Play Time

I have 3 words for you today. It is COLD!!!!!!! I just can't get warm today. I'm really glad I didn't have to go into work at 5:30 this morning. It was -18 when I got up at 7:00. Don't want to know what it was at 5:30.

I did manage to get some play time in on Wednesday. I played around with felting some more. Used the hand felter to felt different items to the background. I experimented with yarn, recycled wool, roving and cheesecloth. Some of the recycled wool didn't felt so great. The edges started to look like they were fraying. One thing I want to try out is to compare recycled wool sweaters and recycled wool fabric (like from a skirt or jacket) and see how they each felt with the handfelter. I'm having fun with this - just playing around, not worrying about making a finished piece. Although at some point it would be nice to have something nice to display. I did play around with a wet felted piece but have lost it in the mess of my sewing area. Will show it when I find it.

This is a postcard that I made Wednesday. Just played around with pieces from my scrap basket and didn't worry about making a great piece. Just wanted to create something, anything to get myself going again. I have another small piece I started that I need to finish. It sort of reminds me of trees or fence posts. I wanted to play around with working more abstract. Didn't have trees or fenceposts in my mind when I made it. I was just playing with shapes.

I remember now, why I don't use variagated threas on my postcard edges - I don't like it! I think it distracts from the rest of the postcard.

Better get moving, I have to eat lunch and get ready for work. Working 12-4 today.

Something New

I made these postcards last week. This is part of a class I'm taking with Myrna Giesbrecht. We were supossed to create 3 postcards and pick a theme to work with and create a little series. I started out with a theme of "houses" but the cards developed a mind of their own and my theme became "pathways".

This one is one of my favorites. The backgrounds for all of the pieces started out with strips of fabric from my scrap bag. This one I stenciled through sequin waste and then added some painted cheesecloth and some beads.


This one, I quilted the background and didn't really like the results so I added cheesecloth to cover it up. As I was playing with it, I put a folded strip of cheesecloth on top and thought it looked like a path. This is where the "pathways" theme came from. I decided to add the black and tan fabric as "trees"


This is one I didn't like. I made a path out of gold fabric. I like the path but then I decided to quilt it in circles but really didn't like the way it looked with the cheesecloth. Also, the bottom tension was off so the stitching on the top half is funky. I decided to try coloring over it with Shiva Paint Sticks. The side with the bad tension turned out terrible. The stiching pulled up to the top. The path and the bottom half looked good so I cut off the top half and will put the part I like into my idea notebook. So even though I didn't like the piece, it wasn't a waste. I did learn something!

This is the piece with the house on it. It's ok but sort of blah. Maybe if I add some hand stitching to it.

Friday, my art quilt group is finally meeting again. It's been a long time since our Christmas party. I'm really looking forward to it. Although, I still haven't picked a picture out and made a quilt from it for our next round robin. I just can't find any of my pictures that I want to use. I have tomorrow off and I think I will make a still life with some bottles or vases or something. It's amazing that you can take a picture and instantly print it from your computer. Lucky for me!!

Finally, Something to Post

I haven't had much time to do anything lately. The kids are out of school and I had to help Kara get ready for her trip to England. She left last Wed and will be getting back this Thursday. After she gets back, Alex goes to camp for a week starting July 1.
Alex and I have had really bad summer colds. We are finally feeling better but I still can feel it in my chest. I hope Kara doesn't get it while she is in England!!

I did manage to get some postcards made for a swap I'm doing. The theme was triangles. They are all similar so I'll only show 2 of them.

I have to finish up some Inchies for a swap then I have to buckle down and get to work on my Journal Quilt Project. I got to a point where I was stuck and haven't done much with it. I've just been staring at in on my design wall. I think I have an idea now. Time to stop procrastinating and get to work!!

Circle Postcards

I haven't done much in the last week. I did finish postcards for a swap. They had to have at least 1 circle on them. The first 5 I did, I forgot to take pictures. These are from the last batch of 4. They were all very similar so I just picked a couple out to post.
I need to get working on my last book page for the round robin swap. The theme, Personal Godesses, is a hard one for me. It took some time to come up with an idea. Now to just get it done before Friday. I also need to figure out what I will be taking for dessert.

Where's Spring?

It's hard to believe that it is the middle of April. We have had another foot of snow and we are supossed to get another storm on Monday. This was taken this morning.

Here's the last batch of postcards for my Art2Mail swap. I took the pictures at night so most of the cards appear darker than they really are.

This was one of my favorites. I really wanted to keep it for myself. The water really looks more interesting in person.

Postcards

I finally finished the 5 postcards for the swap I'm in. I had a really big block and finally went to my scrap bag and started pulling pieces out. Once I started pulling pieces out, they started going together fairly easy. I did end up falling back on my leaf shapes. Oh, well, I like leaves.

Winter has arrived!!! and some postcards

Well, winter has really arrived in NH!! It is COLD!!!
Here are the next 5 postcards I did for the Art 2 Mail swap.
The background fabric is some of my handpainted fabric. The hearts that are pink are silk paper that I made with some angelina on top. The heart that is orange, redand purple is a paper towel that I dyed. This was the first time that I tried couching down the yarn with my sewing machine. Made it go alot faster and was alot easier on my wrist and hand.
Now to get these addressed and sent off. This was the first time that I put cardstock o teh back instead of fabric. Makes it alot easier to write on.

I thought that I would have more time to work on my projects since this is a slow time at work but so far it hasn't slowed much for me. I know I should be greatful that my hours are staying up there since I really need the work but I really get frustrated at not being able to work on my fiber art as much as I would like. By the time I get home from work, I'm so exhausted that all I want to do is sleep but I have to get the kids from school and then deal with dinner and homework. Then it's time to go to bed and start it all over again. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying but I can't stop thinking about projects or coming up with new ideas. Guess I just have to to on doing what I can do and try to be satisfied.

Postcards and Playtime

These aren't the best pictures I've taken. I'll have to take the time to get the tripod out when I take pictures of small pieces. The first two are also on their sides but I wanted to get them posted. These postcards are for a swap on Art 2 Mail.




This is something I've been playing with. In the book, Collage Unleashed by Traci Bautista, she tells you how to dye paper towels. One night over the holidays, I played and dyed some paper towels. Since then, I've been looking at them wondering what next. The last couple of days, when I had a few minutes, I played some more. I started by putting fusible web on the back of the paper towels and then tearing them into big pieces. then fused the pieces onto a piece of peltex. I loved the way it looked and then hit the stage where I was afraid to do anything because I might ruin it. I finally made myself stamp some lumiere spirals on to it. I then tore tissue paper into petal shapes and glued them down. I'm going to add stitching around the petals and who knows what else.
I don't know what it is, I never seem to be able to play without over thinking things or worrying about ruining something.
What I'll actually do with this. Maybe the cover for a journal.