Where Has the Time Gone?

I need to get more recent pics off my camera and onto the computer--I am so bad about that--but meanwhile, here is a quilt that I made from start to finish for a customer who will be donating it to raise money for a dog rescue. I was pleased with the outcome. I hope it will bring lots of money for such a good cause!



Wow, its been several days since I posted about the CED. I have been absolutely swamped with my longarm quilting business responsibilities--it is my busy time of year, getting quilts completed for my customers to give as Christmas gifts, plus working on new class samples for January-April, and quilting a few class samples for other teachers! But, I have been making at least a bit of time every day to create, sort of....

Saturday--no problem! My own little craft night while watching TV with DH. I worked on some charms for the Blue, Silver and White swap on Art Charms.

Sunday--Totally wiped out from working on the longarm all day. After I got the baby down, again, I sorted through some of my polymer clay buttons that I am planning on selling at up coming craft shows.

Monday--Not a very creative day, not much time. Cranky baby = cranky mommy. I spent a few minutes cutting down some quilted book covers--again for the craft shows.

Tuesday--Better. I put the baby in the backpack for about an hour and jazzed up some of my hand dyed scarves with metallic fabric paint! Fun, and so invigorating!

Wednesday--Varnished my paper beads for the Autumn charm swap on Adornmentz. Painted some papers that I will be using in my mini art journals, plus spent almost an hour sewing the edges on about 10 books--that was huge! I kept expecting the baby to wake up again, but he let me create! Good boy!

Today--The kids were off for Veteran's Day, so what better than to take a trip to McD's and craft ! We were there for about 2.5 hours, and I finished my Autumn Charms. Off to get a little more work done tonight....

Hand Painted and Dyed Silk Hankies

Well, I have several projects that I've made but haven't blogged about. I've been really lazy with taking pictures and posting. But I had some time this afternoon while the kids were playing and the baby was napping (in the Snugli pouch of course!), so I edited a bunch of photos.

Here are a few silk hankies, about 12 x 12 inches, that I had dyed last year. I wanted to play around with adding paint to the silk scarves, so I decided to experiment on the smaller hankies.



The orange one was done with a foam stamp for the rectangles around the edge and a paintbrush for the other parts, using Lumiere paint. I love the Lumiere! My skill with a paintbrush leaves much to be desired though.



On the other hankies, I was using black acrylic paint in a syringe, trying to "draw" with it. But I had very little control over how much paint was coming out of the syringe. I had to move very quickly. I hate the brown one--I'll have to over paint/stamp something on it. But that's how you learn, right?



My DH has been keeping up with my blog--Hi Hubby!

More Painted Canvas

Here are a few more pieces of painted canvas that I have been working on. I am hoping to cut into them tonight to get going on my book covers, purses, and maybe some collaged mini books that I need to make for an upcoming swap.

Painted Canvas

Inspired by the work of Alisa Burke, I have been playing around with painting on canvas. This appeals to me for several reasons:




--It is something that I can do while watching the baby. I can put a quick layer of paint on the canvas, and then I wait for it to dry for a couple of hours. Each layer takes maybe 5-15 minutes, so if he wakes up from his nap, I can stop what I'm doing and go get him right away--not like when I am immersed in dye!

--I can use up some of my old acrylic paint, some with a label on it from 1991--yikes! I have some old "dusty colors" that don't appeal to me anymore, but I am finding that if I mix it with another color, or use it in a layer in conjunction with other colors, it works just fine. I am trying to use up this old stuff to make way for some newer, vibrant colors.

--I can get my "art fix" without a big commitment of time or materials--both of which are running short.

--I enjoy working with the fabric after it has been painted. I am in the process of making some little art journals and notebook covers with this stash of canvas.

--It gives me an opportunity to play around with different color combinations, tools, and some of the stamps that I have made myself.

What do you think?

Painted Flower Quiltie

Here is the latest quilt for the online class that I am taking with Terri Stegmiller. The background and flowers are all hand painted. This piece is a little bit larger than the previous ones, about 13.5 x 17.5 inches. Fun to mix different media and to do the different techniques that Terri lays out. She goes over a lot of different paints, resists, and alternatives. Fun class!