Little bottles of joy!

Okay, I didn't exactly need another art supply, but I sure wanted these Daler- Rowney FW Acrylic Artist Inks once I read about them in the new Quilting Arts magazine!! They arrived today and I had to at least give them a whirl 5 minutes after getting home from work.

The April/May issue is full of things I want to try. This gem is by Judy Coates Perez- they are as great as she says. They really go on nicely and don't leave the fabric all stiff. These are going to open up some new possibilities in art quilts. ( No, I don't work for this company. Ha!)

Just a few doodles to test them out.

Oh no, Dick Blick is going to get more of my paycheck!

Bloom

The inspiration at Take A Word this week is BLOOM. I made this fabric notebook cover with a floral print a friend gave me years ago.

I also played around a little with some quilting designs in the newest Quilting Arts magazine.

Hope you all have a great week and Spring comes soon!

A Wedding Gift

It just so happened that I came across some hilarious (slightly embarrassing) photos of my cousin just in time to make a gift for his new wife-to-be this Saturday. I will not post them here but let's just say it was at the Burning Man festival in Neveda and people wear some crazy stuff.

I made a quilted mini book/ frame. One picture can slide in the side of the frame and others are held in the pocket. I thought this would be pretty to take to the office or meet friends and show off a few wedding photos.

My Mom is taking it to the wedding in CT. this weekend. I hope she likes it and I hope the family has a good time looking at the photos. At my wedding a couple people had made me albums with pictures from childhood, highschool, and college, and we had a great time looking through them. Also, there are always people at the wedding that didn't know you when you were younger and it's fun to see those other sides of folks.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Small Quilt #2

Here is the second pattern we received in February for Jo Morton's small quilt club.  Last month's quilt I did in pink and browns. This time I went with navy and mustard. They're not my usual color choices, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

23''x18'' finished

Next month I'll have to get back on track with posting history of the American Civil War along with them.  I did watch 'Gone With the Wind' while piecing this though.

All fabrics are Jo Morton's (for Andover) Civil War reproductions.

In case you missed the first Small Quilt, click on Small Quilts in my labels. xo

We need faces

Two more heads ready to be painted.

I do love men with great mustaches.

Photo Transfer Class

I had the best day in Portland yesterday attending Serena Barton's Photo Transfer class! Serena has the most wonderful studio there and the whole experience was fantastic. It was a small class of 7 and I felt like everyone was an old friend.

We did some blender pen transfers, moving tape, and gel medium...some working better than others for me.

These are the 3 peices I left the class with. I think I may add some three dimensional stuff on there.

If you live near Portland I recommend taking one of her classes. I'm hoping to do the encaustic class and egg tempura painting too. There's a link to her classes on my sidebar. I could hang out in her studio for days. It was so inviting and cozy, filled with interesting artwork, antiques, and supplies. And, of course, a lovely teacher and students. xo

Fabric Book Journey Continues...

I have been working on a new fabric book. A few months ago I made a fabric book for a Longfellow poem (you can see it here) and realized I needed to work out a better way for the binding. Thanks to Anni at Fabric Art I ordered Pam Sussman's book and it has been so helpful! I started out with the most simple (looking) type of book and started construction. For the most part it turned out nicely but I should have made the cover larger to fit in all my intended pages. Serves me right for not actually measuring and following instructions!

I added on some ribbons, lace, bling, and stitches.

Made some pockets for a couple pages.

My friend Deborah had a good idea for using a fabric book to pin in embroidery projects while they await their fate. I threw in a sketchbook too. I thought this book may work nicely for a travel companion of embroidery and art. It'll keep it all together.

I was really happy with this embroidered girl. She might need a jewel for her neck and I haven't decided what type of closure to use. I already have some more covers started and I'm ready to play around with more types of fabric books. I also saw that Lovey at Fabric Photo Memories has a new book on sale. Oooh, add it to the pile!!

Thankfully, I have a 3 day weekend with my sewing machine!

Birdlife

I am so excited to provide the sample for Take A Word this week. Marie picked the theme of Birdlife-- Right up my alley!  I altered a house from ArtChix using paints, 7 Gypsies papers, Distress crackle, and other embellishments I have around.

Give a girl some legs already

 Working on another doll and trying to make a whole body for her. I embroidered her little dress. I may leave her kind of rough like this.



lounging on a dictionary...ahhh, to be a doll

I made some paperclay hands I may try to add. This may not be the last you see of her.

Photo Booth Transfer

In anticipation of my photo transfer class next week I decided to give it a quick try. I used an old photo booth strip of my Grandma as a teen, layered on the paint, papers, words, stencils, there's glitter in there, and lots of gel medium and crackle. I just kept throwing stuff on! I'm not totally in love with this but an okay start. It made me realize I need a bit of a composition plan for my class...what kind of theme and what photos to transfer? I'll think on that.