wet felt experiment wasn't great, I did get the effect I wanted on this piece. I added a little more machine stitching, then added some yarns, tyvek, cheesecloth and lots of french knots. I want to hang it from a twig or something similar, but I am really happy with how this piece turned out.

Hugo Themer - my dad

2009-05-18T18:28:00.006-04:00

August 3, 1930 - April 28, 2009

My dad was the most wonderful, gentle, caring, smart man I ever knew. He loved God, he loved his family, he especially loved my mom (with him in picture), they were married 53 1/2 years when he died. He took care of all of us, and the world is not the same without him.
He touched everyone with his compassion and his smile, and the people who knew him loved him. As a Lutheran grade school teacher in Louisville, KY for 42 years, he taught thousands of kids to love learning and do their best.
In 1992, him and mom retired to Indiana. He was a woodworker and loved working in his garage, which was open to everyone. People would stop by to talk or borrow a tool or get dad's help on their project.
He was my biggest supporter in my art. He made frames for my fiber and mosaic art, bases for my mosaic jewelry and anything else I needed. No matter how crazy my ideas, he would figure how to make them work.
He was in the hospital for a week when they diagnosed cancer March 31st, we brought him home for two weeks, then he entered the hospice center for his last two weeks. He told everyone that God had given him a great life, and God would take care of us after he was gone.
Now he is at peace, which is good, but we are left here missing him so much.
This is dad's favorite verse:
Be Still and Know That I Am God. Psalm 46:10
I love you dad!

Ragged Cross - Rusty 3

2009-03-13T19:11:00.000-04:00

Ragged Cross - Denim

2009-03-12T22:37:00.002-04:00

Another Ragged Cross

2009-03-11T17:50:00.003-04:00

This cross has strips and hand dyed fabric and cheesecloth and measures 10 inches high and 3/4" thick.

The beautiful focal button is one I glazed and fired using a bisque button from Lisa Peters.

Ragged Crosses- Rusty Fiber Art

2009-03-08T13:49:00.008-04:00

These are 10 inches high and 3/4" thick

This cross and the green cross have fabulous raku buttons from my friend Lisa Peters at
http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/

More Stitched Trees on etsy

2009-03-05T09:38:00.004-05:00

This was a fun piece to stitch. I stitched the tree desing on a small piece of painted fabric, then stitched it on top of a piece of hand dyed waffle muslin. Added some rusty cheesecloth, mesh, yarns and ribbon. It measures 9.5 inches plus the hanger.

This is another tree I stitched on a piece of rust dyed fabric, then added lots of stitching and a loop hanger. It has raw edges ans measures 8 inches square.

This is the last needle felted tree I have left, and I am finally listing it on etsy.

I added a pocket to the back and slipped it onto an acrylic, 5x7" standing frame.

Rusty Trees

2009-03-02T18:45:00.003-05:00

Copper wire stitched to the back of the top with a loop for hanging. 9x10 inches

This one is 8x11 plus a copper tube hanger

This one is 8.5x10.5 with a crochet loop hanger

Little Rusty Tree

2009-02-16T18:06:00.006-05:00

Well I finally finished a rusty tree piece, it is 5x7". I decided after the last trees to stitch some on rusty fabric. This weekend I ironed a bunch of fabric and cut out the sizes and the felt for the batting and pinned them together with a printed tree on the back. I am not fond of the prep work so when I do it, I like to do a bunch at once and get it over with-LOL.
Then I started stitching trees, I stitch from the back following my printed tree, then go back and stitch from the front to fill in areas and make the branches thicker.
I have several trees in process, but had to finish one tonight, it is a gift for my doctor and his wife. I see them tomorrow and they take such good care of me, they are great people.
after the tree was done, I stitched in the background, added a little felt-y moss under the tree and a rusty moon (or sun, however you want to see it), added a back and mounted it on a little acrylic stand up frame.
I'm sure I'm not the first one to come up with this idea, but I think I will like using these little acrylic frames to display little fiber art pieces!
I am hoping to get more rusty trees finished this week and list some on etsy.

Pond

2009-02-07T12:37:00.002-05:00

another piece with roving, it looks much better in person. I know I should be honing my photo taking skills, but I would rather spend time playing with fibers.

This piece is about 9x12, usually I crop the pictures but left this one as is. I like when the roving goes over the edge and may mount this onto another piece of fabric and add some roving.

Three more trees

2009-02-01T20:35:00.001-05:00

These are on a base of felt, then organzas and roving. about 8 inches.

Another little tree

2009-01-31T19:04:00.004-05:00

This one is 8 inches square, it is based on a picture (a larch tree I think) that I took a few years ago. I still haven't decided what to add to these little trees, some beads and hand stitching maybe, or how to hang them. Also the colors are more blended in person, for some reason the pictures seems to really show the contrast.

I have a few more little trees in process.

I LOVE TREES

2009-01-27T21:43:00.006-05:00

I love trees, specifically bare trees, I just love the branches against the sky. So I drive around taking pictures of bare trees, whenever I can, all different types of trees, with a backdrop of a sunrise or sunset, or even against gray gloomy skies.

I have some fiber pieces I started last week adding roving and little bits of organza needlepunched onto painted fabric with my Babylock embellisher.
And last night I figured, finally, how to add my trees. I turned some of my tree photos into sketches using Dumpr sketch, a fabulous and free program. Then I printed them on paper, pinned the paper to the back of the roving pieces, and free motion stitched, following my tree "pattern". And I am so thrilled with how they are coming out!!

I will be adding something to this one, maybe yarns or hand stitching.
We are having major snow and ice here so I will be taking a vacation day again tomorrow, and I have more pieces to work on, woohoo!!

Another Sunflower

2009-01-06T20:58:00.002-05:00

This is my favorite so far, it still needs more stitching.

Nature Photos

2009-01-04T14:19:00.006-05:00

I love sunrises and sunsets, especially behind bare trees. There was an incredible sunset January 2nd.

My parents set a bird feeder on their front porch and I took these photos yesterday. I was inside and took them thru the window screen.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T19:59:00.003-05:00

I am going to shine in 2009! That is my motto for the year. I spent alot of time last year chasing after things that left me frustrated. So it is a new year and I have a plan.

Over Christmas break I did work on a rusted sunflower for my mom. Since I was away from my sewing machine, I hand stitched it and then couched some rusty cotton yarn on top of the lines. Mom doesn't like the beads and extras (that I love!) but since it is for her I stopped at that.

My beautiful, rusty pans and grates and other fabulous things were stolen from my back deck. I did rust alot of fabric last summer, but I am just sick about the loss, I loved my rusty pieces.

Tree skirt and wreath and Star topper

2008-12-11T12:12:00.004-05:00

Picture of the finished tree topper!

Dana just sent pics of the wreath she made in the ocean theme (see post below)

as well as the purchased tree skirt she embellished.

Georgeous aren't they!

Beautiful Ornaments

2008-12-10T17:52:00.017-05:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=24981
These ornaments have focals from my fabulous friend Lisa Peters

Dana is the wire wrap maniac!

I finally have pictures of a wonderful project I have been working on with my dear friend Dana Graham. Dana makes amazing lampwork beads and jewelry http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5100254 and decided to have an ocean themed Christmas tree this year.

So we have been getting together and making ornaments - seashell ornaments, wire wrapped sea glass and bead ornaments, beaded starfish, painted sand dollars and many, many more. Dana is a whiz at wire wrapping and I was drawn to creating little mosaics with groupings of beads on a shell base. Each piece is a miniature work of art, jewelry for the tree. And I am now a huge fan of swarovski crystals, I never saw the allure before, but seeing the sparkle they add to these pieces made me a convert.

Dana took these faulous photos. We made more and have had a wonderful time with all our creations. She embellished a beautiful wreath and other decorations and hopefully will have more pictures soon, including photos of the finished tree.

Rusty Mandala

2008-11-05T23:30:00.008-05:00

I am so happy with this piece! I started with a piece of silky fabric I rusted with an organic disc design. I quilted it, added rusted cheesecloth, fabric strips, mesh and a ring covered in rusty yarn. Some beads and a gorgeous raku center bead from my fabulous friend Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/

I stitched it onto a 14 inch brass hoop and added a hanger to the back.

Open House getting closer

2008-10-30T18:30:00.002-04:00

Just one more week until the Open House

More Totes for the Open House

2008-10-26T23:27:00.004-04:00

This canvas tote has a gorgeous rust dyed, then quilted piece of fabric. I also added some rust dyed cheesecloth and a circle cut from anotherrust dyed piece.

I painted a beach scene on muslin, then quilted it and stitched it to a denim tote. lovew the ribbon edging.

My little flamingo tote

This tote was tie dyed then quilted. The gorgeous button is from my friend Lisa Peters.http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=24981

And this is my favorite, a scene I painted from my favorite beach ever. I don't know if I can sell this one or will have to keep it for myself.

Open House coming up

2008-10-10T17:52:00.007-04:00

My friend Dana http://www.newmoondesign.blogspot.com/ and I are having an open house November 8th at her house. Dana makes amazing lampwork beads and jewelry and I have mosaics and fabric art. My mom and I have been working on mosaic Christmas trees using glass mosaics on wooden bases made by my dad. We have had a blast making them and I think they are just very cool.

I have also been working on lots of fiber art totes. They are purchased totes with my own fiber art pieces stitched onto them.

I will have framed fiber art pieces also

Bead and Button magazine

2008-08-25T19:27:00.004-04:00

I received my complimentary issue of the October Bead and Button magazine today. I was a finalist in their Bead Dreams competition and all finalists are pictured in this issue. My mosaic buttons are 2.5 inches across, set in wood bases made by my dad, Hugo Themer.

It is also on their website.
http://cs.beadandbutton.com/bnbcs/photos/beaddreams2008/picture43628.aspx

Here is the picture of my display, arranged in a cedar hexagon frame also made by my dad.

More rust and an older project

2008-08-15T10:40:00.003-04:00

I a finally getting some good prints from the larger discs, the print is 18 inches (earlier discs are about 15-16" print).

this is is on a piece of lt blue dyed fabric.

Laid on a rusted pot, I love the darker edges

this lutradur took a very, very long time to rust

This is a piece I made many years ago, using batiks. I did the english paper piecing method, somehow I loved sewing all these by hand and have several completed hexagon pieces that my mom quilted for me. This one I have used as a table square or a little table cover but now I think i want to quilt it. But where to start?

My fabulous nephews, and rust pics (of course)

2008-08-14T20:58:00.010-04:00

First and foremost, my nephews Sam and Max, the bright stars in my life!!

The rust flower pieces are pinned to felt ready to stitch, now I need to actually start stitching!

This is a larger, multi printed piece, I will not be stitching this yet

These are ceramic buttons and beads, some are purchased bisque beads. Most are from my great friend Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/, who generously sent me many of her bisqued buttons so I could use whatever glazes I wanted.

I used low fire glazes and my dad's kiln to get these fabulous finished pieces. Can you tell that many of them will look great on the rust fabric? I just wish I could figure out which glazes I used for my favorite ones, aacck.

Tattoo, the wonder dog!

2008-08-11T19:33:00.016-04:00

My nephew's dog is the sweetest and smartest dog ever. He has loves to swim and play in the lake (when he visits), ever since he was a puppy. Even after he lost his front leg several years ago, he continues to swim.

He even has his own raft, although lately he prefers to share mine.

A couple of years ago I got photos of him mid air...

This past week he discovered the minnows swimming around us. As I have long suspected, he can swim underwater (I told you he was smart). He repeatedly zoned in on them, then dove off the raft, head first, underwater. Then he sprang out of the water, jumped on the raft and did it again. I was just amazed, I think he is part fish! My nephew Max patiently took 60+ photos and we actually got some that show him under (look close and click on the pics for larger images).

Advanced Rusting

2008-08-04T06:35:00.002-04:00

I have been playing around with rusting images on a piece of fabric, then moving it to different areas and rusting some more. This piece is my favorite, it is about 36 inches square and I used several pieces of metal to get the circles. I don’t usually work this large and I should sell it, but I am not sure I can part with it.

This piece is 18 inches square and has several pieces rusted on it, I see a moon over the water. It is for sale in my Rusty Turtle etsy shop.

I have other pieces in process with this technique, it takes longer because you can’t just rust it in one sitting, but I love the possibilities.

Overdyed rust pieces

2008-07-26T22:31:00.005-04:00

More Rust...

2008-07-20T12:13:00.006-04:00

I'm still Rusting...

2008-07-16T18:50:00.013-04:00

This rust pieces was wrapped up around a big wine jug with some steel wool. I love how it turned out!

This one is on fabric that had a crackle print already

This is rusted onto a piece of batting, heavily rusted and textured.

This past weekend I tried low water immersion dyeing on plain fabric and cheesecloth. I think my dye solution was too weak because the colors are pale...

BUT, the three rust pieces I overdyed turned out very cool, I will try this again.

Rusty Turtle on etsy

2008-07-14T20:48:00.003-04:00

I've done more rust dyeing, and will be offering some of the rusty pieces of fabric in my new etsy shop, Rusty Turtle http://www.rustyturtle.etsy.com/.

I have more piece I will be listing later, these are to start...

Out my car window

2008-07-10T20:38:00.009-04:00

Driving to work this morning there was a gorgeous sunrise, so I grabbed my camera. I drive back roads with very little traffic and in the past have tried to pull over and get decent shots along the way. Today, when there were no other cars in site, I rolled down the front windows and would stop and click.

I did the same coming home this afternoon.
This is my favorite hill scene, close to my house.

Isn't this mirror pic cool, that was a happy accident!

I Love the Sea!

2008-07-07T19:03:00.004-04:00

I finished the mermaid I have been working on for the SunRose gallery in Seaside Oregon. Cathy and Ray own this beautiful mosaic gallery and they like my mermaids. They are also just wonderful people, so if you are in that area, please stop by and see them.

I even have more fabric rusting on the back porch, yay!

Rust Dyeing and my Nephews

2008-07-06T18:21:00.021-04:00

First is the picture of my fabulous nephews from left Max, Tattoo and Sam. They are the sunshine of my life and we had a wonderful July 4th weekend!!

After procrastinating for many months, I finally added some fabric to the rusty pieces on my back porch. My brother David gets me some great rusty pieces and the last haul included five big rusty discs. I also have the big piece he got me last summer with holes. I added a piece of off- white flannel to it and stacked layers of muslin and some silky fabric in between the discs. I left them in the weather and rain for three days and got some fabulous pieces. I just washed more muslin and will be doing this again.

Flood relief effort with the INCrowd of etsy

2008-06-29T18:41:00.001-04:00

ANNOUNCEMENT 6/28/08: The INCrowd (the Indiana based Etsy team I am a member of) is partnering with Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus to assist those affected by flooding in Indiana. Each participating shop (including my own) will generously donate a minimum of 10% of their sales for the entire month of July. A list of all participating shops is available at the INCrowd blog, http://indianaetsy.blogspot.com.

back from Bead and Button

2008-06-16T17:58:00.013-04:00

I have recovered from my days at Bead and Button in Milwaukee. I was in Lisa Peters booth 1213 and my button set "Across the USA" was juried into the Bead Dreams competition. Lisa had a fabulous table full of amazing goodies and it was worth the trip just to meet her in person http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/.

I am taking pictures of mosaic buttons, pins and pendants I have made and will be loading some on etsy soon. Here's a sneak peak.

2008-05-19T08:32:00.004-04:00

Gee, it is hard to find a good excuse for the four months since my last post, but I have been busy.
And have exciting news! My mosaic button set "Across the USA" was juried into the Bead and Button Bead Dreams 2008 and will be on display at the BB show in Milwaukee June 6-8th.
http://www.beadandbuttonshow.com/bnbshow/
I will actually be at the show, thanks to my great friend Lisa Peters, who has booth 1213. Lisa makes the most amazing raku beads, buttons and pendants.
http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/
I will have mosaic buttons and pins/pendants for sale. If you are at the show, please stop by and see us.

Jewelry for me

2008-01-01T18:31:00.001-05:00

This is a New Year and I decided to make myself some necklaces. Lisa Peters is a wonderful friend of mine. She makes amazing raku buttons and pendants, and I have used her pieces in fiber art and mosaics as well. The focal raku on this necklace is from Lisa http://www.lisapetersart.com/
I also have a weakness for lampwork beads and have found some beautiful beads on etsy.
The two tab beads are from TidesofCreation http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5110139 they look beautiful with the raku button. The flowers and other components are stone beads, there are small glass beads, then braided yarns for the rest of the necklace.

This next necklace also uses lampwork beads from TidesofCreation, these beads are gorgeous, beautiful versions of the beach! The silver dangle is from TheIvyLeaf at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=25577
There are glass and silver beads, and the rest of the necklace is ribbon in shades of turqouise.

This last necklace has a mosaic pendant I made a few years ago with glass, plus cabochons of howlite and paua shell . Commercial glass and silver beads, and the rest of the necklace is crocheted purple yarn.

These necklaces are all photographed on the dresses I will be wearing them with.

Some projects

2007-12-27T20:23:00.001-05:00

These are pillows I made for brother and sister in law, Dave and Anita. Mom and Dad got them a gorgeous brown comforter for Christmas.

The base for each was some microfiber suede. I had planned to use my embellisher to attach all sorts of fabric and yarns (ala the fancy pillow book), but the farbics I usede did NOT punch into the suede well so I ended up stitching and stitching and stitching (I used over 5 bobbins of thread).

This is an index card holder for my sister Sue, she loves to use sharpies and index cards for her notes. This holder is large enough for 4x6 cards (all I had was 3x5) and I got the mini sharpies.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas, my family and I had a fabulous time, and of course my nephews Sam and Max are the stars of my life.

This is pretty typical of their brotherly love-lol.

New comfort dolls

2007-12-11T17:06:00.001-05:00

Finally I got some comfort angels made to send to Pat at http://www.comfortdolls.blogspot.com/. i personally think she is an angel for doing this project. Five of these are going to Pat and three to my aunt Bev in Florida.

The yellow/orange and multi colored angels started with embellished projects from earlier this year, see below, I was able to get several angels from each piece and backed them with batiks or other commercial prints.

The blue, green and purple angels are raw silk i painted with watered down acrylics, with some silver or gold streaks. then i stitched the silk to a piece of batting, cut the shapes and zig zagged to backs. For all these I hand stitched more yarns around the face and onto the bodies. the faces are stamped onto muslin circles then gathered around a flat backed marble and stitched to the bodies.
I have several more of these in various stages so I have lots of hand work thru the holidays. Was hoping to get some done and loaded to etsy but don't know if I will make it.

Busy, busy getting ready for Christmas, hopefully next year will be better for completing projects and posting them on this blog.

Comfort dolls

2007-11-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

While visiting my brother and family for Thanksgiving, I was working on these to donate to the comfort doll project.

http://www.comfortdolls.blogspot.com/

I started with a raw silk piece I painted and stitched a long while ago. I removed most of the hand stitched yarns and embellishments and cut out nine shapes.

The good news is my sister in law and her mom bought all nine of them! So now I need to make more, but that is ok, they were fun and I have all sorts of ideas for different fabrics and embellishments.

I used a circle of muslin over a glass glob for the faces, gathered it around the back then stitched to the stuffed dolls. Was going to ask my nephew Sam to draw faces but they were pretty tiny. My SIL had the perfect face stamp! I added some tyvek and cheesecloth, crochet yarn strands, ribbon bead trims, little rolled fabric beads and my favorite hairy yarns. The triangle doll was a piece for the original whole piece with lots of hand stitching and I didn't want to cut thru it, so I kept the triangle shape.

I will post pics in a few days of the next batch I make, that truly will go to comfortdolls.

Mosaic Breadbox

2007-11-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

I finished my breadbox for the Etsy Mosaic Artists Bitchen Kitchen contest. It is a wooden breadbox and my favorite theme, the sunset over the ocean.

It is 15.5 inches wide and 7.5 tall in the front and 9.5 inches tall in the back.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7714336

Rusty parts and my brother "The Art Enabler"

2007-10-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

I wrote earlier about my family and how they all humor me in my art.

They call my brother Dave my enabler, because when I want to try something weird or different (to those non-crafty folk) my brother is almost always willing to help me!

Even when I don't ask, he is keeping an eye out for me.

We visited them this weekend for Sam's play and Dave took me to a nearby park where people were allowed to dump off metal to be recycled, he had seen a sign and thought of me.

So we asked permission when we got there and I nabbed several very cool rusty pieces. The big disks are my favorite, I got four of them.

Copper crusted vessel

2007-10-21T14:12:00.000-04:00

I am sure enjoying making vessels for the textile challenge group. This one started with a piece of fabric I dyed a year or more ago, I crinkled and tied it up as it dried to try and get wrinkles and has stitched it to a piece of felt.

I folded over the top three inches and stitched the side to form a tube, then stitched a piece of timtex to the bottom. I added pieces of silky copper, heated with the heat gun, painted tyvek, crocheted hairy yarns, some copper mesh and painted lace, and a couple of plastic rings covered with hand dyed ribbon yarn. Then I used some copper lumiere paint to drybrush some color all over the piece. I have a really cool silicon baster mom got me this summer, it works great for just adding a little paint.

I wanted the vessel to have a little bit squished shape, so I painted more timtex and made a tube for the inside, a little bit smaller than the outside. As I stitched the piece inside I drew in some of the shape with the thread, then added beads that pulled it in a little more, and added some felt beads too. I think I am done-lol.

My wonderful family

2007-10-21T09:18:00.000-04:00

I am so lucky to have a family who encourages and helps me with my art! Mom and dad are both creative, dad loves to do woodworking projects and mom likes to paint. My dad make these crosses and beautiful frames for my projects, plus he can figure out the best way to do anything. And he is the king of clamps! Yesterday I brought a breadbox I am going to mosaic for the EMA bitchen kitchen challenge. One of the hardest things (I think) in a mosaic is to finish the "raw" edges of grout, that's why dad makes the crosses with an edge. I brought the breadbox out just to show them what I am working on next, and he cut little strips of wood to cover the raw edges. He has like 18 clamps! on the one breadbox, holding the strips down while they glue, but it is exactly what I need to make the breadbox fabulous! I will start on it later this week since the deadline is November 4th. For details of the EMA contest see
http://www.etsymosaics.com/emachallenge.html.
My brother and SIL are both very supportive, they are always on the lookout for silver platters and bowling balls and other items for me to mosaic. When I told Dave I was rusting fabric this summer, he found me the most amazing piece of metal that makes a gorgeous rust pattern. And if I tell him some crazy idea for a project, he will jump right in and help me. My SIL, Anita is always generous with her supplies and is teaching me how to solder.
And then there are my nephews, the brightest stars in my life. Max is 13, a super sports dude, he loves to play basketball and soccer and his playstation. In the summer you can always count on Max to be in the lake. I have never been athletic but he loves me anyway and is always quick to give a big hug.
Sam is 15, he is a true artist. We used to color when he was little, then I would draw him simple dragons and fantasy creatures. He soon passed me with his drawing skills and I still am constantly amazed at his talent. Both Sam and Max are very handsome, very social with lots of friends, smart with good grades, and musical, they both have been in lots of school plays.
Last but not least is my sister Sue. I don't get to see her very often, but we talk on the phone almost daily, she is very encouraging for anything I am doing. I am so lucky and very grateful for my whole family.

mosaic crosses

2007-10-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I grouted the four crosses from last week, I think they turned out great. My dad makes the beautiful wooden bases for the crosses, he uses oak and walnut and maple.

I love to hang out in dad's garage with him, this is where I mosaic (and paint fabric, and work with clay, and do my rust projects).
The cross below has a gorgeous raku piece in the center, created by my friend Lisa. She is an amazing artist. (www.lisapetersart.com)

Mom is there too, she watches and I ask her opinion on colors and design.
This summer we made a large cross for my brother's church and mom did it with me. And she always helps me grout, she could spend hours doing the final cleaning and shining.

Vessel for Textile challenge

2007-10-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

This vessel started with a UFO from last year. I had dyed and painted the fabric, then free motion stitched it and added a little cheesecloth, ribbon and a crocheted circle. Tonight I added a lining, turned under the edges and rolled the rectangle into a roll, then stitched the sides and added a bottom. Added a plastic ring wrapped with ribbon yarn and more crochet yarn balls. It is 7 inches tall with a 3 inch diameter.

Earth Angel - etsy FAST October challenge

2007-10-09T20:19:00.000-04:00

well, she is done and I added her to my shop. The pictures don't do her justice, but I'd like to know what you think.

Earth Angel in Process

2007-10-07T13:41:00.000-04:00

I have been working on another angel and decided to share pictured of her in process. Everything is hand stitched, there are laters of felt, distresssed with the heat gun and hand painted with oranges, browns and golds. I found cotton yarn I hand dyed a couple of years ago with beautiful earthy tones, crocheted a string of chain stitches and stitched them down, then added painted mesh and crinkled tyvek

Next I will be adding fuzzy yarns, some melted felt rolls, small silk flowers and/or leaves and some beads. Underneath the felt layers I have some silky, rusty colored fabric.

The final step will be hair and her wings, this is a start on them.

Mom's purse is done

2007-09-11T21:02:00.001-04:00

Here is the front with the button she selected from my friend Lisa at http://www.lisapetersart.com/.

and here is the back with the flap open.

Zippered Seaside pouch is done!

2007-09-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

I added beads and stitched the sides of the seaside piece I worked on Friday, then hand stitched it to the zippered pouch at the top edge. The pouch is 7.5 x 5 inches. Added a little felty thing to the zipper tab and it is ready to use.

Purse, getting closer

2007-09-09T09:35:00.001-04:00

Here are pics of the purse fabric after some tulle and yarn. The lining has black with oranges and reds, purples and blues and parts of it show thru the holes where I melted the felt, adding bits of color. I think I will add more machine stitching in those colors and maybe some metallic hand stitching too. I decided the gold mesh in my original stash is too jarring. The buttons are from my friend Lisa http://www.lisapetersart.com/, these pictures do not do them justice. Lisa makes the most amazing raku beads and buttons!

This is the purse folded. I want to add any additional stitches or embellishments while it is still flat, including velcro for the closure. When I am totally done I will stitch the edges together and let mom pick her button. More pictures when I finish.

ok, now I have to wait, I stitched more yarns and a couple of felt beads on the back, then decided to swipe some shiva paintstiks across areas. I did that yesterday but didn't let them set, all the handling of the felt and alot of it rubbed off. So i will wait 24 hours before stitch the side together (maybe adding a few beads 1st). Luckily, the tulle shapes are not as prominent in real life, I think the camera pics it up. On the purse they are more blended.

and here is the back, just folded still

Purse in Process

2007-09-08T21:34:00.000-04:00

I am making my mom a purse for a couple of weddings she is going to soon. I started with black felt, lace, some black with a little sheen, some gold fabric and some yarns. I ended up not
using half of these, but this is how I usually start.

I tried some shiva painstiks on the lace and some of the other black fabric and extra black felt.

I added a lining , pinned parts on top and tried to use the embellisher to attach them.
Some of the pieces did not hold well so I stitched thru everything

At this point of the process I was very disappointed. After this photo I took my heat gun to the whole piece, added some sparkly tulle and yarns and it is getting better. I need to add some stitching, maybe a few beads. I will try to take more pics and show you the finished purse tomorrow when I finish it.

Friday and stitching

2007-09-07T21:26:00.000-04:00

After a stressful week, I was so glad Friday finally came. When I got home from work I grabbed some painted felt and started stitching. I added some lace, tyvek, lutradur, some french knots and those little wheelie stitches. I tried, unsuccessfully, to do some bullion knots, aack, I can't get the hang of it but I didn't have milliner needles so that didn't help. So I covered most of those knots with bubbled cellophane. The color is kind of washed out in these photos, the fabric is like my serenity angel. Tomorrow I will fold this around a purchased canvas case (7.5 x 4") that has a zipper.

Tomorrow I clean house - ugh, then maybe I can play some more...

Serenity Angel and Sam's angel for mom

2007-09-05T17:05:00.000-04:00

This weekend I finished my Serenity angel. I used my hand painted and distressed cloth, I really love working with this cloth. After finally getting the body shape I wanted, I added lots of yarns and stitches.

My nephew Sam is a talented artist and creates amazing drawings. He decided to play around with some of my orange painted felt. He created a wonderful angel for my mom, who has been dealing with thyroid cancer this summer, so she is mom's angel of hope.

All my fussing with Serenity's body, and Sam sits down to make his angel with cloth and just starts cutting pieces of fabric and layers them and makes the wings, voila!

I had so much fun making Serenity I think I will make more, maybe one for each of the seasons or for the elements. And think how grand she would look atop a christmas tree.

What a weekend

2007-08-19T19:55:00.000-04:00

We finally finished the mosaic cross for my brother's church, it is 18 inches across and 30 inches tall, with each section being six inches wide.

As you can tell, my photo skills need to be improved.

I also finished some buttons and shawl pins and listed a few on etsy, along with the toothpick holders and fabric pins. Maybe this weekend I can work on new kits I have ideas for.

Mosaic shawl pins, pendants, buttons in process

2007-08-15T07:04:00.001-04:00

I won't be grouting until this weekend, then will have these up on etsy Sunday. At the far left you can see the blank bases that I mosaic on. The donuts are brass and intended to be shawl pins, you could attach them to a dress or coat or anything. I add a stick pin with a matching cabachon on the head. The round and oval bases are brass or silver plated, I started making them as buttons to attach to a special felted, knit, crocheted or stitched purse and would attach a button shank to the back. I could also attach a pin back or add jump rings for a necklace, so I when I list these I will let the customer decide what they want it to be.

Off to work at my day job...

Textured Turtle does clay...

2007-08-13T20:00:00.000-04:00

well I haven't finished the mosaic buttons and shawl pins I started this weekend, I am working on a large mosaic cross for my brother's church. It is coming along great, my mom is helping and I think it is much better with two of us than me working alone. So I didn't get the mosaic pins done but I did find these.

Not great pictures, but I will try again and list some of these on etsy.

Last summer I played around with clay, dad has a kiln. I made ceramic fish and flowers for the garden, some pendants and buttons, pencil cups and these. I just love them, you can use them for toothpicks or Q-tips, I have two at work for my paper clips. They are hand formed and textured, then I added a little hole (before firing) so I could add some fibers and beads. You know I can't do anything plain-LOL.

What can you do with a fiber art kit?

2007-08-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

Tobi Tate used a purple fiber art kit to make this fabulous piece!

Funky Journal Cover

2007-08-07T21:06:00.001-04:00

Check out the great journal cover my friend Gail made from one of my kits, I love it and am working on kits that include a piece of latch hook for the spine as well as extra yarns and fabric strips.

http://expressionstudio.blogspot.com/2007/08/finished-funky-journal-cover.html

Sand and Sea seems to be a favorite theme so I painted more cloth to go into kits. I still need to add the fabric backing and batting and stitch, although I may list some fabric unstitched. Since I like hand stitching more than machine, I figured customers would want fabric already stitched, but unstitched may be better for some applications. If anyone is reading this I would love some opinions.

And finally, I will be making some more mosaic shawl pins and buttons tbis weekend to list on etsy. These are pics of ones previously sold.

Kit fabric as a frame

2007-07-30T07:21:00.001-04:00

I thought the kit fabric would make great frames for artwork or photos. My talented nephew Sam painted a watercolor postcard for me. I poked little holes in the corner and stitched with beads to attach it to the fabric, then added yarns and lace.

Finished projects from kit fabric

2007-07-30T07:17:00.001-04:00

more rust dyeing

2007-07-26T13:45:00.000-04:00

This is the intial rust dyeing, before I got the mega-cool part in the earlier paragraph. Pictures pretty much say it all.

Etsy shop

2007-07-26T13:34:00.000-04:00

My etsy shop is up and running, I am sure there will be some tweaks but I am pretty happy with it. Now I wait and see if anyone finds me.

Since I love to see pictures when I visit blogs, I am going to post some pictures of rust dyeing I did a few weeks ago. This is from a gorgeous piece of metal my brother found for me at a yard sale, I am going to make lots of prints from this piece, this was the initial print.

Hello

2007-07-24T20:20:00.000-04:00

well here it is, my 1st entry in my blog. Hope the world can see me!