New Stuff

Time flys - but finally a minute to post some new creative things:

The holidays bring group gatherings and exchanges - My Friday Night Group - The Grateful Threads - decided that we would exchage house pincushions this year for the holidays -each person made one and we drew numbers to pick our houses.... Here I am the other night acting silly holding all the houses...

This is the house I made - its made from scraps from the book covers I make - I had some constuction issues - but in the end it turned out OK... My friend KF was delighted.

My other group - the Material Girls - decide on a tree theme - and we give to each member of the group - I made each gal a tree journal quilt - 7 in total - including one for me!! Here is mine.

Each are slightly different - but all similar.

Yesterday I tested out the techniques from Gail Garber's book flying colors - on a photo album cover I made for my FIL - we celebrated his 80th BD back in November with a huge party here - the album is filled with photos from that night...

I'm not a paper piecing fan - at all but I do love they abstract effect of the distorted geese and the possibliites this techinque can offer.. I think another bookcover is in order - to test the techniques further before I make class samples....

More Comp Book Covers

These are the composition book covers I finished today... Some are gifts, some are custom orders and some are still waiting to find a home - I am considering putting them in my ETSY shop. I will be teaching a class on how to make these this Spring - All are fun and yes I am still additcted...

Stuff I've Been Working On

Fiber Art Cards

I actually made 2 different series - the first one represents "Junk Mail" and I used the printed designs from security envelopes that come with credit cards - etc in the mail. The second is "Quilt Trash" and I used the trimmings from art quilt pieces and stitched them to cards. There are 6 in each set and they were donated to the retirement facility my fiber arts group uses for their meetings each month.

Book Covers

My fascination with book covers continues and there are 2 variety here. One very elegant with an embroidery and one fun n funky... I love them both equally - I have actually made 6 of these and will be teaching a class on these next spring at my local Bernina dealer. These covers are for composition books.

Head Hat Bottle Cap Pincushions

And more bottle cap pincushions - a custom order for a gal I know that wanted them as Christmas gifts for her red hat group - all in shades of purple and red - and lots of different embellishments... The more I make - the more addicted I am to making them - each one is darling in it's own way...

Time Flies...

I keep telling myself I am going to post once a week -but recently that has been a challenge - so I have decided I will post when I can - and that will have to be OK...

So now for a few things I have finished recently...

First off a Fabric PC I made for my mom for Mother's Day - she and dad have quite a collection of cards I have made, usually I make cards for them of things I think they will like - this time I made a more artsy one and I love the finished piece...

For those of you who find inspiration difficult sometimes - keep your eyes open - this PC was inspired by the price tag off a bath scrubby I bought @ Target this week - do you see the inspiration?

Next up a Texas style Grandma Brag Book - I made for my friend Dianne - she became an instant Grandma recently - when her oldest daughter received word she was going to be able to adopt a set of siblings - ages 7/8. She is a Texas girl all the way - and she and her hubby go to 'Cowboy Reenactments' allover the southwest - I know she will love showing off her grandkids pictures from this brag book.

Finally - my most recent covered notebook - I started this to have a demo piece for my Art Book Cover Class - which was last Saturday . I had 3 wonderful students who did very well on their projects. I am always nervous the first time I teach a class - and am so glad it was successful. Here is the closed view...

I used leftovers from our guild mystery quilt (which I will be posting as soon as the binding is completed) and I love the look... I also borrowed a technique from my friend from DAFA Deborah who adds interest to her fiber art by stamping... I think the green circles on the black add alot of interest to the piece - a technique I will have to experiment more with. Below is the open view of the notebook - I added alittle extra bias binding to the front cover so you would have a place to keep your pen handy. I plan to keep all the teaching material for my classes in this notebook... SO IT'S FOR ME !!!

Quilt Pink n Class Samples

The Frisco Quilt Guild has participated in the American Patchwork and Quilting Quilt Pink initiative for the past two years - this year I coordinated the event for the guild. We started making our signature friendship star blocks at our fall retreat in whites with bright pink. Then I decided to set the stars in the BQ pattern from Maple Island Quilts and our Dancing with the stars quilts were born. Our guild made 4 quilts this year - 2 which were shipped off this week to Quilt Pink and 2 which were donated to the local Susan G Komen chapter as fund raisers. The quilts (2 are pictured below) turned out great - and I consider this a successful effort.

This is a detail of the quilting - done by our guild member - Kim Proctor who is a breast cancer survivor. Also the label I made using my embroidery machine - quite an accomplishment I might add - using the free embroidery design for the pink ribbon from the Bernina Web site

Next are new class samples - just finished up this week - the first is for my AQWS - Art Quilt Workshop - the class for March is called 'Wild Flowers' and is based on a technique inspired by Henri Matisse - drawing with scissors. My little quilt is a whimsical view of the the daffodils blooming in my yard right now. I also made little samples of a daisy and sunflower. I taught the first session yesterday on Whole Cloth Stitch collage to 9 students - and it was great.

Last but not least - another sample for my book cover art class - which is in 2 weeks - I am not sure this class will make - but if not - I have some great samples to use for myself. This one features simple machine quilting and embroidery designs.

More Book Cover Art

This weekend I finished up another book cover - it's made from a funky batik and a piece of hand-dyed purple from my friend Kim... It puts a professional finish on a simple composition notebook. The cording is actually plastic canvas yarn - one of my new embellishement obsessions.... I used it with eyelash yarn to outline the purple wave also and a Laural Burch kitty button secures the ties... The pattern is a freebee which I made some modifications to. I am pleased with the outcome - this one is for me!!!

So what do you do with the scraps??? Some people just toss the trimming into the trash and think nothing further of it... Not me - i have trouble throwing things away that might be usable later - so i whipped up these postcards I will be sending off to family memebers this week for valentine's day and the 3rd is a birthday postcard for a dear friend whose special day is later in the month...

catching up....

WOW - no post for almost a month - but I have been alittle busy getting class samples ready for the classes I am teaching this spring - along with my 'real job'...

I finally finished my 'Whole Cloth Stitch Collage" and the finished piece is wonderful.

I took off all those silly flower sequins and replaced them with some cool square sequins I found at Quilt Country (see the link on the side-bar). And I added some beads to the couched designs. The buttons in the audition did not make the grade either...

I have 8 people registered in my class for this project the end of this month!!!

Next is 'Lemonade" - why you might ask - is it the color?? No not really - the store gave me this stitched landscape to do a book cover with - it was not possible but I did take it and add some thread painting and some creatively pieced borders and made alittle wall hanging. I really like the outcome and hopefully when the store is done with it - I will send it to my grandmother to hang on her door at the assited living center where she lives...

Next is the official sample for my "Book Cover Art" class - in early March - it's a fabric covered notebook that I designed and embellished.

Above is the entire notebook - I am getting really good at using the binder attachment for my machine - now to just figure out mitered corners - Below is some of the thread painting detail.

More thread painting detail...

Now I am on to my next class sample - 'Wild Flowers' - stay tuned for a picture shortly...