Beaded Purse

I just finished the beaded purse from a class at www.joggles.com given by Christen Brown-an excellent teacher.  I did change the finishing method, because I'm determined to make use of all the supplies I have here and try not to buy new ones-RIGHT! Like that's going to happen. We are so into the wonderful things that are available.

It was interesting to learn a new way to put beads on fabric-much more like beading jewelry. The strap was made by finger crocheting rattail cord.

Quilt, Felt

I just finished quilting this piece and took it to show at Quilt group. Two members wanted it. It's about 40" square. I need to get rid of more pieces and don't do the business stuff anymore, so maybe but how would I choose?

I always hated the business end of things. I just want to create and have decided that I can do what I want. Now I need to find good homes for the many pieces I have. Family have many pieces and don't seem to use or display them.

I am stitching on the felt landscape but slowly as other things seem to take priority. I love the feel of the wool while I'm stitching.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

 http://pintangle.com posted the Wheatear Stitch this week. It's not one I use but can see possibilities for. This is on my flower sampler. I include leaves and greenery that I think would complement flowers. I especially like adding extra stitches at the bottom to anchor it.

I tried changing it by gradually making the stitch parts bigger.  Of course I had to use the fuzzy thread. To remember it I did a regular line in Perle Cotton.

Lettering

We moved from New York City just before I finished 2nd grade and before the students were taught to write. I started 3rd grade in Salt Lake after the students were taught to write. There was no way I was going to be held back, so I made up my own writing by joining my printed letters.

 

I decided it would be a good idea to take a class. I had tried Caligraphy years ago unsuccessfully. This class at www.joggles.com given by Janet Banks fit the bill. She bases it on your own hand writing. I had never been able to copy any of the alphabets that are traditional and was delighted with this class.

I had a lot of fun with her exercises and should be practicing more.

I even used a poem I wrote.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

French Knot is this week's stitch from Sharon at http://pintangle.com

It's the perfect stitch to accent areas in Crazy Quilt.

Here's a sample I made for a design class showing how to blend the colors.

This one was the most fun. I do love weird threads and seeing what they do.  The fuzzy one would make great bushes, flowers, or leaves.  The ribbon made a bigger impact. The lumpy yellow one needed a big needle in order to get the lumps through the fabric but is worth the effort. The two greens used together make a heathering. The green perle cotton was my experiment to see what happens when you increase the number of wraps. It starts on the left with one and increases to 7 on the right.

I could do all this experimenting on my own but would I? Thanks for the push and excuse to do it Sharon.

Quilt

This is the latest piece I quilted. The fabrics are all hand dyes. I still have a big collection, although I haven't dyed in years.

This time I decided it was time to try something besides lines. I used a template to draw around a leaf shape then used that flexible ruler to draw the lines and loops between the leaves.  It's the ruler that is now available in the quilting section of the fabric stores. Mine was bought when the only place you could get something like that was the drafting section. Check that section next time you are in a store-neat things.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog and especially to those who comment. Now with the two words to type in to prove you're not a robot, it's a lot more trouble. I tend to have trouble with some of the letters. They look like several possibilities.

Mixed Media

I recently completed a class with Christen Brown from www.joggles.com  It was to learn what to do with the cocoons, rods, and silk hankies I seem to need to buy! This small piece is the result-about 12" by 12".

There is both hand and machine stitching on it. The supplies were mostly a kit, but I had some white silk hankies and colored them with Dynaflow paint. It worked very well. Some parts were hard to hand stitch, some weren't depending on the thickness of the area.

Quilt

This is created from a 7 patch block I designed using Electric Quilt 7. It's so easy to try out designs in that program.

It's made from batiks and hand dyes and quilted in a spiral-enought to make you dizzy, as I do it with the presser foot on once the circle is big enough and just keep turning the quilt.

Take Stich Tuesday

The Stem stitch moves around so easily. It's a workhorse of a stitch. I tried it in a variety of threads and as a filling which I do like.

It's perfect to surround a design area and add a punch of color.

It makes great stems for flower pieces and curves easily.

Bead Journal Project

Here is my April cuff for the Bead Journal Project. I've been experimenting with alternate closures and find that a dressmaking snaps works well-besides I have lots of them in my supplies. It can be moved to fit other wrists too.

The cuff is roving felted to a piece of wool felt using the Embellisher. I do block it with lots of steam and the iron.  The machine quilting is with metallic thread.

This detail shows the flower and leaf beads I'm been wanting to use. I always collect them, but rarely use them.

I felt like playing with batiks and decided to do a wonky 9 patch. I like to arrange colors on the design wall and just relax. This is lap quilt size and will go to a nursing home in our area at Christmas.

Because I thought it would be cozy to have a fluffier batting, that's what I used-never again. It was a challenge to quilt even just doing the wavy lines. The batting did have cotton in and is ready to put in several more charity quilts.

Take a Stitch Tuesday

www.pintangle.com is the site of the challenge of exploring a stitch a week. This week is satin stitch-one I've never liked because if it is not done well, it looks terrible. That said, I had fun with it this time.  The counted thread fabric makes all the difference. I also wanted to use unusual threads. The top is stranded silk. Next is a piece of narrow ribbon that was in the box of scraps. Then comes a metallic with the Fun Fur at the left. The bottom is unspun wool. I guess I just never experimented with it before. Thank you Sharon for pushing me.

Mixed Media

This is a sketchbook page I did for a class where we were to do figures. Like I said, I don't really draw, so I used a magazine photo and surrounded it with dried leaves from my yard.   The background is sprayed and then wet to spread the color around.  The leaves are sure fragile and tend to crumble. I think I should have coated them with medium first.

This is the start of a felted landscape using the some of the gift I won last week. The hills are prefelts . The sky is the background felt with some of the gift roving to create clouds. It had the nicest violet through it just like the shadows can be on clouds. The greens are ones I dyed with food coloring. Now the stitch it like crazy.