Thou shalt not covet...unless...

My friend Heather gave me a wonderful piece of silk that she had used to soak up some bits of left over dye.  Truth be told, I coveted it when she was showing me a bunch of fabric she had dyed.  It has beautiful colours and shapes that just spoke to me!  I've decided to start by outlining the shapes I see with pearl cotton and embroidery floss. When I finish doing that, I'll have to decide what to do next.  Suggestions are welcome!

The Sketchbook Challenge

I don't usually use a paper sketchbook, but I was very interested in the 'Sketchbook Challenge' so I decided to participate using my own twist on the theme.  Each page is digitally altered using Photoshop Elements and then printed onto fabric and sewn to highlight the image.  One the cover, I decided to include the original banner from the official website.

The theme for January was 'Highly Prized'.  I had a beautiful photo I had taken of my dog, Casey, and her new kitten, Arbour (taken almost 9 years ago) and it spoke to me about trust, love, motherhood, etc.--all the things that I highly prize.  Using Photoshop, I added a painterly filter and the text to give the effect  you see.

February's theme was 'Opposites'.  For this page, I started by playing with Shiva paint sticks and rubbing plates, creating the same patterns on black and white fabric.  I then cut those out and sewed them together to create the background.  From there, I took the photo and imported it into Photoshop so that I could add the text and borders.

'Spilling Over' is the theme for March.  Needless to say, I was in a bit of a dark place when I created this page.  The photo of the eye was scanned from a magazine image so that I could digitally enhance it and add the text.

I will continue to post the new pages as the themes are announced each month...

Evening Bag

It seems I'm into making bags right now!  I began this bag by sewing silk circles on a wool backing, free motion stitching many times around the circle to allow the circle to bubble up off the surface.  I then added the painted, heat distressed Lutradur circles for some extra interest.  Finally, I made it into a fully lined evening bag.

Name Tag Bag

As a member of the Oakville Stitchery Guild, we were asked to make a name tag bag.  The guild is a member of ONN (Ontario Needleworkers Network) and the ONN Theme for this year is "Gathering Threads".  As part of the theme, members are asked to create a small bag, no larger than 8"X10".  This is the little bag I created.  It's a lined bag with double quilted lines, hand embroidery and beaded embellishments. 

An Alphabet Journal

I got a copy of the book Alphabetica by Lynne Perrella as a Christmas gift, and I was inspired to create my own version of a fibre alphabet book.

Welcome to my blog!

I'm new at this, but I'm a fibre artist who loves to read about what others are doing and see their work, so I thought it was time to share some of my work too.