Abstract #3

Number three in the on-going Abstract Series.  I'm really enjoying these little quilts, and once my finger and wrist have had a little more healing time,  I think I'll be adding some  hand stitching to future pieces in this series.

Abstract #2

Here's the second piece in my abstract series.  I'm really enjoying quilting these pieces!

Finally A Little Art Journalling...

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that I enjoy doing some art journalling and I find Joanne Sharpe's online classes to be fun.  Well, in spite of my arm being in a cast, I went ahead and signed up for her latest Doodle Arts and Lettering class.  While I had the cast on I was watching the lessons, interacting with the other participants on Facebook and waiting for June 20th to arrive so I could get my cast off.  Well, that day came but the x-rays and pain indicated that I was not yet healed.  I'm now wearing a splint, but I've figured out that if I've very careful about not bending the wrist at all, I can take off the splint for short periods (about 15 minutes a few times a day) so that I can do a little bit of doodling.  And so, I have finally finished "My Grade 2 Art Girl"!  This was a lot of fun.  I can't wait to be able to get back to more of this once this crazy scaphoid finally heals!

Stencil Fun!

I'm so excited to have been asked to join the StencilGirl Creative Team.

I'm looking forward to creating fun art journal pages using the new stencils, and since I've been wanting to explore the use of stencils in my surface design and fibre art, this will be a wonderful opportunity to do that too.  My mind has been spinning more than usual with ideas of what I can do with stencils, fabric, paint, stitch...

Please visit Mary Beth and Maria at StencilGirl Talk , their new blog, for more information and a chance to win an incredible giveaway.  I won't tell you what it is, but if you like making monoprints, and you love stencils, this is a fabulous opportunity!

Stop and Smell the Roses...

...or at least notice all the beauty around you!

All of these shots were taken with my iPhone the other day while I was out walking my dog, Casey, through the woods and park near our home.

"Now" texture compliments of Kim Klassen.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, and Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Abstract #1

Before quiltng

Last weekend I posted about starting this new abstract series.  After finishing all of the fusing of the hand dyed fabrics, I decided that I would work on the quilting one piece at a time.  It means changing thread a ridiculous number of times, but I like that I can see one piece through to completion in a day.

The two photos show what the piece looked like before and after the quilting was added.

Finishing The Painted Bag

The paint is dry and it's time to do some free motion doodling on this painted piece of material (click here to see how it was started)!  I decided to use black thread. Using the circles as the centres of the flowers, I machine sketched petals to create simple flowers.

I got so carried away making the bag that I forgot to take pictures of the process.  As it turned out, this layered, painted fabric is just too stiff to work for the fortune cookie bag.  It simply didn't have the flexibility to fold as it should so I decided to leave it as a small clutch.

 

Fortune Cookie Bag

A while ago I saw a tutorial for a cute little 'fortune cookie bag' on Claude Larson's blog.  Since I had so much fun with the Angie Hughes technique I used for the journal cover I recently made, I thought I'd use it for this bag.

I started with some lace I had, layering it over the cotton foundation.  The circles were cut from a bit of a J-cloth that I had  on my work table.

Some yarn was machine couched around the edge of the circles and then I did some free motion stitching all over the piece.

The next step was to paint on some gesso to seal the layers and ready it for painting.

I've used a metallic copper colour for the circles and then painted the rest with turquoise and a little purple.

Once the paint dries I'll be able to start putting the bag together.  I'll show you the finished bag in a couple of days.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Great Blue Heron

Last weekend I saw this beautiful Great Blue Heron patiently waiting for his dinner outside the Cambridge Mill.

There is something about these wonderfully majestic birds that intrigues me.  I'm fortunate to be able to enjoy them at our cottage, by the pond near our home and out on various explorations while cycling, etc. and yet I just never get tired  of watching them!

They always make me smile too, as I recall the one that used to visit my parent's backyard to steal the koi from Dad's pond.  Dad finally made a wonderful wooden model of a heron and put it by the pond as a decoy to ward off the real one.

"3112" texture compliments of Kim Klassen.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, and Sweet Shot Tuesday.

New Abstract Series Underway...

Last week I posted about some beautiful Vicki Welsh hand dyed fabric that I was lucky enough to win. I just love hand dyed fabrics.  They've got so much interesting texture and rich colour.  

I've started a new series of abstract quilts using a collection of my own hand dyed fabric combined with Vicki's pieces.  All of the fabrics have been prepared with Misty Fuse so that I can now create by cutting and collaging in an intuitively spontaneous way.

I just love how all of these fabulous colours compliment each other.  And, as you can see, every little bit of fused 'eye candy' has the potential for finding it's way into one of the finished pieces.

Although I can see hand stitch further enhancing these pieces, I plan to start with extensive machine quilting first.  Hopefully once the cast comes off I'll be able to get back to hand stitching right away since the collection of works in progress that require hand stitching and/or beading is getting bigger and bigger!  LOL