Shadows Revealed...

I'm happy to say that "Shadows" is finally finished!

Here are a couple of close ups that show the hand and machine stitching in a little more detail:

I have another photograph that I am thinking about doing in a similar way...this could be the beginning of a small series.  Time will tell.

The Last of the Fall Colour...

On the weekend, while out in the garden, I shot these images of the last bit of colour left in the yard.  Although most of the leaves have fallen, and those still clinging to the trees are mostly a sad brown, there is still a bit of pretty colour to be found in a couple of spots in the garden.  I took these rather quickly, with my iPhone, and unfortunately the focus is not the best.  I do love those wonderful berries on the euonymus .  The colour and shape is so interesting.  The wine/green leaves are from my fragrant snowball bush...it smells divine when it's in bloom in the spring!  And the barberry bush is rapidly loosing it's leaves, but those still on the bush are a wonderful variegated pink/burgundy colour.

I thought you might enjoy an update on Dime too.  He's doing great and he's never too far from Casey!  He is such a clever little fellow, learning so much everyday. Happily, at 12 wks he's reliably housebroken (actually was a week ago already!) and we haven't had an accident in the house since his second week with us.

"Here are some of the commands I know...okay, I'm just kidding about that last one, but a puppy can dream can't he?"

Linking up with Texture Tuesday.

An Extra Post This Week...

Hi Everyone, I'm popping in with an extra post today to let you know I'm posting over on StencilGirl Talk blog today to share a quick little tutorial on how this "Stepping Stone" art quilt began.

I was inspired by a beautiful skein of thread and that led me to audition a bunch of my hand dyed fabrics and some batiks I had in my stash.  The tutorial shows how I used a bit of surface design using three incredible stencils designed by Terri Stegmiller. Please pop on over to the StencilGirl Talk blog to check it out!

This quilt is actually made up of five smaller quilts which were then aligned and stitched together with some areas overlapping.  After finishing the hand stitching that I've shared in posts here and here, I took the five pieces to the my studio for some machine stitching.

 

And here is the finished piece.  Unfortunately, the stitched design in the circles does not show up well in the photo.  It looks much better in person (In my humble opinion!).

A Simple Solution...

This piece is back on track.  Last week I showed you the stitching I had started in the shadow areas, and I was saying that it wasn't working for me.  Well, it turns out I just needed to lengthen the stitch and put it on a 45º angle to achieve the texture I want, with enough contrast to show up.  This stitching should be done soon (I hope) so that I can get to the machine quilting of the background.

I'll be back with an extra post tomorrow, to reveal the finished piece that I've called 'Stepping Stones'.  If you're a new follower, it began with a skein of thread as inspiration and then involved a lot of hand stitching that you can see here and here.  

Have a great day!

A Blog Hop Featuring StencilGirl and Foam Board Express

 Today I'm participating in a blog hop with StencilGirl and Foam Board Express.

I've been meaning to come up with an organizer for all of my pens, pencils, scissors, etc. that I want to keep easily accessible on my desk so I designed one using foam core board, decorated with Terri Stegmiller's  Waves stencil.

Since I didn't have a sharp blade for my utility knife, I decided to try cutting the foam board with my paper cutter (guillotine). Although it did slightly crush the edge (not visible in the finished project), it gave me a good clean cut and made it fast and easy to get the pieces the size I wanted. 

I cut 2 pieces for the sides (11" X 4.5"), 1 piece slightly narrower but the same length (11" X 3.5") for the bottom, and then 5 pieces (4.5" X 3.25") for the sides and inner dividers.

Using a metallic turquoise acrylic paint and a make-up sponge, I stencilled part of the waves stencil onto the front, back and side pieces. I used a 0.8 Micron pen to outline the stencilling and to add some text to the front.

One the decorating was done, it was time to assemble the pieces.  I used PVA glue and regular straight pins to put it together.  The glue holds it long term, while the pins hold it until the glue dries and then give it a bit more stability (think mini rebar)

I glued the bottom edge of the front piece and then attached it to the edge of the bottom piece so that the side sat flush with the edge of the base.  The pins are stuck in through the the base and into the foam of the front piece (be careful to push them in straight so they don't poke through the paper layers).  I pin about every inch along the entire edge.

Apply glue to the bottom and front edge of one of the sides.  Place flush with the bottom and front pieces, and again pin to secure.  If any glue shows, wipe excess away before it dries, to avoid clear lumps of glue (especially on the outside).

You now need to do some measuring and draw a few pencil lines so you'll know where to put the pins for the inner dividers.  I made a mark along the edge at 5.5" to mark the centre, and then 2.75" from that centre line, to mark the quarter line.  You need to mark these lines on the inside of all three 11" pieces, and on the outside of the base and back pieces.

Draw in the pencil lines along the base, both inside and out, and the inside of the front piece.  These lines will allow you to position the dividers accurately, as well as figure out where to put in the pins.  Note, I didn't want pins all along the edges in front, so I only pinned the top and bottom and relied on the glue to hold the rest.  I did pin from the back all along the edge though since it didn't have the text decorating it.

Once all of the dividers are in and pinned from the bottom as well as anchored at the top and bottom edge of the front, it's time to add the final piece.

Put a bead of glue all along the top and side edges of the dividers and side pieces, as well as along the bottom edge of the back piece. Place it so that it sits on top of the edge of the base and tight against all of the dividers and sides.  Making sure that the sides and dividers are covering the lines you drew so that you know they're in the correct position, and then go ahead and pin to secure it all.  Once the glue dries it will be good and solid!




And here's what it looks like filled up and in place at the corner of my desk.

After organizing that area of my desk, I decided to make a little divider for one of the cubbies in this shelf.  Now instead of a 13" cube, I've got some shelves within it to organize some of the smaller bins and things.  Notice I left enough space at the side so the ATC display case can still stand at the side of that space. It was constructed in the same way, using glue and straight pins.  By adding a back, although not really necessary, you get that much more stability.

Before

After

And now, check out these great prizes...

INCREDIBLE PRIZE PACKAGE:

Foam Board Express is giving away:

Foam Board Express would like to offer a package of five (5) of its 20-inch by 30-inch flat display foam boards, including one black foam board, one white foam board and three additional foam board sheets in colours chosen by the winner.  Colour choices include:  green, red, yellow, dark blue, neon yellow, neon orange and neon pink. 

and 

StencilGirl is giving away:

Mary Beth's new DVD called: StencilGirl Mixed Media Sampler Journal 

All comments on all blogs eligible. Combined prize going to one winner.

You can check out Foam Board Express on their website and their FaceBook page and they've also launched a Pinterest site.

Don't forget to hop on over to the next stop on the blog hop and leave a comment!  

StencilGirl Talk

Mary Beth Shaw

Carolyn Dube

Julie Snidle

Janet Joehlin

Judy Shea

Linda Kittmer-You Are Here

Leslie Tucker Jenison-Your next stop on the HOP

Jessica Sporn

Maria McGuire

GIVEAWAY (ends Thursday November 14th @ 11:59PM Central Time

A Blog Hop Featuring StencilGirl Stencils Designed by Jane LaFazio...

Eucalyptus

Pods

Hi Everyone!  Today I'm participating in another fabulous StencilGirl blog hop, this time featuring designs by Jane LaFazio.  I'm using her Eucalyptus stencil and her Pods stencil to create a journal page.

 

I started by drawing a simple frame around my journal page with a permanent black pen.  Then I started tracing some of the elements of the pods stencil within the border, and sometime allowing parts to extend outside of the border.

I then penciled in a quote by Henry Ward Beecher about Gratitude...did I mention that was the theme of the hop?  I like to pencil in my text before tracing it with permanent pen, just in case I mess up on spacing or such.

Time to pick up the other stencil (Eucalyptus) to trace the 'circle' images, this time using a red permanent pen.   I then added some doodles to turn those into flowers.

 Using my Tombow markers, I added colour.  On the stencilled areas, I brushed in colour (using the brush end) right on the page.  For other areas I put down some colour on the stencil plastic and then add a drop of water with the water brush before laying it down on the page.

 

I used this technique for the blue background areas as well as the little dotted flowers seen in this next image.




I also used the water brush to activate the Tombow colours in the stencil areas to achieve the watercolour effect.

 Back to my permanent black pen, I doodled stripes onto the border I made in the first step.

And here's the finished page (And yes, I'm also grateful for being able to ignore the drab November weather and create colourful gardens any time of year!):

StencilGirl Products is giving away a prize on their blog StencilGirl Talk. ALL comments left on ALL blogs are eligible to win. The more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances you will have to be the lucky winner! 

The giveaway will close on Monday, November 11, 2013 @ 11:59 PM Central Time.

Here's the Blog Hop order...happy hopping!

StencilGirl Talk

Jane LaFazio

Mary Beth Shaw

Linda Kittmer-You are here.

Jenny Lee Cochran-Hop on over here next!

Kirsten Reed

Janet Joehlin

Corrine Gilman

Helen Shafer Garcia

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Ruth de Vos

Deborah Boschert

Julie Snidle

Mary C. Nasser

Progress on Shadows...

I've finished the hand stitching of the text on this 'Shadow' piece, and I've outlined the shadows themselves with back stitch.  

I had planned to fill in the shadows using tiny running stitches in the traditional Kantha style, but it just doesn't have the impact I want.  I think because of the texture of the actual fabric on which I transferred this image, those subtle stitches are lost.  I guess my next step will be to pull those stitches out and then figure out what I want to do instead.  

I'm also planning some machine quilting in the background, probably with a variegated thread that will blend in with the variety of golds, tans and browns in the image.  

Some many ideas, and so little time!  Dime is keeping me busy, as would be expected, but he's doing great.  I fit my stitching in during his naps, so I'm not as prolific as I was before he arrived.  Kind of reminds me of being a new mom. LOL  

Photo Inspiration for Fibre Art...

The other day, while out for a walk, I came upon this wonderful wall of vines and stunning red leaves.

 

And that was all the inspiration I needed for a new piece of fibre art!


I hope to start this piece soon.  I'll show you the progress as it comes together.
Have a fabulous week!

Stitching Finally Resumes on My Shadows Piece...

I've got a couple of pieces that I had been working on prior to my cycling accident in May, which had to be set aside because I couldn't do any hand stitching.  Then, even though I could have started to work on them again, I just couldn't seem to get back to them.

However, these days, thanks to our new little foster puppy, (see Monday's post), the only fibre art I seem to be fitting in to my day is a little hand stitching while he's napping.  It's a good thing that young puppies need several naps a day!

This piece began as an iPhone photo of my elongated shadow, taken one summer evening while I was out walking our dog, Casey.  I played around with it in Photoshop, transferred it to fabric, and now I'm adding stitch to complete the piece.

I'm almost finished with the text, and then I'll move on to my shadows.  I have a couple of ideas for what I might do to add some stitch to the shadows.  Hopefully I'll be able to share the results soon.