Postcards and projects

What have I been up to?

 

Finished a few postcards

Pulled out a full sized quilt that my mom pieced and gave me. All I had to do was quilt it which as you know is easier said than done especially when I tend to quilt very densely. I just started a new audiobook - Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand and and quilting away listening to my book is my idea of a perfect afternoon. Here is a link to the book in case you are interested.

And started a new project. Note to self - add more blacks to stash. This is all I have! Sad.

So I took this wonderful batik, which I used for one part but needed a shade lighter. So pulled out my trusty Inktense block of white.

 

First sprayed with water, then rubbed and mashed with my finger to blend.

 

Here it is dry. I think this will make a nice beak, don't you?

Is this where the body was found?

I forgot how enjoyable it was to work bigger. Bigger fusible pieces can be cut out on the inside making less glue on fabric and is so much easier to quilt and play with.

What have you been working on this week?

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Flying in the new year

I'm making birds on this New Year's Eve. Quilting the background now and this guy is a hermit thrush so will need to put some blotches on his breast area. Not sure how yet and I probably should have done that before I spent a lot of time quilting in case I screw it up, which is entirely possible but, oh well . That's how I roll.

Do you like the lichen on the branch? I drew it out and made the brown branch smooth and used freezer paper for the template and turned under the edges. No glue. Then used fusible on the lichen since it's all jaggedy. That way there isn't as much glue and is easier to quilt. I really don't like two layers of fusible.

And here is another one being fused together on the parchment paper. This way if I do screw up the first one there will be another to try something else :-)

In the foreground is a postcard in the making. A cairns one, of course.

Here is a photo of Zu Zu and the sweet Summer today. We finally got some snow - about 5 inches although a lot of it melted already. They had fun running around in it.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! I'm working New Year's Day so will not see the ball drop. If I stayed up to see it, then you would see Carol drop about half way thru the day on Friday - lol!

Posted with Blogsy

update on the blotches - I used watercolor pencil and aloe gel but not really liking it much.

on the left it's wet and on the right dry from this morning.

eh

More Cairns Art

I can't seem to get enough of making these cairns or rock stacks.

Here are a couple that I finished this week.

I've always loved this quote

 

I used the serenity rocks method for this one.

Added an interesting stick from the beach at ausable point and some shells.

 

And one using the fusible method with a pieced beach. Gotta love that footprint fabric!

The lighthouse is a button.

The weather here in Vermont has been extraordinary at least on my days off . I feel very blessed.

I hope your summer is just as nice and if you are in the part of the world where it is the dead of winter - your time will come ;-)

Posted with Blogsy

Serenity rocks

 

I made another serenity rocks art quilt this week using my pattern. It's on craftsy here or etsy here in case anyone is interested. The " rocks" are a good take along project for a summer trip BTW.

 

I have to have something to sew by hand on a trip for sitting around time.

I just got back from a camping trip on beautiful lake Champlain. Now I'm not usually a camper but this place at ausable point on the NY side is just absolutely gorgous. I get up early to go down to the beach before anyone is up and let my two dogs off the leash to run and play. So fun and the sunrises aren't bad either.

 

I also posted a tutorial on how to put a facing on an art quilt. At least the method I like anyway. You will find it on the top part of my blog. As usual I am linking up with Nina's off the wall blog.

Hope you are all having a fabulous summer!

 

Posted with Blogsy

WIP 4/17

I've been making a lot of mini quilts with cairnes from the pattern I put together

(For sale on Craftsy here in case anyone is interested) and I've found that once the rocks are fused into one piece I can audition different backgrounds and what a difference a background makes!

Both of the above are the same cairn just different backgrounds!

I'm also experimenting with something new. I work in a hotel and they take the stuff off the bottom of the new beds box springs off. It's clean and like new! They were going to throw it out but I felt it and it looks a lot like the lutradur that a lot of artists use. So I put 2 pieces together to see how it stitches just by itself. Traced a bird and stitched with dark thread - seemed to work nicely. I then colored with inktense pencils and wet with hair gel.

Hard to tell from this pic but I out up to a window and you can see thru the non painted parts - cool!

I have much more to try with this stuff and will keep you posted.

I also started a new off the edge quilt. Here is the outline done. Need to do an all over quilting in white and then color in. I will trrrrrrrrryyyyyy to leave it fainter on the colors this time.

Spring has finally sprung here in Vermont so we are enjoying being able to go out without bundling up.

 

Happy tails!

Linking up at Nina's off the wall Friday

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Vermont landscape

 

Last week I asked for help in fixing this landscape. The sky is great but the bottom area is boring.

So with the help of some excellent suggestions, I ended up with this.

Gotta put cows in a Vermont landscape, right?

The shack was already fused and sewn so I couldn't put any foliage in the back of it but I do think adding these sparks of interest and lightening up the windows helps.

 

I'm calling it done and moving on at any rate.

 

I participated in a spring mug rug swap and received this wonderful piece of mug rug art from Diane. This is the back! See how she hand stitched my name, her name, her twitter handle (we are twitter buds) and the date. There are also hand stitched details all around it.

I love hexies but never took the time to learn or do them and so I do so love this mug rug.

Here it is in action on my desk at work :-)

 

The other thing I finished this week is a small rock cairn piece mounted on canvas.

You know I love my cairnes

:-)

I'm linking up to Nina's off the wall blog - check out all the art quilt bloggers there every Friday

 

Posted with Blogsy

WIP

 

I've been working on this one off and on for months. One of those that sit on the design wall that need something and you hope it comes to you. I added the building and those big yarn chunks at the bottom hoping to look like bushes or trees. It still lacks something though. I guess it needs a good focal point which I had hoped the house would do but it's kind boring.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to WOW! This baby up a bit?

 

My Vermont landscape from last week is in the binding stage - love those clover clips!

 

And I'm working on making a pattern for a simple easy fusible rock cairns that can be done in any colorway as long as you stick to the values suggested. As you can see my template doesn't exactly match the placement guide for some reason so now I have to redo the templates. For me this would be good enough as I would just cut out a extra chunk and fill it in but if I put out a pattern I want it to line up with perfection. So back to the drawing board with this one :-/

It's supposed to be 60 degrees here today! Time to break out the shorts and put away the coats?

Well maybe for one day - snow in the forecast for Saturday :-S

Posted with Blogsy

Bird on the rocks

Walking along a rocky beach in South Hero on Lake Champlain here in Vermont I came across this cairn that someone had put on a boulder. I knew I had to make it into a quilt someday so took a photo. So when I saw that the Vermont bird museum in Huntington was looking for fiber art I figured I could “kill two birds with one stone” (pun intended) ;-)

I added two birds that are common along the shores of the lake. The ring billed gull of course - they are everywhere. And the always entertaining spotted sandpiper who flitters about looking for food on the beaches.

Here's a close up of the sandpiper. I stitched the little spots by hand with thread. I think it's called seed stitching, very appropriate for a bird, don't you think?

And the gull looking out over the water

 

I need a good name for this quilt though and nothing is calling out.

Any suggestions?

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Filling in baldness

 

 

 

I'm almost done with my alpaca and not ready to show you yet but just wanted to share an issue I had with his head.

Here is the original photo - isn't he cute?

 

His hair on top is puffy so I made it like a helmet with fabric and then thread painted over it. I only had a thick 40w thread so don't really want to go to thick or the thread breaks and misbehaves. He looked like he is loosing his hair :-/

 

So I just filled in along the top - thread was fine, no breakage or weirdness :-)

 

I like it so much better now.

 

I also finished another stones / quiet your mind quilt. I am in the process of making a downloadable pattern for this but can't decide on a name. I will be including both "quiet your mind" and "soothe your soul" for wording. Some people call these rock sculptures, some cairnes, some just a pile of rocks.

Any suggestions?

Anyone want to test the pattern when it's done?

If you do, send me your email address and I'll send you the pattern when it's done. All I ask in return is constructive critism with suggestions. Beginners welcome as I think this one is actually quite easy and would like to market to beginners IF it is indeed appropriate for a beginner.

Want to quiet your mind?

 

Posted with Blogsy