spring is in the air

Handmade silk fibers and silk bark make up the bird and tree.

A few summers ago the kids and I took apart a baseball to see how it was made under the leather.   Hundreds of feet of string!  We tried measuring it but quickly gave up when we found it went on and on.  We wound it around a stick and saved it for something later...

And here this little bird finds her nest made up of that very baseball string!

This little project started as a doodle, practice piece.  Once the fabric was filled with quilting, I then added the tree with the bird and nest.

 Happy Spring Quilting!

custom leather bag

I love making custom leather bags.  Since we didn't have much going on this past weekend and it's still more like winter than spring outside, I took some time and made a bag.  

This time it was for me.

It's a light shade of lavender, sort of grayish with a hot pink lining.  

Not wanting to put a zipper into the facing, I made a strap that comes over and hooks with a magnet.  Extra magnets in the facing keep the bag closed.

No pockets were added but a little leash was stitched into the lining . . .

 . . . to hook onto just the right sized custom bag. . .

 . . . which holds a few things . . .

 . . . including a custom cell phone sleeve.

There was plenty of supervision to make sure seams sewed as planned. . .

. . . but, mostly with eyes wide shut.

And today it's back to the business of quilting.

Happy Creating!

Forever Young

Today is the Fiberactions art group reveal. The theme for this challenge is colors of nature outside the window. The work I'm showing is from 2004. With many other deadlines recently I was unable to complete my current challenge so I'm posting this.

The boys are drawn on muslin with pigma pens and colored with pencils, chalk and paints. I remember I wasn't able to get their feet right so I covered them with couched fibers, painted Tyvek and real sea shells.

Check out the other artists work at the Fiberactions site here http://fiberactions.blogspot.com/.

spring fever

Colors in nature is the next challenge for our Fiberactions group.  The reveal is the 15 (Friday).  I won't have mine finished, but above you can see parts of my piece in progress. 

It will get finished, just not by the 15th.

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This week is Spring Break and my son is home from school so I took the week off too.  

It's good having everyone back in the nest.  He's helping getting some painting done and I've enjoyed spending the time with him.  

Last week before we started making the painting mess I was able to get these two quilts finished.

These are great utility quilts, which are quilts that are meant to be used as 'blankets'.

This used all scraps. It's always interesting to see how scraps can come together to make something cohesive.

And lavender, teal, cream and brown work up this one. Interesting color combo, but it works and will make a cozy quilt.

Today I'm off to hook up with my friend Sharon.  We try to catch up quarterly so today we were going to work on a project, but maybe we'll just get coffee and visit the bead store.... 

Not that either of us need anything else to think about doing, it's always fun to look.

a peek inside the sewing room

There are so many fun projects going on here even the birds have to stop and check it out.  

Last season it was the blue bird?  

This season it's the robin.  

Last month was Secret Valentine for Guild. 

 We swap names, make a gift and secretly deliver it to the recipient.

The February meeting is dedicated to the big reveal.

It's fun.

The person I picked noted on her card she is a knitter and seamstress.

I made her a custom canvas bag.

Leather was used to line the straps and spool fabric lined the interior.

Using some handmade silk fabric in my favorite color palette I made a little art quilt for the center, front of the bag.

I heavily quilted and embellished it with sparkly crystals.

-The perfect bag to store yarns for knitting-

Inside the bag I put some additional goodies, including a custom sewing kit.

I love making these.

 Each is different and fully customizable.

This one opens as a heart but folds in half and is small enough to tuck into a project bag.

Thanks for stopping by!

the color of peace

Today is reveal day for the mini art quilt group Fiberactions.  

The challenge - to use at least 10 colors.

Starting with white prepared for dying cloth I drew out my design using an air erasable marking pen.

Using Neocolor pastels and Seta Color fabric paints, color was added to the words, people, states and water.

When the quilting was finished the color was  added to the border areas using fabric paints.  I had a hard time getting good coverage over the threads.  I really should have painted everything before quilting.

There is double batting in between the layers. The map and people looked cool puffed up, so I left them that way.

   

 Shimmery fabric medium was used in the blue paint. 

It looks neat up close but, you can't really see it in pictures.

This was a fun project to design and work on. 

Check out the other 10 color works at the Fiberactions site here.

Happy New Year

It's already the second week of the new year!  

Last weekend Sue Pelland and I hosted a workshop using her templates.  We have designed our Guild's raffle quilt this year and we asked members to help us create the applique blocks.

We gave them sample patterns with fused fabrics and boy, did they step up to the challenge.

 With many people volunteering for various parts of the project it truly is a group effort. 

Working together is a great thing.

Gosh I love these colors!  

We did have a super bright green that was jumping out, but Sue and I got together the other night and switched it to a more subtle shade. 

 It's better.

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Over the Holiday break I got organized!  

My husband and boys built the shelves and got them set up for me.  It seemed like it took forever to go through my stuff, but now everything has a place and I love it.

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The 10 color challenge for Fiberactions is due next week.  

I've liked thinking about and working on this project.  

It's simple

 I've been enjoying puttering with my new neocolor wax pastels both on fabric and paper. It's been good and I look forward to taking a painting class starting this week.

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The birds have been exceptionally plentiful, busy and vocal.  I'm not sure what that is a sign of but,

 I like it.

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And while I'm not doing all the other things I'm doing, I've been in the kitchen perfecting a gluten free bread recipe.

It's my new way of life and it's been good.  

Really good!

Thanks for visiting and happy creating!

Give the gift of warmth and comfort

this holiday season

 with homemade hot cocoa

 and homemade marshmallows