Memories of Destin - Fabric PC

Hubby and I get to Destin annually (or at least we try to) and spend a few days sitting on the beach relaxing and regenerating from our busy life here in Dallas... The sand is white and feels like you are walking on sugar. The ocean is a beautiful blue green color (hence the nick name Emerald Cost) and the dolphins swim up and down the channel line all day long. This post card is my fiber art interpretation of the beaches there...

Made up 4 of these yesterday - one for a BD card for a friend , the other 3 for a FAT swap - Wish you were here - post cards... I wish I was there right now....

Inspriation....

Here's my mini quilt for an upcoming FAT trade - a gal in the group recently spent some time in South America - and took lots of wonderful pictures - for the trade we were to pick a picture to reinterpret or be inspired by... Here's the link to Gabriela's Blog with the inspiration photos....

So here's a run down on the techniques I used...
The background was created using my trash collage technique - where i take several different fabrics in similar color story and collage them together to make one piece of fabric. Then I thread painted a leafy design and filled in the open spaces with a pebble stitch. I choose a variegated green thread for this - which helps to blend the collaged fabric even more - giving it a consistent factor.
for the blooms I fused strips of fabric together and cut the bud shapes - then fused the buds in place. Next I twisted and wrapped yarns and embroidery floss together and couched it down the center of the buds.
The buds are echo stitched in place with a shiny orange thread. The final touch is hand beading in the center of each bud.
Quick and Fun - and big thanks to Gabriela for sharing her vacation with us and inspiring Fiber ART.

Flock - o - Funky #3

#3 in my mini birdies for 2010 - this one is called ~ Spring has Sprung ~

Inspired by a shopping bag a friend brought over from Urban Outfitters - I tired some more newish techniques. The background is still a color catcher - Fused and stitched this whimsical little tweeter using stained glass - mosaic technique. The eye and leg detail is drawn on the fabric using my new favorite toy - the pentel gel roller pen for fabric. Rhinestud Glitz - accents the stitched frame intersections.

Close-Up below - shows my 2nd attempt @ thread calligraphy - it's not as hard as you might think it is - and I love the playfulness it adds to the piece...

I am having alot of fun making these little quilts this year - many more to come - the inspiration is everywhere...

Crown-O-Rama

In my last post - I described the creative process taken based on the instructions on the FAT 3-Day Blind Challenge - Day 2 the instructions were simple - cut and add more embellishment if desired.... I decided mine was OK for the time being - and did the cutting only... In the back of my mind I had a feeling we might be making a crown

And I guessed right - below is a crown-o-rama view of my final piece. I used lots of fun and funky embellishments once I knew it was a crown - all crowns have jewels - mine are trinkets and things pulled from the resource in my studio - yes I have a lot of STUFF - but I love it all and love to create things from it... They are all jewels to me.

Embellishments on my crown include.... Funky @ sign paperclips, Scrapbooking Brads - love those little flowers - a broken button - there were going to be 3 of these on the crown but when the 1st one broken as I sewed it on by machine - that was my sign - it was interesting and secure enough to leave the piece there so it stayed - there are also some heat set stones in the center band of the crown. For the center I fused a piece of the fabric I trimmed from the backing for the crown and the upper and lower bands are olive green netting and funky eyelash yarn wrapped together and stitched in place...

Yep that's me wearing my crown - an a glimpse of my studio (you can tell I have been busy this week on this project after work - I need to tidy up a bit).... What a fun - free spirit of the moment project. Thanks to Leilani P for hosting this for our FAT group...

FAT 3-Day Challenge

So I flip open FAT tonight when I get home from work - b/c I am home much earlier than usual being as most of the office is on Spring Break this week and I see this challenge... I love a good challenge - late to the party but ready to play the game. I started with a piece of something similar to cotton duck - but loosely woven.... Added text w my new favorite notion - the Pentel Gel Pen for Fabric - I just found it this weekend @ the Dallas Quilt Show - and LOVE it so much that I think I need to by in bulk... The words are just a random babble about the challenge and my new toy - the pen and my original thoughts and inspiration for DAY 1 of the challenge

Then I get out my fabric paints and dyes and add some color - green (wonder why??) I used a water diluted version of Fantastix spring green and Luminere Metallic olive - let it dry a couple hours while I ate supper and watched IDOL... Then encouraged it to dry more with some electric heat from my iron and Teflon press cloth... and fused a back to the piece. It's a funky lime green commercial cotton that I had in my fused fabric box - works nicely with my color theme...

Next up was the FOIL - I had a stray piece of fusible that had lost it's backing so I fused it to my Teflon press sheet with a piece of release paper on top and peeled it off and stretched it in hopes of a lace effect - so so - there is a little more coverage in some places than desired but over all still OK...

Finally added stitching - I decided to keep it simple, but symbolic to the theme... I used the edge of the foil as my starting point and used a slightly elongated straight stitch, then echo stitched from that original guide. Originally I intended to use one of my favorite YLI variegated threads MEADOW but decided that - it might be too much green (???)... So I used a close 2nd favorite variegated from Isacord #9916 in hopes of an abstract rainbow effect...

Anxiously waiting for part 2 tomorrow - hope I can play... Tonight was completely off the cuff and a lot of fun just working from the simple guidelines established - playing is good...

Looking in the Mirror

In January DAFA hosted a workshop with Sue Benner "The Artist as Quilt". A self portrait has been on my 'list' for quite awhile - but my lack of drawing skills has kept me from actually doing one. When the workshop was announced - I decided this was my chance to give it a try...
The supply list said - bring colors you like - so I decided on a palette of purple and lime green - when I got to the workshop - I realized I was crazy because all I brought was purple and green - NOTHING to do my face with... augh!!!

Sue talked us thru the basics of how to paint our portrait with fabric and we got stared fusing and cutting out our likenesses. I gridded my picture and started to audition my fabrics.

Since this was a one day workshop - we got a good start on our portraits - but there was still lots to do...

As an incentive for us to get it done (I think) - Sue invited the workshop participants to her wonderful studio here in Dallas last Sunday for a Portrait Viewing - a dozen or so of the DAFA group showed up with portraits and stories to share.

Yep that's me in fabric and me with Sue - I used the picture on the side bar of my blog. I really don't like my portrait all that much. I think it's creepy that my head is bigger than an normal person.. I don't like my interpretation of my facial features - I really struggled with this - trying first to do it in fabric and then decided it was too dramatic and did it in thread, and Yep my face is green - when I got home I went thru my options and found a pale green hand-dye I thought would work OK - and it does. So now I have checked self portrait in fabric off my list - there could be another some day - maybe after I get some drawing lessons or when I get a little more out of my box and it can be more abstract... The workshop was great and Sue is a accomplished, talented artist - I would like to just visit inside her creative spirit for a day - the inspiration would be endless.

Snap Happy - My Way

Have you seen the pattern from Stitchin' Sisters for Snap Happy Bags - they are so fun to make - I found the pattern last fall on a shop hop and have made several since. Of course I had to re-interpret the pattern - mainly because I wanted them to be fun and funky - here are pic's of some I have made...

The first bag I made - using a trash collage piece I had laying around - added flower brads - buttons and other embellishment... Front/Back

This is another bag I made recently - originally stated as a bookcover - but decided it would be fun as a bag - and it is!! Trash collage, decorative stitching, couched yarn, decorative paperclips and flower brads. Front/Back

This bag is made texture magic for the body of the bag - it worked great for this bag and gave the bag a whole new feel in surface texture.

I am teaching this bag as a class at the local Bernina Store - it's been fun for me as well as the students...