Journals in the Making

My afternoon time ran short today, so I decided to use come of the scrap batiks I have. I hate to throw away scraps and have a huge bin full of them. Some of the scraps already have Misty Fuse or WonderUnder on the back of the fabric, so it's ready to use! I hadn't used my stamps and Paintstiks in a while, so I thought I would paint some flowers on the front and then just doodle on the inside a back of the journal.


To protect the flowers I used Misty Fuse and adhered a blue piece of chiffon to the top. On the insides and back I used my Fabrico markers and a Bic Whiteout pen to doodle.

I found these great little recycled paper journals at Target. For Mother's Day I adhered some of my hand painted fabric to the front and back and then taped pictures of the grand kids to the pages for my mom, sister and DIL. They loved them and loved that I used my fabric!
Next I'm going to cover my sketch book. I'm going to try some different techniques for this tho. Hey, have a great weekend and I'll be back at you soon!

New Item on my Links!

Hey, I just found this really great blog and website - KC Willis, Lipstick Ranch, she has a Collage Camp! It is a great site and they have even done an episode about her on HGTV. She is doing a $300 give away right now. So check out my links to go to her site. If you want to join in the fun to her give-away click on the picture and it will take you to the page to add the picture to your blog, website and/or Facebook. So link up and enter to win! I have!

Qult Labels Finished!

This is the sweet miniature quilt I made three years ago for a church auction. One of my friends bought it and I just now made the label for it and put it on! Time flies!
I finished the labels for the quilts I made my little Hudson too. Glad to get those "little things" off my "To Do" list.
Now that I have my errands run, labels stitched on quilts and laundry in the works, I'm going to cover a couple of sketch pads and journals. I need a fun, learning project today. Reward myself for my weekly accomplishments!
I'll show you the results when I'm done! Have a sunshine day!
J

Good Morning!

It is a beautiful day! I hope wherever you are the weather is beautiful too! I love Spring and the mornings filled with sunshine. It really energizes me to accomplish something wonderful. Today I'm starting off with my Pilate's session, last private lesson, back to group Pilate's next week. My daughter-in-law is joining me today, she hasn't done Pilate's before and wants to see what it is like.
On to accomplishing something wonderful today...I started quilt labels yesterday for the three quilts I made for our precious grandson Hudson. I also made a label for a miniature quilt I made three years ago and donated to a church silent auction. A friend of mine won the quilt and brought it over last week for me to put the label on. So, today I will finish the labels and stitch them on the quilts.
After I finish stitching the labels I'm going to start organizing items to put on Artfire and/or Etsy. I have a lot of fabric that I have collected over the year that I just don't think I will every use. Plus, I have a lot of vintage patterns and items that I brought home from when we cleaned out Aunt Marie's house.
Next week I want to make some new bags. Quiting Arts has put a free e-book on their site with 7 quilted bag patterns. I downloaded it the other day and can't wait to make some of these bags. I always seem to want to make a new purse/bag when we go on vacation and since we are going to Santa Fe this year, I need something Southwestern! Plus the e-book has a great pattern for a shopping bag! I always leave my shopping bags in the car and remember after I am halfway through the grocery store! Then I walk out with 7 plastic bags to recycle! Maybe if I make a few bags I'll remember to take those cute things in!
Need to run to Pilate's! Have a sunshine day!

Fresh New Day...and Last Night Was Fun!!!

I felt very accomplished last night after finishing the Pumpkin Quilt top. After dinner we spent some time sitting on the patio watching Nickola ride her new bicycle, then we decided to let her ride down the side walk a bit and take a family walk. Betty got to ride on the tricycle while her Daddy pushed her. The other fun event last night was the turtle we found next to one of our outside air conditioning units. Jeff set him free behind our fence (there is a gate) to make his own way to the pond behind us. Some how, I see a small art quilt out of one of the turtle pictures I took....I love the moss that is attached to his shell!

Pumpkin Quilt Top Complete!

Finally!!!!! I love the way this turned out. I didn't want to use the same fabric for the sashings and borders. The border fabric is one of my favorite fabrics in my stash. Now, I have to quilt this huge quilt, it is roughly 71"x74". I guess this will be one of my summer projects!!!
Off to do some things around the house, or I may relax with a movie or show that I taped, or do some Pilate's/Yoga to stretch out. My shoulders are achy from sitting over the sewing machine for the past several days....See ya'!

Pumpkin Quilt Top

I'm determined to finish this quilt top today. It is going slower than I thought it would. Today I'm picking out the rows I sewed together yesterday. The blocks didn't line up correctly, so I'm going to have to do some adjustments today...I think this is the last of the large quilts I am going to do. Smaller Art Quilts are calling me!!!!

Pumpkin Quilt Day

Well, I've been to Pilate's already this morning and feel great! :) I have one block and the header block to finish up today on the Pumpkin Quilt. As long as there are no major distractions I should be able to get these done today and start working on the sashing!

Pumpkin Quilt Progress

This morning started off with 8 blocks stitched out, let's see how many I can get finished today! I feel charged up since I finished the Sunflower Shawl yesterday.

Sunflower Shawl Finished!

This morning I got up early, in the mood to finish the Sunflower Shawl. I'm thrilled with the result of combining hand painting and thread painting. The thread painting isn't that noticeable, it's just enough to add definition and additional depth to the sunflowers. The handwriting in the background gives just enough movement so the sunflowers don't look like they are on a blank canvas. My thanks to my friend, Connie, for growing the actual flowers that I used as the subject for my shawl!

Click on the Sunflower pictures and you can see the detail of the thread painting.

Bright and Sunny Sunflower Day!!!

Well, I have two hours before Pilates, so I'm going to see if I can get the front and back together on the Sunflower Shawl. I have already attached the crocheted lace edge, now it is time to cut the inside fabric and sew the front and back together. This afternoon I'll do the decorative stitching on the sunflowers and leaves.
It is hard to be inside today, the weather is absolutely beautiful today and would be a wonderful day to paint fabric outside. My Mr. Wonderful and our son started working on my paint station yesterday. I'm so excited to have a corner of the yard just for my fabric painting. My dreams are coming true!

Angel T-Shirt Finished!

I actually got a project started and finished in one day!!! Oh, this feels good! I tried out several different methods of painting.

Picture #1 is of the angel statue picture laid out to trace on transparency film.

Picture #2 shows my test fabric on top of the clear transparency, ready to trace.

Picture #3 I used my Fabrico Markers to paint this one. It is more than I really want on the t-shirt, but at least I got to practice my highlighting and shading.

Picture #4 is Luminere Metallic Silver on the body and dress and Luminere Metallic Gold on the wings.

Picture #5 is the Sand Fabrico Marker on the wings with Luminere Metallic Gold on top of the Sand. The body and dress have Fabrico Cool Grey Marker with Luminere Metallic Silver on top of the Grey.

Picture #6 is a combination of the Fabrico markers (color Sand) on the wings, then topped it with Luminere Metallic Gold. The dress is painted with the Luminere Metallic Silver and the flowers are painted with Fabrico Markers (colors Wisteria and Peony Purple).

Picture #7 is the last test I did and was very happy with. It is a just the angel bust with Fabrico Sand and Luminere Metallic Gold on the wings and Luminere Mettallic Silver on the body and dress.

The last picture is of the completed t-shirt using the method of picture #7. I also wrote out Hebrews 13:2 on the right side of the shirt ~ "Be Not Forgetful to Entertain Strangers for Thereby Some Have Entertained ANGELS Unaware." One of my favorite verses.

Taking a Break from the Pumpkins

I worked most of yesterday on stitching around the applique' of the Pumpkins yesterday. I completed 4 blocks, so that is 7 complete blocks and 5 more to go, plus the header. I know I'll get there!!!! I love the way it is turning out. It is going to wonderful to hang it in our foyer, above the stairs.
Since I feel accomplished with all my stitching yesterday, I decided to mix it up and paint today. I took this angel picture at a cemetery where some of my ancesters are buried in Texas. I'm going to enlarge it a bit and sketch it on a white T-Shirt and then watercolor. I have the vision in my head, so I hope it comes out the way my head it thinking. I'm also going to quote Hebrews 13:2 - "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." We have this verse on a plaque at our front door, and I think about it alot. Before I put this on the T-Shirt I'm going to test it out on PFD first. Can't wait to post the project!

Where Has the Time Gone?

Where has the time gone? I've been busy with getting ready for Mother's Day and haven't been in the studio to be productive in days. We had a wonderful gathering here Saturday of family and friends. Mr. Wonderful was incharge of the menu and cooking, he did a wonderful job. Hope everyone out there had a wonderful day too. Hopefully this afternoon I'll be in the studio to continue on the Pumpkin Quilt, or maybe I'll sketch an angel for a T-shirt...haven't decided yet.......