Peacock fairy!

Peacock fairy!
Originally uploaded by lemonade_sandwich

Just a quick post to show off the latest project. There are times when I actually do take pictures!

Happy Halloween!

Still around

Ok, so clearly summer is not my best time for communicating with the world. Of course, I don't think winter or fall are so great, and spring is kind of iffy. But here I am, trying again...

So here's some of the things I worked on over the past few (ulp!) months.

I love love love Anna Maria Horner's Garden party fabrics. So here's what I came up with to attempt to show them off. Its actually all pieced now, and the back is prepared, so I just have to quilt it. Hopefully in time for it to be added to the pile of essential sofa blankets for winter.

Speaking of which, here is the quilt which I showed in progress ages ago, but it was finished and is in use on the sofa now.

Also on the sofa, my completed pillow from the Alabama Stitch book. This is definitely the perfect take along kind of project that I really need more of. It requires a bunch of advance prep to do the stenciling but then it is very forgiving of being tossed in a bag with a needle, thread and scissors.

Otherwise, I'm still completely obsessed with decorating the house still. we are busy acquiring rugs to cover the bare wood floors before it gets too cold. I also hope to get the living room painted before its too cold to open windows as it dries. No guarantees there, but I am determined to do it this fall.

Other upcoming projects - Michelle has asked for a quilt for her bed. How can a mother say no? I've been gathering an assortment of pink fabrics (with plenty of other colors as well, of course) and hope to start on that soon. She has also decided that her room needs to be painted. We were surprised, but she has been most insistant. I think all of decorating mania is rubbing off on her.

Otherwise, I'll try to post more often, in case there is still anyone reading.

Busy busy busy

I have too many projects in process, and not enough time to do them all. Last night I had a free evening and spent too much of it spinning my wheels trying to decide what to do.

This is a test piece from the Alabama Stitch book. I love the look of everything in that book and have been dying to try something. So there go some old t-shirts and some fabric paint I've had forever. I love doing a simple running stitch, its so satisfying for such minimal effort. I've brought it to work so I have a simple lunchtime project to do. It was hard to stop last night! I painted another piece last night so I would have the next one ready to go.

Also in progress, this mini quilt. There's no urgency with this one. Its entirely sewn by hand, and I started it back in January or something. Its a nice sofa project. I'm enjoying having a nice slow entirely hand sewn quilt. The thought that anyone ever finished a full size quilt in this pattern amazes me!

Next, I need to make another one of these. This quilt was for Michelle's preschool class teachers as an appreciation gift. (There's a story there for another time.) I made it in about 4 days and it was very well received. I've decided to make another one for the upcoming fundraising auction. This time I have a whole 2 weeks to get it done! The photos all got printed last night, the worst part as far I'm concerned, so I should be on track.

Also in progress: a large quilt that is intended to match our red sofas, collecting materials and ideas for an upcoming Michael deMeng workshop, another mini quilt that is pieced but assembled yet, another paper mache flower where the petals are done but it needs to be put together and then painted, and a whole list of other ideas!

It's really too bad I have to go to work so much. I have so many other things to do!

Resin paper book

My "big" class at Art and Soul was a day+ with Susan Lenart Kazner. We spent the evening making resin papers, and then the next day binding them into a book.

Making resin papers was awesome. Depending on the paper used, you get varying levels of transparency. I used a bunch of tissue paper that I collected, as well as a vintage book pages and some other scraps. I also tried using some paper cutouts I had done. I was having a great time. I just want to make pages and pages of these to hang as is! I also tried a couple of other resin bezels, which I haven't photographed yet.

We let everything dry overnight, and the next day worked on the book. We made the spine using rebar and wire wrapping to hold the "vertabrae" in place. Then made the frames with the same materials. My discovery is that I am terrible at wire wrapping. Don't look too close. Once the frame was done we attached the covers. This involved putting eyelets in the pages (yes, I did too many) and then stitching it to the frame with linen. This part I could do!

Putting the pages into the book involved inserting a longer piece of metal tubing, binding the pages together, and then inserting a length of rebar into the stitches and attaching it to the spine. This part I don't feel worked as well. Susan's skills are definitely as a jeweler, and this felt like an awkward binding technique. It also meant the pages didn't move freely, which is too bad given how cool they are.

Regardless of that, I did finish it, and it is now on display in our house.

Lessons learned:
1. Resins are cool. I will definitely be ordering some soon to play with.
2. I am not a jeweler. Metal working is not my strong point!
3. Susan Lenart Kazner is very fun to work with, and she makes some amazing things. If you are a jeweler of any sort, you should take a class with her if possible. In fact, I'd probably take a class with her again, despite lesson #2 above.

Art and Soul trades

Art and Soul trades
Originally uploaded by lemonade_sandwich

Ok, so just a quck post to show off the fabric flowers that I made for Art and Soul to trade. For some reason, my sister and I did not have a lot of luck trading, and there seemed to be a lot of people with ephemera packs rather than personally made art work. It may be just me, but I'd rather trade for something that someone made rather than more stuff to add to the piles I already have. There were a few nice things amongst the ephemera, and some of the other things went to Michelle for her art supplies and treasure box.

In any case, a number of these flowers made their way back home, and were distributed to my sister's Stitch n Bitch group. I've heard they were well received, and that's really all that matters.

Woodland village

Woodland village
Originally uploaded by lemonade_sandwich

This is what happens when I clean my studio while Michelle is in the room. I find weird things that suddenly can be put to use. About a billion years ago, Charley got me some of this Crayola foam stuff that I now can't remember the name of. Fast forward to 4 year old finding it and we have a Mommy/daughter craft time. Lacking any more brilliant inspiration, I started with houses, always a good default. Michelle started making small balls. I moved on to trees. Michelle - more colorful balls. Ooh... I can make mushrooms. Michelle asks for help making one of her balls into a mushroom (its the blue one with yellow spots) then returns to her ball making.

The woodland village now has inhabitants, not shown here. There is a fairy and a gnome and another plastic fairy house. I can live with all of that. The ball collection is safely kept in a tin container, reminding me that for a 4 year old its all about process, not product.

Before and after

Woo Hoo! The dreary winter is finally starting to end, and with it color appears everywhere. Especially in our newly painted bathroom. This is what I did yesterday on a much needed day off from work.

Before

After