Calendar Girls, Gift

This is the calendar page Neki picked for our December inspiration. It looks like outer space to me.I used the Embellisher to felt down some wool roving, then machine embroidered a spiral in metallic thread. The clear beads are added by hand.

Yesterday was such a pleasant day. The sun was shining, I shopped at Michael's and then met a friend at Fabric Depot-Portland's store that is an acre of fabrics. Of course, I bought a couple of books-my obsession. We had a nice lunch, and she gave me a gift "just because...". It's rovings and silk tops in our favorite colors. I think I will use them for a background for a Bead Journal Project next year.

Calendar Girls

Here is the calendar page that is the inspiration for this month's postcard at http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com When I look at it, all I see are the trees, so I did autumn leaves-something I'm seeing a lot of right now. The background is silk paper I made. I didn't notice the fairies until it was mentioned in the group, but then I don't do figures.

Calendar Girls

This is the calendar page for inspiration this month. I don't do people but knew I could do something with the circle in the background. The background is needle felted with the embellisher. The small sequins are held on with seed beads. The hand stitching is done with a matte silk thread.

Class Projects, Calendar Girls

One of the Classes I took was European Encaustic. I thought I'd like to try "painting" with wax but never liked the idea of cans of melted wax and paint brushes, especially since I'm such a klutz. This method is done with a hot iron. The wax is put on the iron in one technique and applied to the card. The card can also be warmed on the iron, and the wax used to draw on it. The teacher matted the one we thought was the best. The lower right one is done on texture paper.

I've grouped the cards, so you wouldn't have to read forever. The part of the iron and the motion you use determines how the wax is laid down. I kept trying different color schemes and motions to see what would happpen.

I'm not displeased with my first attempts, actually surprised that the landscapes turned out to be recognizable.

Jenny http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com sent this lovely card for September. It's very pettable, so I keep touching it. It is done on the embellisher.

Calendar Girls

Here is the calendar page we used as inspiration for September for www.calendargirls2008.blogspot.com I decided to use the lines and embellisher and felt the postcard. It's on it's way to it's new home.

See what I received as my postcard for August. Isn't it lovely?

Calendar Girls

Val picked this calendar page to be our inspiration for August for the Calendar Girls http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com There is a lot happening in it, so I chose to use the heart motif.

The background is needlefelted on the embellisher. The hearts are hand stitched.

Calendar Girls

This is the calendar photo for our inspiration for July in the group http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com Here is what I did. The background is felted on the embellishing machine. Then I machine embroidered the details with a white metallic thread. It reminds me of Mt. St. Helens which is quite close to me. We lived in Portland for the first eruption and watched it. We were back from California in time for the second one.

Pat sent me her interpretation of the mountain. It's very nicely textured and beaded along the edge.

Calendar Girls

For http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com this is the image we were inspired by for June.

Here is my interpretation. The green and yellow-orange parts are painted canvas. Ultrasuede forms the edges. It needed something, and I found a scrap of felted wool from the purse to use. The road is machined.

Calendar Girls

Susan picked this calendar photo for April for http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com as our inspiration.

Here is how I interpreted it. The fabric is wool with rovings felted on it and chain stitch leaves done by hand.

Calendar Girls

I'm a member of http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com/ and this year we are each picking a calendar photo for everyone to interpret.

Carol T chose this photo. Cool!Here is my interpretation. The background is wool with barkcloth machined to it. The cheesecloth is hand stitched in place.

Calendar Girls

This was my month to pick the Calendar Photo to inspire us. I had saved this calendar from 1982 because of the wonderful Unicorn photos. This photo is called Last Days by Vaclav Vaca. When I saw it, of course, I saw beads.

The background is corduroy with chain stitched lines and beaded motifs.

Calendar Girls, Quiltie

This is my Calendar Girls(link at right) postcard for September. I used a silk flower and leaf hand stitched to cotton fabric. The center is Ultrasuede held in place by hand beading.

This month there was no theme for Unlimited Textiles, so I decided to use the flower that reminded me of a Chrysanthemum-my favorite fall flower. It's fused to wool and machine embroidered. The center is hand beaded as well as the edges.

Calendar Girls

Here is the postcard I received from Doreen http://doreeng.blogspot.com/ for the Calendar Girls swap for August. Aren't I lucky? It's yummy to touch. She put it inside this card that she made-a talented lady.

Calendar Girls

Here is the postcard I made for the August exchange for Calendar girls http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com It goes to Carol T http://postcards-and-stuff.blogspot.com The flower pot is Ultrasuede, the flowers silk with beaded centers.

Calendar Girls

Here is the Postcard I received for June from Debbi http://debbibaker.blogspot.com Isn't it lovely? I'm so pleased with it. Thank you Debbi.

Calendar Girls

Here is the next Calendar Girls postcard. The background is hand painted, the vase Ultrasuede with pearl beads. The flowers are bigger beads with seed bead centers. The leaves and stems hand stitched.

Class Projects, Calendar Girls

This is the second purse for the class with Janet Clark from http://www.joggles.com/ on Embellisher use.
Here is the April postcard for the Calendar Girls group-see sidebar for a link to the blog.

Calendar Girls

Here is my interpretation of the February photo. It is done on hand painted tissue paper and appliqued in Ultrasuede. The link to the group is on the side bar.

Look who came to visit. There were 3 of them, but the time I found the camera and went outside, the first two were in the woods. I love living out here.

Calendar Girls

I'm a member of a group called Calendar Girls. We are doing a postcard a month based on a calendar that Doreen has. http://doreeng.blogspot.com/ This is January. It is a small version of an Art Quilt I did several years ago.