Quilt, gifts

http://www.threecreativestudios.com/ has challenges. This is my interpretation of the latest quilt challenge "Music". Blogger loaded it sideways-sorry, but we don't seem to have any control over that. I tried it again with no luck.

The flowers are parts of a napkin fused to cotton. The background is foiled by using torn bits of fusible web.

The music score is actually paper I overprinted using the gelatin print method. It's machine quilted.

At quilt group a good friend gave me a surprise-a yard of her beautiful hand dye, a fat quarter that looks botanical, and the "marshmallows". The marshmallows are foamy things that can be heated then pressed into a texture to make a rubber stamp. She said they are in the childrens' section of the craft store.

Take a Stitch Tuesday, Stitchery

To prepare for a workshop several years ago, I played with Electric Quilt and came up with lots of quilt block possibilities. This is one that I felt would be much easier to stitch than piece. I do like the design and will probably use it for a journal cover. I could use suggestions. It is chain stitch in perle cotton.

This week's offering from Sharonb at http://www.pintangle.com/ is the Spiked Knotted Cable Chain. The blue is perle cotton, the fuchsia is embroidery floss. It was easy to manipulate.

Book

This is the leaf book Albie Smith taught at Portland's Art and Soul.We did paste papers and then used real leaves to rubber stamp the images. Leaves with prominent veins work better. The painted leaves were so pretty that I brought mine home-not sure what I'll do with them.

Painted papers cover each signature.

Ferns worked well, and there are certainly plenty of those in the woods.

Bead Journal Project

The October piece for http://www.beadjournalproject.com/ is finished. In the 2010 gallery page, some of us have our year to date posted.

The machine felted background was then machine quilted with metallic threads. The cabochan is a glass piece given to me by a friend and is attached with the beaded back stitch. There is random beading in the blue areas. It's hard to believe that the year is almost over-my third in the group. I've learned a lot.

Take a Stitch Tuesday, Quilt

The Buttonhole Double Chain is this week's stitch from Sharonb at http://www.pintangle.com/  Worked close, it would make a nice braid.

I was the lucky one to take home the leftover paste paint from one of the classes at Art and Soul. It keeps for about a week, so I have been busy painting everyday until I ran out of drying space. It has been sunny here but too cool to dry things outside.

This is just a small selection of the pieces I painted.

Book

Albie Smith taught this class called Tiny Treasures. The book is the size of an ATC.The design is raised using molding paste-fun stuff.

The closure is a post and a chain. That's the first time I've done that but not the last. The spine is stitched over ribbons.

Closed it is a perfect fit in your hand.

Book, Technique of the Month

This is the first book I made last week. The cover is aluminum foil that is crumpled and painted. I didn't know there was such a thing as stick on frames to use around an image, but the teacher brought them for us to use. I added butterfly charms by wiring them on. The only one that really shows in the photo is the one that is upside down! The spine shows the signatures and is done over a cord. We spray painted the signature covers through stencils.

Painting foil really makes a nice surface.

http://www.threecreativestudios.com/ posts a technique of the month. Machine Embroidery is the latest one. I did some cutwork circles for this little sample.

Take a Stitch Tuesday, Art and Soul

The Lock Stitch is the next one on Sharonb's list at http://www.pintangle.com/  It works nicely in an irregular grid and also makes a good braid when multiple rows are worked.

Art and Soul in Portland is over for another year and was wonderful. Again I had excellent teachers. In the 4 years that I have been going, I've always had great classes and teachers.

Popup up Journaling is the book I'm showing today. This is the right inside page. Blogger has decided the order they will be shown in. I tried to move them which sometimes works but must be too tired this morning-a nice tired from all the creative information.

The bug wings are dimensional. The butterfly wing lifts to reveal a leaf. The delicate vines are rub ons. The images are photos I took at a garden in Portland.

Next is the inside left page. If you pull on the pansy, the bird flies back and forth. The transparency birds rotate around a brad. The lower delicate flower is raised from the surface on foam dots. I used pens through a stencil to get the flower to look like it is behind. The writing is my motto "I am of the Earth" showing my feelings that we should treat it well and honor all things in it.

The covers just have flat elements with metal tape creating a spine.

 

I made models of the elements I didn't use. The pages were almost formal and didn't want them. She was a good teacher and such a sharing person.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

Here is the Shell Chain Stitch-the latest in the stitches from Sharonb at http://www.pintangle.com/  I found that I tended to stitch downhill as soon in the red embroidery floss. Next time I will mark a line, if I want to go in a line. It was easy to stitch this one in an irregular manner and over other lines of stitching.

Busy at Art and Soul. Will show work later in the month. There is nothing like going to a conference of like minded people to absorb creative energy.

Scenery, Beading

This is a photo I took several years ago on the Metolious River in Central Oregon. It was taken from the canoe and is a scene I really like-surprised I got such a clear photo. It was before digital cameras. We always canoed when we were there-wonderful on the river.

I finally finished this necklace. It's a spiral pattern made more interesting by changing the size of the beads from Delicas to 6's. It's a bit heavy, but the book I saw it in used cord in the center which supports the weight better.

Beading

 These are some of the pieces I had beaded at Art and Soul several years ago in a class with Beverly Gilbert.

http://beverlygilbert.blogspot.com/ is her blog. I did the small beach glass one at home thinking that with another small one on one side and the larger one on the other side of the shell that it would be a necklace. It never really came together.

This is what I ended up doing and will use the beach glass in another piece. I was walking past a container with the Mother of Pearl rings in it when I realized that they were what I needed to use with the shell. It pays to have things out were you can see them.