Sparkle Plenty...

 

Makeup artfully applied? Check. Sparkly outfit? Check. It's time to ring in the New Year! This fancy girl is ready to party. She is another of the fun-to-make Art Warrior Dolls from a class taught by sisters Celeste Beck and Merri McKenzie of Goatfeathers Studio. I've made several of these dolls before, but this one was stitched from a kit I picked up from our Fiber Art Bee free table. It had been donated by the sisters. All of the sparkly fabric, netting, and canvas for a face were in there. I just had to paint the face and do the stitching and stuffing. She got done just in time for the holidays.

Yes, she has a heavy hand when it comes to applying makeup, but it is the season after all. These dolls are such fun to sew and their personalities just develop in the making. She needs a name though. Suggestions are welcome.

You'll notice a couple of scraps left from the doll in this sparkly flower, too. A quilting friend, Joanne in Pennsylvania, and I have each made a fiber book from muslin. We are sewing pages in our own book, and then swapping through the mail to work in each others' book. Each page has a small stitchery based on a theme.  This is a fancy flower I sewed for Joanne's book. I'll show more of the pages soon. So far we've made pages on faces, flowers, vintage, rusted fabrics, and redwork embroidery. It's lots of creative fun and the pages are about 6" x 6", making each one quick and easy to complete. We've got only  three empty pages plus covers left to fill and our fiber books will be complete.

Finally, I had some sparkly green scraps left from the flower which were just right for making Snappy Pickle! He was the brainchild of artist Kecia Deveney. She taught an online workshop in designing the whimsical stuffed pickles as part of the Holiday ARTfest 2023. There were lots of chuckles over the pickles that came from her workshop and were posted on Facebook. Snappy has ample sparkle, a mega-watt smile, and a great big personality. Plenty of sparkle and shine for the holidays here. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2024! 

Angels We Have Heard On High...

 

These fun wooden ornaments are the result of an online class titled "Angels Among Us" taught by P'zazz Art Studio on Facebook. In just three hour-long evening classes, participants learned to draw and paint cute angel designs on an ornament, a greeting card, and a journal page. One lesson also covered the lettering, which is a specialty of the instructor.  

A few special techniques included the gold metallic highlights and the use of molding paste to create texture on the angel wings. 

Participants could make changes in hair styles, and some even drew and painted male-looking angels which are more reflective of Biblical descriptions of angels.

And on the backs of each ornament, we wrote a message in white acrylic marker. I chose The Priestly Blessing from Scripture. The replays of the lessons are available continuously, so I can practice and repeat the painting skills as often as needed. I'm never a fan of my writing, so did appreciate the lettering instruction, especially. These make lovely hand-crafted Christmas greetings and I'm sure I'll be making more. Christmas blessings to you!

Mary Poppins Might Be Jealous...

 

Do you remember Mary Poppins' Magic Bag? Her umbrella and her bag were her two fashion accessories that were also very functional. From that bag came all sorts of things like a lamp and a hat-stand along with lozenges and cough syrup. (I loved all of the PL Travers Mary Poppins books as a child.) Well this colorful big tote bag reminds me of Mary Poppin's bag, though I have yet to try and fit a hat-stand inside. I almost could. No doubt Mary Poppins would have loved this bag. I took a class last fall to learn to make the roomy tote and I just love it. It features assorted Australian Aboriginal print fabrics and a Kookaburra & Jabiru panel. It's called The Aussie Dream Tote.

My usual tote bag projects are simple affairs with handles and that's about it. This project seemed daunting to me as it has two zippered pockets, an inside pocket, and bottle pockets. I was pleasantly surprised that my skill level was up to snuff and I was successful with sewing the bag, especially with the zipper insertion method that was used. I just love this roomy bag and am so glad I took the class.

You can get a better idea of the bag size in this photo with Gabriele Bullard (right) of Fabrilish, the designer of the bag and pattern. She came to our recent quilt show with a display of her Aussie Dream Tote kits. (Gabriele's mannequin is covered in Aboriginal print scraps by the way.) After showing the bag at the guild show-and-tell, a number of members were also interested in taking the class, so Gabriele will be teaching it again after the holidays.

I ran into fellow class members Celeste Beck (center) and her sister Merri McKenzie (right) at the quilt show in Jacksonville, FL. They, too, were carrying their Aussie Dream Totes to hold all those purchases. Celeste chose the kangaroo design for hers. One fun thing about quilt shows (in addition to the quilts and vendors) is seeing how quilters display their love of fabrics in what they wear and carry. All three of us are also wearing our fiber necklaces made during a workshop I taught at the Gainesville guild. And we all sported button bracelets crafted at a Fiber Art Bee meeting. The totes certainly caught the eye of some show-goers who stopped us to ask about the pattern.

Behold, the Humble Button...

They won't wilt and they won't fade! Check out these fun floral bouquets made using buttons and floral wire. I'll bet you have a good-size button jar or tin in your sewing room that's just chock full. I certainly do. So when our Fiber Art Bee group had a button workshop to learn to make fun things using them, I took to it like a duck to water. And it's been non-stop since then. So much color and such a variety of ways to put the buttons together- everything looks good together. Don't they have an almost Seuss-like look? 

A few beads also found their way into the button flower stems. In addition to the fun of making the flowers, I also enjoyed several trips to local thrift stores to find inexpensive vases in which to display them.  My one rule is the vases needed to be under $3, and I found some beauties!

The bouquets look so bright and cheerful sitting on a desk, shelf, or windowsill all around the house. And yet, there is a limit. I want to keep making them and using up buttons, but have space for only a few. So some of these bouquets have been welcomed into a new home after I donated them to our quilt guild's shopping boutique for a recent show. That button box is not empty yet, so I'll keep making these!

The supplies are simple- buttons in assorted colors and sizes, and wire or wrapped floral wire. I prefer handling the floral wire as it seems to have a bit more substance than jewelry wire. It does want to fray at the ends, so I coat each end lightly with clear glue- or even clear nail polish would work. That helps when it's time to thread the wire through the button holes. Just bend the wire in half so the mid-point becomes the top of the flower stem and thread the two wire pieces through the buttonholes. Thread several buttons to make a stack, starting with smallest and working to largest. Twist the wires together for about a half inch or so and add more buttons. You can see that my button stems each have three to five stacks. Then twist all the way to the end of the wires and arrange the stems in a vase. Add some glass marbles at the bottom of the vase to counterbalance the weight of the buttons if needed. So get you some buttons, and start stacking and twisting!

Happy Fall Y'all...

 

I noticed the blessed relief in temperatures here in Florida lately where it actually began to feel like fall. That prompted an urge to decorate for it. But when I looked for my selection of autumn decorations, they were nowhere to be found. I couldn't believe they weren't here. Finally, I concluded that I must have donated them somewhere in a fit of "downsizing" last year. So when I saw the cute Halloween tea towel on our sewing group's "free table", it came home with me. It wasn't long before I was auditioning it for a wall quilt project. I had lots of those wonky circle blocks already sewn, and when I started playing with them and the towel, this "make-it-work" quilt top happened. I still need to quilt it, and I better get at it soon if it's going to hang up this year.

On that same "free table" I found this lovely bouquet of fall silk flowers and it came home, too. Voila! Instant fall decorating.

What happened next was a nice surprise. While hunting for our bike helmets (it's cool enough to do that now, too), we found a tote labeled "Fall Decor." Lo and behold... inside I found the pumpkins, light swag, and other fall items to add to my display. Neither my husband or I remembered storing them away so efficiently. But I'm glad we did! Several of the pumpkins are ones that I painted and I really enjoy looking at them. Lessons learned: keep looking for lost items and make sure to label things in totes!

Almost a Quilt Trail...

 

I chose the simple and traditional Ohio Star for the pattern on a barn quilt made in a recent class at quilt guild. And am I ever glad I did because the more complex the pattern, the more taping and the more time it took to complete the project. You'll see why that's so in the process photos that follow. You've likely heard of Quilt Trails- the driving tours of various rural and picturesque areas of the country that feature painted quilt patterns on barns and home. It's quite a tourist draw in many states. The members of Country Road Quilters got a start on our own Quilt Trail in this fun class. Mine will be going up on our horse barn soon.

Our instructor was just the best because she brought most of the materials for us to use in class and we had to pay only a kit fee. The fee included primed boards, foam brushes, X-acto craft knives, house paint, and even Kilz corrective paint for any of our mistakes. Not that we needed it, of course! We brought painter's tape, plastic to cover our work surfaces, rulers, and a hair dryer. Our first step was to follow the selected pattern to lightly mark the design on the board. We then taped outside the first color sections, using a craft knife to trim tape away and achieve sharp angles. Next we painted just inside the taped lines to establish the outline, and then followed that with paint inside all of the sections of that color. A hair dryer (set to air, not heat) helped to speed up the drying time.

In this photo, you can see that the first color is painted and I've taped off and painted the blue sections. It was very satisfying to pull up that tape and see the crisp lines of the design. I had better luck pulling tape in this painting project than I sometimes do when painting a room at home. Somehow, I often manage to pull up paint with the tape. But not this time, thankfully.

And finally, the project is taped and ready to paint the cream color sections and edges to finish the piece. I was surprised at the time it took to complete our barn quilts, but with a couple of coats of paint, drying time, and the need to make corrections with Kilz (yes, I actually did need it- twice!), I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. And the taping... that really was the most time consuming part. I did not envy the classmate who chose the Carpenter Star for her pattern as she was bent over the board most of the day. But her results were looking quite spectacular.

The Cardinal was a popular pattern, as was one titled Folded Glory done in the colors of the US flag. I like how the cardinal is looking in this one. And our instructor had enough paints and small cups to customize colors. Whatever we needed, she whipped up for us. Setting our sewing machines, thread and fabrics aside for a day, turned out to be just the most fun!

Circle Mania...

Since completing the "Eye of the Beholder" quilt (seen here in an earlier post), my eye goes right to quilt designs based on circles. I recently visited QuiltFest Jacksonville where I saw some beauties. Come to the quilt show with me and I'll show you a few of my favorites. This quilt, coincidentally, is also titled "Eye of the Beholder" and is the entry of maker Tori Drew. I was impressed with how she controlled the many improvisational pieced curves in her quilt.

 This is Paula Fuqua's entry titled "Time Passages" which was quilted by Laura Bezares. Pieced fabrics are cut into curves and pieced into the blocks. It's full of color and fun fabrics.

Pieced scraps and project leftovers also appear in "Orange Marmalade" by Candi Lennox, a ribbon winner in the Intermediate Pieced category. She used the same set of Giant Nested Curves templates to create her quilt.

Big and bold is how I'd describe this Bulls-Eye pattern by Karen Kimmel. It earned a Judge's Recognition award.

Tori Drew pieced "Strawberry Tide Pool" using indigo prints and a novelty strawberry print together in traditional Drunkard's Path blocks. To me, it's somehow a soothing, calm quilt.

"Circle in Motion" is the entry of Karen Kimmel (quilted by Nimmi Kroos). She used a pattern by Karen Friedlander in this bright happy quilt to which she added her own applique elements.

A paper-pieced pattern by Karen Stone made for perfect points in Caroline Moegenburg's "Untitled" entry (quilted by Susan Melarvie Sturgeon). The quilt looks to contain many different necktie silks.

Acrylic templates like these arcs and Drunkard's Path pieces go a long way in helping accurate cutting and piecing of curved units like those used in some of the quilts.

I use them to cut the pieces for Drunkard's Path units from scraps, and keep a stack of them by the sewing machine. When I finish a seam on a project, I sew a unit to avoid cutting the thread between piecing runs. Eventually I'll have a quilt-worth of them. I use them in a manner similar to quilt teacher Bonnie Hunter's popular "leaders-and-enders" piecing.

I was intrigued by the Radiant Suns templates and borrowed a set from a quilting friend just to try them out. I'm doubtful I'll make an entire quilt from them, but it might become a center medallion in a future project. Most of the fabrics in the block are ones I purchased at the quilt show- a new release called Story Board by artist Seth Apter. I think I'll just keep the wheels spinning in the sewing room for awhile.

Step Into the Textile Cocoon...

 

What to do with vintage textiles that are tucked away in closets and drawers? Bring them together in what is known as installation art. That's what artist Susan Lenz did in a recent exhibit at the Webber Gallery in Ocala, Florida. Installation art is defined as "large-scale mixed-media constructions designed for a specific space or temporary period of time." This display actually featured three installations by Susan. This one, titled "The Cocoon", was the largest and it was one viewers could walk through. Isn't this entrance a most inviting sight for textile lovers?

Susan stitched old quilt tops, tablecloths, doilies, quilt blocks, christening gowns, gloves, crochet pieces and more into panels and joined them all to form the cozy surround of vintage textiles. You can see a glimpse of a second installation, The Clothesline, suspended above Cocoon. She appliqued hands on the old dish towels and linens for this installation and used wooden pegs to hang them. 

A Carolina Lily quilt block became the seat for this folding chair placed invitingly in the exhibit. And we saw the many of the old calendar dish towels included. Remember those? At one time it was the go-to gift for children who saved their money to buy their moms a Christmas present every year. It was fun to see so many of them incorporated here.

Even Grandma's apron became part of the installation, displayed on a special tablecloth.

This stunning old wedding gown was gifted to Susan to add to her collection of vintage pieces and makes a wonderful focal point in Cocoon.

The variety of vintage pieces was impressive in the two-sided, surrounding Cocoon. I count at least a dozen different textiles just in this corner view. More if you count every yo-yo! Viewers could easily get lost in time as they became absorbed by the needlework on the individual pieces as well as in the body of the work. So much to see.

This poignant display may have been my favorite- The Loss. It's the third of Susan's installations in the gallery and it speaks to all losses in families from stillbirths and crib deaths to age-related deaths. Each garment is hand embroidered with redwork and the empty cradles are filled with bundles she fashioned from the scraps cut while making the many textile art pieces.

You can see how the light coming through the walls of Cocoon adds to the nostalgic feel of the installation. Susan added applique hands to the already intricately embroidered dresser scarf. The grand scale of installation art for textiles was truly impressive.

I got to meet Susan Lenz, right, when she presented an artist's talk at the college. Plenty of quilters along with art students from the college were in attendance while she told about her background and growth as a studio artist and answered questions about her installations. You can see a short video on The Cocoon on YouTube when it was presented in another, smaller venue. It's a treat. The beauty of the Webber Gallery is the space her work was given to be seen and appreciated.

Eye of the Beholder...

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I'm told. So that's what I'm calling this quilt. It may not be every beholder's cup of tea, but I'm loving it. We had a tutorial at our Quilter's Day Camp sessions earlier this year and learned to make these blocks. They are so fast and so much fun to make that I had a hard time stopping to assemble them into a quilt!

The arcs are free-cut from a stack of four 10" squares, then the pieces are swapped around and sewn back together. You can see in the photo that each block winds up with one piece from each fabric, but in a different position within the block. It's so random that pretty much any fabric works in these. All you need is a sharp new blade in the rotary cutter. And one of these turn-table cutting mats is also useful when it comes time to trim the pieced blocks to 7 1/2" square.

Merri, our instructor is on the left, and group member Joyce is holding the pillow I also made on the right. We're having show-and-tell at our Fiber Art Bee meeting. Merri is also holding Sal the Southern Sass doll I showed here on the blog previously. I made a tote bag, too. AND I have lots more blocks made, plus squares cut for more. I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt.

A Star is Born...

 

 Maybe that should be "several stars are born." A quilting friend gifted me with a fat quarter of Tilda Studios fabric featuring these pretty girls. She wasn't sure how she'd use the fabric and thought something might come to me for using it. Almost immediately the wheels started turning. And it seemed as if the girls were watching me every time I walked by them on my work table. I decided to back the fabric with Heat 'n Bond iron-on adhesive and then cut them apart to use them in collage-style greeting cards. A little corrugated cardboard, paint, lace, and ribbon... and Voila! Stars are born. 

For this pretty blonde I used painted kraft cardstock for the background along with some linen and lace. I love how the designer used very few features and yet made these girls so expressive.

One row of girls had heads but no bodies. No problem. I gave this one a polka dot dress and added arms, legs, and hot pink shoes. She's ready to dance.

Lace plus bows plus pom-poms plus cardboard plus.... it's pretty endless what I'll throw into one of these cards. But they are so much fun to assemble.

This sweet girl is set on a painted background with a touch of lace. 

There are a lot of girls in a fat quarter of fabric, so there are several more cards and maybe other projects in the offing. These girls are quite the fun distraction and I find myself drawn into making one when I planned to other things (like dust).