My First Magazine Article!

Earlier this year I posted a blog tutorial about making a Fortune Cookie Purse.  I liked the project so much that I decided to submit it to Stitch Magazine.  I don't subscribe to the magazine but I have looked through it on my visits to ACMoore and thought it had some cute stuff.  Anyway, I thought my purse might fit their aesthetic so I sent in a proposal on a whim.  I happened to hit their time period when they were accepting submissions for a special edition for spring "Stitch in Style".  Well, that was winter time and finally the magazine arrived at my front porch along with my stitched up samples and so I have posted it for you.

I am apparently one of the 14 fabulous totes and purses in this issue.  And to be honest this little original design really is fun, functional and simple to make.  I am proudly featured on page 31 with directions on a later page.  It's nice to see your name in print.

The fabric is from Amelia Caruso who designed it and Robert Kaufman fabrics printed it.  It is called effervescent and the bubbly look of the fabric makes little bubble shaped purse look totally fun.  I have since made it in so many fabrics - hand dyes, over dyes, batiks, commercial prints and dupioni silk.  I still have plans to embellish it further and I use this project to go back to again and again after I have made a more elaborate art quilt.  It helps me decompress before I rev up for my next complex piece.

Thanks for checking it out and if you want to make one you can certainly purchase the Stitch in Style magazine which has some very cute things to make.  You can also check out my earlier posts for the Fortune Cookie Purse blog entry.   I can totally see these for prom in a coordinating fabric or even for a bridal party.  Holds  your phone, keys, a few bucks, some ID or credit card and small make-up.

More Quilting with Sheers

With one sheer quilt under my belt, I decided that I needed to experiment some more with this process.  This time I had a bit more of the focus fabric on hand and decided to make two quilts using similar fabrics at an attempt to make this a series. 

Dimensions 16" X 20"

This is the original quilt design collage.  I used batiks, hand dyed flannel, silk, shot cotton, upholstery fabric and sheer fabric pieces.  Keeping the background somewhat abstract and geometric makes it easier to create an organic shape as a sheer overlay.  The entire collaged piece is then mounted onto a piece of hand dyed fabric that I made to coordinate with it.  I tried laying the quilt on several colors of solid colored scrapbook paper that I had and decided that orange was a good compliment to the piece.  Not having any orange fabric, I ripped off a piece from a bolt of print cloth that I ordered in bulk and dyed it using soft orange and rust MX dyes.  I wasn't sure it would turn out the color I wanted but this is what I got and I really liked it.  I used a facing finish on both the collaged piece and the orange background mounting piece.

Here is a closer look at the quilt.  You can see the French knots and hand stitching that I added using DMC cotton floss.  It also shows the color shift that is produced by the sheer overlay. 

Here is the second quilt in the "series".  It is a bit smaller but uses a lot of the same fabrics and organic theme.  This time however, I quilted the background fabric closely and in straight lines.  It definitely gives the piece a more structured look than the wavy lines of the first piece.  I have been reading about the whole modern quilt movement and thought I would try my hand at some straight line quilting.  I definitely has a different aesthetic than my usual less structured style, but I think it works in this piece. 

Here is a close up of the second quilt so you can see the hand stitchcing and color shitft again.  I think the background straight lines are a good contrast to the very organic sheer piece and base fabrics from the collage. 

One last shot of the bottom.  I already have a focus fabric picked out for my next piece.  Right after I complete a few magazine submissions I will be tackling another sheer quilt.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon. 

More Mixed Media Summertime Fun

I just love the beach.  The sound of the waves, the constant breeze and the beachcombing treasures along the shore just make my day.  With a rather large collection of those little shells and stones in my stash, I decided to make my next piece with those in mind.

Dimensions 8" X 8"

I decided to keep it in a blue, gold, silver color scheme and make those tiny shells the focus of this piece.  Of course I have an extensive stash of left over beads from previous projects and some other little things I found in my friend's trinket stash.  I used several coats of paint in various beige and off white to make the backboard sort of sand colored.

I used my collection of seashell and alphabet rubber stamps, as well as some random texture stamps to make the tile backgrounds.  I embedded shells, stones, and beads after I stamped and rubbed the tiles with PearlEx mica powder.  Then I filled the little leftover spaces with beads and some cut up pieces of a belt buckle that came in a box of buttons that I bought at a yard sale.  Overall, I like the color scheme and I think this is a fun piece for a beach house. 

One more detail shot.



I have 5 more 8X8 boards and a list of ideas for other tile projects.  Once my busy days calm down a bit I will be starting another one.  If you have rubber stamps I think these little tiles are addicting and totally fun to make.  Grab a couple of polymer clay blocks in your favorite colors and some mica powder (or metallic paint) and go for it.  Feel free to leave a comment and thanks for visiting my blog.  Hope to see you again soon.

Sheers and Quilting

Inspired by some of Deborah Boschert's work, I decided to once again use up a supply that I already had.  So, I designed a quilt that used a bunch of fabric scraps and some larger pieces and used some of those sheers purchased long ago for . . . . I forgot what.

The quilt started out when I selected the piece of batik fabric that runs across the lower center of the quilt.  The shades of purple, turquoise and chartreuse and the grid pattern appealed to me and so I used that as a jumping off point.  I then went through my drawers, boxes and bins of fabric and pulled out a lot of different choices - many of which did make it into the finished piece.

I laid the fabric on the batting and arranged it over and over again until I liked the composition.  Then I stitched it all down with a neutral blue grey thread.  Nothing was fused but everything was raw edge applique. 

Then I drew a bunch of different shapes on some parchment paper and laid it over the quilt.  The parchment paper was already in my studio and transparent enough to get the feel of how each shape would look laid out on the fabric composition.  I put the sheer fabric over the quilt, laid the final parchment paper design choice on top and quilted through the paper and quilt at the same time.  Easy, no tracing or extensive transfer method required.  And parchment paper tears away pretty easily.  By the way the parchement paper with the unused designs did not go to waste since I used it to paint on and fuse other things together.

Once the design was quilted in the sheer fabric, I cut away the rest of the sheer fabric - very carefully with small scissors.  I then did some hand stitching to pull it together and give it some unifying elements.  I used DMC cotton floss - have loads of that in the studio too.  I love the way the colors shift by placing a sheer over the top of them.  It's subtle and I like that effect in quilts.

The center panel was quilted and I finished the edge with a satin stitch in the same neutral steely blue thread. Then I decided it needed something else.  So I made a panel that I quilted with a free motion pattern and facing finished to make a sort of frame.  I then attached the center panel using the steely blue thread and a hem stitch to the purple panel.  It gives the piece some sturdiness and it was the first time I ever thought to attach a piece in this manner.  I had attached back panels before, but by hand.  Since I had already satin stitched this piece I decided to just use my machine to attach it. 

I have already picked another inspiration fabric to make my next quilt using sheers.  Stay tuned as I arrange and rearrange the elements of the next one.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and hope to see you again soon.

Quick Project Journal Covers

In an effort to work on my free motion quilting skills, I decided to make some journal covers.  This also met my goal of using up stuff in my studio without purchasing anything additional. 

These journals have blank pages and measure about 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches.  I used overdyed commercial print fabric for the first one and decided that I liked the fabric enough not to add other fabrics.  The quilting was done with a walking foot and just followed a grid.  Easy - peasy.  Then I put some fabric selection and quilting into play on the other two journals.  Sometimes I used the walking foot and sometimes I used the free motion foot.  The center journal has a ripped strip of fabric in the center and the one on the right was pieced.

The journals came in a six pack so I carried on.  The one on the left was from some leftover fabric I had for a magazine article that I wrote for Stitch in Style coming out this May.  I added some buttons just to carry the design through the whole cover.  The center journal was pieced and both free motion and walking foot quilted.  The last one was a series of ripped strips stitched down with close rows of straight line quilting.  The butterfly and flower were fused and raw edge appliqued.   I was on a roll and I finished these journals in about a week's time.  Darn that full time job is slowing me down!

This last journal has pages that are 8 1/2 by 11 inches.  I used a decorative blade to cut up some black and white fabrics I had and fused them to the batting.  I close lined stitched them in a grid and then fused and appliqued the flowers.  The flowers are loosely based on some cosmos flowers I have seen in gardens. 

Coming up in my next post will be the project that I worked on simultaneously but it took quite a bit longer to complete.  Having the quick projects help me when I am blocked on a more complicated piece and it keeps me finishing projects which helps my motivation.

Thanks for stopping by and checking these out.  Have a great day!

Mixed Media Mosaics

With the cleaning of my studio and my new parameters of working on only 4 things at one time, I made these little projects one of the four things I have going at any given point.  So, when something is baking or drying or I am stumped I always have something else to turn my attention but, my attention doesn't spread so wide as to lose focus.

I have it in a large format here but it is really 8" X 8' total in size.  The board was birch board leftover from a project that got started and never finished.  (I have 8 more to go and these little mosaics will surely fill all of the other 8.)  I used polymer clay, my fairly large collection of rubber stamps and Pearl Ex powders to get these little tiles together.  The centers are mostly made from molds that I made using the polymer clay and some vintage buttons.  I also have a rather large collection of beads of all kinds bought and partially used in other projects, but you know how those leftovers pile up and well, there's always that string of really pretty ones on clearance, yadda, yadda, yadda.  This board was just painted black and then I finished the edge with a dry brush and some metallic gold acrylic paint.  I think it was a good first attempt.

I call this one the House of the Rising Sun.  The board has old dictionary pages adhered with matte medium and overpainted with acrylics, metallic wash, gold dry brush and acrylic sealer.  The Sun is an old button with the shank cut off.  I think the rest is pretty self explanatory.  Again, this is 8" X 8" in size.

My third mosaic so far was born from a collection of similarly themed rubber stamps.  I liked the way they looked together and decided to go for a spring look.  Jewel tones, flowers and ferns and a dragonfly help me hang on to the thought of spring as I watch the dull grey landscape waiting for some warm weather.  The background board was painted with two colors of blue and purple, washed with metallic purple in several layers and then I used a stencil and a toothbrush with some metallic paint to "spring" it up a bit.  I also sealed it with acrylic sealer.  It's nice to use some of my stash and I have a bunch of ideas for the other 6 boards.  Stay tuned for what comes next and thanks for visiting.

Tea Bags Revisited

Dimensions: Canvas 20" X 20"  Art Quilt 15" X 15"

In an effort to use supplies in my well stock studio, I revisited my use of tea bags as a surface design element for this art quilt.  The base fabric was ice dyed with chartreuse and navy dyes.  I then covered it with used tea bags using matte medium.  I painted a tree silhouette using a hand cut stencil that I made on 12 X 12 cardstock from a scrapbook sleeve.  Finally, I used fusible web to attach golden silk leaves.

In this detailed view you can see the mottling of the base fabric and the aged look of the surface due to the tea bags.  I also added some hand stitching with metallic seed beads at the base of the tree.  I free motion stitched around the stenciled paint in a copper rayon thread to help define it. 

Here is one more image where the tea bags really stand out.  You can also see the stitching around and on the leaves and ghost leaves.  I mounted this piece on a 20" X 20" canvas that I painted yellow, then golden brown and then washed with several coats of thinned gold metallic paint.  Finally I used some Lumiere gold paint and a dry brush.  The picture does not capture the depth of the colors.  I really like this piece, even though I don't usually do representation work.  I think it would look nice in a deep brown frame but I am wondering about the expense of framing it.  Knowing that this is going to be for sale I wonder if I should keep the price reasonable and let the buyer frame it, or frame it and raise the price.  I am open to suggestions from anyone who stops by to read this. 

Thanks for looking at my recent work and have a great day!