Some projects

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.